One of the greatest mishaps in human history is the destructiveness of the First World War of the twentieth century. World War I involved every continent on earth and every major power at the time. England, Germany, France, and Russia all participated in this appalling action, while other smaller powers also engaged in warfare. Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Ottoman Empire were all actors in this dramatic conflict. There was however, also a small, relatively new country that played a significant part in the hostilities. Serbia was not only the hotspot, that sparked the Great War. Its military actions were also crucial to the war’s outcome. In this paper I will argue for the importance of Serbia’s impact in the Great War. 

            To illustrate the importance of Serbia in the Great War, several factors must be taken into account. First, a brief history of Serbia must be reviewed to obtain background knowledge of the country, which existed at that time. This paper will examine the start of the war, which was the apex of Serbia’s involvement in the international scene. Next, the actual strategies of Serbia and her enemies during the war will be discussed to demonstrate how the war unfolded. Finally, two different alternative outcomes will be discussed to examine, whether, if either the Allies or the Central Powers had changed their strategies regarding Serbia, this might have won either power the war.

            Serbia, a country that lies in the Western Balkans between Greece and Austria-Hungary, was a country of 48,000 square miles and had a population of just under three million at the turn of the century [1] . The Serbs are a proud Slavic people and have resided in the area since the Middle Ages. However, the Serbs would lose their freedom in frequent wars with the Ottoman Turks, who would annex Serbia in 1389 after the battle of Kosovo Field. [2] After approximately four hundred years of Ottoman rule the Serbs begin to revolt in 1804. Following a long and bitter struggle, the Serbs finally won their sovereignty in 1815. [3] Serbia would enter into league, which would defeat the Ottoman Empire in 1912, over the possession of Macedonia. [4] A second war would explode between Serbia in Bulgaria the next year, which Serbia would again rise victorious. [5]

             The Balkan Wars were not the only source of tension in the region. Another country had an interest that would lead to a much deadlier situation. In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia. This was the actual trigger event, which would form the Balkan League that defeated Turkey some five years later. [6] Since a great many Serbs lived in the area of Bosnia, many felt that this was an attack on Serbia itself, or at the very least the precursor to invasion. Concerned citizens in the country formed an elite underground group called the Black Hand [7] .

            This group was lead by one Colonel Dragutin Dimitrevic, otherwise known as Apis, who had taken part in a violent coup to depose the king of Serbia in 1903 [8] . The group began propaganda and committed several terrorist acts in Bosnia and Macedonia [9] . The Serb government neither supported nor sponsored the Black Hand, which operated as a state within a state [10] . It was during this uncertain time that Apis heard of Arch Duke Frances Ferdinand’s trip to Sarajevo. It is suspected that Apis was the mastermind behind the plot to kill the Archduke [11] . 

                        The assassination of the future leader of Austria sent shock waves through all of Europe. Austria sent an ultimatum to Serbia, which it held responsible, for the assassination. The ultimatum containing ten demands, which included allowing Austrian-Hungarian officials to arrest, interrogate, and punish the transgressors [12] . This ultimatum came at a time when there was a vacuum of leadership in Serbia. The Prime Minister was on vacation and the British, Russian, and French ambassadors were either ill, had recently died, or were experiencing a mental breakdown, respectively [13] . This absence of leadership stalled the Serbian response to the ultimatum, to which the Austrians would accept no answer short of absolute compliance. The education minister, Ljuba Jovanovic said, “There is no recourse but to die” in response to the Austrian demands. [14]   Austria would declare war on Serbia on July twenty-eighth. [15]

            Serbia did not want war with Austria for several reasons. The foremost is the size of Austria, which was considered one of the six major powers of Europe. Second, Serbia had not yet recovered from two previous wars and was not willing to start another. [16] Serbia was also suffering from extreme economic troubles during this time. [17] Germany, Austria’s ally, was negotiating treaties with the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria while Italy had its eyes on the Adriatic Sea. This surrounded Serbia with unfriendly states. [18] There were also many Serbs and other Slavic peoples fighting in the Austrian army, which Serbia did not want to fight and commit fratricide, by killing their Slavic brothers across the boarder in Austria.  However, the attitude was that of outrage because during the Balkan Wars much of Serbia’s newly won territory went to the formation of a new country called Albania. Many Serbs blamed Austria for the formation of the new country, which denies Serbia access to the sea and a prospective sphere of influence in the region. [19]

            Austria had been ready to invade Serbia since 1908. However, the fear of Russian intervention prevented their plan from becoming a reality. [20] Russia and Serbs belong to the same ethnic group called Slavs, Russia. Russia had strong connects to the area and plans to control much of Southeastern Europe. Austria believed that a vigorous action against Serbia and the promise of German support would deter Russia from launching a military action in order to save Serbia. [21] Austria wanted to avoid a multiple-front war, it decided to throw the bulk of their forces at Serbia. This would enable them to crush Serbia quickly and then turn its attention to Russia, if need be. [22] The Austrian chief of staff, Conrad Von Hotzendorf, saw the Serbs as quasi-barbarians and devised a plan to crush them. “War Case B,” as it came to be known, would send some of the Austrian troops to Serbia. Conrad called this the “Balkan group” while the “Russian group” would hold a defensive position in Galicia. His plan hinged on the “B-Staffel” which was a mass of troops that could swing either towards Serbia or Russia. Conrad sent in early August, the “B-Staffel” towards Belgrade, Serbia’s capital. This would be over half of Austria’s army. [23]  

            The Austrian army had many disadvantages or hardships even before the invasion of Serbia began. First, their uneasy ally, Italy, saw Austrian actions towards Serbia as aggressive and did not support the Austrian effort. [24] Second, Austria’s invading army was twenty-percent Serb, and fifty-percent Croatian, another Slavic people living in Austria-Hungary. [25] Yet, another disadvantage was the decreasing size of the Austrian army despite the approximately twenty million increase in population of the Empire since the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866. [26] Perhaps the most deadly miscalculation that the Austrians made was that it would not be fighting a war with three simultaneous fronts in Italy, Russia, and Serbia. However, in spring of 1915 this became the exact situation Austria faced. [27]

            Although Serbia was outnumbered it did have several advantages. First Serbia had modern weapons left over from the recent Balkan Wars. [28] The countryside was also filled with impassable high mountains, deep river valleys, few roads, and even fewer railroads. [29] Next, Serbian soldiers were also trained and versed in the art of modern war from such modern battles and entrenchments at Chatalja in the Balkan Wars. [30] Finally, Serbia had the highest percentage of fighting men available of any other nation in Europe. The Serbian army included many young boys, as well as men that were sixty and seventy who were called “uncles”. [31] This gave Serbia a greater number of fighting me then it would have otherwise.   

            After Austria declared war on Serbia, Austria made three attempts to invade their enemy. [32] The first invasion was launched 12 August 1914. The Austrian army easily crossed over the Sava River and marched across the plains to the mountainous region where the Serbs had established their positions. [33] While the Serbs had little ammunition, they did have morale and the Serbian peasantry were ready and willing to defend their country. [34] The Serbian and Austrian forces would clash at Cer Mountain, where a battle would rage for twelve days. This battle would turn the tide of battle in Serbia’s favor. [35] As the Austrian army fled across the river Sava, Serbian forces followed them into Bosnia for a short and unsuccessful offensive. [36] The battle of Cer Mountain was the first Western Powers victory and was considered nothing less than a miracle by the English. [37]

            The Austrians would launch another offensive on September eighth, which for a sort time led to the occupation of Belgrade. However, when the Serbs received ammunition, they retook their capital city and drove the invading army across their borders. [38] Austria would invade yet a third time in late November with nearly identical results. [39] Yet for the Serbs, the following year was not a year to count their blessings as the previous year was. An epidemic of spotted Typhus broke out, which half a million people contracted. [40] For a country with only two hundred doctors, this was horrific. The disease would kill 150,000 people in early 1915. [41] On 6 September 1915, Bulgaria joined the Central Powers as invasion plans of Serbia. [42]

            On 6 October 1915, a combined German and Austrian force 800,000 troops strong invaded Serbia from the North. [43] Seven days later, Bulgaria invaded from the East. [44]   With such an onslaught, the Serbian army conceded, and a general retreat was called, as the people of Serbia ran for their lives. [45]   The Serbs were accustomed to harsh winters and although some 60,000 died during the retreat, another 140,000 survived. [46] The French and Italians helped the remaining Serbs evacuate to the Greek Island of Corfu in order to recover. [47] The French and British made an attempt to save the forces. However, Greece’s neutrality became an issue.  The London Times of October fifteenth stated, “There is a tenor of negativity of Greek reply to Serb appeal for military aid under terms of the Greco-Serbian treaty of Alliance.” [48] Greece who had fought a bloody war for independence from the Ottoman Empire and participated in the first two Balkan Wars was not prepared to enter into another violent encounter.    

            The Serb army would rejoin both British and French troops at the Salonika Front, which would hold steady from 1916 until the autumn of 1918. [49]   The Serb army would finally break through the defensive line of the Bulgarian army and invade that country on September 29, 1918. [50] A week before the end of the war, Serb troops attacked a German division that was garrisoned at Nis, a Serb city. The victory that followed allowed the capital city of Belgrade to be liberated on November first, for the third and final time. [51] The Great War had ended; however, Serbia had paid dearly for her actions. Serbia had lost a higher proportion of her population then any other country, with 125,000 soldiers killed in action and 650,000 civilian loses. This results in a total net loss of twenty-five percent of the total prewar population. [52]

            The Serb impact on the war seems to have peaked from late 1914 to late 1915. In part because the Austrians sent so many men to the Serbian front, they were unable to be effective against the Russians. In fact, only a multi-national effort on multiple fronts was able to conquer Serbia. [53] This gave the Western Powers time to mobilize and withstand the Central Powers’ advances. However, since Austria needed to send so many men and material to Serbia, Germany had to send materials to the Eastern front to withstand Russian attacks on the Prussian homeland. Therefore, German efforts in the Western front were minimized, which was so critical to the Schlieffen plan. [54] Serbia’s impact could have been much greater into the war, if tactics of the combating powers were changed.

            If the Austrian General Conrad’s plan had succeeded and Serbia had been crushed in one quick and violent assault in August of 1914, the Austrians could have mobilized nearly their entire force at the Galician front to meet the Russians. [55] After the serious defeat at Tannenberg of the Russian Army by the Germens, the Austrians could have feasibly launched an offensive that would have capitalized on the weakest moment of the Russian army. [56] This, in effect, would have allowed the Germans to keep seven-eighths of their army in the Western front as called for by the Schliffen Plan. [57] The result of the Central Powers maintaining their troop deployment as the intended plan mandated could have possibly shortened the war and provided the Central Powers a victory in the First World War. This would have dramatically altered modern of world history.

            Another possibility, which would have increased the impact of Serbia, would have been increased support from the Allies. By 1914, Serbia was isolated militarily and politically, surrounded by either apathetic or hostile neighbors. [58] Russia supported Serbia, however, the poor backward country could do every little, in regards to the battles of World War. For this reason Russian support proved to be very ineffective. France, the great lender of the Europe, gave Serbia weapons and financial support, but this did not prevent invaders coming from all sides. [59] Similarly, the Balkans especially Serbia, was one of the few places in the world where England had almost no influence at all. [60]   When Serbia was being assaulted by the Central Powers, England wanted to abandon the small country as a lost cause. English troops arrived only from continual Russian pressure and to save the French government from collapse. There was internal strife regarding whether to send aid to a country when the enemy was only miles away from Paris. [61] At any rate, a combined English and French force arrived, too late to be of any assistance. The expedition force then retreated to the Salonikan front. [62]

            If the French and English force had arrived before the invasion by the Central Powers of Serbia, perhaps they would have repulsed the fourth attempt to invade the country. At the very least this would have caused the invading force great loss in men and material, and saved thousands of Serbian lives. This invasion took place just months before the German offensive at Verdun. [63] A major loss or a hard fought victory may have caused the German high command to rethink their position on the Western front, therefore saving thousands of French lives.

 Yet, another possibility of extending Serbia’s impact would have been an offensive approach. By 1915, Austria was fighting Serbia, Italy, and Russia concurrently. [64] A collective effort by all the allies could have broken the Austrian forces and an invasion of Austria could have begun as early as autumn of 1915, just before the death of Emperor, Franz Josef. [65] The two events would have almost certainly taken Austria out of the war and would have meant an early victory for the Western Powers.

            The theories presented here are considered a domino effect. Events that happened in Serbia would echo on the Eastern front and then transfer to the Western front. When Serbia fell in late 1915 both the Russian and French experienced major difficulties over the next year after the invasion. The Russian revolution would take Russia out of the war, while mutinies in France injured the army and destroyed any hope for of an offensive against Germany in 1917 [66] . In fact, it appeared that if the United States had not joined the Allies in the summer of 1917, there could have been a German victory in the First World War. At the very least a stalemate that would have resulted in a more inclusive way as the Korean War did some years later. This would have prevented the guilt cause and possibly the Second World War.

 This theory would indicate that Serbia was of great importance towards the war effort on both sides. Had either side been more dynamic in their efforts in the Balkans, the war might have turned out much differently, and perhaps would not have been destructive enough, to earn the nickname “The War to End All Wars”.