Refugees and Retaliation in Turkey

Misery in Constantinople.

Refugees Continue to Arrive – Reports of Massacres Corroborated.

Special Cable to the New York Times.

London, Tuesday, Nov 12. – The Daily Telegraph’s Constantinople correspondent wires via Constanza:

   “Constantinople presents a very mournful aspect.

   “Mussulmen families from the country, worn out with hunger and fatigue, continue to flock into town.

   “All the hospitals are filed with the wounded to such an extent that it is impossible to give them all the proper attention, and in certain hospitals gangrene has begun to make its appearance. Pitiful cases are related of soldiers dying, not from wounds, by from starvation.

   “To crown all these calamities, the authorities now admit an outbreak of cholera.

   “Constantinople, however, remains perfectly calm, and no single case of aggression is reported. At the same time there appears to be no doubt that in the immediate environs, or example at Silivri, on the Sea of Marmora, a few miles from Tchatalja, massacres have taken place, and details given to the Silivri affair contain a fact which is perhaps presented for the first time in Turkish history, namely, that the massacres were not political, but religious, as it is announced that Greeks, Armenians, and Jews were killed indiscriminately.”

Balkan League Gaining Momentum Against the Ottoman Empire

One month into the First Balkan War and the Momentum of the War appears to be completely on the side of the Balkan League, as they march towards Istanbul. An account, published in the New York Times, also demonstrates the role of the Great Powers in this war, and wars to come.

Difficult Questions Now Up.

Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES

   London, Saturday, Nov 9. – With Salonika fallen to the Greeks, Adrianople almost fallen, and the Bulgarian attack upon Tchatalja lines progressing favorably, the Balkan war in the full sense of the word is practically over. There now remains only the settlement of the questions which the war has raised.

   The difficulties of that settlement are now bulking greater than ever. Bulgaria officially declared, in a communiqué issued in London yesterday, that her army must enter Constantinople in order to obtain a stable and lasting peace, but not remain there. This the question of the ultimate ownership of Constantinople is left open to the possible solution by what undoubtedly is the easiest course at present within the power of European diplomacy, namely, that of leaving the peninsula on which Stamboul stands as a last remnant of the Ottoman dominion in Europe.

   This is the most favorable aspect of the diplomatic situation that the news of the past twenty-four hours presents. The most unfavorable feature is the approaching crisis in the relations of Austria and Servia. The news of Austria’s attitude cabled to the New York Times’s Vienna correspondent to-day:  

   Austria is absolutely determined not to allow Servia to occupy an Adriatic port, even at the risk of Servia’s being supported by Russia.  The Austrian view is fully supported by Germany and Italy.

Austria Suspicious of Russia.

   Austria offers Servia a seaport on the Aegean. Servia shows every sign of persisting in her ambition for an outlet on the Adriatic. In Vienna there exists a strong suspicion that she is being encouraged by Russia, and although a London news agency yesterday circulated a report to the effect that the powers of the Triple Entente had notified Servia that while felling the warmest sympathy with her in her desire for an Asiatic port, they hoped she would consent to submit the matter to international decision in the interests of European peace, this morning’s Times denies that Russian, France and England have yet taken up any definite position on the question. The situation thus seems to be one of extreme delicacy and difficulty.

   The serious view taken of the international outlook may be gauged by a leader in this morning’s Telegraph, which says:

   “At the end of the week of such anxiety as the diplomacy of Europe has not known in many years it is our duty to say that the situation in the Near East gives more ground for apprehension than has existed at any time since the opening of the war.”

  

The Cruelest and Fiercest War Set to Start in the Balkans

Accounts of the start of the Balkan War from the London Daily Mail's Correspondent's perspective. Note the Ottoman bias in the account.

WAR DECLARATIONS TO-DAY.

States Said to be in Perfect Accord –

Powers Taking Precautions.

Special Cable to The New York Times.

LONDON, Thursday, Oct. 10. – The Daily Mail’s special correspondent in Vienna telegraphs:

“Europe stands on the threshold of a general conflagration in the Balkans, an event, which, viewed from Vienna, the half way house between Europe and the Near East, is fraught with the gravest possibilities in view of the all too imperfect accord at present existing between the great powers.

 “From a source in the closest touch with the Balkan Governments I have received information which I transmit, fully conscious of its gravity.

 “I am in a position to state that the action of Montenegro in breaking diplomatic relations with the Porte and declaring war was not a hasty action. Inspired by the personal ambition of King Nicholas, it was the first move in a most carefully preconcerted plan elaborated by the Balkan League, and Europe to-morrow (Thursday) will witness consecutive steps in the plan.

 “While the great powers were bickering over the Austrian and British objections to the intervention proposals of Premier Poincaré, with the result that their intervention became practically useless, the Balkan Governments, leaving their representatives abroad completely in the dark, tranquilly pursued the way prescribed by the provisions of a secret  agreement between them. It is possible that King Nicholas anticipated events by a day or so, but it was part of the arrangement for Montenegro to strike first, as the information of the Balkan allies showed that the Turkish troops were weakest at the Montenegrin frontier.

 “The next move in the plan will be concerted action by Bulgaria and Servia. Their ministers at Constantinople may already, this afternoon, have demanded their passports, or will do so by to-morrow. The rupture of diplomatic negotiations will be followed by a formal declaration of war, whereupon the Bulgarian Army, with the Servian force on its right wing, will instantly take the offensive. It is not impossible that a Servo-Bulgarian force is already drawing near the Turkish frontier.

 “I have the impression that the events have been delayed by the slowness of the Greek mobilization, and that it is this circumstance, and not any intention on the part of the Balkan States to admit the intervention of the powers, that has prevented a declaration of war by the Balkan league up to the present, and may yet delay the climax by twenty-four hours.

 “I have reason to believe that the answer of the Balkan States to the representations of Austria and Russia will take the following form: They will point out that during the past few days their relations with Turkey have become so bad that they cannot be remedied by intervention of the great powers, and will add that the note of the powers does not contain any guarantees adequate to assure the prompt and efficient execution of reforms in the Turkish provinces.

 “The great powers have been hoodwinked by the Balkan League like a greenhorn over a horse deal. While the European diplomacy was working miracles of speed in patching up an accord between powers to facilitate intervention at the earliest possible moment, events in the Balkans were steadily marching on.

 “The King of the Montenegrins will have a hearty laugh at his headquarters in the mountain fastnesses if ever he reads the ingenious disquisitions of the Vienna press regarding his alleged desire to steal the halo of the King of Servia.”

 Very little hope remains in London that Bulgaria will longer delay a declaration of war. From the military point of view, she would be badly advised to do so. Her superior organization and readiness for war give her an advantage and, as the Military Correspondent of the Times points out:

 “Considering the lengths to which matters have already gone, it would be an act of military folly for Bulgaria, if she is sure of her stroke, to waste time in negotiations which might, if prolonged, entirely transform the situation. Whether with or without a declaration of war, we must expect now to hear very soon of combats of advanced guards.”

 M.H.Donohoe, The Daily Chronicle’s correspondent in Constantinople, wires: “It is the general expectation that  the war will be one of the cruelest and fiercest ever known, and that the civil populations will suffer equally with the armies.”

 The Time Sofia correspondent says he learns from Bukarest that the Rumanian government has tendered explicit assurances to Bulgaria with regard to Rumania’s attitude of neutrality. The intimation was couched in most friendly language.

 Last month the Turkish government made great efforts to obtain the cooperation of Rumania.

SS Octopus completes Torpedo Tests

Royal Flying Corps Commander speaks on Military Aviation

General David Henderson, first commander of the Royal Flying Corps, outlines the future of military aviation, as reported by the New York Times on May 19, 1912

Lt General Sir David Henderson

Italy conquers Dodecanese Islands

Location of the Dodecanese Islands

Ottoman rule ends on Karpathos on May 12, 1912, when the Italians conquered the island, together with the whole Dodecanese, during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12. On that day sailors of the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) ship Vittorio Emanuele and the destroyer Alpino landed in Karpathos.





From the New York Times:

Machine Gun Fired from Airplane for First Time

May 8, 1912

A machine gun was fired from an airplane for the first time, in a test conducted near the College Park, Maryland, airfield by the U.S. Army. Charles deForest Chandler, chief of the Aeronautical Division of the Signal Corps, was able to fire a 28-pound Lewis Gun to hit targets on the ground, while Lt. Thomas D. Milling piloted the Wright biplane