File No. 763.72/2409
The Chargé1 in Bulgaria (Einstein) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 16.]
Sir: I have the honor to convey to your notice that, so far as I have been able to learn, the civil administration of Serbian territory is divided into two regions; the one, embracing everything on the west of the Morava and extending southward as far as Pristina and Prizren, is under Austrian administration, while east of the Morava and Macedonia the jurisdiction is Bulgarian. The entire country is, however, under the general government of Field Marshall Mackensen whose headquarters are at Nish, and whose special authorization is necessary for anyone who wishes to enter Serbia.
Although the administration of one half of Serbia is supposedly Bulgarian, this is more nominal than effective. Bulgarian civilian administration no more than that, of any other Balkan state has been conspicuous for its efficiency, and the present war, probably owing to the pressure of the military departments, the assumption by the military of all powers of the state, and the mobilization of well-nigh the entire male population, has produced a condition here bordering on administrative anarchy. The result has been even worse in the occupied territories, and whether by force of circumstances or intentionally, the Germans have virtually taken over the [Page 17] entire administration there. A Bulgarian commandant exists in every town, but the real authority is wielded by the Germans who have charge of the railways, have built their own telegraph lines and organized sanitation and hospitals everywhere.
The very success of their efforts in such direction has not been without exciting apprehension here. Many Bulgarians fear Germany as too powerful and too close an ally. They know that the banks and the commerce of this country are already in German or in Austrian hands. They now see the German military firmly installed at Nish, where the Emperor has lately been, at Uskub [Skoplje] and at Monastir. Especially the latter place is a sore point here, for the insistence of the Germans to participate even nominally in the entry into that town is regarded by Bulgarians with no slight misgiving as leading possibly toward an eventual cession to Greece.
Numerous reports of friction between Germans and Bulgars have for some time been in circulation. I am personally not disposed to attach any great importance to such rumors, however well founded. But they cannot be altogether dismissed. The extension taken by this war is by no means popular in the country. It was one thing “to free” Macedonia. It is quite another to attack at Saloniki the English and the French against whom no animosity popularly exists. The Bulgarian officers who are imbued with the German prestige and example are undoubtedly glad to proceed in a campaign, the difficulties of which they probably undervalue. But in a peasant army like this the men are eager to return to their homes. It is said that they are now worked at high pressure to avoid any repetition of the demoralization which set in with the Bulgarian Army between the first and the second Balkan wars. But if the success anticipated in the attack on Saloniki is not met with, there may be some interesting developments here in the near future.
I trust that no publicity be given to the contents of this despatch.
I have [etc.]
- Correspondence concerning the use of this title is printed in Foreign Relations, 1915, Supplement, pp. 914–16.↩