BALKAN LEAGUE, an alliance formed in the summer of 1912 between Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro for the purpose of tak ingjoint diplomatic and military action against Turkey and which led to the Balkan wars (q.v.) in 1912 and 1913. The root of the trouble lay in Macedonia (q.v.), where the long-misruled and tortured inhabitants appealed to the peo ples of the now liberated and united neighbor ing states to rescue them from the oppression of the Turk. At the beginning of 1912 the con dition of Macedonia pointed to an approaching crisis. For some years the revolutionaries had their head9uarters in Bulgaria, but had sus pended their operations in 1909 on the deposi tion of Abdul Hamid II (q.v.), trusting to Young Turk promises of reform. But in the autumn of 1911 their activities were resumed, the leaders declaring that "compared with the last four years of the Hamidian regime, when European control existed and the country en joyed a certain financial autonomy, the condi tion of the people is infinitely worse and their sufferings have increased." The revolutionary organization in Macedonia had also ceased its propaganda for a time on the strength of Young Turk promises. It had resumed operations already in 1910 in consequence of the pan Islamic tendencies of the Turkish government, and a number of small bands were formed by the secret committees which succeeded the Bul garian "constitutional clubs" under the name of the "Macedonian Internal Organization." In December 1911 an attempt to blow up a crowded mosque at Ishtib (Macedonia) on a market day when the town was full of peasants, many of them Bulgarians, excited the Mohammedan population to retaliatory measures. In the riot some 200 Bulgarians were killed or wounded, and from that day forward a campaign of out rage and counter-outrage was carried on with appalling savagery by Mohammedan and Bul garian murder bands. The leaders of the In ternal Organization refused to negotiate with the Turkish government, declaring their resolve to continue the revolutionary activity until their object was achieved — autonomy for Macedonia through international European intervention. The Olrganization sent delegates to the Euro pean capitals to enlist the sympathy and aid of the powers. They asked that the administra
tion of Macedonia should be placed under the direct control of the great powers, with a Christian governor-general.
On the eve of the general elections (March 1912) the Turkish government sent a special commission headed by the Minister of the In terior, Hajji Adil Bey, to inquire into the griev ances of Albania and Macedonia and to sug gest measures for their alleviation. Laden with an elaborate program of reforms, the commis sion returned to Constantinople toward the end of June. The report submitted by Hajji Adil Bey led Sir Edward Grey (15 July) to state that "the declarations made by the Turkish Minister of the Interior . . . and the request of the Turkish government for the loan of five additional British officers . . . and for two additional French officers for service in the Ottoman gendarmerie indicate that the Sublime Porte realized the need of reforms in the ad ministration of the European provinces of the Empire, and are determined to take the neces sary measures to introduce them." In August the 25th anniversary of King Ferdinand's arrival in Bulgaria was celebrated with great rejoicings in the ancient capital of Tirnovo, when the tragedy of Ishtib in the previous De cember was repeated on a larger scale at Kot chana, 20 miles northwest of Ishtib. A bomb thrown in the market place with the object of provoking reprisals which should attract the attention of Europe was followed by a mas sacre of Bulgarians. Almost simultaneously a massacre of Christians by Turkish troops took place at Berane on the Montenegrin frontier. Turkish soldiers also assisted in the other two butcheries. These atrocities sent a thrill of horror through Europe and tended considerably to swell the wave of patriotism in Bulgaria occasioned by the dynastic festivities. Public indignation was aroused in Montenegro, and both peoples clamored for war. The Turkish government proclaimed a state of siege at Kotchana and ordered the immediate court martial of the officials implicated in the mas sacre. But the mischief had been done; Bul garia, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro started mobilizing.