ABSTRACT
Following its losses in the Italian and Balkan Wars of 1911–13 Turkey found itself in a precarious strategic position. The reconquest of Edirne (Adrianople) in July 1913 under Enver Bey in the Second Balkan War had pushed the empire’s truncated borders back 200 kilometers westward, restoring a strategic cushion to the vulnerable capital. However, Enver’s great victory could not hide the fact that Rumeli, the “Balkan” provinces of the Ottoman Empire, had largely ceased to exist by August 1913: Turkey had lost 80 percent of its European territory and about two-thirds of its European subjects, not to mention every Aegean island but two; Gökçeada (Imbros) and Bozcaada (Tenedos). An empire that had once straddled two continents was now listing heavily toward its Asian side, with the percentage of subjects residing in Europe dropping from nearly half to only about 20 percent.
