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In October 1912, the Balkan Alliance – Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece – declared war on the Ottoman Empire. At its conclusion in 1913, the Ottomans’ presence in Europe was reduced to a bridgehead in Thrace. To the victors, this was the capstone of their centuries-long struggle for freedom from Ottoman yoke. To the great European powers, however, it was a catastrophe that threatened their imperial plans.