Battle of Kolubara

Battle of Kolubara
Part of the Serbian Campaign of the Balkans Theatre of World War I
A map depicting the third Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia, November–December 1914.
Date 16 November – 16 December 1914 Location Kolubara River, Kingdom of Serbia Result Decisive Serbian victory
Belligerents
Serbia	Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Radomir Putnik Živojin Mišić Stepa Stepanović Pavle Jurišić Šturm Miloš Božanović	Oskar Potiorek Liborius Ritter von Frank
Units involved
1st Army 2nd Army 3rd Army Užice Army	5th Army 6th Army
Strength
400,000	450,000
Casualties and losses
22,000 killed 91,000 wounded 19,000 missing or captured	30,000 killed 173,000 wounded 70,000 captured

The Battle of Kolubara (Serbian: Колубарска битка, Kolubarska bitka, German: Schlacht an der Kolubara) was fought between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in November and December 1914, during the Serbian Campaign of World War I. It commenced on 16 November, when the Austro-Hungarians under the command of Oskar Potiorek reached the Kolubara River during their third invasion of Serbia that year, having captured the strategic town of Valjevo and forced the Serbian Army to undertake a series of retreats. The Serbs withdrew from Belgrade on 29–30 November, and the city soon fell under Austro-Hungarian control. On 2 December, the Serbian Army launched a surprise counter-attack all along the front. Valjevo and Užice were retaken by the Serbs on 8 December and the Austro-Hungarians retreated to Belgrade, which 5th Army commander Liborius Ritter von Frank deemed to be untenable. The Austro-Hungarians abandoned the city between 14 and 15 December and retreated back into Austria-Hungary, allowing the Serbs to retake their capital the following day.

Both the Austro-Hungarians and the Serbs suffered heavy casualties, with more than 20,000 dead on each side. The defeat humiliated Austria-Hungary, which had hoped to occupy Serbia by the end of 1914. On 22 December, Potiorek and von Frank were relieved of their respective commands, and the 5th and 6th armies were merged into a single 5th Army of 95,000 men.

On 28 June 1914, Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. The assassination precipitated the July Crisis, which led Austria-Hungary to issue an ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July on suspicion that the assassination had been planned in Belgrade. The Austro-Hungarian government made the ultimatum intentionally unacceptable to Serbia, and it was indeed rejected. The Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia on 28 July and that same day the Serbs destroyed all bridges on the Sava and Danube rivers in order to prevent the Austro-Hungarians from using them during any future invasion. Belgrade was shelled the following day, marking the beginning of World War I.

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