Major Wars Of 20th Century
The background to the wars lies in the incomplete emergence of nation states on the fringes of the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century. Serbia had gained substantial territory during the Russo Turkish War of 1877 78, while Greece acquired Thessaly in 1881 (although she lost a small area to Turkey in 1897) and Bulgaria (an autonomous principality since 1878) incorporated the formerly distinct province of Eastern Rumelia (1885). All three as well as tiny Montenegro sought additional territories within the large Turkish ruled regions known as Albania, Macedonia and Thrace.Tensions among the Balkan states over their rival aspirations in Macedonia subsided somewhat following intervention by the great Powers in the mid 1900s aimed at securing both fuller protection for the provinces Christian majority and protection of the status quo. The question of Ottoman rules viability revived, however, after the Young Turk revolution of July 1908 compelled the Sultan to restore the suspended Ottoman constitution.
While Austria Hungary seized the opportunity of the resulting Ottoman political uncertainty to annex the formally Ottoman province of Bosnia Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878, Bulgaria declared itself a fully independent kingdom (October 1908) and the Greeks of Crete proclaimed unification with Greece, though the opposition of the great powers prevented the latter action from taking practical effect. Frustrated in the north by Austria Hungarys incorporation of Bosnia with its 825,000 Orthodox Serbs (and many more Serbs and Serb sympathizers of other faiths), and forced (March 1909) to accept the annexation and restrain anti Habsburg agitation among Serbian nationalist groups, the Serbian government looked to formerly Serb territories in the south, notably Old Serbia (the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and the province of Kosovo).On August 28, 1909, demonstrating Greek officers urging constitutional revision and a more nationalist foreign policy secured the appointment of a more sympathetic government which they hoped would resolve the Cretan issue in Greeces favour and reverse the defeat of 1897. Bulgaria, which had secured Ottoman recognition of her independence in April 1909 and enjoyed the friendship of Russia, also looked to districts of Ottoman Thrace and north eastern Macedonia for expansion. In March 1910, an Albanian insurrection broke out in Kosovo. In August 1910 Montenegro followed Bulgarias precedent by becoming a kingdom. Initially under the encouragement of Russian agents, a series of agreements were concluded between Serbia and Bulgaria in March 1912 and between Greece and Bulgaria in May 1912. Montenegro subsequently concluded agreements between Serbia and Bulgaria respectively in October 1912. The Serbian Bulgarian agreement specifically called for the partition of Macedonia. Then on October 8, 1912 the First Balkan War began when Montenegro declared war against Turkey pre empting a warning from Russia and Austria Hungary. Albania declared independence on November 28, 1912. On December 2, the Balkan League signed an armistice with Turkey ending the war. Turkey withdrew to the Enos Media Line. An initial peace was concluded at the Treaty of London in May 1913. By the time of the Armistice, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece had overrun Albania. At the Treaty of London, Austria Hungary and Italy strongly supported the creation of an independent Albania. In light of this, Serbia and Greece sought compensation from the Macedonian territories that had been overrun by Bulgaria. Bulgaria unsuccessfully attempted to resist this by force of arms. Defeated by Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania and Turkey in the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria signed an Armistice on July 31, 1913. At the Treaty of Bucharest in August 1913, the final territorial adjustments were made.
Sun re established the KMT in the form of a secret society while exiled in Japan in 1914 and returned in 1918 to establish a rival government at Guangzhou. In 1923, the KMT and its government accepted aid from the Soviet Union after being denied recognition by the western powers. Soviet advisers the most prominent of whom was an agent of the Comintern, Mikhail Borodin began to arrive in China in 1923 to aid in the reorganization and consolidation of the KMT along the lines of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, establishing a Leninist party structure that lasted into the 1990s. The Communist Party of China was under Comintern instructions to cooperate with the KMT, and its members were encouraged to join while maintaining their party identities, forming the First United Front between the two parties. Soviet advisers also helped the Nationalists set up a political institute to train propagandists in mass mobilization techniques and in 1923 sent Chiang Kai shek, one of Suns lieutenants from Tongmeng Hui days, for several monthsmilitary and political study in Moscow.At the first party congress in 1924, which included non KMT delegates such as members of the CPC, they adopted Suns political theory, which included the Three Principles of the People nationalism, democracy, and the livelihood of the people.
The background to the wars lies in the incomplete emergence of nation states on the fringes of the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century. Serbia had gained substantial territory during the Russo Turkish War of 1877 78, while Greece acquired Thessaly in 1881 (although she lost a small area to Turkey in 1897) and Bulgaria (an autonomous principality since 1878) incorporated the formerly distinct province of Eastern Rumelia (1885). All three as well as tiny Montenegro sought additional territories within the large Turkish ruled regions known as Albania, Macedonia and Thrace. Tensions among the Balkan states over their rival aspirations in Macedonia subsided somewhat following intervention by the great Powers in the mid 1900s aimed at securing both fuller protection for the provinces Christian majority and protection of the status quo. The question of Ottoman rules viability revived, however, after the Young Turk revolution of July 1908 compelled the Sultan to restore the suspended Ottoman constitution.
While Austria Hungary seized the opportunity of the resulting Ottoman political uncertainty to annex the formally Ottoman province of Bosnia Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878, Bulgaria declared itself a fully independent kingdom (October 1908) and the Greeks of Crete proclaimed unification with Greece, though the opposition of the great powers prevented the latter action from taking practical effect. Frustrated in the north by Austria Hungarys incorporation of Bosnia with its 825,000 Orthodox Serbs (and many more Serbs and Serb sympathizers of other faiths), and forced (March 1909) to accept the annexation and restrain anti Habsburg agitation among Serbian nationalist groups, the Serbian government looked to formerly Serb territories in the south, notably Old Serbia (the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and the province of Kosovo).
On August 28, 1909, demonstrating Greek officers urging constitutional revision and a more nationalist foreign policy secured the appointment of a more sympathetic government which they hoped would resolve the Cretan issue in Greeces favour and reverse the defeat of 1897. Bulgaria, which had secured Ottoman recognition of her independence in April 1909 and enjoyed the friendship of Russia, also looked to districts of Ottoman Thrace and north eastern Macedonia for expansion. In March 1910, an Albanian insurrection broke out in Kosovo. In August 1910 Montenegro followed Bulgarias precedent by becoming a kingdom.Initially under the encouragement of Russian agents, a series of agreements were concluded between Serbia and Bulgaria in March 1912 and between Greece and Bulgaria in May 1912. Montenegro subsequently concluded agreements between Serbia and Bulgaria respectively in October 1912. The Serbian Bulgarian agreement specifically called for the partition of Macedonia.Then on October 8, 1912 the First Balkan War began when Montenegro declared war against Turkey pre empting a warning from Russia and Austria Hungary. Albania declared independence on November 28, 1912. On December 2, the Balkan League signed an armistice with Turkey ending the war. Turkey withdrew to the Enos Media Line. An initial peace was concluded at the Treaty of London in May 1913.
By the time of the Armistice, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece had overrun Albania. At the Treaty of London, Austria Hungary and Italy strongly supported the creation of an independent Albania. In light of this, Serbia and Greece sought compensation from the Macedonian territories that had been overrun by Bulgaria. Bulgaria unsuccessfully attempted to resist this by force of arms. Defeated by Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania and Turkey in the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria signed an Armistice on July 31, 1913. At the Treaty of Bucharest in August 1913, the final territorial adjustments were made.
Between February and October numerous anarchist and communist (Bolshevik) revolutionists attempted to foment further revolution. In July, the St. Petersburg Military section of the Bolshevik Party, in combination with a major working class Bolshevik Party branch and the Petrograd anarchists, fomented a civil revolt. However, this revolt failed.The October Revolution was led by Lenin and was based upon the ideas of Karl Marx. It marked the beginning of the spread of communism in the twentieth century. It was far less sporadic than the revolution of February and came about as the result of deliberate planning and coordinated activity to that end. On November 7, 1917, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin led his leftist revolutionaries in a nearly bloodless revolt against the ineffective Kerensky Provisional Government (Russia was still using the Julian Calendar at the time, so period references show an October 25 date). The October Revolution ended the phase of the revolution instigated in February, replacing Russias short lived liberal government with a bolshevik one. Although many bolsheviks (such as Leon Trotsky) supported a soviet democracy, the reform from above model gained definitive power when Lenin died and Stalin gained control of the USSR. Trotsky and his supporters, as well as a number of other democratically minded communists, were persecuted and eventually imprisoned or killed.
After October 1917, many esers (Socialist Revolutionaries) and Russian Anarchists opposed the Bolsheviks through the soviets. When this failed, they revolted in a series of events calling for a third revolution. The most notable instances were the Tambov rebellion, 1919 1921, and the Kronstadt rebellion in March 1921. These movements, which made a wide range of demands and lacked effective coordination, were eventually crushed during the Civil War. The Russian Civil War, which broke out in 1918 shortly after the revolution, brought death and suffering to millions of people regardless of their political orientation. The war was fought mainly between the Reds, the communists and revolutionaries, and the Whites the monarchists, conservatives, liberals and socialists who opposed the Bolshevik Revolution. The Whites had backing from nations such as the UK and USA. Also during the Civil War, Nestor Makhno lead a Ukrainian anarchist movement which generally cooperated with the Bolsheviks. However, a Bolshevik force under Mikhail Frunze destroyed the Makhnovist movement, when the Makhnovists refused to merge into the Red Army. In addition, the so called Green Army (nationalists and anarchists) played a secondary role in the war, mainly in Ukraine.
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