Its still Saturday in Hawaii and Alaska
Part Vlll: The Congo crisis and the Bulgarian revolution
The Congo crisis was undoubtedly the nearest the European alliances came to all out conflict in the 1900’s. In September 1907 King Leopold Congo Free State had been denounced as a despotic state ran as King Leopold’s private fiefdom, where murder and mutilation were common practise as well as far more uncommon cannibalism.
Congolese who had their hands cut off.
In Belgium, many called for its annexation, so it came as a surprise to many that the Congo Free State was to be sold to the French in February 1908. The French cited that they had right of first purchase. Germany and Britain challenged this. France sent warships on aggressive movements up the English Channel, to be challenged by the HMS dreadnought, a new breed of battleship. Germany sent a small force of Colonial soldiers into the Congo. Both sides were making increasingly aggressive actions, and many were concerned a war might break out. In March, Italy offered to negotiate between all three sides.
The Congo conference was held in Rome, in June 1908 with the French, British, Germans and Belgians attending. The British were hoping to get the mineral rich Katanga area in the Congo, while minimising French gains. They hoped to possibly let Belgium retain control of some of the Congo. The French wanted to annex the entire Congo, but accepted that they might need to trade some other colonies to make this happen. The Germans were hoping to gain some of the French or Belgium Congo. Also invited were Belgium who were interested in keeping some kind of colonial presence. The Italians were hoping to gain something out the conference, maybe from the British in east Africa. At first, both the Germans and the French demanded the whole Congo, while Britain demanded the Katanga region. At the end of the first day, both the Germans and French agreed to give Britain Katanga. Belgium suggested that it would retain the lower Congo while the rest would be split between Germany and France. However, Britain suggested that France cede a large piece of French equa Africa to Germany, with France getting most the Congo. The British suggested that France cede one of their colonies to Belgium as compensation, France ceding part of French Dahomey to Belgium. Portugal also received a small lump, mainly to appease the British, who hoped to gain an alliance with the Portuguese, as this would allow the British the use of the Azore islands. The treaty of Rome was signed in February 1908. King Leopold died the next year a rather unpopular king.
In 1907, Bulgaria was known as the Prussia of the Balkans. Bulgaria Declared war on Greece in April 1908 after a border Incident, claiming that ‘the Bulgarian people had an ancient right to the port of Salonika. At first the Bulgarian army was able to overrun the Greek positions, but the entry of Serbia into the war forced a large relocation of some forces to other fronts. After the battle of Pedino on May 28th, the Bulgarian army was forced into retreat.
Protestors on June 6th
In the capital city of Bulgaria, Sofia after the battle of Pedino, a group of factory workers went on strike on the 4th as they had not been paid and picketed outside their factory in When told to go back to work, they refused and a small military unit, formed mainly of minor convicts who had been recruited into the army at the start of the war, opened fire on them. News spread and on June 6th, a general strike was declared. After a short attempt to break up the crowd by some soldiers, the workers, some armed with rifles stormed the army positions at about noon. The workers stormed important buildings in the city and by the end of the day, controlled most the city. Many of the workers elected leaders, and several factories including an arms factory started working to produce more equipment for the revolutionary militia. Working in many cases all hours of the day, they produced much needed weapons for the Revolutionary militia.
In the countryside, peasants inspired by the successes in the city took control of their farms and kicked out the local gentry. In their place, they elected leaders to run the farms, and declared them to be syndicates. Many surrounding the city brought in food for the city.
On June 10th, the loyalist army hasty assembled out of whatever the Bulgarian army could find assaulted the city. Filled with a variety of men from a son of the Prime Minister, to a convict due to be hung the next day, they attempted to force their way into the town. However, encountering Heavy resistance, the Loyalist Army broke apart, many deflecting to the workers, some running away, and in the case of the convict, shooting dead a 24 year old women. (He was hung a day early from a tree.)
The revolutionary militia
The Bulgarian government in a state of panic offered a generous peace to the Serbians and the Greeks, giving them control of several disputed areas. However, which much of the Bulgarian army deflecting to the Revolutionary’s, The Bulgarian government escaped to the city of Varna, which had so far been unaffected by the revolution. Austria-Hungary provided considerable military aid to the revolutionary’s fearing a similar movement in Austria-Hungary. Meanwhile, in Sofia, the leaders of the revolutionary’s set up the world’s first syndicalist government in the Sofia congress. Each factory would elect a leader who would be in charge of the overall running of the factory and all workers would have a say in the running of their factories. They agreed on universal suffrage as many women had assisted the revolution by acting as nurses as well as several actually fighting, establishing a formal military for the republic, the revolutionary militia, which would elect its own officers, though higher up officers would be appointed by the state. To finish, the final act of the congress was to declare the Syndicalist republic of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian civil war had begun.
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