The Story of the Great War, Volume 4: Champagne, Artois, Grodno; Fall of Nish; Caucasus; Mesopotamia; Development of Air Strategy; United States and the War
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume 4: Champagne, Artois, Grodno; Fall of Nish; Caucasus; Mesopotamia; Development of Air Strategy; United States and the War
World War, 1914-1918
But though the French had arrived within hearing of the Serbian guns,
they lacked the numbers that would give them the strength to push
farther. The French, indeed, had done well in their efforts to support
the Serbians in their distress. It was Great Britain that had not
lived up to her promise of affording "our Allies all the material
assistance in our power." So obviously had the British military
authorities failed that much public sentiment in Great Britain was
worked up against them, which became all the more acute when a
telegram from M. Pachitch, the Serbian premier, was published, in
which he said: "Serbia is making superhuman efforts to defend her
existence, in response to the advice and desire of her great ally. For
this she is condemned to death.... In spite of the heroism of our
soldiers, our resistance cannot be maintained indefinitely. We beg
you to do all you can to insure your troops reaching us that they may
help our army...."
On the same day this was published in the London papers, there was
also printed a speech made by Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords, in
which he stated that the British had landed in Saloniki a force of
only 13,000 men.
In France the sentiment in favor of assisting the Serbians was so
strong that the Cabinet, which did not approve of a Balkan campaign,
was forced to resign. The French president thereupon found a new prime
minister in M. Briand, the ex-Socialist, who once before had been
premier, and, associating with himself M. Viviani and other
ex-ministers, he formed a Cabinet which was prepared to push the
campaign in aid of Serbia to the fullest extent. On the following day,
October 29, 1915, General Joffre went to London to consult with the
British Government and to persuade them to take more energetic
measures with regard to transporting troops to Saloniki. Apparently
his mission was successful, for after that large forces were sent to
the Near East, but so far as any effectual help to Serbia was
concerned, it was now too late.
At about this time Greece was showing a decided change of attitude.
Evidently this change was not a little due to the success of the
Austro-Germans and the Bulgarians in the north, and the nearer they
came to her own frontier, the less cordial became Greece to the
Allies. Every obstacle, short of armed interference, was put in the
way of transportation of troops and supplies to the front up in
Macedonia. This attitude was to continue until the Serbians were
finally swept out of their native land and the question came up of
retiring the allied troops back to Saloniki, across Greek territory,
when the British and French took very severe measures against the
Greek authorities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account