Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914

Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914
Author: James Lyon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2015-07-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472580052

Winner of the 2015 Norman B. Tomlinson, Jr. Book Prize Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914 is the first history of the Great War to address in-depth the crucial events of 1914 as they played out on the Balkan Front. James Lyon demonstrates how blame for the war's outbreak can be placed squarely on Austria-Hungary's expansionist plans and internal political tensions, Serbian nationalism, South Slav aspirations, the unresolved Eastern Question, and a political assassination sponsored by renegade elements within Serbia's security services. In doing so, he portrays the background and events of the Sarajevo Assassination and the subsequent military campaigns and diplomacy on the Balkan Front during 1914. The book details the first battle of the First World War, the first Allied victory and the massive military humiliations Austria-Hungary suffered at the hands of tiny Serbia, while discussing the oversized strategic role Serbia played for the Allies during 1914. Lyon challenges existing historiography that contends the Habsburg Army was ill-prepared for war and shows that the Dual Monarchy was in fact superior in manpower and technology to the Serbian Army, thus laying blame on Austria-Hungary's military leadership rather than on its state of readiness. Based on archival sources from Belgrade, Sarajevo and Vienna and using never-before-seen material to discuss secret negotiations between Turkey and Belgrade to carve up Albania, Serbia's desertion epidemic, its near-surrender to Austria-Hungary in November 1914, and how Serbia became the first belligerent to openly proclaim its war aims, Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914 enriches our understanding of the outbreak of the war and Serbia's role in modern Europe. It is of great importance to students and scholars of the history of the First World War as well as military, diplomatic and modern European history.

Serbia's Great War, 1914-1918

Serbia's Great War, 1914-1918
Author: Andrej Mitrović
Publisher: Purdue University Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2007
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781557534767

Mitrovic's volume fills the gap in Balkan history by presenting an in-depth look at Serbia and its role in WWI. The Serbian experience was in fact of major significance in this war. In the interlocking development of the wartime continent, Serbia's plight is part of a European jigsaw. Also, the First World War was crucial as a stage in the construction of Serbian national mythology in the twentieth century.

The Resurrection and Collapse of Empire in Habsburg Serbia, 1914-1918: Volume 1

The Resurrection and Collapse of Empire in Habsburg Serbia, 1914-1918: Volume 1
Author: Jonathan E. Gumz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-02-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781107689725

This book examines the Habsburg Army's occupation of Serbia from 1914 through 1918. This occupation ran along a distinctly European-centered trajectory radically different from other great power colonial projects or occupations during the 20th century. Unlike these projects and occupations, the Habsburg Army sought to denationalize and depoliticize Serbia, to gradually reduce the occupation's violence, and to fully integrate the country into the Empire. These aims stemmed from 19th-century conservative and monarchical convictions that compelled the Army to operate under broad legal and civilizational constraints. Gumz's research provides a counterpoint to interpretations of the First World War that emphasize the centrality of racially inflected, Darwinist worldviews in the war.

The Balkans, Italy & Africa 1914–1918

The Balkans, Italy & Africa 1914–1918
Author: David Jordan
Publisher: Amber Books Ltd
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2012-03-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1906626146

With the aid of over 300 photographs, complemented by full-colour maps, The Balkans, Italy & Africa provides a detailed guide to the background and conduct of the war in the Balkan, Italian and African theatres from the assassination in Sarajevo to the surrender of the Central Powers.

Armies in the Balkans 1914–18

Armies in the Balkans 1914–18
Author: Nigel Thomas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 97
Release: 2012-05-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1780967357

Recent history should remind us that it was events in the Balkans which sparked off the Great War, with the assassination of the Austrian heir Prince Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, and the consequent invasion of Serbia by Austro-Hungarian armies on 2 August 1914. Nevertheless, the subsequent four-year war in that theatre is always overshadowed by the simultaneous campaigns on the Western Front. For the first time this book offers a concise account of these complex campaigns, the organisation, orders of battle, and the uniforms and insignia of the armies involved: Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, Serbian, Montenegrin, Albanian, British, French, Italian, Russian, Bulgarian, Greek and Rumanian.

Armies of the Balkan Wars 1912–13

Armies of the Balkan Wars 1912–13
Author: Philip Jowett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 50
Release: 2012-03-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 184908419X

In 1912, the Balkan states formed an alliance in an effort to break free from the crumbling Ottoman Empire. Forming an army of some 645,000 troops from Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenego, they took on a force of 400,000 Turkish soldiers. Both sides were equipped with the latest weapons technology. This book looks at the diverse and sometimes colourful uniforms worn by both sides, paying special attention to insignia, weapons and equipment. It also gives an overview of the campaigns that became a 'priming pan' of World War I.

Sarajevo 1914

Sarajevo 1914
Author: Mark Cornwall
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2020-09-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1350093181

In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. This key event in 20th-century history continues to fascinate the public imagination, yet few historians have examined in depth the regional context which allowed this assassination to happen or the murder's ripples which quickly spread out across the Balkans, Austria-Hungary and Europe as a whole. In this study, Mark Cornwall has gathered an impressive cast of contributors to explore the causes of the Sarajevo assassination and its consequences for the Balkans in the context of the First World War. The volume assesses from a variety of regional perspectives how the 'South Slav Question' destabilized the empire's southern provinces, provoking violent discontent in Croatia and Bosnia, and exacerbating the empire's relations with Serbia, regarded by Austria-Hungary as a dangerous state. It then explores the ripples of the Sarajevo event, from its evolution into a European crisis to the creation of a new independent state of Yugoslavia. Bringing together fresh perspectives by historians from Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia, as well as leading British historians of Austria-Hungary, this book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the Sarajevo violence and how it shaped modern Balkan history.

Forgotten Wars

Forgotten Wars
Author: Włodzimierz Borodziej
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2021-04-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108944884

Włodzimierz Borodziej and Maciej Górny set out to salvage the historical memory of the experience of war in the lands between Riga and Skopje, beginning with the two Balkan conflicts of 1912–1913 and ending with the death of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1916. The First World War in the East and South-East of Europe was fought by people from a multitude of different nationalities, most of them dressed in the uniforms of three imperial armies: Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian. In this first volume of Forgotten Wars, the authors chart the origins and outbreak of the First World War, the early battles, and the war's impact on ordinary soldiers and civilians through to the end of the Romanian campaign in December 1916, by which point the Central Powers controlled all of the Balkans except for the Peloponnese. Combining military and social history, the authors make extensive use of eyewitness accounts to describe the traumatic experience that established a region stretching between the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Seas.

Terror in the Balkans

Terror in the Balkans
Author: Ben Shepherd
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2012-04-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674065131

"Ben Shepherd ... uses Austro-Hungarian Army records to consider how the personal experiences of many Austrian officers during the Great War played a role in brutalizing their behavior in Yugoslavia. A comparison of Wehrmacht counter-insurgency divisions allows Shepherd to analyze how a range of midlevel commanders and their units conducted themselves in different parts of Yugoslavia, and why"--Jacket.

The Serbian Army in the Great War, 1914-1918

The Serbian Army in the Great War, 1914-1918
Author: Dušan Babac
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781910777299

The Kingdom of Serbia waged war against Austria-Hungary and the other Central Powers from 28 July 1914 when the Austro-Hungarian government declared war, until the capitulation of Austria-Hungary. In the first two years of the war, Serbia defeated the Austro-Hungarian Balkan Army. The following year, her army was faced with the Axis invasion. Unwilling to surrender, the Serbian Army retreated through Albania and evacuated to Corfu where it rested, rearmed and reorganized. From there the army transferred to the Salonika Front, where it recorded successes by 1916. After a long lull, the struggle to penetrate the Front began in September 1918. Serbian and other Allied forces broke through the Front and Bulgaria was soon forced to surrender. The Serbian Army advanced rapidly and on 1 November 1918 Belgrade was liberated. Thanks to the Serbian military victories and diplomatic efforts, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) was created. Serbia paid for her victory in the Great War in a disproportionately exorbitant manner: it is estimated that she lost close to one million inhabitants, of whom about 400,000 were conscripts and the rest civilians, which accounted for nearly a third of the total population, or close to 60% of the male population. No other country that participated in the Great War paid so dearly for its freedom. The Serbian Army in the Great War, 1914-1918 offers readers a very thorough analysis of the Serbian Army of the period, including its organization, participation in military operations, weapons, equipment, uniforms, and system of orders and medals. This book is a synthesis of all available literature and periodicals, appearing for the first time in the English language. The book is well supported by around 500 illustrations, out of which more than 300 are contemporary photographs and other documents, while this is complemented by dozens of color plates of uniform reconstructions and color photographs of the preserved pieces of uniform, equipment and weapons. A special emphasis has been placed on the colors of Serbian uniforms from the period. The book is the result of two decades of research and will enable readers to gain a clearer picture of this subject.