With Bulgaria joining the Central Powers in October 1915 assuring the defeat of Serbia by the end of November, the Balkanzug — the Balkan Railway, shown in red — connected Berlin and Constantinople. By the second week of November, Turkey received ammunition and weapons from its allies.
Image text: Vierbund-TreubundQuadruple Alliance-True AllianceReverse:Message dated February 28, 1916, and postmarked the next day.Logo: ErikaNr. 5448
Germany and King Ferdinand of Bulgaria squeeze pincers on Serbia at the city of Nisch. Germany and Austria-Hungary began their joint invasion across Serbia's norther border on October 6, 1915. Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the Central Powers on October 14, and invaded Serbia from the east. Nisch fell to the invaders on November 5.The Serbia capital of Belgrade on the Danube and the city of Monastir on the Greek border are marked with initials.Handmade postcard map dated November 12, 1915.
Image text: Serbien Kopot, Kapot, Kaput (?)[Serbian King] Peter bankraft, bankratt (?)Marked are the Adriatic and Aegean Seas, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary.Deliblat (?)Reverse:Unsern tapferen Truppen im Felde gewidmet von der Tintenfabrik Eduard Beyer, Chemnitz i/s - Teplitz i/s.Dedicated to our courageous forces in the field from the ink factory Edward Beyer, Chemnitz i/s - Teplitz i/s
Map of the the Balkan Front — Germany's Southeast Front — with the mountain passes between Austria-Hungary and Romania. From the Reichsarchiv history of the wars in Serbia and Romania, Herbstschlacht in Macedonien; Cernabogen 1916.The capitals of Belgrade (Serbia), Bucharest (Romania), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Constantinople (Turkey) are prominent, as is Salonica, Greece, the Allied entry port into the country.
Image text: Übersichtskarte der Süd-Ost-FrontSkizze I.Erklärungen:Oesterreich UngarnLandesgrenzenOverview map of the south-east front Sketch I. Explanations: Austria-HungaryBorders
Italy's armed forces at the ready in a 1915 postcard. In the foreground the artillery, infantry, an Alpine soldier (in feathered hat), and a Bersaglieri (in plumed headgear). Behind them are a bugler and lancer; in the distance marines and colonial troops. The Italian navy is off shore, an airship and planes overhead. On the reverse are the lyrics of a patriotic Italian March by Angelo Balladori, lyrics by Enrico Mercatali. It ends with a call to the brothers of Trento and Trieste, Austro-Hungarian territory with large ethnic Italian populations.
Image text: Reverse:Marcia ItalicaD'Italia flammeggin le sante bandiereBaciate dal sole, baciate dal vento,Su l'aspro sentier di Bezzecca e di TrentoDe l'alma Trieste, sul cerulo mar.. . . Fratelli di Trento, Triestini fratelli,La patria s'è desta alla grande riscossa!Dell'aquila ingorda la barbara possaDai liberi petti domata sarà!Parole di Enrico MercataliMusica di Angelo Balladori.Casa Editrice Sonzogno - Milano. 1915.
Kaisers Wilhelm II and Franz Joseph with Sultan Mohammed and their generals over some of their conquests: Lüttich — Liege, Belgium, Warschau — Warsaw, Russia, and Przemysl, Austria-Hungary, recaptured from the Russians.In the top left, Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany from 1871 to 1890, points to the dawn of the German Empire. In the top right, Helmut Moltke (the Elder), who led Germany to victory in the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars, discusses his plans with the future Emperor Wilhelm I.
Image text: Die Helden des Ostens, des Südens, des Westens, ein festes Band, schlugen mit eiserner Faust die Feinde in den Sand.The heroes of the East, the South, the West, a solid band, beat the enemy into the sand with an iron fist.Cities: Lüttich (Liege, [Belgium]), Warschau (Warsaw), Przemysl.
"Sazonov has shown me a letter he has just received from a student at Kazan. It runs as follows:'Your Excellency,'I have not the honour of knowing you. I am about to join the army. If this war is to bring us Constantinople, I will die twenty times, and gladly. But if we are not to have Constantinople, I will die but once, with death in my heart! I beg your Excellency to reply with a simple 'yes' or 'no' on the enclosed postcard, on which I have given my name and address.'" ((1), more)
"Monday, October 25, 1915The Serbian disaster is developing apace.A swift Bulgarian raid on Vrania, on the upper Morava, and Uskub, on the Vardar, has cut the Nish-Salonica railway. Henceforth the Royal Government and the diplomatic corps cannot flee to Monastir. They intend to try and reach Scutari and the shores of the Adriatic via Mitrovitza, Pritzend and Diakovo, i.e., crossing the mountain tangle of Albania, where all the passes are already blocked by snow!Every day Pastchich is sending a desperate—and vain—appeal to the Allies." ((2), more)
"Aided by his heavy artillery, Mackensen smashed through the Roumanian Center with such force that the whole line westward to the Danube gave way. In rapid succession he captured Rasova, Madgidia and on October 25th, he crowned his offensive by the seizure of Cernavoda on the Danube. The Roumanians, after crossing the great bridge at this point, destroyed it, leaving Mackensen in possession of the railroad." ((3), more)
"During the morning of the 25th, an image of disaster emerged from the information reaching the Supreme Command: breakthroughs all along the front; morale collapsing; thousands of men making their way to the rear. The first towns west of the mountains were already threatened. Defence on the hoof was not working. Cadorna's best if not only chance of avoiding catastrophe was to pull back the Second Army to a line far enough west to regroup before the enemy reached them. Capello advised a general retreat to the River Torre or the Tagliamento. When Cadorna disagreed, Capello took himself off to hospital in Padua. Next morning, he offered to return; Cadorna declined: he had enough on his plate without an ailing and probably sulking Capello. Where the two men saw eye to eye was in blaming many regiments for not doing their duty." ((4), more)
"The King received me in the large corner salon of the [Gödöllö] castle. . . . It was already growing dark and the chandeliers were lit. Charles IV, in his field uniform and gaiters, was standing near his writing table, smoking a cigarette and seemed to be suffering from great nervous strain. I could not help feeling deep sympathy for him.The King said pointedly, 'I have always been warned that you want a republic. Is that true?' 'I do not want a republic, I want an independent democratic Hungary.'" Then the ruler indicated that he approved of Károlyi's program and that he intended to make him prime minister. "'He dismissed me with the air of a man whose heart had been relieved of a heavy burden.'" ((5), more)
(1) Entry from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, for Sunday, October 25, 1914. Sergei Sazonov was the Russian Foreign Minister. As the historical center of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Constantinople held cultural and religious significance for Russia. As the gateway to the Straits leading from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, the city was critical to Russia's commerce and war effort. In his memoirs, Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, writes of a February 24, 1915 encounter with the monk Rasputin in which the latter laments the enormous human suffering the war was visiting on the Russian people. After Paléologue confirms that Russia will be rewarded with Constantinople after victory, Raputin responds: ''Then the Russian people won't regret having suffered so much, and will be willing to suffer more.'
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. I by Maurice Paléologue, page 172, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1925
(2) Attacked from the north and northwest by German and Austro-Hungarian forces, and from the east by two Bulgarian armies, Serbia's sole hope was the Franco-British forces that had landed in Salonika, Greece. In cutting the rail line from Greece, the Bulgarians had insured the Serbs could neither retreat to the south nor expect relief from that direction. The only direction possible was west, into mountainous Albania to reach the Adriatic Sea whence Allied ships could transport them to safety. Monastir was a Serbian city on the Greek border. Pastchich, or Pashitch, was the Serbian Premier.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 96, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(3) Romania entered the war on August 27, 1916 by crossing the Transylvanian Alps and southern Carpathian Mountains into Transylvania in Austria-Hungary. Within a month, a German and Austro-Hungarian army was driving the invaders back into Romania while, across the small country to the east, a combined German, Bulgarian, and Turkish army under German General August von Mackensen had driven the Romanians back in Dobrudja, a region between the Danube River and the Black Sea. After a pause, Mackensen recommenced his attack on October 25.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 257, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(4) After suspending the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo on September 12, 1917, Italian commander in chief Luigi Cadorna, concluded that his army was in no condition to resume the offensive until spring, and that the Austro-Hungarian forces arrayed against him would not attack. Although he told his commanders to put their forces on the defensive, General Luigi Capello, commander of the Second Army, did not do so, hoping to launch a further attack. On October 24, German and Austro-Hungarian forces launched the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, the Battle of Caporetto, using 'Hutier tactics' first used in the German capture of Riga in Russia. German General Oskar von Hutier trained his troops for specialized actions: initial infiltration and advance by small groups bypassing enemy strong points, specialized groups to neutralize those defenses including machine gun nests and artillery positions, and 'mopping up' forces to consolidate the advance. Capello's Second Army found the enemy both before and behind it, and began to collapse.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 311, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(5) Mihály Károlyi, who had organized an Hungarian national council on October 25, 1918, describing his meeting later that evening with Kaiser Karl, Emperor of Austria-Hungary and Apostolic King, Karl IV, of Hungary. The previous day, October 24, Italian Commander-in-Chief Armando Diaz had launched the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. On the 25th, the Austro-Hungarian defenders were holding, but would collapse the next day.
The Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy, 1914-1918 2 Volumes by Arthur James May, page 787, copyright © 1966 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, publication date: 1966
