Balkan Wars

The Balkan Wars were two wars fought in the small region of the Balkans - a part of Europe. The first Balkan War was from 1912-1913, and the second was from 1913-1914. In the first war, four countries (Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro) all wanted to get their freedom from the Ottoman Empire, which was a large, powerful country that controlled a lot of land in the Balkan area. To do this, these four countries banded together and fought against the Ottoman Empire. They were successful, and all four countries became independent, although at the same time, they all fought against each other to see who could get the biggest chunk of that newly freed land. Eventually, all four countries agreed to a compromise and split the pieces of land among them. Unfortunately, it didn't last long, as the second Balkan War began a few months later. In this war, Serbia and Greece fought Bulgaria and Montenegro over who was going to have control of the region of Macedonia. Again, eventually, they all agreed to a compromise, but not before much fighting and bloodshed.