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Etinehem Military Cemetery, France holds the remains of 1,004 soldiers, primarily French — including colonial troops — and some British, victims of the Battles of the Somme. © 2013 John M. Shea
Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph as a cathedral gargoyle gnawing one of his subjects in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Trentino, or Trieste, or a citizen of his neighbor Serbia.
Map showing the territorial gains (darker shades) of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece, primarily at the expense of Turkey, agreed in the Treaty of Bucharest following the Second Balkan War. Despite its gains, Bulgaria also lost territory to both Romania and Turkey.
Postwar postcard map of the Balkans including Albania, newly-created Yugoslavia, expanded Romania, and diminished former Central Powers Bulgaria and Turkey. The first acquisitions of Greece in its war against Turkey are seen in Europe where it advanced almost to Constantinople, in the Aegean Islands from Samos to Rhodes, and on the Turkish mainland from its base in Smyrna. The Greco-Turkish war was fought from May 1919 to 1922. The positions shown held from the war's beginning to the summer of 1920 when Greece advanced eastward. Newly independent Hungary and Ukraine appear in the northwest and northeast.
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.
"Considering the small gains, losses on the Somme were surprisingly high. The French claimed 202,257 casualties on the Somme between July 1 and November 20, or about 54 percent of those suffered at Verdun. The heaviest casualties occurred in July (49,859) and September (76,147), when the French launched their largest attacks. The British, according to their official history, suffered 419,654 casualties in the fighting along the Somme." ((1), more)
"He was not one of those great men that lead humanity along new ways or 'fashion fate' according to their own desire . . . In such a conglomerate state as ours, monarchical power is a thing of great weight. A long reign has something cohesive about it, independent of the sovereign's personality and based on habit only. The long duration of the Emperor's reign created a feeling of stability in the State and his death is thus a wrench, a fall, a sudden awakening . . ." ((2), more)
"Alexeyev now began to recognize that he would have to do something. The Kowel offensives had failed, and attacks in eastern Galicia were also dying down in failure; now the Central Powers had almost reached the Danube delta, and seemed to threaten southern Russia. Stavka first sent VIII Army to the Dniester, and then agreed to send another army, under Sakharov, to constitute, 'Army of the Danube' with a view to the defence of the delta and Gălăti. Finally, IV Army was ear-marked for Romania. Throughout November, a great movement of Russian troops was underway—thirty-six infantry and eleven cavalry divisions." ((3), more)
"A heavy seasonal fog over the Danube concealed Kosch's forces as they assembled and boarded a variety of boats on the night of 22 November. The crossing began the next day at sunrise. The initial landing parties met no resistance, and the well-organized transfer of the five divisions began. Each had approximately 20,000 men, 5,000 horse, and 1,200 wagons and required eight to ten hours to transport. On 23—24 November, two divisions crossed." ((4), more)
"At 7:30 A.M. on the second day, construction of the pontoon bridge began. It was completed in less than 24 hours, so that on 25 and 26 November the remaining infantry, the cavalry, and the artillery crossed. In contrast to Flămânda, the bridge and crossing at Zimnicea were not threatened by hostile warships or mines." ((5), more)
(1) The Anglo-French offensive on the Somme River began July 1, 1916. The last assault was on November 18. The Germans suffered 465,000 casualties during the Allied campaign.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, page 309, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
(2) Excerpt from the Socialist Arbeiter Zeitung of Vienna on the death of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary on November 21, 1916, quoted in May's Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy. The crowns — Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary — passed to Karl, son of the late brother of the assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
The Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy, 1914-1918 2 Volumes by Arthur James May, page 431, copyright © 1966 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, publication date: 1966
(3) Romania entered the war on August 27, 1916 invading Transylvania, part of Austria-Hungary, expecting that Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary's ally and Romania's enemy from the Second Balkan War three years before, would not attack, and further expecting that Russian support would be quickly forthcoming. Neither hope came true. In September and October a German and Austro-Hungarian army drove the invaders back into Romania, while a combined German, Bulgarian, and Turkish army pushed the Romanians from southern Dobrudja, a region between the Danube River and the Black Sea. The Russians provided some support for Romania, but Russian chief of staff Alexeyev had no desire to commit his troops to the virtually indefensible Romanian region of Walachia. By late November, he had little choice, as the enemy advanced closer to Bessarabia, Russian territory on the Black Sea and Romanian border. Stavka was Russian military command.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, page 279, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
(4) Romania entered the war on August 27, 1916 invading Transylvania, Austria-Hungary. In September and October a German and Austro-Hungarian army drove the invaders back into Romania, while a combined German, Bulgarian, and Turkish army pushed the Romanians from southern Dobruja, a region between the Danube River and the Black Sea, northwards toward the delta of the Danube on the Black Sea. On November 23, a Central Powers army under German General Robert Kosch began crossing the Danube from Bulgaria into Romania 130 kilometers southwest of the Romanian capital of Bucharest. Kosch's army included four infantry divisions — one German, one Turkish, and two Bulgarian, and a mixed cavalry division.
The Romanian Battlefront in World War I by Glenn E. Torrey, page 137, copyright © 2011 by the University Press of Kansas, publisher: University Press of Kansas, publication date: 2011
(5) Four infantry divisions — two Bulgarian, one German, and one Turkish — and one cavalry division, nearly 100,000 men in total, began crossing the Danube River from Bulgaria into Romania near Zimnicea by boat on November 23, 1916. The pontoon bridge hastened the crossing which put the Central Power forces 130 kilometers southwest of the Romanian capital of Bucharest. The 'Flămânda Maneuver' was an aborted Romanian effort from two months earlier. The Romanians attempted to strike the rear of the German-Bulgarian-Turkish army then advancing northwards into the eastern Romanian region of Dobruja. On September 30, 1916, the 10th Romanian Division began crossing the Danube into Bulgaria, but less effectively than the invaders did in November. On October 1, German planes had bombed the Romanian pontoon bridge; on the 2nd, the Austro-Hungarians had released mines that floated downriver into it. The Romanians soon ended their misadventure.
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