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Diplomatic History of World War 1:
Negotiations During the War
1. Japanese
Intervention
2. Turkish
Intervention
3. Italy's
Entry into the War
4. Bulgaria, Rumania & Greece
5. Plans
for Partition of the Ottoman Empire
a. Constantinople Agreement
b. Egypt
c. Nejd Treaty and McMahon Letters
d. Sykes-Picot Agreement
e. St.-Jean-de-Maurienne Agreement
Bulgaria
On the very day of Italy's declaration of war, the Central
Powers made a formal bid for Bulgaria's friendly neutrality. Though reduced
in territory as a result of the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, that nation
still commanded the principal communication lines between Austria-Hungary
and Turkey; its intervention on the Allied side would require Austria
to divert substantial resources from the Russian front and the Italian
frontier and would make it much more difficult for Turkey to resist the
British in the Dardanelles. Consequently, the Central Powers dangled before
the Bulgarian government the promise of a heavy loan, the prompt cession
of Serbian Macedonia, and the transfer to Bulgaria of the lands she had
lost to Greece and Rumania if those states should intervene on the Allied
side.
The Bulgarian government already leaned toward the Central
Powers. The Bulgarian king, Ferdinand I, was a German prince who had favored
joining Germany and Austria-Hungary from the outset of the war. The premier,
Vasil Radoslavov, had merely insisted on waiting until a favorable opportunity
presented itself. With the offer of the Central Powers in hand, Radoslavov
became less cautious. On May 29, he received a counterproposal from the
Allies, offering Bulgaria part of Serbian Macedonia, Thrace to the Enez-Midye
line, and Kavalla, and promising in addition to "regulate" the
long-standing Bulgarian-Rumanian conflict over Dobruja. Attractive though
these terms might have been, they were all contingent on the agreement
of Serbia, Greece, and Rumania and on the ability of the Allies to compensate
those states elsewhere. Ferdinand and Radoslavov realized that the Central
Powers, if victorious, would be in a better position to reward Bulgaria,
and they continued negotiations with Berlin, Vienna, and Constantinople.
In July, they secured from Turkey a concession forced in their behalf
by the Germans and Austrians. Turkey ceded to Bulgaria, in a treaty ratified
on September 22, the land west of the Maritsa and both banks of that river,
except for the city of Edirne (Adrianople). Meanwhile, on September 6,
the Bulgarian government agreed to a secret alliance with Germany and
Austria-Hungary. By its terms, Bulgaria was to join in operations against
Serbia and was in compensation to receive after the war all of Serbian
Macedonia and most of northeastern Serbia as far as the Morava River;
if Greece and Rumania entered the war, Bulgaria was also to receive the
lands lost earlier to them.
As German and Austrian forces mobilized for a southward
offensive, the Serbs yielded to urgent pressure from the British and French
and offered Bulgaria immediate concessions in Macedonia, but the Bulgarian
government was not deterred from its course. In October 1915, when the
forces of the Central Powers struck the Serbian lines, Bulgarian troops
joined them. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on October 14, and within
a few days Serbia and the other Allies declared war on her.
Rumania
At the time of Italy's intervention in the war, Rumania
had almost thrown in her lot with the Allies. The pro-German king, Carol
I, a cousin of the German emperor, had died in October 1914, and had been
replaced by his ineffectual nephew, Ferdinand I. A number of leading Rumanian
statesmen, including most of the Liberal Party leaders and Take lonescu
and Nicholas Filipescu of the Conservative Party, advocated joining the
Allies, but the premier, Ion Bratianu, insisted on opportunistic caution
and succeeded in resisting demands that Rumania act in concert with Italy.
Throughout the first two years of the war, Bratianu held his ground. Ever
more tempting blandishments were laid before him by the representatives
of the Central Powers and the Allies, but not until the summer of 1916
did he weaken. By that time the Allies were offering to double the territory
of prewar Rumania by ceding to her Bucovina, Transylvania, the Banat of
Temesvar, Maramures, and Cri5ana. Moreover, the Austrians had denuded
the Hungarian frontier in order to mount an offensive against Italy, and
this constituted an open invitation, as an Austrian statesman later wrote,
for "a Rumanian military promenade." Bratianu gave in and on
Aug. 17, 1916, signed with the Allies the Treaty of Bucharest, under which
Rumania was to receive all that they had previously offered in return
for a prompt attack on Austria-Hungary. Despite a divided vote in his
cabinet, Bratianu kept this pledge, and, on August 27, declared war.
Greece
The Greek government also came close to joining the Allies
in 1915, not because of the Italian intervention but because of the Turkish
concessions to Bulgaria. The most popular public figure in the country,
Eleutherios Venizelos, had been in favor of Greece's entering the war
in 1914, but the king, Constantine I, and the royalist party had insisted
successfully on a policy of neutrality. With evidence that Bulgaria was
about to enter the war, however, Venizelos renewed his appeals, arguing
that Greece should fulfill her 1913 treaty with Serbia, by the terms of
which she was to send 150,000 troops to Serbia's aid if that nation were
attacked by Bulgaria. In August 1915, the king reluctantly recalled Venizelos
to the premiership and even more reluctantly accepted Venizelos' decision
that, since Greece did not have the requisite 150,000 men, the Greek government
should invite the Allies to send such a force through Greece to the aid
of Serbia. The premier issued the invitation, and in October an Allied
force landed at Salonika. When Venizelos stirred the National Assembly
to a vote in favor of war with Bulgaria and Turkey, however, the king
balked. He forced Venizelos to resign on October 5, and brought in first
Alexandros ZaImes and then Stephanos Skoulodes as premiers who would preserve
Greek neutrality.
Both the Central Powers and the Allies exerted continual
and mounting pressure on the Greek government. Bulgaria seized a fortress
on the Greek frontier. The French commander at Salonika, Gen. Maurice
P. E. Sarrail, fomented antiroyalist agitation; and the French government
eventually made a formal demand that the king hold new elections, presumably
so that Venizelos' popularity could be proved. Then, after Rumania joined
the Allies, Venizelos proclaimed an open revolt, set up a provisional
government at Salonika, and on Nov. 25, 1916, issued a declaration of
war against Germany and Bulgaria. Aided by French and British funds and
naval support, he succeeded in establishing his sway over roughly half
the country. In June 1917, Constantine agreed to abdicate and allow his
young son, Alexander, to become king and Venizelos to resume office as
premier. Venizelos immediately sent
Greek troops into battle alongside the Allies, and the
governments of the Central Powers soon formally recognized a state of
war with Greece.
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