- [Voiceover] As we've already talked about multiple times,
World War I broke out in 1914
and the beginning of it was all about
Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia
using the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
as the pretext for declaring war on Serbia.
This was in July, July 28, 1914,
they declare war on Serbia
and if you were a military analyst at the time,
you would've assumed that this would've been
kind of a quick action
and this is why frankly Austro-Hungary
was so eager to declare war on Serbia.
They thought that it would be very easy for them
to put the Serbians out of commission.
Austro-Hungary ,
you're talking about this empire here.
Huge economy,
huge military industrial complex,
huge army.
Serbians,
much smaller country,
much poorer country.
They had also fought several recent wars.
They were very ill-equipped
so any military analyst would thought
that this would be a short war,
but 1914 did not prove that way
for the Austro-Hungarians
and this actually could be viewed as a huge victory,
a huge surprise,
for the Serbians,
that the Serbians were able to keep
the Austro-Hungarians back.
Serbians hold.
Now this isn't to say that it wasn't
incredibly, incredibly, incredibly bloody.
You've had several offensives across the border into Serbia.
The Austro-Hungarians briefly captured Belgrade.
Then the Serbians capture it back.
In the meantime tens and hundreds of thousands
of folks were dying,
but at the end of 1914,
you would have surprised the military analyst
and the Serbians were able to hold
despite being less equipped
and despite just being a smaller country.
Now the luck for the Serbians
did not hold out that well
as we go into 1915.
By 1915,
other parties other than the Austro-Hungarians
decided to get involved against the Serbians.
In particular,
you have the Bulgarians that prior to 1915,
they were kinda trying to figure out
which side of the war they want to fall in on,
but they have had several battles
or several wars recently with Serbia,
one as recently as 1913.
They were eager to capture back some territory
so in 1915 the Bulgarians joined the war
on the side of the Central Powers
and as we exit 1915,
you have a joint offensive between the Bulgarians,
the Austro-Hungarians and the Germans
against the small country of Serbia
and the Germans interest
other than the fact that they wanted to support
their ally, Austria,
they were also eager to take control
of the railways between Berlin and Constantinople
and that railway went into Serbia
and so if they were able to capture this,
take Serbia out of the war,
then they would be able to send supplies
much more easily to their other ally,
the Ottoman Empire.
So on October of 1915,
October of 1915,
you have a joint offensive between the German army
and this is what this map right here is depicting
right over here.
This is the third Austrian army,
this is the 11th German army.
This is the first Bulgarian army,
this is the second Bulgarian army
and their joint offensive is hugely successful
for the Central Powers.
They're essentially able to roll into Serbia.
It's actually impressive on the side of the Serbians
that it took this much force
to be able to roll through Serbia,
but they were able to roll through Serbia,
essentially occupy all of Serbia.
They put the Serbian army on the run
and the only redeeming thing for the Serbians
is that some element of the Serbian army
was actually able to escape through Montenegro and Albania
and some of the civilians
and then they were transported by the allies,
by the entente,
to be able to recuperate and then join
as we'll see on the Macedonian front.
So 1915 you have the Central Powers roll through Serbia
so to any observer right now,
Serbia is essentially lost.
Now right when that was happening,
the allies had recognized that Serbia
was in a very difficult situation
and as we got to the end of 1915,
they did start...
The French and British troops did start to land in Salonica
right over here in order to,
one would think,
help the Serbian forces.
Now they weren't able to arrive and act
in enough time to prevent what happened
in October of 1915.
You have some French forces
that were able to essentially distract
the Bulgarian second army
that aided to some degree the Serbian retreat,
but essentially they started to build their own forces
right over here in Salonica.
Now this is interesting
because we're talking about this region right over here,
kind of Macedonia and Greece
and at this point in the war,
Greece had stayed neutral.
The king was leaning towards...
King Constantine the first,
he was leaning towards the Central Powers
while the prime minister
and I'm sure I'm going to say this incorrectly,
Venizelos,
he was leaning toward the ally parties
so you started to have this kind of disconnect
between the two
and the prime minister resigns,
but he has active support,
especially in kind of Macedonia and Greece
and obviously he has support amongst the allies.
So as you go into 1916,
you have a coup for Venizelos in Macedonia and Greece,
especially in around Salonica,
which is essentially being held by the allies,
even though Greece is essentially...
Is officially neutral.
So coup for Venizelos,
which leads to a very interesting situation.
So after the coup for Venizelos,
you essentially have Greece,
kind of Macedonian and Greece
is under the control of the supporters of Venizelos
and supporters of the allies
while the rest of Greece is still loyal to the king
and the king is leaning towards the Central Powers,
but it's not really clear what he wants to do about it.
Then you get into 1917,
the allies start to get a little bit forceful about it.
In 1917 they have a blockade.
They apply a blockade of southern Greece.
Obviously blockades are always inflict a lot of hardship,
economic hardship,
human hardship,
on civilians,
but this essentially forces in June of 1917
Constantine the first...
Constantine goes into exhile
and essentially at this point,
all of Greece is under...
Is kind of supporting the allies
and Greece goes on the side of the allies
so in this map right over here
that shows kind of the Allied Powers,
the entente powers
and the Central Powers,
Greece right over here is depicted
as an Allied Power,
but it was officially neutral as we go through 1917
only after the overthrow as...
Only after Constantine the first goes into exile,
do we have Greece formally becoming an ally.
And so that set gives us the set up into 1918.
So you had regrouped Serbian forces
and at this point ,
it would be called the Macedonian front.
Serbia has been lost to the Central Powers.
You have regrouped Serbian forces at Salonica.
They've been transported to Salonica
and in Greek Macedonian general.
You now have the Greek army
who is now on the side of the allies.
You have the British and the French army
and so as we get into September 1918,
they are ready to go on the offensive
and you need to remember
what's happening in the rest of Europe at this point.
You might remember August 1918,
this is the beginning of the 100 days offensive
that marked the allied victory on the western front
so news was already getting in there.
You had great morale amongst the allies,
you had not so great morale amongst the Central Powers
and so in 1918, September,
you have the allied offensive
coming out of Greece,
coming out of I guess you could call it Macedonian Greece.
Hugely successful.
They were able to retake Serbia
and actually some of the British forces
are able to go east and retake Constantinople
and so this part,
this Macedonian front,
is part of this overall we saw on the western front,
kind of the end to the Central Powers ambitions
in World War I
and it ends with an armistice on this front
and as we know,
as we get into November of 1918,
you have essentially armistices or cease fires
on all the major fronts
and the allies have essentially won.