Posted on 03/17/2018 3:28:15 PM PDT by Texas Fossil
This unique event, a Serbian flag flying above the White House in Washington, took place over 9 decades ago but remained a memorable act of the US President Woodrow Wilson towards Serbia that submitted the ultimate sacrifice in “The Great War” – it lost 26% of its population and had a precedent in the war history when almost its entire population had to withdraw from their homeland.
One of the posters that appeared across the US as an appeal for help to Serbia in WWI
Thanks to the great scientist Mihajlo Pupin, a friend of the American President, the work of the Serbian Mission in the States and Serbian representative in Washington, Ljubomir M. Mihailović, a series of manifestations took place in June and July, while the central event took place on July 28th, when the President Wilson gave the following message to the American people:
To the People of the United States:
On Sunday, 28th of this present month, will occur the fourth anniversary of the day when the gallant people of Serbia, rather than submit to the studied and ignoble exactions of a prearranged foe, were called upon by the war declaration of Austria-Hungary to defend their territory and their homes against an enemy bent on their destruction.
Nobly did they respond. So valiantly and courageously did they oppose the forces of a country ten times greater in population and resources that it was only after they had thrice driven the Austrians back and Germany and Bulgaria had come to the aid of Austria that they were compelled to retreat into Albania.
While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken. Though overwhelmed by superior forces, their love of freedom remains unabated. Brutal force has left unaffected their firm determination to sacrifice everything for liberty and independence.
It is fitting that the people of the United States, dedicated to the self-evident truth that is the right of the people of all nations, small as well as great, to live their own lives and choose their own Government, and remembering that the principles for which Serbia has so nobly fought and suffered are those for which the United States is fighting, should on the occasion of this anniversary manifest in an appropriate manner their war sympathy with this oppressed people who have so heroically resisted the aims of the Germanic nations to master the world.
At the same time, we should not forget the kindred people of the Great Slavic race–the Poles, the Czechs and Yugo-Slavs, who, now dominated and oppressed by alien races yearn for independence and national unity.
This can be done in a manner no more appropriate than in our churches.
US President Woodraw Wilson
Even though President Wilson wanted the US to stay neutral in the Great War, the declaration of war against Germany was passed by the American Congress on April 4th 1917, after dreadful events and “The Zimmermann Telegram”, a diplomatic proposal from the German Empire to Mexico to enter the War as its ally.
Although the US never directly took part in battles across the Balkans, it was well informed about the events taking place along this front. Therefore, when Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić suggested an official mission to be sent to the US with the aim to inform its government and the public about Serbia’s war missions, Washington soon replied that “the US Government will be pleased to welcome Serbian representatives as their guests”.
I've never been a fan of President Woodrow Wilson, but have long respected the Serb people. During Bill Clinton's presidency the US betrayed them in my mind.
When I read this I was very surprised.
Bookmark
Wilhelm needed an excuse for his own little European war. His feelings of inadequacy killed millions.
Yes, European History is a minefield even 100 years after the fact.
English, French, Russian, German culture was always in conflict. But now they have imported a deadly immigration virus that in the future will certainly threaten their existence.
Very sad situation.
good find
During Bill Clinton’s presidency the US betrayed them in my mind.
Yes, go figure.
I’m glad you appreciate it. If you trace the history of Serbia and the US there have been many shifts. but it is an old relationship.
US Embassy in Serbia
History
https://rs.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/policy-history/io/
Well, I hope we have learned.
I think Trump wanted to improve Russian relations, but with the ComDems blaming everything on Russian Collusion it has been very hard to think about how to improve relations.
The recent attack by Russian Mercs in Syria did not help.
“...English, French, Russian, German culture was always in conflict. ...”
Not remotely true.
Britain and France were primary enemies for 500 years.
“Germany” wasn’t a nation during that time.
A coalition of allies led by Britain, including Prussia and Imperial Russia, defeated the French at Waterloo, putting an end to more than 20 years of conflict.
After the victory at Waterloo in 1815, The Congress of Vienna transformed Europe: the 300 entities (kingdoms, electorates, principalities, grand duchies, bishoprics, free cities) of the defunct Holy Roman Empire became 39 loosely confederated states.
Industrialization and administrative simplification accelerated the drive toward German unification. Prussia, the largest and most powerful state in the confederation, dragooned all the others along, fighting limited wars against Denmark to bring in more territory, and against Austria to settle the question of who would dominate the Germanic world. Prussia conquered France in 1871, proclaiming the German Empire during the conquest.
A new great power thus appeared in Europe. Pan-Germanism flowered soon ... German expansionism and demands began to threaten the European order after 1890.
The alliances that formed to defeat revolutionary France soon rearranged themselves. France and Imperial Russia entered a pact; Britain and France reached a less-formal understanding which solidified into an alliance on the eve of World War One; Russia began seeking a similar understanding with Britain. Japan allied with Britain. Italy, allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary, backed out because the other two began waging offensive war (the Central Powers were obligated to assist each other only if they were attacked), and joined the Allies the following year. Germany, seeking to counter British influence in the Middle East, had wooed the Ottoman Empire before the war, and contrived to bring them into the war on their side.
Nothing was stable, nor enjoyed any precedent.
“...But now they have imported a deadly immigration virus that in the future will certainly threaten their existence. ...”
Nothing new here either.
The Muslim hordes were well on the way to overwhelming Europe on several occasions, in several places, from the 8th century onward. They took over most of modern Spain and invaded what is now France. They put an end to the Eastern Roman Empire in the 15th century, and advanced to the gates of Vienna.
And they weren’t the only threat. Don’t forget the Mongol hordes.
Mongol hordes? Yes, still a threat. Turks are Mongols. Not from what is called Turkey. They have displace almost all that were from the region. Kurds are the largest remaining minority.
An assassination of a head of state is a terrible thing but war was far from inevitable.
Well Pres Wilson was a commy after all.
My husband comes from a large AWESOME Serbian family. I really didn’t know anything about Serbia before I met him. But they are a great people and he’s an honorary Jew and I’m an honorary Serb!
Thank you Schurmann,
A wonderful read.
Mercier
“Wilhelm needed an excuse for his own little European war. ...”
If Crucial means William II, kaiser of the German Empire, that individual actually tried to stop it.
The German foreign ministry deliberately deceived other European governments about what they were up to. William was pushed to keep to his normal summer vacation schedule - cruising the Norwegian fjords in the Imperial yacht, a practice he’d engaged in for years. Other officials went out of town or lied about their activities that month of July 1914.
All the while, the Germans secretly egged on the Austrians, to improve the chances Austria would attack Serbia, dispelling Austrian reluctance by assuring them the Germans would deal with the Russians.
William sent a number of telegrams to Nicholas II, Imperial Russian czar, urging delay and caution. The exchange was in English, the only language both knew.
German plans required defeat of France, then a transfer of most troops to the Eastern Front, to deal with the larger Russian threat, anticipated to be slower to materialize. And so it went down, though French/German relations were at their lowest level of hostility in many years. But the French did not get conquered.
Britain declared war on Germany because it violated Belgian territory, maneuvering troops to invade France. In prewar discussions among senior German officials, the possibility the British land forces might become engaged was never brought up.
William telephoned field commanders in the west, in a last-minute attempt to head off overall conflict, but the giant military machine went into action anyway. Many senior German officers pleaded the impossibility of altering movement plans and railroad timetables; some threw temper tantrums or resigned.
Systemically, World War One on land can be summarized as the early perfection of firepower systems, without any matching improvement in tactical mobility, troop protection, or communications.
Small arms and artillery had reached levels of effectiveness that have not increased in the century since; strategic mobility (the capability to bring large forces to the front, and keep them supplied with munitions) had greatly advanced also, thanks to steamships and railroads. But mobility afield was still limited to the speed of marching troops, and all those troops had no protection against the newer, longer-range, more-lethal weapons. And portable radio did not exist, so troops had to bunch together to prevent loss of control.
During my time over in that sh*thole known as Bosnia, the only faction we could trust were the Croatians. The serbs hated us for “meddling” in their affairs, and the muzzies hated us because they’re still butt hurt because Thomas Jefferson sent the Marines to kick their asses.
Croats were mixed group. Christian and Muslim.
Serbs were nearly all Christian. Some good people, some not.
Many of the atrocities that Muslims accused Serbs of committing were fake not real. Roy Gutman won a Pulitzer Prize for the lies he told about the conflict in Bosnia.
http://fpif.org/serb_demonization_as_propaganda_coup/
We did not handle this conflict well. Unfortunately.
I personally like and respect all the Serbs I have known. But I was not there.
And it was not just Croatia. Later in Kosovo. That was where Hashim Thaci made the same false accusations and then himself ran a human organ harvesting business using captives he took in the conflict. Carla Del Ponte who ran the investigation at the Hague documented that later in a book.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carla_Del_Ponte
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