Serbia and Greece in the First World War : an overview
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Abstract
The legal basis of Serbo-Greek cooperation during the First World War
was the defensive alliance treaty and a military convention, signed in June
1913 prior to the Second Balkan War. The military convention providing the
military assistance that was fully applied during the second Balkan War,
became a source of misinterpretation and misunderstandings during the first
two years of the Great War. In Pro-German Greek governments, it was the
defensive alliance in case of Bulgarian attack only, but not in case of the
attack coming from the third side (Austria-Hungary). Differing views, motivated by different priorities in potential participation of the Greece in the Great
War, and disagreements on the interpretations of Greek-Serbian treaty of
alliance of 1913, were not the obstacle for the Allies-organized transfer of
defeated Serbian troops to Corfu in early 1916. The axis of the Greek-Serbian
cooperation was, in the following years, based on mutual understanding between the two Premiers N. Pasic and E. Venizelos. Confident to eventual
Allied victory, they were both fully committed to the Serbian-Greek strategic
partnership as a main precondition to the long-term Balkan stability. Despite
a number of internal and external pressures, Pašič and Venizelos have managed to overcome all the obstacles that were on the way of the mutually valuable Greek-Serbian political and military cooperation, especially on the Salonica (Macedonian) Front.
was the defensive alliance treaty and a military convention, signed in June
1913 prior to the Second Balkan War. The military convention providing the
military assistance that was fully applied during the second Balkan War,
became a source of misinterpretation and misunderstandings during the first
two years of the Great War. In Pro-German Greek governments, it was the
defensive alliance in case of Bulgarian attack only, but not in case of the
attack coming from the third side (Austria-Hungary). Differing views, motivated by different priorities in potential participation of the Greece in the Great
War, and disagreements on the interpretations of Greek-Serbian treaty of
alliance of 1913, were not the obstacle for the Allies-organized transfer of
defeated Serbian troops to Corfu in early 1916. The axis of the Greek-Serbian
cooperation was, in the following years, based on mutual understanding between the two Premiers N. Pasic and E. Venizelos. Confident to eventual
Allied victory, they were both fully committed to the Serbian-Greek strategic
partnership as a main precondition to the long-term Balkan stability. Despite
a number of internal and external pressures, Pašič and Venizelos have managed to overcome all the obstacles that were on the way of the mutually valuable Greek-Serbian political and military cooperation, especially on the Salonica (Macedonian) Front.
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