The reason behind the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 was to partition the remaining territories of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, namely Macedonia and Albania. How to divide Macedonia among Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria was the cause of the Second Balkan War, in which Bulgaria was defeated, and Macedonia was divided among the three countries. Its largest portion went to Greece.

Bulgaria and Serbia, by a secret treaty signed on March 13, 1912, had agreed on apportioning the remaining territories of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. Following the Bulgarian-Serbian agreement, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece concluded a military alliance in the summer of 1912, and declared war on the Ottoman Empire on October 18, 1912. After the First Balkan War, all the Balkan territories belonging to the Ottoman Empire west of the line of Midye (Black Sea)-Enez (Aegean Sea) in Eastern Thrace were left to the Balkan states under the London Treaty of May 30, 1913.

However, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria soon began to quarrel over the division of Macedonia, and a second Balkan war broke out. By the end of this war, Bulgaria was defeated and lost a considerable part of the territories it gained during the First Balkan War. It was forced to sign the Bucharest Treaty on August 10, 1913. This is the agreement which has divided Macedonia among Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria.

According to this division of Macedonia, Vardar Macedonia, where the Republic of Macedonia is now located, has 25,713 km2, Pirin Macedonia in Bulgaria has 6,789 km2, and Aegean Macedonia in Greece has 34,602 km2 of geographical Macedonia. In this way, Macedonia was partitioned between Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria: 51.57 per cent went to Greece, 38.32 per cent to Serbia and 10.11 per cent to Bulgaria.

Nevertheless, the Bucharest Treaty, rather than bringing a lasting solution to the Macedonian Question, has aggravated it, and other Balkan problems as well. For example, LS Stavrianos is of the opinion that: "In conclusion, it is apparent that the Treaty of Bucharest had settled nothing. The effect of the Treaty of Bucharest on inter-Balkan relations is not difficult to surmise. Viscount Grey summarized the result as follows: "Any Balkan peace was impossible as long as the Treaty of Bucharest remained"."5 Stavrianos, a prominent Balkan historian, re-emphasizes his conviction in his following work: "It is apparent that the Bucharest Treaty settled nothing".6

It is interesting that none of the three Balkan States apparently ever thought that Macedonia, once liberated from the Ottoman Empire, should be independent or autonomous. Macedonia was partitioned among Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria, and its people became subject to the pressures of assimilation by all three countries. Macedonians, disagreeing about the division of Macedonia, launched a struggle, especially in the Pirin region against the Bulgarians, but were unsuccessful.

Macedonia during the First World War was occupied by various countries. However, the Neuilly Treaty of November 27, 1919 preserved the Bucharest division of Macedonia.

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