I. Balkan Savaşi’nin Doğu Harekât Alaninda Osmanli Şark Ordusu’nun Harp Tari̇hi̇ Bağlaminda Anali̇zi̇

Abstract

The misdirection acts of both national and international press for the Ottoman public opinion about that the Balkan War would not occur had succeeded in the bureaucracy area of the Ottoman State and in this misperception atmosphere, the Ottoman Army was caught very unprepared for a war that would take place very soon. In this unprepared war, the Ottoman State left its geographical position that firstly arrived in the 14th century, and perhaps that was the main source of its power, and also in this region, Ottoman State left a mass of population which owning a very strong moral connection with themselves. In terms of Ottoman, amidst the causes of these wars that had been lost in Balkan geography; the importance of religious, political and economic factors is doubtless. But the wrongs those made in the military area have another important cause of this distressing result. On the eve of the Balkan War, crucial geography which has been ruling for centuries was lost mainly due to wrong military force concentration, also the ignorance of military education, equipment, hardware deficiencies, reflections of intra-military politics and insufficient compliance with war principles. Moreover, by population movements, demographic structure of the region had also changed. The Balkan Wars, which would be remembered as the "the Balkan Tragedy" by the Ottomans, and which had significantly changed the political map of the Balkans, had been a preparation for a kind of World War I with its effects. In this article, the east operation area of the First Balkan War will be examined on the main axis of "organization equipment-guns-reflections-training-war principles" and findings that will be put forth in terms of military history.