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David vs. Goliath: How Serbia Stood Alone At The Start of WWI
Facing down Germany and Austria-Hungary
World War I infamously ignited with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austrian throne, and he was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian national connected to a shadowy military group called the Black Hand. The Black Hand was made up of officers of the Kingdom of Serbia. The assassination caused Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia which was the official start of World War I.
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, most people’s attention immediately drifts to Germany’s invasion of Belgium and the hardening of the meat grinder of the Western Front. While the eyes of history sweep from Sarajevo to Paris, they leave behind Serbia, which, at the start of the war, stood alone. Serbia was forced to contend with the combined might of Austria-Hungary and Germany. While Britain and France banded together in the west and Russia rushed to join the fray in the east, only Montenegro stood beside Serbia against some of the largest militaries in the world.
