[12][13] Serbia, which had been helping to arm the Hamidian and Catholic Albanians rebelling in the Mirditë region; sent secret agents to some of the prominent leaders, taking the revolt as a pretext for war.

[15] On 18 October 1912, King Peter I of Serbia issued a declaration, 'To the Serbian People,' which appeared to support Albanians as well as Serbs: The Turkish governments showed no interest in their duties towards their citizens and turned a deaf ear to all complaints and suggestions.

In the discussions that led to Greece joining the Balkan League, Bulgaria refused to commit to any agreement on distributing territorial gains, unlike its deal with Serbia over Macedonia.

It was to be supported by the Kırcaali Detachment of 24,000 military personnel, deployed along the Arda river to prevent the Bulgarians from reaching the Aegean Sea and thus cutting Ottoman transportation and communication links with Macedonia.

Under the leadership of Andranik Ozanian and Garegin Nzhdeh, the Armenian detachment was commissioned to fight the Ottomans first at Momchilgrad and Komotini and its environs, and then later İpsala, Keşan, and Malkara, and Tekirdağ.

[3] The Serbian High Command, in its prewar war games,[clarification needed] had concluded that the most likely site for the decisive battle against the Ottoman Vardar Army would be on the Ovče Pole Plateau, ahead of Skopje.

Greece, whose population was then 2,666,000,[4] was considered the weakest of the three main allies since it fielded the smallest army and had suffered a defeat against the Ottomans 16 years earlier, in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897.

"[31] However, Greece was the only Balkan country to possess a meaningful navy, which was vital to the League to prevent Ottoman reinforcements from being rapidly transferred by ship from Asia to Europe.

Under French supervision, the Greeks had adopted the triangular infantry division as their primary formation though more importantly, the overhaul of the mobilization system allowed the country to field and equip a far greater number of troops than had been the case in 1897.

As it had no hope of capturing Ioannina, the heavily fortified capital of Epirus, the initial mission was to pin down the Ottoman forces there until sufficient reinforcements could be sent from the Army of Thessaly after the successful conclusion of operations.

The poor transport network of the Empire's Asian regions dictated that the only reliable way to mass transfer troops to the front was by sea where they'd be vulnerable to attacks from the Greek fleet based in the Aegean.

[47] By the summer of 1912, however, they were already in poor condition because of chronic neglect: the rangefinders and ammunition hoists had been removed, the telephones were not working, the pumps were corroded, and most of the watertight doors could no longer be closed.

[57] Another consequence of Greek naval supremacy in the Aegean was that the Ottoman forces did not receive the reinforcements that had been in the war plans, which would have been further corps transferred by sea from Syria and Palestine.

[58] Thus, the Greek navy played an indirect but crucial role in the Thracian campaign by neutralizing three corps, a significant portion of the Ottoman army, in the all-important opening round of the war.

[59] After the Battle of Kirk Kilisse, the Bulgarian High Command decided to wait a few days, but that allowed the Ottoman forces to occupy a new defensive position on the Lüleburgaz-Karaağaç-Pınarhisar line.

The battle, which resulted in heavy Bulgarian casualties, could be characterized as an Ottoman tactical victory but a strategic defeat since it did nothing to prevent the failure of the Gallipoli-Şarköy operation or to relieve the pressure on Edirne.

On 11 March, after a two weeks bombardment, which destroyed many fortified structures around the city, the final assault started, with League forces enjoying a crushing superiority over the Ottoman garrison.

Adding to the 33,000 killed, the modern "Turkish General Staff History" notes that 28,500-man survived captivity[67] leaving 10,000 men unaccounted for[66] as possibly captured (including the unspecified number of wounded).

[73] With the declaration of war, the Greek Army of Thessaly, under Crown Prince Constantine, advanced to the north and overcame Ottoman opposition in the fortified mountain passes of Sarantaporo.

He came down near the small town of Preveza, on the coast north of the Ionian island of Lefkas, secured local Greek assistance, repaired his plane and resumed flying back to base.

A naval blockade, extending from the pre-war Greek border to Vlorë, was also instituted on 3 December, isolating the newly established Provisional Government of Albania that was based there from any outside support.

[89] The main Ottoman fleet remained inside the Dardanelles for the early part of the war, and the Greek destroyers continuously patrolled the straits' exit to report on a possible sortie.

[94] Though similar sorties followed on 10 and 11 January, the results of the "cat and mouse" operations were always the same: "The Greek destroyers always managed to remain outside the Ottoman warships' range and each time the cruisers fired a few rounds before breaking off the chase.

24 January] 1913, a Greek Farman MF.7, piloted by Lieutenant Michael Moutousis and with Ensign Aristeidis Moraitinis as an observer, carried out aerial patrol of the Ottoman fleet in its anchorage at Nagara and launched four bombs on the anchored ships.

Putnik declined and turned his army to the west, towards Albania, since he saw that a war between Greece and Bulgaria over Thessaloniki could greatly help Serbia's plans for Vardar Macedonia.

[citation needed] After pressure from the Great Powers, the Serbs started withdrawing from northern Albania and the Sandžak, yet left behind their heavy artillery park to help the Montenegrins in the continuing Siege of Shkodër.

[103] The heavy and rapid defeat of the Ottoman army prevented the safe evacuation of the Muslim civilians, making them a clear target for the Balkan League forces invading the region.

[128] This campaign of extermination by the Ottoman authorities included boycott, expulsions, forcible migrations, focusing on Greeks of the Aegean region and eastern Thrace, whose presence in these areas was deemed a threat to national security.

The Turkish historian Handan Nezir Akmeşe wrote that the best response when they were faced with the Balkan League's ultimatum on 15 October on the part of the Ottomans would have been to try to stall for time via diplomacy while they completed their mobilization, instead of declaring war immediately.

Unwilling to yield to any pressure, Greece and Serbia settled their mutual differences and signed a military alliance directed against Bulgaria on 1 May 1913, even before the Treaty of London had been concluded.