Balis´tidæ. See Trigger-fishes.
Balize (ba-lēz´). See Belize.
Bal´kan (ancient, Hæmus), a rugged chain of mountains extending from Cape Emineh, on the Black Sea, in Eastern Roumelia, westwards to the borders of Serbia, though the name is sometimes used to include the whole mountain system from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, the region south of Austria and Russia, or south of the Danube and Save, forming the Balkan Peninsula. The range, which is over 200 miles in length, forms the water-shed between the streams flowing northward into the Danube and those flowing southward to the Ægean, the chief of the latter being the Maritza. The average height is not more than 5000 feet, but the highest point, Tchat-al-dagh, is 8340 feet. In the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-8 the Russian troops managed to cross it without great difficulty, though they had to encounter a stubborn resistance at the Shipka Pass, where a Turkish army of 32,000 men ultimately surrendered to them.
Balkan League, The. After the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria, in 1908, the Balkan League of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece was formed, apparently at the instigation of the Powers of the Triple Entente, primarily to constitute a bulwark against Austrian aggression towards the southeast. The League, however, directed its activities against Turkey, taking advantage of Turkish embarrassments in Libya and of the success of an insurrection in Albania to attempt in 1912 the overthrow of the Turkish regime in Europe. The declaration of hostilities by the League in Oct., 1912, began the First Balkan War (q.v.). The League was maintained during the two
campaigns of the war, but jealousy of Bulgarian pre-eminence led to its disruption in June, 1913, when Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece went to war with their former ally.
Balkan States. See Bulgaria, Greece, Roumania, Serbia, Turkey, and Yugo-Slavs.
Balkan War, The. The First Balkan War (Oct., 1912-May, 1913) was the effort of the Balkan League (q.v.) to dismember Turkey in Europe. Each member of the League was allotted a definite strategic object, and each gained a considerable measure of success. Bulgaria defeated the Turks at Kirk Kilisseh and Lule Burgas, and drove them behind the lines of Tchataldja. The Greeks captured Salonica; the Serbians forced their way to the sea at Durazzo. The Montenegrins invested Scutari. An armistice in December was followed by indecisive negotiations, in which the Great Powers took part. Renewed hostilities in the spring of 1913 (during which the Turks lost Adrianople) came to an end with the Treaty of London in May. Before its promises could be carried out, Serbia, Greece, and Roumania joined to crush Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War, alleging that her claims to conquered territory in Macedonia were excessive. The Treaty of Bucharest (Aug., 1913) finally concluded the war. The net results were: (1) to confine Turkey to Constantinople and the vilayet of Adrianople; (2) to extend Bulgarian territory to the Ægean and to increase greatly both Serbia and Montenegro; (3) to grant Salonica to Greece; (4) to create an autonomous Albania.—Bibliography: E. Ashmead-Bartlett, With the Turks in Thrace; The Balkan War Drama, by a Special Correspondent; D. J. Cassvetti, Hellas and the Balkan Wars; Sir J. R. L. Rankin, The Inner History of the Balkan War.
Balkash´, or Balkhash (ba˙l-ha˙sh´), a salt lake in Russian Central Asia, surrounded by steppes and plains; length about 330 miles, area 8500 sq. miles, depth nowhere more than 80 feet; formerly of much greater area and gradually growing smaller; receives the Ili and other smaller streams.
Balkh (bälk or bälh), a city in the north of Afghanistan, in Afghan Turkestan, at one time the emporium of the trade between India, China, and Western Asia. It was long the centre of Zoroastrianism, and was also an important Buddhist centre. In 1220 it was sacked by Genghis Khan, and again by Timur in the fourteenth century. The remains of the ancient city extend for miles. The town is now merely a village, but a new town has been built an hour's journey north of the old, the residence of the Afghan governor, with a pop. of about 20,000. The district, which formed a portion of ancient Bactria, lies between the Oxus and the Hindu-Kush, with Badakshan to the east and the desert to the west. In the vicinity of the Oxus, where there are facilities for irrigation, the soil is rich and productive, and there are many populous villages.
Bal´kis, the Arabian name of the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon. She is the central figure of innumerable Eastern legends and tales.