Allies intended to divide it.
(1912-13)]

Bulgaria in 1909 announced to the world that she would pay no more
tribute to Turkey, and after this was to be counted one of the
independent nations of Europe. The Bulgarians had grown so strong and
the Turks so weak, that Turkey did not dare go to war, so permitted
the matter to go unnoticed. The only thing on which all the Balkan
nations and Greece could agree was their bitter hatred of the Turks,
who had oppressed and wronged them cruelly for the last three hundred
and fifty years.

Russia, always plotting to overthrow Turkey, at last accomplished a
wonderful bit of diplomacy. She encouraged Bulgaria, Serbia,
Montenegro, and Greece to forget their old time dislike of each other,
for the time being, and declare war jointly on Turkey. In order that
there should not be any quarreling over the spoils when the war was
over, the four little nations agreed, in a secret treaty, that when
they got through with Turkey, they would divide up the carcass as
shown in the opposite map. The head, including Constantinople, was to
be left for Russia, of course. Bulgaria was to take the back and the
great part of the body, Greece was to annex the drumsticks and the
second joint. The rest of the body was to go to Serbia with the
exception of the very tail, including the city of Scutari, which was
to be given to Montenegro. Serbia was at last to have a seacoast and a
chance to trade with other nations than Austria. The Serbs had a
grudge against the Austrians, for the latter, taking advantage of the
fact that all Serbian trade with Europe had to go through their
country, had charged them exorbitant prices for manufactured goods and
paid them very little for their own products in return. Bulgaria was
to have Kavala (ka va'la) as a seaport on the Aegean and all the
coast of that sea as far as the Gallipoli (gal i'po li)
peninsula. Greece was to have the important city of Salonika
(saloni'ka), southern Macedonia, and southern Albania.

With this secret agreement between them, the four little states went
to war with Turkey. In accordance with the new friendship sprung up
between Germany and the Ottomans, German officers and generals were
sent to Constantinople to drill the Turkish troops. Cannon and machine
guns were sent them from German factories, and their rifles were fed
with German bullets. The four little countries, accordingly, turned to
France and Russia for assistance. Their troops wer