Veternik ( Serbian Cyrillic : Ветерник ) is a suburban settlement of the city of Novi Sad , Serbia. Over the years, especially in the 1990s, it grew with size and inhabitants thus merging with Futog to the west and Novi Sad to the east.
96-829: The settlement was named in honour of the assault of the Serbian army in the Veternik mountain area during the breach of the Macedonian front in World War I . It was first called Novi Veternik ("New Veternik"), but was later changed into Veternik . The name Veternik itself means "windy" in Serbian. [1] In Serbian Cyrillic , the settlement is known as Ветерник (in Serbian Latin as Veternik ) and in Hungarian as Hadikliget . The first settlement at this location
192-642: A "reverse exoticism" for the Greek Macedonia as Vietnamese soldiers serving in the tirailleurs indochinois celebrated their traditional Vietnamese holidays, which provided unusual spectacles in the Balkans. The troops of the 10th (Irish) Division of the British Army had very a "live and let live" attitude towards their Bulgarian enemies, and refrained from trench raids, only shelled each other's trenches at specific times to avoid too inconvenience to
288-600: A complete collapse. Slivnitsa was the decisive battle of the war. The Serbians fought only limited rearguard actions as they retreated and by 24 November they were back in Serbia. The Timok Division in the north continued the Siege of Vidin until 29 November. The main Bulgarian army crossed the border in two strong divisions (Guchev and Nikolaev), supported by flanking columns, and converged on Pirot. The Serbian army dug in on
384-604: A constitutional monarchy, Bulgaria depended on the consent of its people to keep fighting while stress and discontent with the war grew. An unintentional result of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which ended the war with Russia and the Treaty of Bucharest which ended the war with Romania was to undermine morale in the Austrian Imperial and Royal Army. Besides for the peace treaties, Serbia had been defeated in 1915 and Italy had been almost defeated in 1917, meaning that most of
480-488: A crisis in Greece. Though the royalist government ordered its troops in the area (the demobilized IV Corps ) not to resist and to retreat to the port of Kavala for evacuation, naval vessels did not turn up to permit the evacuation to take place. Despite occasional local resistance from a few officers and their nucleus units, most of the troops, including their commander, surrendered to a token German force and were interned for
576-548: A full Serbian retreat, southwards and westwards through Montenegro and into Albania . The Serbs faced great difficulties: terrible weather, poor roads and the need for the army to help the tens of thousands of civilians who retreated with them. Only c. 125,000 Serbian soldiers reached the Adriatic coast and embarked on Italian transport ships that carried the army to Corfu and other Greek islands before it travelled on to Thessaloniki. Marshal Putnik had to be carried around during
672-602: A huge fortified camp, earning themselves the mocking nickname "the Gardeners of Salonika". The Serbian army (now under the command of General Petar Bojović ), after rest and refit on Corfu, was transported by the French to the Macedonian front. In the meantime, the political situation in Greece was confusing. Officially, Greece was neutral, but King Constantine I was pro-German, while Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos
768-602: A just cause. The same could not be said about the Serbia, whose king had misled them in his manifesto to the army by telling the Serbian soldiers that they were being sent to help the Bulgarians in their war against the Ottomans, and the Serbian soldiers were initially surprised to find that they were fighting Bulgarians instead. Presumably, lying to his army was King Milan's only means to mobilize and command his troops without experiencing disobedience and unrest. Furthermore,
864-550: A multi-colored crowd on the quayside! Caftans, turbans, western suites in the latest style, black robes and scarlet fezzes like poppies" and Thessaloniki was "both wretched and splendid, just like the Orient". Burnet's reaction to Thessaloniki was very typical of the Anglo-French responses to Thessaloniki, a city that did not match expectations of classical Greece and seemed to them to be more Ottoman than Greek. The treatment of
960-736: A number of units from Algeria, and the Tirailleurs indochinois from Vietnam. Algeria was considered part of France at the time and a significant minority in Algeria were pied noirs as the European settlers were called, and the French did not necessarily consider Algerian units to be colonial units, and it is possible that at least third of the French Armée d' Orient were colonial units. The presence of so many colonial units from Algeria, French West Africa, Madagascar and Indochina led to
1056-543: A progressive loss of Arab lands. In Austria-Hungary, non-German and non-Hungarian parts of the multinational empire grew more openly restive. On the Western Front , intense German spring offensives had not defeated France, and American deployment was increasingly effective, with US forces operating under independent command from June 1918. Though Bulgaria was not at war with the United States, German victory over
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#17327730548211152-674: A series of events that led to the defeat of Germany in November 1918, and which led him to place the operations in the Balkans as one the decisive theaters of the war. The idea that the lands around the Mediterranean Sea were the weak point for the opposing side influenced Churchill's strategy in World War Two, where consistently showed a preference for operations in the Mediterranean area as the supposed weak point in
1248-751: A stable front was established, running from the Albanian Adriatic coast to the Struma River , pitting a multinational Allied force against the Bulgarian army , which was at various times bolstered with smaller units from the other Central Powers . The Macedonian front remained stable, despite local actions, until the Allied offensive in September 1918 resulted in Bulgaria capitulating and
1344-778: A treaty with Germany and on 21 September 1915 Bulgaria began mobilizing for war. After the victory of the Serbian army in the Battle of Kolubara in December 1914, the Serbian front saw a lull until the early autumn of 1915. Under the command of Field Marshal August von Mackensen , the Austro-Hungarian Balkan Army, the German 11th Army and river flotillas on the Danube and the Sava began an offensive on 6 October 1915,
1440-673: Is also home to an institution for handicapped children and young people. In 2009 the city of Nova Sad decided to build a new primary school in Veternik with access for children with disabilities. The new school was named after the local philanthropist Marija Trandafil . Macedonian front Army Group Scholtz Allied Army of the Orient Serbian campaign (1914) Serbian campaign (1915) Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian occupation Aegean Albania Greece ( National Schism ) Macedonian front The Macedonian front , also known as
1536-663: The Danube river and was poised to enter the heartland of Hungary . At the request of the French General, Count Károlyi , leading the Hungarian government, came to Belgrade and signed another armistice, the Armistice of Belgrade . Winston Churchill in his memoirs/history of the First World War, The World Crisis , assigned much importance to the defeat of Bulgaria in September 1918, which he saw as beginning
1632-700: The Ottoman Empire , the Ottomans did not intervene in the war. Serbia initiated the war but was decisively defeated. Austria-Hungary demanded for Bulgaria to stop its invasion, and a truce resulted. The final peace was signed on 3 March [ O.S. 19 February] 1886 in Bucharest. The old boundaries were not changed. As a result of the war, European powers acknowledged the act of Unification of Bulgaria which happened on 18 September [ O.S. 6 September] 1885. On 18 September [ O.S. 6 September] 1885, Bulgaria and
1728-680: The Salonica front (after Thessaloniki ), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia , in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germany , Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria . The expedition came too late and with insufficient force to prevent the fall of Serbia and was complicated by the internal political crisis in Greece (the National Schism ). Eventually,
1824-530: The Serbian–Bulgarian War ( Bulgarian : Сръбско-българска война , Srăbsko-bălgarska voyna , Serbian : Српско-бугарски рат , Srpsko-bugarski rat ) was a war between the Kingdom of Serbia and Principality of Bulgaria that erupted on 14 November [ O.S. 2 November] 1885 and lasted until 28 November [ O.S. 16 November] 1885. Despite Bulgaria being a vassal state of
1920-648: The Timok Rebellion two years before), he ordered the mobilisation of only the first class of infantry (recruits younger than 30 years), which meant mobilising only about half of the available Serbian manpower. In doing so, he deprived the Serbian army of its veterans of the previous wars against the Ottoman Empire. The modern rifles, despite being among the best in Europe at the time, still had issues of their own: they were introduced only two years before
2016-629: The Vardar river alone. This advance gave some limited help to the retreating Serbian army, as the Bulgarians had to concentrate larger forces on their southern flank to deal with the threat, which led to the Battle of Krivolak (October–November 1915). By the end of November, General Sarrail had to retreat in the face of massive Bulgarian assaults on his positions. During his retreat, the British at Kosturino were also forced to retreat. By 12 December, all Allied forces were back in Greece. The Germans ordered
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#17327730548212112-509: The mission civilisatrice ("civilizing mission"), which led for the French Army to embark upon a series of public works projects such as building bridges, improving roads, providing piped water to rural villages, trying to eradicate malaria, and so forth. Such projects were intended primarily to benefit the French Army, but many French officers genuinely believed that helping the local people "come to love France" as one French colonel put it
2208-511: The "revolutionary" Venizelist " Provisional Government of National Defence " at Thessaloniki. At the same time, the Italians had deployed more forces to Albania, which managed to push the Austrian corps back through very hilly country south of Lake Ostrovo . The Allies treated Salonika very much like a colony. Thessaloniki was more ethically and religiously mixed than today, was viewed by
2304-521: The Allied forces held a defensive line after two weeks. Having halted the Bulgarian offensive, the Allies staged a counter-attack starting on 12 September ( Battle of Kaymakchalan ). The terrain was rough, and the Bulgarians were on the defensive, but the Allied forces made steady gains. Slow advances by the Allies continued throughout October and into November, even as the weather turned cold and snow fell on
2400-545: The Allies could only offer Bulgaria small territorial concessions from Serbia and neutral Greece, the Central Powers' promises appeared far more enticing, offering to cede most of the land Bulgaria claimed . With the Allied defeats at the Battle of Gallipoli (April 1915 to January 1916) and the Russian defeat at Gorlice-Tarnów (May to September 1915) demonstrating the Central Powers' strength, King Ferdinand signed
2496-586: The Allies established a naval blockade around southern Greece which was still loyal to King Constantine, causing extreme hardship to the people in those areas. Six months later, in June, the Venizelists presented a list of conditions, resulting in the exile of the Greek king (on 14 June, his son Alexander became king) and the reunification of the country under Venizelos. The new government immediately declared war on
2592-537: The Austrian war aims had already achieved, and from the Austrian point of view, there was no more point in continuing the war. However, the Austrian Empire was very much the junior partner in its alliance with Germany, and under strong German pressure Austria-Hungary had to continue the war, which caused serious morale problems in the Imperial and Royal Army by 1918. Within the Imperial and Royal Army, Germany
2688-1025: The Axis. 1912–1913 1913 1914 1915 [REDACTED] Bulgaria Nikola Zhekov • Kliment Boyadzhiev • Dimitar Geshov • Georgi Todorov • Ivan Lukov • Stefan Nerezov • Vladimir Vazov Entente : [REDACTED] Serbia : Radomir Putnik • Živojin Mišić • Stepa Stepanović • Petar Bojović • Pavle Jurišić Šturm ; [REDACTED] France : Maurice Sarrail • Adolphe Guillaumat • Louis Franchet d'Espèrey ; [REDACTED] United Kingdom : Bryan Mahon • George Milne ; [REDACTED] Kingdom of Greece : Panagiotis Danglis 1915 Morava Offensive • Ovče Pole Offensive • Kosovo offensive (1915) • Battle of Krivolak 1916 First battle of Doiran • Battle of Florina (Lerin) • Struma operation • Monastir offensive 1917 Serbo-Bulgarian War The Serbo-Bulgarian War or
2784-466: The Balkan countries should cooperate, as had occurred during the rule of Prince Mihailo Obrenović . Novaković criticised Milan's actions as authoritarian, pretentious and not founded on facts. The Serbian population was generally unenthusiastic and did not support the war, and did not understand the reasons behind it. According to the academic Slobodan Jovanović , the Serbian population generally viewed
2880-604: The British and French soldiers as an exotic "Oriental" city with its winding, cramped streets, domes, churches, synagogues, mosques, and the very striking White Tower that overlooked the city. Thessaloniki had been part of the Ottoman Empire until 1912 when it was won by Greece in the First Balkan War, and in 1915 the city still had a very Ottoman feel to it. Etienne Burnet, a French bacteriologist sent out from Paris to take part in an anti-malaria campaign marveled: "What
2976-432: The Bulgarian army attacked from two directions, one from the north of Bulgaria towards Niš , the other from the south towards Skopje (see map). The Bulgarian army rapidly broke through the weaker Serbian forces that tried to block its advance. With the Bulgarian breakthrough, the Serbian position became hopeless; their main army in the north faced either encirclement and forced surrender or retreat. Marshal Putnik ordered
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3072-544: The Bulgarian army traveled from the Ottoman border in the southeast to the Serbian border in the northwest to defend the capital Sofia . After the defensive battles at Slivnitsa and Vidin (the latter's defence was organized by Atanas Uzunov ), Bulgaria began an offensive which took the city of Pirot . Austria-Hungary then stepped in and threatened to join the war on Serbia's side if the Bulgarian troops did not pull back. No territorial changes were made to either country, but
3168-594: The Bulgarians had small arms that were inferior to those of the Serbs but had artillery that was greatly superior by featuring modern steel, Krupp -designed breech-loading cannons. There were two views on the Bulgarian strategy: the first, supported by Prince Alexander of Battenberg , saw the general battle on the Ihtiman heights. The drawback of this plan was that in that case, the capital Sofia had to be surrendered without battle. This could very well cause Serbia to stop
3264-408: The Bulgarians in the Battle of Doiran . The Franco-Serbian army continued advancing vigorously, and the next day, some Bulgarian units started surrendering positions without a fight, and the Bulgarian command ordered a retreat. In the official British government history of the Macedonian campaign, Cyril Falls wrote a detailed analysis of the situation of the Bulgarian forces and the situation of
3360-495: The Bulgarians not to cross the Greek borders, reluctant to risk a Greek entry into the war in response to a Bulgarian invasion in Macedonia. The Allies took advantage of that, reinforcing and consolidating their positions behind the borders. Thus there resulted in a clear, albeit incomplete, victory for the Central Powers. They opened the railway line from Berlin to Constantinople , allowing Germany to prop up its weaker partner,
3456-617: The Central Powers and created a new army. On 30 May 1918, the Allies launched an offensive on the heavily fortified Skra salient, commencing the battle of Skra-di-Legen . The battle marked the first significant Greek action for the Allied side. Utilizing the cover of heavy artillery, a Franco- Hellenic force made a rapid push into the enemy trenches, conquering Skra and the surrounding system of fortifications. Greek casualties amounted to 434–440 killed in action, 154–164 missing in action and 1,974–2,220 wounded, while France lost approximately 150 men killed or injured. A total of 1,782 soldiers of
3552-422: The Central Powers became prisoners of war, including a small number of German engineers and artillery specialists that served in Bulgarian units; considerable amounts of military equipment also fell into Allied hands. The plan for a Bulgarian counteroffensive against Skra remained unfulfilled as Bulgarian soldiers refused to participate in the operation. Both the Greek and the French press used the opportunity to laud
3648-466: The Entente. The Bulgarians had also increased their army during 1917, leading both sides to have roughly equal military power (291 Allied battalions vs. 300 Bulgarian battalions and ten German battalions). However, as 1918 progressed, it was clear that the Entente had the momentum the Central Powers lacked. Russian defeat had yielded no meaningful benefit to the Central Powers. The Ottoman Empire faced
3744-455: The Greek port of Thessaloniki (Salonica) too late to contribute to the operations to help Serbia. The main reason for the delay was the lack of available Allied forces due to the critical situation in the Western Front . The Entente used Greek neutrality as an excuse , although they could have used the Albanian coast to rapidly deploy reinforcements and equipment during the first 14 months of
3840-562: The Ottoman Empire. Despite the victory, the Allies managed to save a part of the Serbian army , while although battered, seriously reduced, and almost unarmed, escaped destruction and reorganized, resuming operations six months later. And most damagingly for the Central Powers, the Allies—using the moral excuse of saving the Serbian army—managed to replace the impossible Serbian front with a viable one established in Macedonia (albeit by violating
3936-488: The Ottoman government asked for an armistice (the Armistice of Mudros ) on 26 October; Enver Pasha and his partners had fled several days earlier to Berlin. The Serbo-French army recaptured Serbia and overran several weak German divisions that tried to block its advance near Niš . On 3 November, Austria-Hungary was forced to sign an armistice on the Italian front ending the war there. On 10 November, d'Espèrey's army crossed
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4032-548: The Serbian flank, and its intervention on either side of the belligerents would be decisive. Bulgaria and Serbia had fought each other twice in the previous thirty years: in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 and the Second Balkan War of 1913. Bulgaria had suffered defeat in 1913, and the Bulgarian government and people generally felt that Serbia had seized land which rightfully belonged to Bulgaria. While
4128-663: The Serbians concentrated two divisions for an attack on the Bulgarian left near Karnul (today Delyan, Sofia Province ) in an attempt to join up with the Morava division. However, three battalions of Bulgarian troops led by Captain Popov from Sofia had held the Morava division in the Visker Hills and the flanking move failed. Alexander now ordered a counterattack which pushed the Serbians back on both flanks although nightfall prevented
4224-434: The United States appeared conceptually infeasible. Finally, and most importantly for Bulgaria, although almost all of its territorial war aims were already achieved, because World War I was not merely a third Balkan War , Bulgaria could not quit. Alongside its partners, Bulgaria continued to suffer high casualties and civilian privation, including food shortages, seemingly to achieve the unrealized objectives of its allies. As
4320-639: The Viennese ambassador to Belgrade , Count Rudolf of Khevenhüller-Metsch , visited the headquarters of the Bulgarian Army and demanded the cessation of military actions, threatening that otherwise the Bulgarian forces would face Austro-Hungarian troops. The ceasefire was signed on 28 November, but that did not stop the Serbians from continuing unsuccessful attempts to conquer Vidin with the idea to use it in negotiations later, even after military activities had stopped on demand of their ally. On 3 March 1886
4416-549: The Western Balkans), Milan I declared war on Bulgaria on 14 November [ O.S. 2 November] 1885. The military strategy relied largely on surprise, as Bulgaria expected an attack from the Ottoman Empire and had moved its troops to the area near the Ottoman border, to the southeast. The Serbian pretext was a minor border dispute, known as the Bregovo Dispute. The Timok river, which formed part of
4512-496: The army were carried out (which later, in part, contributed to the end of the Obrenović dynasty ). King Milan's poor judgment and leadership are generally considered as the main reasons behind Serbia's defeat in the conflict. Milan believed the conflict would entail "taking a walk to Sofia" and thus mustered only one-third of the Serbian army's manpower, as he was in constant fear of possible plots against him and wished to keep
4608-472: The army. Instead, he took the position of army commander himself and gave most of the divisional commands to officers chosen primarily for their loyalty and not war records like Petar Topalović of the Morava division who had previously commanded the troops suppressing the militarily poorly organized Timok Rebellion. Furthermore, underestimating the Bulgarian military strength and fearing mutinies for conducting such an unpopular war (and having indeed experienced
4704-417: The artillery was ill-equipped, still using muzzle-loading cannons of the La Hitte system . Breech-loading cannons of the De Bange system had been ordered and paid for, but did not arrive in Serbia until 1886. The total number of Serbian armed forces expected to take part in the military operation was about 60,000. King Milan I divided his force into two armies, the Nishava and Timok armies. The first undertook
4800-425: The border between the two countries, had slightly changed its course over the years. As a result, a Serbian border guardhouse near the village of Bregovo had found itself on the Bulgarian bank of the river. After some denied requests from Bulgaria to evacuate the guardhouse, Bulgaria expelled the Serbian troops by force. Bulgarian sources on the other hand, outline several Serbian intrusions into Bulgarian territory as
4896-428: The coast of the Adriatic Sea into Italian-controlled Albania . By the end of the winter, the small Italian army in Albania had been forced out of nearly the whole country. With the war in the Balkans almost lost, the British General Staff wanted to withdraw all British troops from Greece, but the French government protested strongly, and the troops remained. The Allied armies entrenched around Thessaloniki, which became
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#17327730548214992-479: The conflict as Milan's "cabinet war". Politician Milan Piroćanac believed that Milan did not start the war for patriotic reasons, but that he instead wished to secure funds from abroad in order to repay his numerous debts to the Austro-Hungarians. A number of Serb officers and civil servants were against the war, describing the Bulgarians as the Serbs' "neighbours" and "Orthodox brothers". The academic Milan Đ. Milićević recounted that many Belgraders protested against
5088-412: The conflict to be dubbed "The War of the Captains"). Also, since the Bulgarian government had expected an attack from the Ottoman Empire, the main forces of the Bulgarian Army were along the southeastern border. Their redeployment across Bulgaria would take at least five to six days. Bulgaria's main advantages were its strong patriotic spirit and high morale and its men feeling that they were fighting for
5184-666: The consumption of bullets by the previous, much older and slower-firing rifles. The situation was made worse still by the contemporary Serbian tactics, which emphasized firepower and downplayed hand-to-hand fighting, which contributed to heavy casualties in the fight for Neškov Vis in defense of Pirot. Bulgaria was forced to meet the Serbian threat with two serious disadvantages. When the unification had been declared, Russia had withdrawn its military officers, who had until that moment commanded all larger units of Bulgaria's young army. The remaining Bulgarian officers had lower ranks and no experience in commanding units larger than platoons (causing
5280-424: The declaration of unification, massive protests broke out in Greece for fear of the creation of a Greater Bulgarian state in the Balkans. They called upon the Greek government to declare war on Bulgaria. Serbia proposed to Greece a joint military action against Bulgaria, but Greece rejected the proposal. Lured by Austria-Hungary's promises of support and territorial gains from Bulgaria (in return for concessions in
5376-456: The efforts of the Greek army, favourably influencing the Greek mobilization. The fall of Skra prompted Bulgarian prime minister Vasil Radoslavov to resign on 21 June 1918. Aleksandar Malinov , who assumed office immediately afterwards, pursued secret negotiations with Britain, offering to withdraw Bulgaria from the war with the condition that Bulgaria fully retain eastern Macedonia. However, British prime minister David Lloyd George rejected
5472-410: The entire retreat; he died just over a year later in a French hospital. The French and British divisions marched north from Thessaloniki in October 1915 under the joint command of French General Maurice Sarrail and British General Bryan Mahon (Commander, British Salonika Force , 1915). However, the London War Office was reluctant to advance too deep into Serbia. So the French divisions advanced up
5568-401: The event, the lack of Allied support sealed the fate of the Serbian army. Against Serbia, the Central Powers marshalled the Bulgarian Army, a German army , and an Austro-Hungarian army , all under the command of Field Marshal Mackensen . The Germans and Austro-Hungarians began their attack on 7 October with a massive artillery barrage, followed by attacks across the rivers. Then, on 11 October,
5664-405: The front. Although a breakthrough was achieved at Dobro Pole and the Allied forces continued their advance, the Bulgarian army was not routed and managed an orderly retreat. By 29 September (a day before Bulgaria exited World War I), Skopje fell, but a Bulgarian and German force had been ordered to try and retake it the next day; the number of Bulgarian prisoners-of-war in allied hands around that day
5760-408: The heights on the right and forced the Danube division back to the road. At daybreak on 18 November the Serbians attacked the weaker left flank of the Bulgarian line. Just in time two battalions of the Preslav Regiment arrived to shore up the position. Further attacks in the centre were repulsed with heavy Serbian casualties and Benderev captured two further positions in the mountains. On 19 November
5856-415: The heights west of the town. On 27 November the Bulgarian Army flanked the right of the Serbian position with Prince Alexander personally leading the final attack. The Serbians abandoned Pirot, retreated towards Niš and called a general mobilization of their military reservists, but they did not arrive at the front before the cease-fire. The Serbian defeat made Austria-Hungary take action. On 28 November,
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#17327730548215952-576: The hills. Though the Germans sent two more divisions to help bolster the Bulgarian army, by 19 November, the French and Serbian armies captured Kaymakchalan , the highest peak of Nidže mountain and compelled the Central powers to abandon Bitola to the Entente; c. 60,000 Bulgarians and Germans were killed, wounded or captured. The Allies suffered c. 50,000 battle casualties while another 80,000 men died or were evacuated due to sickness. The front moved about 25 miles (40 km). The unopposed Bulgarian advance into Greek-held eastern Macedonia precipitated
6048-518: The largest offensive against Serbia. By September 1915, despite the extreme sacrifice of the Serbian army, the Austro-Hungarian Balkan Army, having crossed the rivers Sava and Drina , and the German 11th army after crossing the Danube, occupied Belgrade , Smederevo , Požarevac and Golubac , creating a vast bridgehead south of the Sava and Danube rivers, and forcing Serbian forces to withdraw to southern Serbia. On 15 October 1915, two Bulgarian armies attacked, over-running Serbian units and penetrating
6144-410: The last two wars against the Ottoman Empire. However, internal Serbian problems supplemented by King Milan's conduct of the war, nullified most of these advantages: In order to claim all the glory for the victory he considered imminent, King Milan did not call upon the most famous commanders of the previous wars (Gen. Jovan Belimarković , Gen. Đura Horvatović and Gen. Milojko Lešjanin ) to command
6240-422: The liberation of Serbia. Following the assassination of the Crown Prince by a Bosnian Serb, Austria-Hungary had attacked Serbia in August 1914 but had failed to overcome Serbian resistance. After the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers (November 1914), the decisive factor in the Balkans became the attitude of Bulgaria. Bulgaria occupied a strategically important position on
6336-417: The local women by their menfolk created much disgust as the women were always cloistered away or treated as "beasts of burden". Many of the French soldiers were peasants who were much incensed by the backward state of agriculture in the farms outside of Thessaloniki, which led many French soldiers to complain about the primitive farming methods of Macedonia. The French in particular saw themselves as engaged in
6432-411: The main objective, i.e., to overcome the Bulgarian defences along the west border, to conquer Sofia and advance towards the Ihtiman heights. It was there that the army was supposed to encounter and crush the Bulgarian forces coming from the southeast. Serbia's main advantages on paper were the better small arms and the highly educated commanders and soldiers, who had gained a great deal of experience from
6528-403: The main road on a ridge in front of Slivnitsa city. To the right was steep mountainous terrain whilst the left wing had the easier Visker Hills towards Breznik . The three Serbian centre divisions also arrived on 16 November and halted to recover after the fierce Bulgarian delaying action in the Dragoman Pass. The Morava division was at some distance from its objective, Breznik, which lay to
6624-508: The next day. Under those chaotic circumstances, a Bulgarian delegation arrived in Thessaloniki to request an armistice. On 29 September, the Bulgarians were granted the Armistice of Salonica by General d'Espèrey, ending their war. The Macedonian front ended at noon on 30 September 1918 when the ceasefire came into effect. The Soldiers' Uprising was finally put down by 2 October. German Emperor Wilhelm II , in his telegram to Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I , stated: "Disgraceful! 62,000 Serbs decided
6720-505: The other side and often avoided shooting at the enemy. The mostly Irish troops in their letters to their families back home often described Bulgarians as "Brother Bulgar", and reserved all their hatred for the Germans and the British General Staff, which was they accused of neglecting them. By spring 1917, General Sarrail's Allied Army of the Orient had been reinforced to 24 divisions, six French, six Serbian, seven British, one Italian, three Greek and two Russian brigades . An offensive
6816-401: The outbreak of the war, and as such many of the soldiers were not well-trained in their use. More importantly, the theoretical capabilities of the rifle often misled the Serbian officers, who still lacked experience with it, into ordering volleys from distances of half a mile or more, wasting precious ammunition for negligible results. Furthermore, the quantity of ammunition purchased was based on
6912-555: The peace treaty was signed in Bucharest . According to its terms, no changes were to be made along the Bulgarian-Serbian border. The war was an important step in the strengthening of Bulgaria's international position. To a large extent, the victory preserved the Bulgarian unification . The defeat left a lasting scar on the Serbian military, previously considered by the Serbian people to be undefeated. Ambitious reforms of
7008-697: The proposal, assuring the Greek ambassador in London Ioannis Gennadius that Britain would not act against Greek interests. With the German spring offensive threatening France, Guillaumat was recalled to Paris and replaced by General Franchet d'Espèrey . Although d'Espèrey urged an attack on the Bulgarian army, the French government refused to allow an offensive unless all the countries agreed. General Guillaumat, no longer needed in France, travelled from London to Rome , trying to win approval for an attack. Finally, in September 1918, an agreement
7104-436: The remainder of the war at Görlitz , Germany. The surrender of territory recently won with difficulty in the Second Balkan War of 1913 was the last straw for many Venizelist army officers. With Allied assistance, they launched a coup which secured Thessaloniki and most of Greek Macedonia for Venizelos. From that point, Greece had two governments: the "official" royal government at Athens, which maintained Greek neutrality, and
7200-472: The rest of the military within Serbia's borders. Milan decided to declare war on his own personal whim and based on his own interpretation of the terms of the Congress of Berlin. Prominent Serbian statesman and politician Stojan Novaković and other Serbian political leaders did not share the king's enthusiasm for the war. Novaković advocated reaching a peaceful settlement with the Bulgarians and believed that
7296-593: The semi-autonomous Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia declared their unification in the city of Plovdiv . Eastern Rumelia, whose population was predominantly ethnic Bulgarian, had been an artificial creation of the Berlin Congress seven years earlier. The unification took place against the will of the Great Powers , including Russia . Austria-Hungary had been expanding its influence in the Balkans and
7392-431: The situation for Serbia became desperate. The developments finally forced the French and the British to decide upon sending a small expedition force of two divisions from Gallipoli ( 156th Infantry Division (France) and 10th (Irish) Division respectively). Though the first troops landed in the port of Salonika on 5 October to combine into an Army of the Orient under the French commander Maurice Sarrail , they arrived in
7488-662: The south. The northern advance was bogged down along the Danube . The morning of 17 November came with rain and mist but not the expected Serbian attack. By 10 in the morning, Alexander ordered three battalions to advance on the right. They surprised the Danube division, who eventually rallied and pushed them back. The main Serbian attack began on the centre largely unsupported by artillery which had insufficient range. The weight of Bulgarian fire forced them back with some 1,200 casualties. A relief column led by Captain Benderev recaptured
7584-422: The start of hostilities. Bulgarian troops were positioned away from the border in order to not give Serbia cause for attack by defending the border by force. After several incursions fire was finally exchanged on the 13th of November [ O.S. 1 November] 1885. As it happened, the Ottomans did not intervene, and the Serbian army's advance was stopped after the Battle of Slivnitsa . The main body of
7680-527: The territory of an officially neutral country); this front would prove key to their final victory three years later. On 5 January 1916, the Austro-Hungarian Army attacked Serbian ally Montenegro . The small Montenegrin army offered strong resistance in the Battle of Mojkovac , which greatly helped the withdrawal of the Serbian army, but soon faced impossible odds and was compelled to surrender on 25 January. The Austro-Hungarians advanced down
7776-415: The unification was recognised by the great powers. However, the relationship of trust and friendship between Serbia and Bulgaria, which had been built during their long common fight against Ottoman rule, suffered irreparable damage. The Serbian army's infantry weaponry stood up to the most modern standards of the time ( Mauser-Milovanović single fire rifles with excellent ballistic characteristics). However,
7872-538: The valley of the South Morava river near Vranje up to 22 October 1915. The Bulgarian forces occupied Kumanovo , Štip , and Skopje and prevented the withdrawal of the Serbian army to the Greek border and Thessaloniki (Salonika). The Allies (Britain and France) had repeatedly promised to send military forces to Serbia, but nothing had materialized for a year. However, with Bulgaria's mobilization to its south,
7968-678: The war and call in the arbitrage of the Great Powers. For this reason, the strategic plan that was finally selected by the Bulgarian command expected the main clash to be in the area of Slivnitsa . Captain Olimpi Panov had an important role in this final decision. Prince Alexander I arrived on the evening of 16 November to find a well prepared defensive position manned by 9 battalions, plus some 2000 volunteers and 32 guns, commanded by Major Guchev. The position consisted of nearly 4 km of trenches and artillery redoubts on either side of
8064-431: The war and commented that Serbs and Bulgarians "are almost the same people". Milan's consort Natalie was also opposed to the war. On the other hand, part of the Serbian military establishment fully supported the war effort, citing Bulgarian atrocities against Serb civilians, including murder, theft and rape, in southern Serbia and what the Serbian leadership called Old Serbia , which was still under Ottoman control. After
8160-694: The war!" On 29 September 1918, the German Supreme Army Command informed Wilhelm II and the Imperial Chancellor Count Georg von Hertling , that the military situation facing Germany was hopeless. Ferdinand I abdicated and went into exile on 3 October. The British army headed east towards the European side of the Ottoman Empire as the French and Serbian forces continued north and liberated Serbia, Albania and Montenegro . The British army neared Constantinople, and with no Ottoman forces capable of stopping it,
8256-480: The war, the population returned and settlement largely developed in the next period: from only 789 inhabitants that were recorded by the 1948 census, the population of Veternik rose to 18,626 in 2002. Officially, Veternik holds suburban settlement status, as it is part of the agglomeration of Novi Sad. Today, Veternik has merged with Novi Sad completely. Besides basic village infrastructure (post office, two elementary schools, infirmary, library, market etc.), Veternik
8352-578: The war. (As the Serbian Marshal Putnik had suggested, the Montenegrin army gave adequate cover to the Albanian coast from the north—at a safe distance from any Bulgarian advance in the south in the event of a Bulgarian intervention.) The Entente was also delayed due to protracted through finally fruitless secret negotiations to bring Bulgaria into the Allied camp, which would have alleviated Serbia's need for Franco-British help. In
8448-544: Was a Bulgarian offensive, as the Austro-Hungarian army was in Albania, and only one German division was on the Greek border. The Bulgarians attacked on two fronts. In the east, they easily conquered all Greek territory east of the river Struma (see Struma Offensive ) since the Greek army was ordered not to resist by the pro-German King Constantine. The attack achieved early success in the west thanks to surprise, but
8544-461: Was an idealistic goal in and of itself that was worth pursuing. Of the 8 French Army divisions stationed on the Salonika front, three were colonial divisions while the 156th French Division had a significant number of colonial units attached to it. Of the 221, 000 French troops who served in Macedonia, at least 47,000 (21%) were colonial units, mostly the tirailleurs sénégalais from West Africa,
8640-494: Was cursed as the "secret enemy" that had bullied the Austrian empire into continuing the war in order to achieve German war aims. The preparatory artillery bombardment of Bulgarian and Central Powers positions for the Battle of Dobro Pole began on 14 September. The following day, the French and Serbians attacked and captured their objective. On 18 September, the Greeks and the British attacked but were stopped with heavy losses by
8736-435: Was mentioned in 1848 and its name was Neu Ilof . It was a settlement for workers that worked in the nearby estate whose last owner was count Kotek. The modern settlement was founded in 1918 as a settlement for Serb veterans from World War I . During World War II , the Hungarian occupational authorities relegated the population of the village across the Danube , and settled Hungarians from Bukovina into their houses. After
8832-563: Was only 15,000. Another major factor contributed to the Bulgarian request for an armistice. A mass of retreating Bulgarian mutineers had converged on the railway centre of Radomir in Bulgaria, 30 miles (48 km) from the capital city of Sofia. On 27 September, leaders of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union took control of these troops and proclaimed the overthrow of the monarchy and a Bulgarian republic. About 4,000–5,000 rebellious troops threatened Sofia
8928-463: Was particularly opposed to the unification. Bulgaria's western neighbour, Serbia, also feared it would diminish its position in the Balkans. In addition, Serbia's ruler, Milan I (1868–1889), was annoyed that pro-Russian opposition leaders like Nikola Pašić , who had stirred up the Timok Rebellion , had found asylum in Bulgaria after the suppression of the rebellion by the Serbian Army. After
9024-410: Was planned for late April, but the initial attack failed with significant losses, and the offensive was called off on 21 May. To put more pressure on Athens, the Venizelists and the Entente occupied Thessaly and Isthmus of Corinth , dividing the country. After an attempt to occupy Athens by force, which caused the reaction of the local royalist forces and ended in a fiasco in December (see Noemvriana ),
9120-409: Was pro-Allied. Venizelos invited the Entente into Thessaloniki. With the knowledge that Romania was about to join the Allied side, General Sarrail began preparations for an attack on the Bulgarian armies facing his forces. The Germans made plans of their own for a "spoiling attack". The German offensive was launched on 17 August, just three days before the French offensive was scheduled to start. This
9216-583: Was reached, allowing d'Espèrey to launch his grand offensive. The Allied forces were now large, despite the Russian exit from the war due to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. Greece and its army (nine divisions) were fully committed to the Entente, while 6,000 Czech and Slovak former prisoners of war held on the Italian front were re-armed, reorganized, and transferred to the Macedonian front to fight for
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