TRENDEFRARAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties
Battle · 1912
At the start of the First Balkan War the Ottoman Eastern Army in Eastern Thrace met the Bulgarian army. According to the TDV article on Kırklareli, Kirk Kilisse, defended by the Eastern Army commander Kölemen Abdullah Pasha, was occupied by Bulgarian forces on 24 October 1912. According to the TDV article on the Balkan Wars, disagreements among the commanders played a large part in the defeat; the Eastern Army was beaten by a Bulgarian army three times its size and fell back as far as Çatalca. According to the TDV article on Lüleburgaz, the Bulgarian army took the town after a great battle. In the same days the Western Army was defeated by the Serbs at Kumanovo and Salonica surrendered to the Greeks; these failures brought down the cabinet of Gazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha. Kirk Kilisse and Lüleburgaz were recovered in summer 1913, during the Second Balkan War.
| Date | October 1912 |
|---|---|
| Location | Kirk Kilisse (Kırklareli) and Lüleburgaz, Eastern Thrace |
| Result | The Eastern Army was defeated and fell back to the Çatalca line |
| Belligerents | Ottoman Empire | Kingdom of Bulgaria |
|---|---|---|
| Commanders | Kölemen Abdullah Pasha |
Took place during the reign of Mehmed V (1909–1918). Mehmed V
The atlas records this territorial change for the year:
By the atlas's calculation the Ottoman lands covered about 1,679,000 km² in 1912; at the start of Mehmed V's reign they measured 2,996,000 km², at its end 742,000 km².
During Mehmed V (1909–1918) the atlas records 3 regions gained and 16 regions lost.
Regions gained: Kars–Ardahan–Artvin (1918), Batumi (Adjara) (1918), Akhaltsikhe (Childir) (1918).
Regions lost: Tripolitania (1912), Benghazi–Barca (1912), Fezzan (1912), Macedonia (Skopje–Bitola) (1912), Thessaloniki–Chalkidiki–Mount Athos (1912), Kosovo (1912), Southern and Central Albania (Vlorë–Berat–Elbasan) (1912), Aegean Islands (Lesbos–Lemnos–Samos) (1912), and 8 more.
The first Ottoman sultan whose powers were limited by the constitution; real power lay with the Committee of Union and Progress. In nine years the African and Balkan territories were lost and the empire entered the First World War.
Areas are land area computed from the atlas's region data; see Method and sources.
Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, “KIRKLARELİ” (Turkish); text written for the atlas.
Cite as: Atlas of the Sultans, “Battle of Lule Burgas (1912): Date, Commanders and Outcome”, https://padisahlaratlasi.com/en/events/battle-of-lule-burgas/ (last updated 12 November 2026). Corrections