ONE hundred years ago war was raging in Europe but almost
everyone seems to have forgotten this. After the Ottoman defeat
by the Italians in Libya, in autumn 1912 the Montenegrins,
Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians allied to drive the Turks out of
their remaining possessions in Europe. In the second Balkan war,
in 1913, the Bulgarians, feeling cheated, fought the Serbs and
the Greeks. The Romanians joined in, and the Ottomans got some
territory back. The wars cost perhaps 200,000 lives and reshaped
the map of south-eastern Europe. They ushered in an era of
ethnic cleansing and population exchanges, which saw millions
lose their homes and ancient communities uprooted and dispersed.
The two Balkan wars were also the overture of the first world
war. The final spark that set the powder keg alight was the
assassination in Sarajevo of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian
imperial throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.
Commemorations of the centenary in the region have been
surprisingly low-key. In some places it did not