The Second Balkan War (1913)

The Second Balkan War was an armed conflict that took place from June 29 to August 10, 1913, breaking out almost immediately after the end of the First Balkan War. The war was fought between Bulgaria and the other countries of the Balkan coalition (with which it had been allied during the First Balkan War), Serbia, Greece and Montenegro. During this war, Romania and the Ottoman Empire also turned against Bulgaria. Bulgaria fought its former allies in order to obtain a more favourable distribution of the European territories seized from the Ottoman Empire in the previous war. The Second Balkan War, though undeclared and sudden, was more deadly and destructive than the First Balkan War. It ended with the victory of Bulgaria's rivals, who managed to achieve significant victories in the wider region of Macedonia and the central Balkans. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Bucharest, through which Greece annexed Western and Central Macedonia along with Thessaloniki, Eastern Macedonia including Kavala up to the mouth of the Nestos River, Southern Epirus, and Crete.

Pictured: A map showing the borders of Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire as they were shaped after the end of the Second Balkan War in 1913. ©Municipal Photography Museum of Kalamaria ‘Christos Kalemkeris’.