Serbian History 101

 The Frontispiece features a portrait of President Woodrow Willson, with other illustrations of Theodore Roosevelt, King Albert of Belgium, Samuel Gompers and Major St. Clair Stobart, all whose works are "selected for their intellectual comprehensiveness, moral elevation, restrained feeling and rhythmic quality, as in Lincoln's speeches."  Other authors included in this school edition are Bret Harte and Katherine Lee Bates.  There were FOUR selections about Serbia in this book.  I will offer just two.

This is TREASURED GOLD proof for our younger generations, as today's shameful revisionists of history would have our children believe that the Serbs (and not the Germans and Austrians) were the "evil" in WWI because of the death of Archduke Ferdinand.  Not so, not so.

SERBIA'S SACRIFICE by Major St. Clair Stobart. (Spirit of Democracy, 1918.)  (Read the NY Times archives to learn more about the FIRST Woman to command a flying field hospital! Aug. 25, 1917, p.5. Major St.Clair Stobart took part in the famous Albanian Golgatha retreat of the Serbian Army, with its epidemics of smallpox, typhus, diptheria, scarlet fever, marching on stony rugged cliffs and mountains over 8,000 ft. high!)

               ***********************

 "As Serbian politicians looked from the heights of the Serbian mountains upon the glories of their fertile land, a land of corn and bread, a land of wine and vineyards, they must have heard the Tempter's words, whispering as of old, "All these things will I give you if----IF---you will fall down and worship militarism and the Central Powers."

"But with one voice the Serbian people answered, "Get thee behind me, Satan.  It is written in our hearts, 'Thou shalt worship Freedom: her only shalt thou serve.'" *

"Thus Serbia, the latest evoked of the European nations, perceived with an insight at which history will one day marvel, the inner, the true interpretation of the word 'nation.'  She perceived that the life force of a nation is a spiritual force, and is not dependent on material conditions for existence.

"Serbia had existed during five hundred years of material annihilation under Turkish rule.  Through all that wilderness of time, the ideal of Freedom had been her pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, but a free and united spirit.  That is the only definition which allows of the indefinite expansion which will some day include all human kind in one united nation.  Serbia is full of faith and hope because she knows that she is not, and never will be, deprived of nationhood. pointing to the Promised Land.  Serbia is again in the wilderness, and the same light guides her and cheers her.  She is full of courageous faith, because she understands that a nation means, primarily, NOT physical country (mountains, rivers, valleys), NOT State, not Government,

"In some minor ways Serbia may, in her civilization, have been behind other nations in the west of Europe, but she was AHEAD of Western Europe in that one thing which is of REAL importance, that one thing which cannot be copied or learned from other nations, of which is therefore either innate or unachievable:  Serbia is ahead of other nations in her power of sacrificing herself for nationhood.  All nations are ready to sacrifice life for nationhood.  Serbia made first this common sacrifice, but when that did not avail, she voluntarily, for the sake of an abstract and spiritual idea, made the supreme sacrifice, the sacrifice of country, the sacrifice for which other nations make the penultimate sacrifice of life.  The Serbian people sacrificed their country rather than bow the knee to militarism and foreign tyranny; they sacrificed their country in Utopian quest for the right, both for themselves and for other Slav brethren, to work out their own salvation in spiritual freedom.  A people with such ideas, and with such power of sacrifice, must be worthy of a great future."

*From The Flaming Sword in Serbia and Elsewhere 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

Beloved old King Peter leading the "Albanska Golgotha."  Thousands of civilians and soldiers died along the way, but the remainder "ghosts" were able to recoup on the island of Corfu in Greece, and come back and win the war!

It was at great sacrifice, as the Serbs lost 1/3 of their population, 1/2 of their male population in this horrible war, from which they never recovered.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This WWI postcard was recently purchased on EBAY.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dr. James F. Donnelly & Servia

New York Times, 5/22/1915

Dr. James F. Donnelly was an American Red Cross suregeon who died of typhus in Serbia.  The day before he died, Dr. Donnelly asked that if something happened to him, his body be wrapped in the American Flag that was attached to his field hospital, along with the Red Cross flag.  Dr. Samuel Hodge attended him through his illness.  The person conveying the story was Sir Thomas Lipton who had brought many nurses from England to Servia.  When Sir Thomas had bidden the 2 nurses and good doctor farewell in Gevgelija (near the Greek frontier), he never thought when he returned in a few days, he would find Dr. Donnelly dead and both of the nurses sick with typhus!  Sir Thomas Lipton said the surgeon's bravery is not surpassed by the men who stand and die in the trenches.

Read more about The American Red Cross and Servia from this WWI site.   (Scroll down to PART III)

Dr. Ernest Pendleton Magruder of Washington, DC, died April 9, 1915, in Belgrade, of typhus fever helping the Serbs, the American Red Cross Director of the Hospital Units in Serbia, Dr. Reynold M. Kirby-Smith announced.(NY TIMES April 10, 1915.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Click here--->Emily Louise Simmons

to read about Emily Louise Simmons 1888-1966, an unsung Heroine in the Great War.  "Served as a nurse and relief worker in Serbian and the Balkans under the Serbian and American Red Cross.  Her remains lie near this location in an unmarked grave.  Bravery Beyond Compare." (Oct. 6, 2006)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mme. Grouitch Gives American Red Cross Credit for Relieving Distress: 

Dr. Ryan HERO OF BELGRADE

Crown Prince Voices Nation's Gratitude

NY TIMES, Jan. 30, 1915   (<-----click here)

"When Servia was first invaded by the Austraians at the beginning of the way the country was practically out of anaestetics, and bandages were so few that woulds could be dressed on an average only once a week.  So depleted was the stock of anaesthetics that many major operations were performed with the subjects in full consciousness."

"These statements were made my Mme. Slavko Grouitch, wife of the Servian Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs at a meeting in the Red Cross offices, 661 Fifth Avenue, yesterday afternoon.  Mme Grouich is here as the official representative of the Servia Red Cross and in a semi-official capacity represents the Servian Government.

"In the early days of the war more than 50,000 Servians were wounded in battle, and their sufferings, Mme. Grouitch said, were beyond description.  In some hospitals there were three patients to one blanket, and such delicacies as are needed so much in the sickrooms were almost wholly lacking, so suddenly was Austria's attack made.  To the American Red Cross more than any other agency was the improvement of conditions in Servia due, said Mme. Grouitch.

A SERVIAN'S GRATITUDE

"As an instance of Servian gratitude Mme Grouitch cited the words of a wounded Servian soldier to his American nurse:

"You are a better friend than even my father and my mother.  It was their duty to care for heir son, but you had no such obligation.  Instead you crossed the seas to help me, and I know that God and you are my best friends."

"Mme. Grouitch also praised the British and Russians for sending doctors, nurses and supplies to Servia.  Russia was in straits for medical supplies, she said, but when Servia sppealed to Petrograd, the authorities drew generously on their limited store and sent a large consignment to Servia.

"Of Dr. Edward Ryan, head of the American Red Cross in Belgrade, Mme Grouitch spoke in the highest terms.  The Crown Prince has publicly acknowledge the debt Servia owes to Dr. Ryan and his American nurses and physicians.

"The hosptial at Belgrade is one of Servia's great national institutions and it was to take charge of it in a city that was and still is, she said, under constant bombardment, that Dr. Ryan was assigned.  She said the Servians looked upon Dr. Ryan as largely instrumental in saving Belgrade from complete destruction when it fell into the hands of the Austrian invaders.  In the period between the arrival and departure of the invaders, Dr. Ryan cared for more than 15,000 desitute non-combatants unable to get away.

DR. RYAN BELGRADE'S HERO

"Dr. Ryan was without question in sole authority in Belgrade during that terrible period.  He commandeered all the food in the city and threw open the gates of the hospital reservation to all the people.  I assure you that Servia with never forget the American physician, Dr. Edward Ryan.

"The suffering in Servia, Mme. Grouitch said, was more severe than at any time in Belgium.  She referred to the isolation of the country and added that if there is another Austrian invasion, which is now threatened, it will call to the battle line every man who can stand on his feet, as well as thousands of women.  She also spoke of the grave danger of fever, smallpox, and other diseases when warm weather comes.

"Mme. Grouitch, before her marriage, was Miss Mabel Dunlop of West Virginia.  She has not come to this country to beg money, but to get wheat, corn, oats, barley, vegetable and other seeds in the effort to raise another crop from the war-devastated fields of Servia."

From the textbook called SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACY:

Here's poem simply called SERBIA by Amelia Josephine Burr, taken from The Poetry Review in EVERYBODY'S MAGAZINE.

Hark, from the East a keen and bitter cry---

New tears are flowing in the furrows of old sorrow.

On your wasted fields your dead drift like fallen leaves;

Only the Pale Havester garners heavy sheaves.

How have you the courage to struggle toward tomorrow, Serbia, Serbia, land that will not die?

(and Serbia answers...) 

I have stood for freedom---freedom can not perish.

I have stood for honor---honor must endure.

But my children starve, the children who should cherish

For the world's to-morrow, my spirit flaming-pure.

You who sit in safety, you whose babes are fed.

You who by the perils of other men are free,

Listen to my living, ere the hour be sped,

Lest you hear forever the silence of the dead.

Serbia, Serbia!  God hears.  Do we?

++++++++++++++++++

President Woodrow Wilson heard! 

        President Woodrow Wilson       (from Wikipedia)

"The war not not yet ended when President Woodrow Wilson made an unprecedented  gesture in recognition of the sacrifices of the Serbian nation towards the common war effort.  His unique eulogy to he Serbs was expressed in the invitation to Americans of all faiths and creeds to pray for the Serbs, whose lands had been devastated and their homes despoiled, but whose spirit has remained unbroken.

'Here is an account given by Frank Columbus in his article "SERBIAN AMERICANS."

"Sunday, July 28, 1918 was a hot muggy day in Washington DC like most others.  But not quite!  Above the White House and ALL public buildings in Washington, DC the Serbian flag proudly flew unfurled.  President Woodrow Wilson sent the following message to the American people which was read aloud in the churches throughout America and published in almost all major newspapers:

"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 Austrai-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 drived the Austrians back and Germany and Bulgaria had come to the aid of Austrai 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 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 the 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 forces yearn for independence and national unity.

"This can be done in a manner no more appropriate than in our churches.  I, therefore, appeal to the people of the United States of all faiths and creeds to assemble in their several places of worship on Sunday, July 28, for purpose of giving expression to their sympathy with this subjugated people and their oppressed and dominated kindred in other lands, and to invoke the blessings of Almighty God upon them and upon the cause to which they are pledged."

Woodrow Wilson, President, The White House, July, 1918. [Columbus: 145-146]  Petrov, Dr. Krinka Vidakovich. "The Serb National Federation the Champion of Serbdom in America," SERB NATIONAL FEDERATION, FIRST 100 YEARS, Serb National Federation, July 2001, pp. 50, 51.

++++++++++++++++++

TYPHUS

http://www.vlib.us/medical/serbia.htm

 Dr. James Johnston Abraham, an experience General Surgeon in Dublin and London with the First Red Cross Mission to Servia:

"My own special orderly, Edwardes, whom I particularly liked because he was so kind, so gentle with the patients, so absolutely dependable - Edwardes got it. We isolated him in the gate-house of the nunnery where we were quartered. We put a special orderly on to him. We did everything we could, with our chief physician in charge and Banks in consultation. He lived for seventeen days; he ought to have pulled through but he did not.

   "The Serbs gave him a military funeral, complete with band playing the Dead March, and a salvo over the open grave. The Serb Commandant made a funeral oration over him which the Little Red Woman said was beautiful. I wept like a child. He was the first.  More followed until out of the original twelve orderlies we were down to eight. The doctors began next. The first was Benbow, one of our physicians. When he became delirious he was full of the most dangerous delusions, hid a Kruger pistol under his pillow and tried to use it. Holmes got it next. This was almost inevitable. He was our chief physician. He too became delirious. He thought his head was coming off, and somehow managed to get a heavy chain and padlock from somewhere, which he hung round his neck to keep it on. We borrowed Sister Fry, a nurse from the Lady Paget Mission. She was an old friend of mine from West London Hospital days, who volunteered to come to us in our extremity. It was a most courageous thing to do, for we wore naturally treated as pariahs. Then the Little Woman got infected and refused blankly to come into our quarters to be nursed. We pointed out to her that our quarters were already infected and carried her in by force. Then she broke down and wept with relief More orderlies got it. We put them in tents in the garden of the nunnery. I think that saved three from death."