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Description: | The war against the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria, 1914-1918.
In 1914 Austria-Hungary had begun the war with an attack on Serbia and hence brought Russia into the war. Despite initial disasters the Austro-Hungarians had with German help pushed Russia out of the Carpathians in 1915, and over-run Serbia. But in 1915 also Italy came into the war, confronting the Empire across the Alps. General Cadorna, the Italian commander, hoped to break through on the Adriatic coast and reach Trieste, but was repeatedly unsuccessful. By 1916 Austria-Hungary had been so weakened by the war that the Brusilov Offensive in Gallicia was only stopped with German help. At the end of the year the Emperor Franz-Joseph died and his successor, Karl, tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a separate peace with the French. Doubting that Austria-Hungary could continue the war unsupported, Ludendorff sent German troops to intermingle with and support his ally. On 24th October 1917 a mixed force of Germans and Austro-Hungarians attacked the Italians and in one day drove them back fourteen miles to Caparetto, taking 30,000 prisoners. The Italians only halted on the Piave River, fifteen miles from Venice, having lost 360,000 prisoners and deserters as well as 40,000 casualties. Five British and six French divisions were sent to Italy, and Cadorna replaced. Caparetto was an important propaganda victory for Austria-Hungary, but at home there was disunity among the races of the Empire and the harvest had failed. In May 1918 the Germans demanded another Austro-Hungarian attack in support of their own Western Front offensive. On 15th June the Austro-Hungarians attacked at Monte Grappa but failed to break through and were held to stalemate. Bulgaria had entered the war in 1915 to attack Serbia. As a result of this the Allies, at the request of the Greek prime minister, had landed a force at Salonika in support of Serbia. But on the day it landed King Constantine declared his country neutral, and the Allies were unable to move. In early summer 1916 the force, made up of French, British, Italian, Russian and Serbian troops, advanced to the Bulgarian frontier, but could not penetrate the mountains, while the troops suffered heavily from the climate. The Bulgarians, remaining on the defensive with German help, had pinned 300,000 Allied troops on the Salonika Front. In 1916 Rumania declared war on the Central Powers, but the Rumanian Army was badly equipped and led, and the country was rapidly overrun by the Germans and Bulgarians, and in 1917 surrendered. The Allies now staged a coup d'état in Greece forcing Constantine to abdicate and Greece to declare war on the Central Powers. German defeats on the Western Front in 1918 forced the withdrawal of German troops from Bulgaria, while the Bulgarian Army was starting to desert. On 15th September 1918 the Allies attacked the Bulgarians and within a week the Serbs had broken through to their own country. On 29th September Bulgaria surrendered. In Austria-Hungary racial discontent had risen to a revolutionary level. Karl's proclamation, on 16th October, of a federal constitution, came too late: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Hungary all declared independence. "The shot at Sarajevo had at last achieved its true purpose". On 24th October the Italians attacked and broke through across the Piave. "The Imperial Eagle was on the point of death."
16mm | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | Salonika Front & 1915=1918 Austro-Hungarian Home Front & 1914 = 1918 01/3(45) 01/3(497) 31/3(497.2) 01/3(4-11) 01/3(498) First World War | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Shaw, Sebastian | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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