The Armistice of Salonica (also known as the Armistice of Thessalonica) was the armistice signed at 10:50 p.m. on 29 September 1918 between

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and the Allied Powers at the General Headquarters of the Allied Army of the Orient in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

. The armistice came into force at noon on 30 September 1918. The armistice would remain in effect until the conclusion of the

Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine (; ) was a treaty between the victorious Allies of World War I on the one hand, and Bulgaria, one of the defeated Central Powers in World War I, on the other. The treaty required Bulgaria to cede various territor ...

, the final general peace treaty, in November 1919. The Kingdom of Bulgaria entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers on 14 October 1915, invading and occupying parts of Serbia. However, Bulgarian forces would struggle against the

Vardar offensive The Vardar offensive () was a World War I military operation, fought between 15 and 29 September 1918. The operation took place during the final stage of the Balkans Campaign (World War I), Balkans Campaign. On 15 September, a combined Allied A ...

launched by the Allies in September 1918, causing part of the Bulgarian Army to collapse, and an open mutiny of rebellious troops who proclaimed a republic at Radomir.Tucker (1996), p. 151. The Bulgarian government then requested a

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...

on 24 September. The terms included the withdrawal of Bulgarian forces in occupied areas and demobilization of most of Bulgaria's army.

Surrender

The armistice effectively ended Bulgaria's participation in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

on the side of the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...

and came into effect on the Bulgarian Front at noon on 30 September. The armistice regulated the demobilization and the disarmament of the Bulgarian armed forces. The signatories were, for the Allies, French General

Louis Franchet d'Espérey Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also * ...

, commander of the

Allied Army of the Orient upright=1.1, Allied collaboration: an Italian captain, a Russian lieutenant, a Serb colonel, a French lieutenant, and a Greek gendarme The Allied Army of the Orient (AAO) () was the name of the unified command over the multi-national allied armed f ...

, and a commission appointed by the Bulgarian government, which was composed of General Ivan Lukov (member of the Bulgarian Army headquarters),

Andrey Lyapchev Andrey Tasev Lyapchev (Tarpov) (; 30 November 1866 – 6 November 1933) was a Bulgarian Prime Minister in three consecutive governments. Early years Lyapchev was born in the Macedonian city of Resen, which was at the time a part of the Otto ...

(cabinet member) and Simeon Radev (diplomat). Its importance was described by German Emperor

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...

in his telegram to Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I: "Disgraceful! 62,000 Serbs decided the war!" On 29 September 1918, the

Oberste Heeresleitung The ''Oberste Heeresleitung'' (, "Supreme Army Command", OHL) was the highest echelon of command of the army (''Heer'') of the German Empire. In the latter part of World War I, the Third OHL assumed dictatorial powers and became the ''de facto'' ...

(German Supreme Army Command) informed Wilhelm and the

German Chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. Th ...

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Georg von Hertling Georg Friedrich Karl Freiherr von Hertling, from 1914 Count von Hertling, (31 August 1843 – 4 January 1919) was a German politician of the Catholic Centre Party. He was foreign minister and minister president of Bavaria, then imperial chance ...

, that Germany's military situation was hopeless. On 14 October 1918, the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

asked for an armistice, and on 15 October 1918 Turkish

Grand vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

Ahmed Izzet Pasha Ahmed Izzet Pasha (1864 – 31 March 1937 Ottoman Turkish: احمد عزت پاشا), known as Ahmet İzzet Furgaç after the Turkish Surname Law of 1934, was a Turkish-Albanian soldier and statesman. He was a general during World War I and al ...

sent a captured British general,

Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

, to the Allies to seek terms for an

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

Terms

The terms called for the immediate demobilization of all Bulgarian military activities. It ordered the evacuation of Bulgarian-occupied Greek and Serbian territories, placed limits and restrictions to the size of Bulgaria's military employment and required Bulgaria to return military equipment that had been taken from the Greek Fourth Army Corps during the Bulgarian occupation of Eastern Macedonia in 1916. German and Austrian-Hungarian troops were to leave Bulgaria within four weeks. Bulgaria and especially Sofia were not to be occupied, but the Allies had the right to occupy some strategic points temporarily and to transfer troops over Bulgarian territory. According to Article 5, about 150,000 Bulgarian soldiers to the west of the

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

meridian were to be delivered to the Entente as hostages. The French would send troops to Romania and the British and Greeks to European Turkey, which was still at war with the Allies. The armistice would remain in effect until the conclusion of the

, the final general peace treaty, in November 1919.

References

Sources

* (1919) "Bulgaria Armistice Convention, September 29th, 1918". ''The American Journal of International Law Vol. 13 No.4 Supplement: Official Documents'', 402-404. *