Serbia, Kingdom. A Bravery Medal For The Balkan Wars Of 1912-1913, Ii Class Silver Grade Medal

(Medalja za hrabrost 1912). Instituted in 1912. In silver, unmarked, measuring 28 mm (w) x 32.5 mm (h) inclusive of its integral ring, very light contact, original lightly soiled ribbon with hook and eye that exhibits separation of the hook from the ribbon at the rear, near extremely fine.

Footnote: The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League (the Kingdoms of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro) against the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan states' combined armies overcame the initially numerically inferior (significantly superior by the end of the conflict) and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success. The war was a comprehensive and unmitigated disaster for the Ottomans, who lost eighty-three percent of their European territories and sixty-nine percent of their European population. As a result of the war, the League captured and partitioned almost all of the Ottoman Empire's remaining territories in Europe. Ensuing events also led to the creation of an independent Albania, which angered the Serbs. Bulgaria, meanwhile, was dissatisfied over the division of the spoils in Macedonia, and attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on June 16, 1913 which provoked the start of the Second Balkan War.