The Young Turk Period, 1908-1918 - PSI424

294 The Rise of Modern Turkey, 1808-1975
ing the boundaries on ethnic lines, with Christian governors, provincial elective
administrative councils, free education, native militias and gendarmes, new reforms
under Christian supervision, and the immediate demobilization of the entire Ottoman
army. Clearly, Ottoman agreement was not expected, and war declarations
from all sides followed during the next few days. Greece went on to announce its
formal annexation of Crete. 80
The war was disastrous for the Ottomans, particularly since the Greek fleet was
able not only to take a number of the Aegean Islands but also to prevent reinforcements
from being sent from Anatolia through the Aegean to the beleaguered garrisons
in Rumelia. The Bulgars wanted to move immediately into Macedonia, but
fear of an Ottoman offensive from Istanbul compelled them to send most of their
forces toward the Ottoman capital, allowing the Greeks and Serbs to conquer and
divide Macedonia before they could get there. The Bulgars moved rapidly into
eastern Thrace, routing the main Ottoman defense forces at Kirklareli (October
22-24) and putting Edirne under siege. With the CUP officers and their political
enemies fighting over strategy as well as politics, the Ottoman army retreated in
disorder to a new defense line at Liileburgaz, where the Bulgars routed it again
(October 22-November 2) and then advanced to Catalca, the last defense point
before Istanbul. After only a month of war, then, all of Thrace was gone and the
Bulgars were besieging Edirne and Istanbul.
To the west the Serbs quickly took much of northern Macedonia, including
Kosova (October 23) and then joined the Montenegrans in taking Pri§tina and
Novipazar and routing the remaining Ottoman forces at Komanova (October 23-
24). They then occupied much of northern Albania and put I§kodra under siege. In
the south the Greeks pushed west and north into Macedonia, taking Preveze (November
3) and, finally, the great prize of Salonica (November 8), getting there
just ahead of the Bulgars. Another Greek force took the Epirus and put Janina
under siege, taking most of southern Albania as well. In two months, therefore, the
Ottomans had lost all their remaining territories in Europe with the sole exception
of the four besieged cities. 81
In Istanbul the defeats, the food shortages, and the government's inability to pay
the salaries of bureaucrats and teachers led to a series of violent demonstrations,
which soon spread to the other major cities of the empire. For the first time in
modern memory the young men of Istanbul and of the provinces were fighting and
dying together on the battlefields, with hardly a family being spared. Those who
had long held properties in the remaining European provinces had lost them, and
many were reduced to poverty. Thousands of refugees streamed in from the north.
Misery and tragedy stalked the streets, and the government was blamed. The CUP
emphasized its role as a coalition of patriotic officers and bureaucrats who sought
to restore and modernize the empire. It now advocated a cabinet above party so
that all could cooperate for the common cause. But the Liberal Union and the
Group of Liberating Officers, though strongly critical of Ahmet Muhtar and his
government, were determined not to allow the CUP to share power in any way. 82
When the Muhtar cabinet resigned, then, the opposition got the sultan to replace
him with Kamil Pa§a, ostensibly so that he could use his British connections to
secure foreign intervention but actually just to keep the CUP out. 83 The new arrangement
did little good, however. The Triple Entente was unwilling to push the
Balkan states into the hands of Austria by opposing their advance, and the CUP
abandoned its patriotic stand for a new exertion of violence to secure control of
the government. Kamil Pa§a's first move was to propose that the powers bring