An Eye For An Eye Will Only Make The Whole World Blind – Part Three
The stray dog war of 1925
Animals are no respecters of the borders of contiguous countries.
During the early 1920s tensions between Bulgaria and Greece were high. There had been periodic border incursions, the worst of which, the so-called Tarlis incident, resulted in seventeen Bulgarians killed, the Greeks in particular being suspicious of the Bulgarian and Macedonian independence movement’s designs on their territory.
On 18th October 1925 a black dog casually wandered over the border into Bulgarian territory, pursued by a guard from the border post at the Demir Kapou Pass. A Bulgarian sentry took aim at the human invader and shot him dead. What happened to the pooch is unclear.
The killing of the Greek guard immediately provoked an exchange of rifle fire. During a lull in the fighting, a Greek captain crossed into no man’s land, waving a white flag and appealing for calm. His protestations were to no avail as he was gunned down along with a private who was accompanying him.
Now Theodoros Pangalos, the recently installed dictator of Greece following a coup d’etat enters our story.
Pangalos saw what otherwise may have been just another episode in the uneasy relations between the two countries as a piece of Bulgarian treachery and decided to show his mettle by making a strong stand. As well as issuing a 48 hour ultimatum to the Bulgarians, demanding a full apology, prosecution of the guilty parties and monetary compensation for the dead of 6 million drachmas, he despatched a corps from the army to the area. Without waiting for a response, the impatient Pangalos ordered his troops to invade Bulgaria, which they duly did.
Initially, they met with success, principally because the Bulgarians retreated rather than risk a conflict, and so the Greeks were able to loot, pillage and burn down villages at will. They also sought out Macedonian enclaves in an attempt to eradicate the separatists. But after a few days the Greeks got bogged down, forcing Pangalos to look around for allies. He hit on the Serbians, offering them in return for their assistance in crushing the Bulgarians, a railway corridor to the Greek port of Thessaloniki as well as part of the conquered territory.
The Bulgarians also sought external support but from a less conventional source- the newly created League of Nations. As the Greek troops were on the verge of capturing the town of Petrich – they may have captured it but reports are confused – the League sprang into action demanding that an immediate ceasefire be called, that the Greeks withdraw from Bulgaria and that the Greeks pay £45,000 in reparations to Bulgaria. Surprisingly, both sides accepted this settlement and military attaches from France, Italy and Britain were sent to the area to ensure that the ceasefire was observed and that the Greeks withdrew. The Bulgarians, of whom 50 had been killed in the fighting, were not allowed to resettle the conflict area until the dust had settled.
For Pangalos this was a humiliation as he had built up his reputation as a no-nonsense strongman. It does seem surprising that he caved in so easily to the demands of the League of Nations but the Greek military were only just recovering from coming off second best against the Turks. The following year the same group of army officers who installed Pangalos as dictator toppled him in favour of the country’s former President.
It is amazing what a stray dog can do.
