The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread dedicated to the Serbian Campaign of World War I.

The Serbian Campaign was fought from August 1914, when Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia at the outset of First World War, until late 1915, when the Macedonian Front was formed. The front ranged from the Danube to southern Macedonia and back north again, involving forces from almost all combatants of the war.

The Serbian Army declined severely towards the end of the war, falling from about 420,000[1:] at its peak to about 100,000 at the moment of liberation. The Kingdom of Serbia lost 1,100,000 inhabitants during the war (both army and civilian losses), which represented over 27% of its overall population. According to the Yugoslav government in 1924: Serbia lost 265,164 soldiers, or 25%, of all mobilized people. By comparison, France lost 16.8%, Germany 15.4%, Russia 11.5%, and Italy 10.3

Included the following battles:

Battle of Cer
Battle of Drina
Battle of Kolubara

Source: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_...

This is the thread which deals with the Serbian campaign; I have also set up separate threads for each battle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_...

Source: wikipedia

The Destruction of Serbia in 1915

(no image) The Destruction of Serbia in 1915 by Charles E. Fryer (no photo)

Synopsis:

This text chronicles Serbian resistance to the Central Powers during the first 18 months of World War I. Based chiefly on official histories and an Admiralty file on the work of the British Naval Museum at Belgrade in 1914-1915, it also includes a diary by Admiral E.C.T. Troubridge, RN on the retreat of the Serbian army to the Adriatic Sea.

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

by Jonathan E. Gumz (no photo)

Synopsis:

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.

An upcoming book:
Release date: April 30, 2015

Invasion: The Conquest of Serbia, 1915

by Richard L Dinardo (no photo)

Synopsis:

Published during the centennial of the events it considers, this book provides a comprehensive examination of one of the most interesting and influential campaigns of World War I, a campaign that was the apex of mobile warfare at the time. By the late summer of 1915, the Russian threat to Austria-Hungary had been eliminated by the Central Powers. That allowed Erich von Falkenhayn, head of the German supreme command, to turn his attention to his next strategic target--the conquest of Serbia--which was imperative to opening a land route to the Ottoman Empire. Until that task was accomplished, matters on the all-important Western Front would have to wait.

This first major study of the invasion of Serbia covers events primarily from the viewpoint of the Central Powers, which played the most pivotal role in the campaign. The book considers the impact of factors as diverse as diplomacy, command, coalition warfare, mountain warfare, military technology, and the harsh environment in which the campaign was conducted. Readers will come away with an understanding of and appreciation for the importance of the Serbian campaign as it affected the outcome of the war and the ultimate destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

It is my understanding from my reading of WWI history, that Austria-Hungary meant the Serbian invasion to be localized to that country in retribution for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. One of those small Balkan wars. But Kaiser Wilhelm, who was itching for a fight, got involved and the whole thing exploded into WWI.

Most historians would agree with that judgement, Jill. Kaiser Wilhelm had assured Austria-Hungary of his support. The Russians the objected to Austria's action and mobilized their army in concert with their French allies, which led to the Germans to lose faith in the idea that a war could be localized. And Britain was willing to stay neutral until, of course, the Germans violated Belgium's neutrality during their attack on France.

They stumbled toward wholesale war........there were treaties that no one knew about, and diplomatic ploys that were secretive. I believe that if Austria-Hungary had been able to keep it localized to Serbia, Germany still would have found a reason to expand the fighting and bring other countries into the fray. The Kaiser was practically psychotic in his jealousy of England and wanted to put his kriegsmarine up against the Royal Navy. The irony of that is that the navies barely met at all and when they did, it was a draw (the Battle of Jutland); although the U-boats were pretty effective.

Another:
Release date: August 13, 2015

Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914: The Outbreak of the Great War

by James Lyon (no photo)

Synopsis:

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

by Andrej Mitrović (no photo)

Synopsis:

Mitrovic's volume fills the gap in Balkan history by presenting an in-depth look at Serbia and its role in WWI. Serbia did play a key role at the start of the conflict but British and American historians have paid little attention to the topic. As Mark Cornwall writes in his introduction, The Serbian experience is in fact of major significance for three notable reasons.

First, in the interlocking development of the wartime continent, Serbia's plight is part of a European jigsaw that cannot be omitted if the whole is to be better understood. At the same time, it serves as a valuable case study of the war in microcosm. It contains all the ingredients of the conflict experienced elsewhere—appalling suffering, legendary sacrifice, war aims, political-military tensions, socio-economic and political upheaval—and some more peculiar to itself, such as mass migration, exile, guerrilla resistance, and the trauma of three years of foreign occupation.

Secondly, the First World War was crucial as a stage in the construction of Serbian national mythology in the twentieth century. It enabled many Serbs to envisage themselves as a martyred people, their blood constantly spilled for the greater good. Out of the wartime Serbian 'Golgotha' (a favorite phrase from the Great War!), there finally emerged the dream of a South Slav or Yugoslav state with the Serbian kingdom at its core. It was a national trauma and sacrifice which nationalist Serbs might easily see as being repeated later in the century, in the wars of the 1940s and the 1990s.

Thirdly, the Serbian story has a particular resonance for a British reader because of British participation in that trauma. At the time the British role in aiding or propagating or even betraying the Serbian cause was well publicized across Britain. Since then it has been a rather neglected subject, a sign of the amnesia, which can so easily creep into a reductionist official "national memory."

Serbia's Great War 1914-1918 by Andrej Mitrović(no photo)

My two cents:

Serbia must be one of the most poorly published 'sidefronts' of the Great War, so this translation of an acclaimed 80s Serbo-croat book is as good as it gets. The author had good credentials in the field & can rely on a greater range of sources. The two main events of the first active phase of the war, the defence against the Austro-Hungarian invasion & the subsequent winter retreat across the mountains to the Adriatic, are briefly touched upon in the general histories of Keegan & Strachan. That much I could place. By contrast, the subsequent quiet middle years & the final offensive were uncharted territory.
My only complaint is the sense of propaganda that pervades the middle part of the book; the development of the Yugoslav movement under the specific guidance of the Serbs. seems universally embraced

Your "two cents" are always worth much more!!!! Thanks for your thoughts on that book. Historians seem to concentrate on the Western Front and practically ignore what was going on in the East.

Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914: The Outbreak of the Great War

by James Lyon

My two cents ( - edit 28.11.2016 : citation paragraph concerning "the Sleepwalkers")

The Austrians tried to invade Serbia 3 times. They got their ass handed to them 3 times. They came back next year. That's how DiNardio wraps things up for the Drina in Invasion: The Conquest of Serbia, 1915. While useful as an arch inscription for a memory palace, this synopsis simply wouldn't do, so I turned to this eminent Balkanologist who strives for quality to honour the memory of his father.

Inevitably, the focus is with the Serbian Army. Steeled and blooded in two Balkan Wars to the point of brittleness, the third round saw a greater proportion of the male population mobilised than any other belligerent of WWI to maintain the numerical strength of the army. The majority of its formations and their personal weapons would be ranked as second or third line troops by the standards of Great Power armies. Teenagers whose faces had barely seen a razor followed in the wake of grizzled grandfathers who had volunteered for the Herzegovina Uprising of 1875. Modern (heavy) artillery was in short supply and the country's single ammunication factory could not hope to keep pace with the gluttonous demands of the conflict to come. The logistical situation is best illustrated by the empty peasant cart while its driver scores the nearest village for provisions. This type of foraging complicated the problem of outright desertion, already prevalent in a defensive campaign fought on home soil.

The army of Serbia was even weaker than Allied propaganda at the time potrayed it, but not as weak as the strategy planners of the Kaiserliche und Königliche believed it to be. They had manpower issues of their own. First, some of the units that formed part of the Fifth and Sixth armies featured a high proportion of South Slav conscripts whose loyalty was, if not outright questionable, then liable to become a problem once their Serbian counterparts opened fire. Not for nothing was the elimination of Serbia as beacon of Pan-Yugoslavic aspirations a political goal of the Dual Monarchy's war, lest it be weakened into some kind of Triple Monarchy or even dissolved along ethnic lines.

Second, Chief of Staff Conrad von Hötzendorf changed his mind about the implementation of the pre-war mobilisation plans. Either way, the army was split in three groups. Two were earmarked respectively for Russia (Galicia) and Serbia respectively. The third was held in reserve until the likelihood of a large scale Russian attack into Austrian Poland was determined, upon which it could be attached to either group. Since von Hötzendorf was hawkishly set on the destruction of Serbia , the reserve was sent south over a single-track railway, only to be turned around to face the Russians while the first invasion of Serbia was already well under way.

Sheer battlefield experience was not be discounted irregardless of quantotative superiority, however. Artillery was not a concern to the Austrian commanders, but their troops would serve as the first test case for the dominance of the gun on the 14-18 battlefields. Whereas the Habsburg gunners were reluctant to close the range, Serbian batteries would tear through enemy columns point-blank, consuming the ammo supply of disabled neighbours as needed. The compact nature of many battlefields, with mountain plateaus commanding the passes to the interior, concentrated the carnage all the more.

With this tribute to the gallant Serbian troops, Lyon has plugged an imported gap in the centennial assessment of World War I. He provides us with a liberal amount of maps. They are easy to read, but still don't show every site mentioned in the text. Personal knowledge of the country wouldn't hurt, either. At least they illustrate the geostrategic context of Serbia, with a mountaneous frontier sheltering the main railway line to the Allied world. Lyon has mustered an impressive array of "Yugoslav" sources, so prepare for the consequent use of Morava division II ban rather than "2nd Division" and such.

Lyon is not afraid to humble his confraters when justified, even when it's Christopher Clark (from the magistral The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914) : Alltough one historian claimed that the Serbian response [ to the Austrian ultimatum of july 23] was a masterpiece of "diplomatic equivocation ...the claim often made in general narratives that this reply represented an almost complete capitulation to the Austrian demands is profoundly misleading... it was a highly perfumed rejection on most points." Such analysis demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of the events behind the Sarajevo assassination, Vienna's expansionist policy after 1903 as well as the legal and constitutional limitations the Serbian government faced in 1914.

He's also a bit light on Habsburg archives. Memoirs from the interwar period by senior officers dominate the German-language section, with Rothenberg's omnipresent The Army of Francis Joseph from 1976 on call. A good companion is The Serbian Army in the Great War, 1914-1918.

This costs the book its fifth star, but let's end on a positive note: Lyon breaks a lance on the armour of occidental eurocentrism in historiography. For us, 1914-1918 mark the Great War, with two little weird Balkan Wars as a prelude. To Serbia, 1912-1918 is the National War of Liberation all in one, as their own historians proudly attest*.

Works cited:

by Christopher Clark
by Gunther E. Rothenberg (no photo)
byDusan Babac (no photo)
byRichard L. DiNardo (no photo)
* by Andrej Mitrović (no photo)

Thanks so much, Dimitri.