James Lyon, Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914: the Outbreak of the Great War
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UDC 930.85(4–12) ISSN 0350–7653 eISSN 2406–0801 SERBIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS INSTITUTE FOR BALKAN STUDIES BALCANICA XLVII ANNUAL OF THE INSTITUTE FOR BALKAN STUDIES Editor-in-Chief DUŠAN T. BATAKOVIĆ Director of the Institute for Balkan Studies SASA Editorial Board JEAN-PAUL BLED (Paris), LJUBOMIR MAKSIMOVIĆ, ZORAN MILUTINOVIĆ (London), DANICA POPOVIĆ, DRAGAN BAKIĆ, SPYRIDON SFETAS (Thessaloniki), GABRIELLA SCHUBERT (Jena), NIKOLA TASIĆ, SVETLANA M. TOLSTAJA (Moscow) BELGRADE 2016 Reviews 369 James Lyon, Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914: The Outbreak of the Great War. Bloomsbury: London 2015, 306 p. Reviewed by Miloš Vojinović* James Lyon’s book has been eagerly awaited detail in which the battles and troop move- by the historians of the First World War. As ments are presented can even be described Lyon himself points out, the historiography as burdensome by those who are not enthu- of the Great War, after dealing with the siastic about military history. The narrative events from the summer of 1914, usually los- starts with chapters that are supposed to ex- es sight of the Balkan front in the remaining plain the origins of the conflict between the months of 1914. If we look at the Cambridge Kingdom of Serbia and Austria-Hungary, History of the First World War: Vol. 1 Global and ends with the last days of 1914, when War edited by Jay Winter, we can see that hostilities ceased after the Battle of the Kol- the Balkan front was not dealt with. Lyon ubara and the liberation of Belgrade. offers several reasons why the Balkan front Lyon states in the introduction that in 1914 should not be omitted from general one of his goals is to demonstrate that overviews of the First World War. Firstly, most Western historians, due to the lack relative to its size, it was as bloody as the of knowledge of Serbian sources, have ac- Western or Eastern fronts. Five months of cepted the premise set forth by former fighting in the relatively small northwestern Habsburg officers and politicians anxious to quarter of the Kingdom of Serbia brought justify themselves, that the Habsburg army death, serious wounds, and captivity to had been in a poor state whereas their foe 273,000 Habsburg soldiers and to 165,000 had been better equipped and supplied (p. Serbian soldiers (pp. 234–236). Moreover, 2). Lyon is not the first to claim this. Histo- the Balkan front did not have to wait for rian Graydon A. Tunstall has spoken about 1919 and Spanish flu – at the end of 1914 “Habsburg command conspiracy”, which typhus, diphtheria, and cholera were already was intended to hide the true reasons for the 1 taking lives. Secondly, Lyon demonstrates defeats of Habsburg armies in 1914. Lyon that events on the Balkan front were in fo- provides a well-substantiated refutation of cus of diplomacy of all belligerents, and of such claims, showing that the Habsburg some countries that were weighing whether troops outnumbered the Serbs by a ratio to enter the war or not. Finally, what is of that went up to 3 to 1. Moreover, he clearly special importance, the outcome of the war shows that the Habsburg forces were better operations in the Balkans in 1914 had seri- equipped, that they had up to three times as ous consequences for the Habsburg defeats many guns as the Serbs, and that they never by the Russian Empire on the Eastern front faced problems with the lack of equipment, clothing and ammunition comparable to (pp. 4, 138, 149–150, 178–179). those that the Serbian forces did. The book is based on the author’s PhD The first three chapters (“A Sunday in thesis defended at the University of Cali- Sarajevo”; “A third Balkan war?”; “Parallel fornia, Los Angeles, in 1995, before a dis- structures and hostile neighbors”) cover the sertation committee which included Bariša Krekić and Dimitrije Djordjević. The pub- lished version also drew upon works pub- * Institute for Balkan Studies SASA lished after 1995. Lyon’s fluency in Serbian 1 G. A. Tunstall, “The Habsburg Command enabled him to research Serbian primary Conspiracy: The Austrian falsification of his- sources from the period, which he had done toriography on the outbreak of World War I”, in a rather meticulous and diligent way. The Austrian History Yearbook 27 (1996), 181–198. 370 Balcanica XLVII (2016) time before hostilities began. Lyon claims inhabiting other parts of the Habsburg that “In 1914, influential elements in both Monarchy. Austria-Hungary and Serbia pressed dia- It seems that Lyon devoted more time metrically opposed geopolitical and national to researching hostilities than events that aims that contemplated future programs of had preceded the war. The chapters describ- territorial expansion at each other’s expense” ing the period before the war contain several (p. 2). What remains unclear is why Lyon factual errors. Belgrade did not become the has chosen to base his conclusions about capital of the Principality of Serbia after some of the crucial events only on the work the rebellions of 1804 and 1815 (p. 91). The of Luigi Albertini. Being well acquainted Serb-Croat Coalition in Croatia had not with Yugoslav and Serbian historiography, been in power from 1903 (p. 23), it did not he should have had no trouble noticing that even exist in 1903. Serbian chetnik units in some of Albertini’s conclusions, at times Macedonia were not formed in 1902, and based only on interviews made by his as- they were not formed by the Serbian state sistants after the Great War, have been dis- (p. 43). Lyon writes that in 1913 Dragu- proved by the subsequent research based on tin Dimitrijević Apis maintained contact the documentary material made available by with Prime Minister Pašić via Milovan the opening of archives. Milovanović. (pp. 58–59). It was hardly pos- Using Albertini’s work as a source, Lyon sible since Milovanović had died in 1912. claims that it appears that Gavrilo Princip The major part of this book is devoted was a fully inducted Black Hand member to war operations conducted from August (p. 58), a notion which is not supported to December 1914. The portrayal of the by any primary source or any research into military preparedness of both the Kingdom Young Bosnia. He also argues that “Vienna’s of Serbia and Austria-Hungary is extensive visible progress transforming and modern- and convincing. The descriptions of the bat- izing Bosnia-Herzegovina represented a tles and of the generals who led them are de- threat to Serbia’s national program”, espe- tailed and precise. The understanding of the cially because, Lyon adds, Franz Ferdinand’s battles and troop movements is made easier triune ideas were an obstacle to the Greater with six maps. Serbian national project (p. 56). What is Lyon writes that at the beginning of the questionable here is not just the fact that war Serbian army was “half uniformed and for Franz Ferdinand the triune solution poorly equipped”, while the Austro-Hun- was nothing more than an idea he briefly garian army “entered battle well-equipped, 2 contemplated and discarded, and that it is rested and possessing ample supplies” (pp. uncertain whether Serbian politicians knew 88–89). He concludes that on paper the about his plans at all. The main problem outcome seemed predetermined (p. 89). In is that no evidence is given to support the the following chapters, Lyon depicts the claim that Austrian policy in Bosnia was a Battle of Mt Cer, the Battle of the Drina “threat to Serbia’s national program”. In fact, with a special focus on the Battle of Mačkov quite the opposite is true. As time went by, Kamen, the Serbian invasion of Srem, and and especially after the Balkan wars, Ser- the Battle of the Kolubara. bia appeared more and more attractive to Readers can follow parallel dynam- the South Slavs, and not just to those in ics of decision-making processes in both Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also to those General Staffs. While Oskar Potiorek set the imperative of fast victory in Serbia in order to be able to fight the Russian army 2 J.-P. Bled, François-Ferdinand d’Autriche (Pa- with full capacity (pp. 116, 123), at the same ris: Tallandier, 2012), 230–233. time “Serbia’s General Staff understood the Reviews 371 strategic importance of the Morava-Vardar Bosnia-Herzegovina and Srem, and, finally, corridor, as well as the defensive advantages with the Battle of the Kolubara. The battles afforded by the country’s mountains and riv- are presented on various levels, mainly from ers, and incorporated these natural obstacles the viewpoint of military history, with a fo- into their defensive plans” (p. 109). Lyon cus on tactics, strategies, usage of weapons, argues that one of the reasons of Austro- and logistics. The author also provides an Hungarian defeat and Serbian victory was account of the diplomatic activities taking the fact that, unlike the plans of the Habs- place in the background of the field of bat- burg army which were made almost exclu- tle, the best example of which is the chapter sively in consequence of political impera- about the Battle of the Kolubara and the tives, the Serbian generals made plans with efforts of the Serbian government to pro- military considerations foremost in mind cure ammunition and supplies. As in many (pp. 239–241). In this respect, Lyon praises other books about the Great War, the read- General Putnik’s decision to leave Belgrade ers can learn about the horrors that soldiers undefended, since its defence did not have had gone through, and about the appalling any military logic behind it.