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Balkan Campaigns
Major European powers had direct interests in the Balkan states in the period before World War I. Austria-Hungary, having absorbed the former Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Hercegovina in 1908, had visions of further expansion to the south. Russia, self-appointed guardian of "her little Slavic sisters," feared an Austrian advance to the Dardanelles. Germany needed access to the sections of the Baghdad Railway running through Serbia and Bulgaria to join forces with her Turkish ally. In the Balkan states themselves feelings of nationalism were strong, and the desire to merge similar ethnic groups and the claims to adjacent provinces bred bitter hatreds. It was inevitable that, when Austria-Hungary set out to punish her troublesome little neighbor Serbia, all of the Balkan states would become embroiled. In summary, three Austrian offensives against Serbia
in 1914 were thrown back by the brave Serbs, but no further action of
importance took place there until October 1915. Then, as the German
need for the Baghdad Railway became acute and Serbia stubbornly denied
passage through her territory, German, Austrian, and Bulgarian troops
in superior numbers overran Serbia and her stanch ally Montenegro. (Bulgaria,
finding the offers of the Central Powers more attractive than those
of the Allies, had joined the former on October 14.) In an attempt to
help Serbia, the Allies established a front in Greece based on Salonika,
but it had not grown sufficiently in time to render material aid. The
Greek government wavered between a pro-Ally and a pro-German attitude
according to whether Premier Eleutherios Venizelos or King Constantine
I wielded power. Finally, in June 1917, the pro-German king was forced
to abdicate, and Greece joined the Allies. Rumania weighed the offers
of both sides and waited for a propitious time to join the winning side.
Although she chose the eventual winner, she timed her entrance poorly.
Entering the war in August 1916, she was promptly crushed by an avalanche
of German, Austrian, Bulgarian, and Turkish troops before the Allies
could help her. Finally, in September 1918, when the Germans' efforts
were concentrated on their collapsing western front and Austria was
fully occupied in Italy, the greatly enlarged Allied Salonika armies
came to life and moved against isolated Bulgaria, forcing her to seek
an armistice.
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