Montenegrin–Bulgarian Relations before and during the First Balkan War

Abstract

This article discusses Montenegrin–Bulgarian relations before the First Balkan War, which Montenegro and Bulgaria, together with their allies Serbia and Greece, waged against Turkey. Montenegrin–Bulgarian relations improved from 1878 to 1912. These two states had no territorial conflicts, but both were conscious that war against Turkey would be essential if they were to liberate the Balkans from the Ottoman occupation that had lasted five centuries. There was also an emotional basis for this idea of a war. Both countries were Slavic, a feature also shared by Russia, the protector of the Balkan League. Russia wanted to expel the Ottoman state from the Balkans. The Balkan League of States under its patronage was against the thesis of the Central Powers. The way events turned out at the end of the First Balkan War, as well as the fact that Montenegro was ethnically closer to Serbia than to Bulgaria, led to Montenegro going to war against Bulgaria in 1913, although Montenegro had no particular benefit from that war.