Saturday, July 20, 2013

WWI Serbia bled like no other

               

Most folks know about the staggering casualties that France suffered during the First World War.  But there was one country that went through a bloodier Calvary: and that was Serbia.

A landlocked nation, predominantly Eastern Orthodox in religion, it was situated directly south of Austria-Hungary (weakest of the European powers).  In late June 1914, when a Serbian terrorist killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, the great conflagration was kindled.  Russia came to the aid of her traditional ally Serbia, as did France.



Serbia lost more than a million inhabitants during the war – about 60 percent of its male population!



[When the Great War ended in November 1918, the world was gripped by a flu pandemic.

 Kids used to sing this ditty:
“I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza.
I opened the window,
And in-flu-enza.” 
Most susceptible were healthy young adults – and the final toll was five to ten times as many deaths as had been caused by the massed armies of Europe].

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