The Explorers' Club Special: January 1916

Operation AXIOM: The World War
January 1916 carried on from December 1915: The Central Powers conquered Montenegro & the Ottomans tightened the noose around the British Indian force beseiged at Kut-al-Amara. The most competently planned & executed phase of the Entente misadventure at Gallipoli was the final withdrawal. The British introduced conscription.

Winston Churchill, who originally conceived of the Dardanelles Campaign while serving as First Lord of the Admiralty, was blamed almost solely for the Gallipoli disaster, which was unfair. He resigned from the government in November 1915 but remained a Member of Parliament; he returned to the Army, commanding the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front. He returned to Whitehall in May 1916, returning to the government as Minister of Munitions in July 1917.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: January 1916
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXVIII: The Siege of Kut, Part II: The Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad (6-8 January 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXIX: The Gallipoli Campaign, Part VII: The final evacuation (9 January 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXX: The Serbian Campaign, Part V: The Austro-Hungarian conquest of Montenegro (5-17 January 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXXI: The Military Service Act 1916 (27 January 1916)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCXXI

Operation AXIOM: After the World War—The Paris Peace Conference, Part VIII
27 November 1919: The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine was signed—Terms were imposed upon Bulgaria rather than negotiated: it lost direct access to the Aegean Sea, agreed to reparations, &, despite lofty Wilsonian rhetoric about national self-determination, ceded Bulgarian-majority towns to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, & Slovenes; but along among the erstwhile Central Powers, its monarchy survived.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCXLV

Operation AXIOM: The World War
30 September 1918: The Armistice of Salonica, signed the previous day, went into effect at noon, effecting Bulgaria's withdrawal from the war & essential capitulation, ending the Vierbund; other Central Powers forces were required to leave the country within four weeks, the Entente were granted transit rights for their troops through Bulgaria, & 150,000 Bulgarian soldiers were taken as hostages.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DCXLII

Operation AXIOM: The World War
15-29 September 1918: The Vardar Offensive—An Entente assault (the Battle of Dobro Pole, 15-18 September) sparked a collapse in Bulgarian morale & mass desertions, & though a parallel assault (the Battle of Doiran, 18-19 September) was defeated, the collapse at Dobro Pole forced a Central Powers withdrawal; an agrarian, republican rebellion at Radomir threatened the Bulgarian monarchy.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DXXI

Operation AXIOM: The World War
19-25 October 1916: The Second Battle of Cobadin—A joint Russo-Romanian army was defeated by the Bulgarians, resulting in the Central Powers capture of the strategic port of Constanța; also by 25 October, the Romanians were pushed back to their original positions of 27 August, their jumping off points for the invasion of Austro-Hungarian Transylvania; counter-invasion was to follow.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DXII

Operation AXIOM: The World War
27 August-18 September 1916: Romania, encouraged by Russian gains & Austro-Hungarian losses in the Brusilov Offensive, joined the Entente Powers through the secret Treaty of Bucharest (17 August); Romanian forces marched into Transylvania; a Bulgarian, German, & Ottoman column counterattacked from the south & captured the Romanian fortress at Turtucaia (2-6 September).

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDLXXX

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Serbian Campaign, Part V
5-17 January 1916: The invasion & conquest of Montenegro by Austria-Hungary—though the Montenegrins blunted the Austro-Hungarian advance at the Battle of Mojkovac (6-8 January), the fall of the citadel at Mount Lovćen (11 January) sealed the doom of Serbia's tiny but steadfast ally.









The Wayback Machine Tour of the Serbian Campaign
Special: Bulgaria declares war on Serbia (Prologue)
№ CDLXVII: The Central Powers' second invasion of Serbia (Part I)
№ CDLXXII: The Battle of Krivolak (Part II)
№ CDLXXIII: The Serbs' Great Retreat (Part III)
№ CDLXXIV: The Battle of Kosturino (Part IV)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDLXXIV

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Serbian Campaign, Part IV
6-12 December 1915: The Battle of Kosturino—The Bulgarian 2nd Army, that had defeated the French at Krovilak; rough terrain; & brutal winter weather defeated the British 10th (Irish) Division, compelling a retreat back to Salonika, thus completing the Central Powers' conquest of Serbia.









Lest we forget.

Commentary: The Battle of Krivolak, 17 October-21 November 1915; see: № CDLXXII.

The Explorers' Club, № CDLXXIII

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Serbian Campaign, Part III
25 November 1915-10 February 1916: Cut off from French & British reinforcements in Salonika (Greece), the shattered Serbian army retreated across Montenegro & Albania, where the Albanians wrought terrible vengeance for the Serbs' atrocities during the First Balkan War (1912-1913).









Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDLXXII

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Serbian Campaign, Part II
17 October-21 November 1915: The Battle of Krivolak—The Bulgarian 2nd Army thwarted the advance of the newly created & arrived French Armée d'Orient, which retreated back to Greece (Thessaloniki, A.K.A. Salonica), cutting off the reeling Serbian army from outside resupply.









Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDLXVII

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Serbian Campaign, Part I
October 1915: The Central Powers invaded Serbia, German & Austro-Hungarian forces from the north (7 October)—capturing Belgrade on 9 October—& Bulgarian forces from the east (14 October), with the aim of establishing a direct rail link all the way from Berlin to Constantinople.









Commentary: The war had started well enough for Serbia, which repelled Austria-Hungary's 1914 invasion with startling ease, but the triple invasion of 1915 brought annihilation. By the end of the war, twenty-six per cent (26%) of Serbian men-at-arms would perish, while through war, starvation, & disease fully fifteen per cent (15%) of the entire Serbian population would perish. Whatever evils the Serbians & the Bosnian Serbs committed in the Yugoslav Wars in our lifetimes, no people deserves what befell the Serbs in 1914-1918.

Lest we forget.