Causes & Consequences of the Balkan Wars

Question: What were the causes and consequences of the two Balkan Wars

FIRST BALKAN WAR:
The first Balkan War began to spark when the Balkan League was formed. The League contained the four Balkan Powers: Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro. This alliance scared Turkey and the other Great Powers, because the Balkan Powers were opposed to them. This meant the threat of war. Turkey send a note on August 14th to the Balkan League telling them to, "act cautiously." The Balkan Powers used the Macedonian riots as a way to spark war, and began to mobilize their troops on September 30th 1912. However, they did not officially declare war until October 18th. Turkey, at this time was already conveniently weakened from war with Italy and did not stand a chance at defending themselves. The outcome of the First Balkan War was threatening to all of the Great Powers, especially that of Austria-Hungary whom was extremely opposed to Serbia's expansion to a coastline. Russia and France although did support Serbia. On December 17th a peace conference was held to "end" the war. As a result Turkey was asked to give up Adrianople and Crete, but refused to do so. This conference allowed for very little progress due to the fact that on February 3rd Turkey declared war once again, and was quickly defeated. A truce was signed on April 16th and the Bulgarians claimed Adrianople. The official Treaty of London was signed May 30th once the negotiations had come to an end. As an outcome Greece overtook Crete, southern Macedonia was given to Salonika, Albania became independant, and Bulgaria claimed Thrace, while Serbia won much of Macedonia in the central and northern regions.

SECOND BULKAN WAR:
The main cause of the Second Bulkan War was due to the dissatisfaction of the negotiations in the Treaty of London. Serbia was looking to expand to the Adriatic Sea and was not able to. They also felt that their share of Macedonia was not enough. Bulgaria however, quite opposed this view, and felt that Macedonia was to be left "to arbitration by the Tsar." On June 1st 1913 Serbia and Greece formed an alliance in attempts to win back what they thought was unfair treatment and had been denied to them. Bulgaria also had the same intentions. On June 29th the war began. Serbia and Greece declared war on Bulgaria due to an attack. Romania and Turkey joeined with Serbia as a way to "choke" Bulgaria. Because of the Treaty of Bucharest, signed August 10th, Bulgaria was forced to give up much of their claimed land. This success caused Serbia to become power hungry and invade Albania on claims that they had attacked Western Serbia. Austria-Hungary intervened however, and demanded that the Serbians end the invasion. The consequences of these wars enabled the Balkan powers to make prestigious and territorial gains. They cut into the plans of Austria-Hungary and Russia, whom had planned for the domination of the Balkan Powers. This meant that there was an uneasy ground for the Great Powers as well as the Balkan Powers, and this tension may have contributed to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.