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Bulgarian reservists in Sofia
On October 19, 1915, Italy and Russia declared war on Bulgaria, following the latter’s attack on Serbia. Of the Balkan states, Bulgaria was the first to come into the war on the side of the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Between 1815 and 1915 the “Eastern Question” was a major point of contention in European affairs. As the Ottoman Empire began to disintegrate, the European great powers, Britain, France, Austria-Hungary and Russia, vied for control over the Balkan Peninsula and the fate of the territories that it contained. The question of control of the region was strategic due to the peninsula’s geographic location, at the crossroads of the Russian, Ottoman and Austria-Hungary Empires and with access to several important waterways.
As a Bolshevik manifesto issued in 1912 to the Russian workers and peasants said: “In Eastern Europe, the monarchs still share out the peoples, exchange and trade in them, putting together different nationalities into patchwork states to promote their own dynastic interests, very much as the landowners under the serf system used to break up and shuffle the families of their subject peasants.”
Of the Balkan states, Serbia and Montenegro had been at war since the beginning of World War One, in alliance with Russia, Britain and France. Bulgaria had maintained a neutral stance, still suffering economically from its involvement in the Balkan wars. Its strategic location meant that it was seen as a desired ally by both warring sides who courted it by offering territory in return for support. By September 1915, Germany, Austria Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were able to meet Bulgarian demands and an alliance was struck. Bulgaria called for a general mobilisation of its armies and declared war on and invaded Serbia on October 14.
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