Bulgaria during World War I

Its entry heralded the defeat of Serbia, thwarted the goals of Romania,[2] and catalyzed the Ottoman war effort by providing a land and rail link from Germany to Istanbul, that is, on Via Militaris.

[9] A protocol, signed after several conferences held in Saint Petersburg, sought to resolve the dispute by rewarding Romania the town of Silistra, but this decision greatly antagonized both countries and sowed the seeds of further enmity between them.

Danev was preparing to leave for Russia where a new attempt to solve the problem was made by Tsar Ferdinand and General Mihail Savov, who decided to make a demonstration to Serbia, Greece and the Entente by ordering two of the Bulgarian armies to attack and consolidate their positions in Macedonia on 16 June.

[16] Direct negotiations with Serbia and Greece proved inconclusive, but following Bulgaria's offer to cede Southern Dobruja to Romania, both sides agreed to begin peace talks in Bucharest.

Initially, the Bulgarian diplomacy maintained the position that the question about the possession of Adrianople and Eastern Thrace was an international matter resolved by the terms of the Treaty of London of 1913, but this line soon had to be abandoned due to the lack of support by the Great Powers and their unwillingness to pressure the Ottoman Empire.

During the talks, the Radoslavov government for the first time sought to recover and strengthen the relations with the Ottomans by discussing an alliance directed against Serbia and Greece, but no concrete results were achieved at that point.

Though its participation was viewed as attractive enough, Russian diplomacy spent much more time and effort courting Romania, which achieved little practical results, but stirred negative emotions and further alienated Bulgaria.

Prime Minister Radoslavov, on the other hand, partially sought the support of Great Britain through the Bulgarian representative in Saint Petersburg, General Dimitriev, who asked the British ambassador to mediate the relationship between Bulgaria and Russia.

The individual approached by General Dimitriev, George Buchanan, politely refused any involvement, but hinted to Sazonov that he should not risk curtailing Entente influence in Bulgaria by assuming a hard line toward the country.

It was only in April, when the Bulgarian and German representatives had reached an understanding on the basic points of the loan, that the Entente realized that through its hard line it had pushed Bulgaria toward a serious commitment to the Central Powers.

Immediately following the outbreak of hostilities, the Bulgarian tsar and prime minister decided to declare a policy of "strict and loyal" neutrality, a stance that was popular with both ruling and opposition parties.

Great Britain also hoped that a Romanian entry into the war on its side would force Bulgaria and even the Ottoman Empire to at least remain neutral, while Greece might brave itself to support Serbia openly.

The mood in Saint Petersburg was far less optimistic, as the Russians were aware that the price tag of Romania's entry into the war would include Bessarabia and also feared that its intervention would only extend the already huge Eastern Front.

Germany and Austria-Hungary in particular were weighing the possibility of encouraging immediate Bulgarian intervention against Serbia, because the neutrality of Italy and Romania, countries that had been their allies prior to the outbreak of the war, was a major defeat for German and Austrian diplomacy.

In early September 1914, Duke John Albert of Mecklenburg visited Bulgaria as a personal representative of Kaiser Wilhelm II, but he also failed to sway the firm position of the Bulgarian government.

On 9 December, the Allies, who realized their previous mistake, sent a new declaration promising Bulgaria Ottoman Eastern Thrace up to the Midia-Enos line and "fair" territorial gains in Macedonia in exchange for its neutrality.

[50] The Germans had decided to focus their efforts on the Eastern Front, where they had considerable success against the Russians in the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes in February 1915, but their gains were largely negated at the Siege of Przemyśl in March.

[53] At the same time, Germany hoped in vain to use the payment of a 150 million installment of the 1914 loan as means of exerting influence on the Bulgarian government, and Radoslavov turned his attention in an unexpected direction by sending Genadiev to Rome.

On 29 May, not long after Italy's entry into the war, the Allied representatives in Sofia independently presented an identical note proposing an alliance in exchange for Bulgaria's immediate attack on the Ottoman Empire.

[56] In addition, the changing military situation also affected Bulgarian opinions as Italy's entry into the war failed to break Austria-Hungary, the Russians suffered reverses in Galicia and the Allied landings in the Dardanelles proved less successful than expected.

The Austrian and Germans would guarantee both the contested and uncontested zones of Macedonia in exchange for Bulgarian neutrality and if a war with Greece and Romania resulted, then Bulgaria could expect the lands that it had lost in 1913.

The situation on the major European fronts was at that time developing markedly in favor of the Central Powers, and while the Allied operation in Gallipoli turned into a costly stalemate, the Russians were being driven out of Galicia and Poland.

On 1 September 1915, the Serbian prime minister agreed to cede about half of the uncontested zone, but he demanded that Serbia should keep most of the land to the west of the Vardar, including the towns of Prilep, Ohrid and Veles.

[a] All these forces were to be placed under the command of Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen, whose task was "to fight the Serbian Army wherever he finds it and to open and insure as soon as possible a land connection between Hungary and Bulgaria".

The French and the British resisted at first but eventually fell in line with the Russians and on 4 October, the Entente presented an ultimatum demanding all German officers attached to the Bulgarian army be sent back to home within 24 hours.

The Balkan Wars had revealed that horse-breeding in Bulgaria was not developed enough to satisfy the wartime requirements of the army, and in order to compensate for the deficiency of strong cavalry and artillery horses by October 1915, the authorities imported about 300 animals.

[82] The mobilization was carried out behind the established schedule because the nature of Colonel Ganchev's mission to Germany was held in great secrecy to the last moment, even from the Bulgarian General Staff, which was left out of the negotiations completely.

[86] During the First Balkan War, Tsar Ferdinand had remained acting supreme commander, but his lack of military education and experience forced him to rely heavily on his assistant commander-in-chief Lieutenant General Mihail Savov.

[93] Despite its smaller size, the Bulgarian 2nd Army achieved much greater success and completed its first objective as early as 16 October by taking the town of Vranje and severing all railway communications between Serbia and Vardar Macedonia.

As a result of this delay, the Serbians concentrated greater forces against the Bulgarian 2nd Army, which was the main obstacle sitting between them and the Allies, but also the greatest threat to their retreat routes leading to Albania.