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Macedonia 1916–17

Macedonian Front
Part of the Balkans Theatre (World War I)
Entente on the Balkans.jpg
From left to right: a soldier from Indochina, a Frenchman, a Senegalese, an Englishman, a Russian, an Italian, a Serb, a Greek, and an Indian.
Date 21 October 1915 – 30 September 1918
Location Macedonia
Result Allied victory
Armistice of Salonica
Belligerents
Central Powers:
 Bulgaria
 Austria-Hungary
 German Empire
 Ottoman Empire (1916–1918)
Allied Powers:
 Serbia
 France
 United Kingdom
 Russian Empire (until 1917)
 Italy (1916–1918)
 Greece (1916/17–1918)
Commanders and leaders
Kingdom of Bulgaria Nikola Zhekov
Kingdom of Bulgaria Georgi Todorov
Kingdom of Bulgaria Kliment Boyadzhiev
Kingdom of Bulgaria Dimitar Geshov
Kingdom of Bulgaria Stefan Nerezov
Kingdom of Bulgaria Vladimir Vazov
Austria-Hungary Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin
German Empire August von Mackensen
German Empire Otto von Below
German Empire Friedrich von Scholtz
France Maurice Sarrail
France Adolphe Guillaumat
France Franchet d'Esperey
United Kingdom George Milne
Kingdom of Serbia Petar Bojović
Kingdom of Serbia Živojin Mišić
Russian Empire Mikhail Dieterichs
Kingdom of Italy Ernesto Mombelli
Kingdom of Greece Panagiotis Danglis
Units involved
Army Group Scholtz
11th German Army
1st Bulgarian Army
2nd Bulgarian Army
61st German Corps
2nd Bulgarian Division
3rd Bulgarian Division
302nd German Division
9th Bulgarian Division
Allied Army of the Orient
Armée d'Orient
1st Serbian Army
2nd Serbian Army
British Salonika Army
Army of National Defence
35th Italian Division
Strength

1918

Kingdom of Bulgaria 550,000 men
German Empire 18,000 men
1,217 artillery pieces
2,710 machine guns
30 aeroplanes
Ottoman Empire 29,000 men
(Dec.1916 – May 1917),
afterwards 4,300 (until May 1918).

1918

717,000 men
2,609 artillery pieces
2,682 machine guns
6,434 automatic rifles
200 aeroplanes
Casualties and losses
Kingdom of Bulgaria 37,000
German Empire?
Ottoman Empire few thousand
Kingdom of Serbia c. 40,000
France ?
United Kingdom 27,506+
Kingdom of Greece 27,000
Kingdom of Italy 10,538

1918

1918

The Macedonian Front of World War I, also known as the Salonica Front (after Thessaloniki), was formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the fall of 1915, against the combined attack of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. The expedition came too late and in insufficient force to prevent the fall of Serbia, and was complicated by the internal political crisis in Greece (the "National Schism"). Eventually, a stable front was established, running from the Albanian Adriatic coast to the Struma River, pitting a multinational Allied force against the Bulgarian Army, which was at various times bolstered with smaller units from the other Central Powers. The Macedonian Front remained quite stable, despite local actions, until the great Allied offensive in September 1918, which resulted in the capitulation of Bulgaria and the liberation of Serbia.

Following the asassination of the Crown Prince by a Bosnian Serb, Austria-Hungary had attacked Serbia in August 1914 but had failed to overcome Serbian resistance. After the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers (November 1914), the decisive factor in the Balkans became the attitude of Bulgaria. Bulgaria occupied a strategically important position on the Serbian flank and its intervention on either side of the belligerents would be decisive. Bulgaria and Serbia had fought each other twice in the previous thirty years: in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 and in the Second Balkan War of 1913. Bulgaria had suffered defeat in 1913 and the Bulgarian government and people generally felt that Serbia had stolen land which rightfully belonged to Bulgaria. While the Allies could only offer Bulgaria small territorial concessions from Serbia and neutral Greece, the Central Powers' promises appeared far more enticing, as they offered to cede most of the land which Bulgaria claimed. With the Allied defeats at the Battle of Gallipoli (April 1915 to January 1916) and the Russian defeat at Gorlice-Tarnów (May to September 1915) demonstrating the Central Powers' strength, King Ferdinand signed a treaty with Germany and on 21 September 1915 Bulgaria began mobilizing for war.


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