FEUILLETON Americans, Serbs, and Albanians in the Balkan Wars and World War I (2)

Writing for Kosovo Online: Dragan Bisenic, a journalist

"Dreamy and unattainable elements of Balkan characters"

While Moses was on one side, on the other were no less powerful British intelligence officer Aubrey Herbert and his close associate who worked for the Foreign Office, journalist Edith Durham, who sought the unification of all Albanian countries, financially supported by the US billionaire Charles Crane. They conspired to foment the Albanian uprising that preceded the Balkan League.

Moses recognized the uniqueness of the Balkan position. As he saw their position, he described it after completing his service in the 1921 "National Geographic". He categorized the Balkans as a part of the "Middle East", quoting Rudyard Kipling, who stated that "East is East, and West is West" and that they should "never meet".

But in the Middle East, "they meet", but "they never mix". There, life is a curious and colorful kaleidoscope of Europe and the Orient. Moses had previously explained that the region was characterized by "conquests and revolutions, savagery and progress, fanaticism and faith, chivalry and cowardice, greatness and cruelty, honor, and skill". To him, this spoke of "dreamy and unattainable elements of national quality, prerequisites for mental development and application..."

After facing Balkan problems, Moses soon realized the hindrance of Turkish presence in the Balkans and Europe. He, therefore, conveyed the US view that only united Balkan peoples could expel Turkey. This required four Balkan states to form an alliance. Traveling through the Balkans, and meeting with diplomats, foreign ministers, and prime ministers, Moses found like-minded individuals.

The role of David Bourchier

A significant role was played by the British journalist James David Bourchier. Bourchier was an Irishman, an Eton graduate, and a correspondent for "The Times" in the Balkans. He lived in Sofia from 1892 to 1915 and is thus associated with numerous landmarks in Bulgaria and Sofia. One of the busiest city streets, a peak in the Rila mountain, and a metro station in Sofia are named after him, although his most significant political influence was in Greece.

Bourchier had an incredible influence even by today's standards. After university, he began teaching at Eton. He was considered an undisciplined and inaccurate teacher, but he remained at Eton for ten years, despite his advancing deafness.

According to a portrayal of his life published by his newspaper, "The Times," in 1996, "he 'guarded his privacy, was nervous, haunted by his own deafness, likely a homosexual, but he was a close confidant of kings and ambassadors in the mazes of their intrigues".

He traveled extensively throughout the Balkans, first coming into contact with insurgents seeking independence in Crete, a cause he wholeheartedly supported. He visited monasteries in underdeveloped parts of Bulgaria, often lived with peasants, ate their food, and stayed in their homes, which gave him a unique insight into the lives of people and their places.

He learned Greek and Bulgarian and was proficient in other languages of the region. He was deaf, but despite his deafness, he easily and quickly made friends. He reported from four wars and many uprisings in Crete, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Romania, and Macedonia. Four kings he knew abdicated, and of the prime ministers and other statesmen who were sources of his information, 18 died violent deaths.

He also wrote with great authority on Greek archaeology and the classical world and was responsible for the popularizing interest in ancient Greece by writing for "The Times". He also reported from the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Often, with his servant Ivan Grujev, he would gallop through the city on horseback. In the royal palace, after Ferdinand declared himself King in 1908, one could hear the King speaking to him through his favorite ear trumpet, which he used in conversation with his interlocutors. He reported from both Balkan Wars and World War I and in every way sought to bring Bulgaria onto the side of the Entente.

The Greeks accused him of having a continuous pro-Bulgarian stance, but he also had problems with the Bulgarian Government after reporting on Government violence against the Pomaks, Bulgarian Muslims. Nevertheless, he remained an indefatigable defender of Bulgaria and its interests until the end of his life. When Bulgaria lost significant parts of its territory at the conference in Neuilly due to its participation on the side of the Central Powers in the war, Bulgaria did not attend the conference, and Bourchier represented it. He went from room to room explaining that the reason for Bulgaria's action was an unfulfilled sense of national unity, including the Macedonians. As some historians noted, he had played the same role for Bulgaria as T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") did for Saudi Arabia.

In a way, Bourchier was the diplomatic executor of the US idea of the Balkan League because it aligned with his thinking. Now he knew that he had at least one great power behind him because until then, no European power had taken into account the situation in the Balkans but rather tried not to offend the "Young Turks" and support them as much as possible.

Bourchier did not immediately want war. The first thing he wanted was to put pressure on Turkey. But it was unlikely to succeed. The Young Turks were riding high on success and praise from admirers across Western Europe. They spent a lot of money to build a strong army they could use against small states. Therefore, the program of peaceful resistance was hopeless.

The beginning of the Balkan League

After his discussions with Moses, Bourchier turned his attention to another possible solution to the problem. He asked, what force could the four Balkan states - Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro - use to liberate their compatriots from Turkish oppression? The Bulgarians were willing and had a trained army reorganized by Savov. They had an army of 250,000 people on the day of mobilization. The Serbian Army significantly improved after their defeat by the Bulgarians and could provide at least another 150,000 soldiers. The Greek army had the advantage of being trained by French officers, while English officers reorganized their navy. Even small Montenegro could participate in this war.

This marked the beginning of the Balkan League that expelled Turkey from Europe after 500 years of rule, as calculated by this Irishman, and it emerged from a discussion with the US Ambassador in Athens, the future senator from Massachusetts, George Moses.

During 1911, Russian and British diplomacy displayed their initiatives. In a dispatch from November 3 (by the old calendar, October 20), 1911, the then Serbian diplomat in London, Slavko Grujic, reported on an article from Belgrade that appeared on November 1 in "The Pall Mall Gazette". The article stated that the British Envoy, Sir Ralph Paget, had traveled to London because the British Foreign Office had called him to report on "certain political issues". Before his departure, he also met and had a lengthy conversation with Serbian Minister Milovan Milovanovic, "whose frequent meetings with the Russian envoy have been noticed by the Serbian press". The text was published on the front page under the headline: "England, Russia, and the Middle East: Voices about a grand plan for the Balkan League – a new protectorate?"

The article specifies that among Serbian politicians, there is talk of "a grand plan formulated by the Russian Envoy in Constantinople, Chirikov, and conveyed to the Grand Vizier, Said Pasha". According to this plan, "Albania and Macedonia would gain self-governance and, along with Turkey, would join Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro to form a Balkan League under the protectorate of Russia and England".

These two great powers would guarantee the "integrity of the Ottoman Empire in Asia and Europe and the independence of the Balkan League. Turkey, on its part, would have to commit never to enter into any combination hostile to Russia and England".

Tomorrow, the continuation of the feuilleton "Americans, Serbs, and Albanians in the Balkans and World War I"