Just some old photos from the Balkans (part 1)

In 1903-1904 Henry Noel Brailsford visited Macedonia and the Balkan peninsula, and made some extraordinary photos. His collection was later published in his book Macedonia: Its races and its future.

Link for the book.

The Main Street, Ochrida

“A Desert Swept by a Hurricane” – the Village of Zagoritchani After the Ilinden uprising in 1903

A Poor Village of the Plains (near Ochrida)

Peasants from a Poor Village (Ochrida)

Peasants from a Rich Village (Uskub)

A Prosperous Village Among the Hills. (Brusnik, near Monastir/Bitola)

Peasants Weaving (Near Ochrida)

Ancient Church of St. Sophia (Ochrida)

Monastery of Sveti Naoum, Lake Ochrida

Monastery near Ochrida

T o   b e   c o n t i n u e d . . .

Operations of the Serbian army in the Balkan war’s 1912-1913 through pictures (part 4)

Part one

Part two

Part three

Bloody vineyard’s

Serbian army march

Serbian artillery attacking the Bulgarian positions (1)

Serbian artillery attacking the Bulgarian positions (2)

Captured Bulgarian soldiers

Peasant woman

Discussion

Commemoration of the fallen soldiers

Serbs leaving Albania

Peace

Heir to the throne Alexander

 

T H E    E N D

Operations of the Serbian army in the Balkan war’s 1912-1913 through pictures (part 2)

Part one

Field hospital

City of Skopje, autumn 1912

Serbian army entering Tetovo, 1912

Mavrovi Anovi, village in western parts of Macedonia

Serbian army crossing the Albanian mountains

Towards Adriatic sea

Durrës, Albania 1912

Meeting of the Montenegrin and Serbian army in Novi Pazar

Shkodra in northern Albania, 1912-1913

Serbian army coming to help Bulgarian soldiers near Edirne

On the river Maritsa/Evros

Camp of the Serbian army in Thrace

Front line, Edirne, 1912-1913

Winter is coming

Army tent

Positions near Edirne

T o   b e   c o n t i n u e d . . .

Operations of the Serbian army in the Balkan war’s 1912-1913 through pictures (part 1)

The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkan Peninsula in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913. The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, and was fought between the kingdoms of Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria & Montenegro on one side, and the Ottoman empire on the other. The victory over the Ottoman army was to prove relatively easy. The Balkan forces numbered about 700,000, against 320,000 for their adversary. With the defeat of the Ottoman army the Turkish state lost all of its territories in Europe. The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, unsatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies repulsed the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked, entering Bulgaria. With Bulgaria also having previously engaged in territorial disputes with Romania, this war provoked Romanian intervention against Bulgaria. The Ottoman Empire also took advantage of the situation to regain some lost territories from the previous war. When Romanian troops approached the capital Sofia, Bulgaria asked for an armistice, resulting in the Treaty of Bucharest, in which Bulgaria had to cede portions of its First Balkan War gains to Serbia, Greece, Romania and the Ottomans.

(sources : Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans: 20th Century, Cambridge University Press, 1983 ; V. Albert, Balkanski rat 1912-1913 )

Mobilization of the Serbian army, October 1912

Crossing the ottoman border

Serbian field artillery

On the front line

Serbian cavalry

Battlefield near Kumanovo, present day Rep. of Macedonia, October 1912

Dead soldier

Advance of the Serbian cavalry

Heading toward Prilep & Bitola, present day Rep. of Macedonia

Army convoys

T o   b e   c o n t i n u e d . . .