Serbia's wartime capital, Niš or Nisch, was taken by Bulgarian forces on November 5, 1915 in the combined Central Power invasion and conquest of Serbia. The postcard portrait is of Bulgaria's Tsar Ferdinand beneath the Imperial Bulgarian flag, and shows street scenes in Nisch.
Strasse u. Moschee in NischKirche in NischVolksleben in NischErobert am 5. November 1915NischStreet and Mosque in NischChurch in NischPeople living in NischCaptured on 5 November 1915Border of oak leavesLogo, bottom left, illegible and "5383"
"The German victory at Gorlice-Tarnów and the Allies' failure to force the Turkish Straits encouraged Romania to maintain its neutrality, and Berlin spent the summer of 1915 negotiating Bulgaria's entry into the war. Offers of immediate cession of Turkish lands (Thrace) and future gains at Serbia's and possibly Greece's expense (Macedonia) led Tsar Ferdinand, the "Balkan Richelieu", to conclude a military convention with the OHL on 6 September. Turkey joined the alliance 8 days later."
Since May 2, 1915, the German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive had driven the Russians back and ultimately out of Poland. The Allied attempt to force the Dardanelles with a naval assault had been abandoned for the Gallipoli invasion, which also failed, dashing hopes of driving Turkey out of the war and reopening the Mediterranean route to Russia. Favoring the Entente Allies, Romania remained neutral in the face of these defeats. More certain of the war's outcome, Bulgaria sided with the Central Powers against Russia, a fellow-Slav empire, with the opportunity to expand at the expense of Greece and Serbia, its allies in the First and enemies in the Second Balkan war. Tsar Ferdinand had ruled over the expansion of Bulgaria in 1885 and its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1908. OHL was Oberste Heeresleitung, the German High Command.
The First World War: Germany and Austria Hungary 1914-1918 by Holger H. Herwig, page 157, copyright © 1997 Holger H. Herwig, publisher: Arnold, publication date: 1997
1915-09-06, 1915, September, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, Tsar Ferdinand, Ferdinand of Bulgaria, Ferdinand
