The Balkan Wars

A Captivating Guide to the First and Second Balkan War and Their Impact on World War I

By: Captivating History

Narrated by: Jason Zenobia

Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Did you know that the Balkan Peninsula is often referred to as the “powder keg of Europe?”

It was a term devised in the early 20th century to describe the unstable political situation in the region just before it exploded into a conflict known as the First World War. The Balkan Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro) and its allies and the Ottoman Empire. But, these wars didn’t involve any of the great European powers such as Germany, France, or the United Kingdom. This is what makes them less known, but they were crucial for the development of the European political scene.

The Balkan Wars were first fought for ethnic groups that were ruled by the Ottoman Empire, so they could gain their complete independence and expand their territory. Looking up to the successful western states, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece wanted to achieve national states with a territory that would gather all their ethnic brothers into one state.

Listen to Captivating History’s The Balkan Wars to understand the origins of the conflict, as well as:

• The national aspirations of the Balkan people
• How Bulgaria gained independence just to lose it against its will
• The creation of the Balkan League
• How Bulgarians pushed the Ottomans out of Thrace and Europe
• How they lost Macedonia, their ultimate goal, in the process
• The role of the Greek navy in the Balkan Wars
• How Greece took Thessaly and its main prize, the Port of Thessaloniki
• Why the Montenegrins were tied to Serbia and what their role in the war was
• Why Serbia and Greece agreed on an alliance
• Why Romania and the Ottoman Empire jumped into the conflict
• How it all ended with a peace treaty signed in Bucharest and Constantinople

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the Balkan Wars, scroll up, and click the "buy now" button!

©2021 Captivating History (P)2021 Captivating History

A good guide to this complex region and conflcts

This region is very complex and the conflicts that have arisen there are very complicated and impactful on modern history. This audiobook does a wonderful job of clearly delineating how these conflicts arose from the different powers both in the region and outside the region that had their own agendas. The way the story is structured you can easily see the ebb and flow of different nations and peoples and how the tensions led to the various conflicts.

Jason Zenobia's narration is engaging and enjoyable as always.

the balkan wars

Another great book from captivating history. It was very interesting learning about this time before WW1

Very nice discussion of a precursor to WWI

I was only vaguely familiar with the Balkan Wars of the early 20th century. Thanks to Captivating History I now know more. This work covered both wars and their inadvertent lead-in to the first World War. With excellent narration by Jason Zenobia this work continues Captivating History's excellent group of works of history. Highly recommended.

For major history buffs, well done

This was really helpful because I’m researching the causes of World War One. It is very detailed, and contains tons of information, but sometimes felt dry because of the amount of dates and names. I’m sure that was simply because the wars were so complicated, and the political situation. It was very thorough, and I needed to listen to several parts repeatedly. Great for serious history study, possibly not casual listening. Excellent narration.

lost interest about halfway through

I love listening to Jason Zenobia (aside from his pronunciation of Herzegovina), but even he couldn't keep me interested. I eventually just stopped listening and fast-forwarded to the end so I could leave a review

I'm sure many will enjoy this, but I'm not 1

Complex

Difficult to follow, need less detail and more explanation of why the fighting continued. How did the general population feel about this? Did the general populace support the wars?