Balkans theatre

<p>The Balkans theatre or Balkan campaign was a theatre of <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a> fought between the <a href="/facts/Central_Powers/LokC2msm">Central Powers</a> (<a href="/facts/Austria-Hungary/9WPUPj0W">Austria-Hungary</a>, <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Bulgaria/8p074GL0">Bulgaria</a>, <a href="/facts/German_Empire/lwQutJyN">Germany</a> and the <a href="/facts/Ottoman_Empire/6QvfTRsg">Ottoman Empire</a>) and the <a href="/facts/Allies_of_World_War_I/HBo9sw1M">Allies</a> (<a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Serbia/2HSIwdv9">Serbia</a>, <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Montenegro/DKzHhF64">Montenegro</a>, <a href="/facts/French_Third_Republic/I2nlEmcn">France</a>, the <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland/yw0GUkge">United Kingdom</a>, <a href="/facts/Russian_Empire/hg1g5SpV">Russia</a>, <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Italy/X5hxYBvF">Italy</a>, and later, <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Greece/TJC3Ccpb">Greece</a>).
</p><p>The offensive began in 1914 with three failed Austro-Hungarian <a href="/facts/Serbian_campaign_of_World_War_I/EbDumNs1">offensives into Serbia</a>. A new attempt a year later by the combined forces of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Bulgaria led to the <a href="/facts/Austro-Hungarian_occupation_of_Serbia/VTlGtDe8">conquest and occupation of Serbia</a> and <a href="/facts/Montenegrin_campaign/u3x9IeFj">Montenegro</a>. The Serbian military did not surrender, <a href="/facts/Great_Retreat_(Serbian)/g3GWET0c">retreating through the mountains of Albania</a> and evacuated to <a href="/facts/Corfu/PHc5Jskt">Corfu</a> before reforming in <a href="/facts/Salonika/o3BFhhPR">Salonika</a> a few months later. On the <a href="/facts/Macedonian_front/I9XaQb72">Macedonian front</a>, the <a href="/facts/Royal_Serbian_Army/rupk5DxB">Royal Serbian Army</a> joined the Franco-British <a href="/facts/Allied_Army_of_the_Orient/wQHM5Peq">Allied Army of the Orient</a> and fought a protracted <a href="/facts/Trench_war/GXDoLeRJ">trench war</a> against Bulgarian and German forces. The Allied army presence in Greece resulted in the <a href="/facts/National_Schism/2hp3lsU4">National Schism</a> on whether Greece should join the <a href="/facts/Allies_of_WWI/HBo9sw1M">Allies</a> or remain neutral, which would benefit the Central Powers. Greece eventually joined the Allied Powers in 1917. In September 1918, the <a href="/facts/Vardar_Offensive/2Jm8MoQb">Vardar Offensive</a> had broken through the Bulgarian lines, <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Neuilly-sur-Seine/ah6C2WUL">forcing them to surrender</a>. <a href="/facts/Liberation_of_Serbia%2c_Albania_and_Montenegro_(1918)/wYw3r17c">Serbia, Albania and Montenegro</a>'s liberation soon followed.
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Balkans theatre open-in-new

Balkans theatre