WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.279 Welcome to today's Deep Dive. We have a story 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.040 for you today that honestly completely defies 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:08.380 expectations. Yeah, it really does. We're exploring 00:00:08.380 --> 00:00:11.099 a comprehensive Wikipedia article on the Battle 00:00:11.099 --> 00:00:15.060 of Sur, and our mission today is to uncover this 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:18.059 thrilling, chaotic, and frankly brutal story 00:00:18.059 --> 00:00:20.859 of the very first Allied victory of the First 00:00:20.859 --> 00:00:24.510 World War. I mean, this is a classic David versus 00:00:24.510 --> 00:00:27.510 Goliath scenario that completely shocked the 00:00:27.510 --> 00:00:29.269 globe when it happened. It's a remarkable piece 00:00:29.269 --> 00:00:32.710 of history. And I think what makes this deep 00:00:32.710 --> 00:00:35.250 dive so compelling for you listening is that 00:00:35.250 --> 00:00:37.549 it completely subverts what we think we know. 00:00:37.659 --> 00:00:40.200 about military supremacy. Right. This battle 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:42.579 isn't just about lines on a map or, you know, 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:45.039 troop movements. It is an absolute master class 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.939 in how human motivation, veteran experience and 00:00:47.939 --> 00:00:51.000 local terrain can completely upend a vastly superior 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:52.820 invading force. Exactly. Well, wait, when you 00:00:52.820 --> 00:00:54.960 say upend, we are talking about a military clash 00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:56.899 that featured soldiers literally marching into 00:00:56.899 --> 00:00:59.920 battle entirely barefoot to defeat a global empire. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.460 Yes, literally barefoot. And at the exact same 00:01:02.460 --> 00:01:04.540 time, it serves as the backdrop for the very 00:01:04.540 --> 00:01:07.540 first aerial dogfight in human history. It's 00:01:07.540 --> 00:01:10.480 just this incredible contrast. But to really 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:13.319 understand how we get to two men shooting at 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:15.420 each other in the sky over a muddy mountain in 00:01:15.420 --> 00:01:20.700 1914, we need to set the stage a bit. If we connect 00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:23.340 this to the bigger picture, the tensions leading 00:01:23.340 --> 00:01:26.040 up to August 1914 didn't just appear out of nowhere. 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:29.000 The animosity between Austria, Hungary and Serbia 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.640 had been simmering, really escalating for over 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:34.239 a decade. OK. The geopolitical landscape really 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:37.500 started to fracture around the 1903 May overthrow. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:39.750 I've heard that term, but what What exactly was 00:01:39.750 --> 00:01:42.209 the May overthrow? Was it like an election? Far 00:01:42.209 --> 00:01:44.790 from it, actually. It was a violent, bloody military 00:01:44.790 --> 00:01:47.269 coup in Serbia. The reigning king and queen were 00:01:47.269 --> 00:01:49.489 assassinated inside their own palace. Oh, wow. 00:01:49.590 --> 00:01:51.709 Yeah. And the new Serbian government that took 00:01:51.709 --> 00:01:53.930 power radically shifted the country's foreign 00:01:53.930 --> 00:01:56.049 policy. They pulled away from their reliance 00:01:56.049 --> 00:01:58.370 on the Austro -Hungarian Habsburgs and started 00:01:58.370 --> 00:01:59.989 aligning themselves heavily with the Russian 00:01:59.989 --> 00:02:02.310 Empire. So Austria -Hungary is watching their 00:02:02.310 --> 00:02:04.890 smaller neighbor violently overthrow its leadership 00:02:04.890 --> 00:02:08.409 and suddenly cozy up to a massive rival empire. 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:10.759 pie are right next door, how do they even respond 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:14.310 to that? economically at first. In 1906, they 00:02:14.310 --> 00:02:16.210 retaliated with what became known as the Pig 00:02:16.210 --> 00:02:19.509 War. The Pig War. Right. Austria -Hungary simply 00:02:19.509 --> 00:02:22.789 closed its borders to Serbian agricultural exports, 00:02:23.090 --> 00:02:25.610 primarily pork, trying to starve them out financially. 00:02:26.430 --> 00:02:28.590 Then the situation deteriorates even further 00:02:28.590 --> 00:02:31.969 in 1908 when Austria -Hungary formally annexes 00:02:31.969 --> 00:02:34.069 Bosnia Herzegovina. And that's a huge problem 00:02:34.069 --> 00:02:36.569 because that territory had a massive Serb population, 00:02:36.569 --> 00:02:39.189 right? Precisely. The annexation sent the Serbian 00:02:39.189 --> 00:02:41.680 public into an absolute uproar. There were massive 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:44.360 protests, demands for war. But without a firm 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:46.599 promise of Russian military support at that exact 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:48.580 moment, the Syrian government had to swallow 00:02:48.580 --> 00:02:50.979 their trident back down. But the resentment was 00:02:50.979 --> 00:02:53.199 still there. Exactly. It just kept boiling. Which 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:56.620 brings us to the actual boiling point. June 28th, 00:02:56.620 --> 00:03:00.900 1914. A Bosnian Serd student named Gavrilo Princip 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:04.819 assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. 00:03:05.300 --> 00:03:07.680 Austria -Hungary issues this intentionally unacceptable 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:11.280 ultimatum to Serbia, and by July 28, war is declared. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:13.199 Right, and things move fast from there. Yeah. 00:03:13.419 --> 00:03:15.400 The Serbs immediately blow up all their own bridges 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:17.919 on the Sava and Danube rivers just to slow down 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:20.099 the impending invasion. Which was a necessary 00:03:20.099 --> 00:03:22.460 desperation move, because that invasion force 00:03:22.460 --> 00:03:25.020 was really something to behold. Okay, let's unpack 00:03:25.020 --> 00:03:27.939 this, because the mismatch on paper is just staggering. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:30.580 The Austro -Hungarian invasion was commanded 00:03:30.580 --> 00:03:34.159 by General Oskar Portyrek. And, fun fact, he 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:36.460 was actually the guy responsible for Franz Ferdinand's 00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:38.620 security detail in Sarajevo. Talk about a bad 00:03:38.620 --> 00:03:41.900 day at work. Right. So he has this massive professional 00:03:41.900 --> 00:03:44.259 failure hanging over his head, and he is wildly 00:03:44.259 --> 00:03:46.740 arrogant about making up for it. He publicly 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:49.139 predicted an easy victory, literally calling 00:03:49.139 --> 00:03:51.639 the Serbs pig farmers. And if you look strictly 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:53.800 at the data, he had the numbers to back up that 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:56.159 arrogance. Because a lot of their forces have 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:59.039 been sent to the Russian front, the Austro -Hungarians 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:02.379 invaded Serbia with about 200 ,000 troops. That 00:04:02.379 --> 00:04:05.699 is a massive force. It is. Interestingly, though, 00:04:06.139 --> 00:04:08.879 40 % of those troops were actually South Slavs 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:10.819 living within the Austro -Hungarian borders. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:14.159 But regardless of their origin, they were a fully 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:17.379 modernized force. They had an abundance of modern 00:04:17.379 --> 00:04:19.839 rifles, double the machine guns of the Serbs, 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:22.680 superior artillery, and the backing of a massive 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:24.920 industrial transport infrastructure. Now, compare 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:27.920 that to the Serbians. Their military was de facto 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:31.439 led by Field Marshal Radimir Putnik. But before 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:33.959 we even get to their numbers, Serbia had just 00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:35.920 spent the last two years fighting the Balkan 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:38.540 Wars, right? They must have been incredibly depleted 00:04:38.540 --> 00:04:40.639 before this invasion even started. Pleaded is 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:42.600 putting it mildly. They managed to muster about 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:45.680 180 ,000 men for this defense. But those recent 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:49.160 Balkan Wars from 1912 to 1913 had already caused 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:52.759 them roughly 36 ,000 dead and 55 ,000 seriously 00:04:52.759 --> 00:04:55.160 wounded. That is a huge chunk of their population. 00:04:55.500 --> 00:04:58.199 Exactly. They were stretched incredibly thin, 00:04:58.779 --> 00:05:00.839 garrisoning newly acquired territories against 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:03.759 insurgents and constantly looking over their 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:05.720 shoulder worried about a potential Bulgarian 00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:07.699 attack. And they had nothing left in the reserves. 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:09.779 This is the detail that just blew my mind in 00:05:09.779 --> 00:05:12.879 the source. Many of the Serbian recruits reported 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:16.399 for duty completely barefoot. You are marching 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:19.899 into modern industrialized warfare without shoes. 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:22.500 It sounds impossible. They didn't even have uniforms. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:25.459 Just standard -issue great coats and traditional 00:05:25.459 --> 00:05:28.420 Serbian caps known as shukaca. The logistical 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:30.920 records show that upon full mobilization, an 00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:34.319 estimated 50 ,000 Serbian soldiers had absolutely 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:38.120 no equipment whatsoever. None. They were dangerously 00:05:38.120 --> 00:05:40.800 short on artillery, desperately low on ammunition, 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:43.180 and missing the most basic supplies. It sounds 00:05:43.180 --> 00:05:45.860 like a recipe for an absolute massacre. On paper, 00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:48.120 yes. But this is where you have to look beyond 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:50.139 the spreadsheet. The Serbs lacked equipment. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:52.980 But what they possessed was invaluable veteran 00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:56.439 experience. These men had just spent two years 00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:58.680 fighting brutal conflicts. They knew how to survive. 00:05:58.779 --> 00:06:00.600 They knew how to fight. And they were defending 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:03.060 their literal homes from an empire that wanted 00:06:03.060 --> 00:06:06.800 to crush them. That level of intense existential 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.800 motivation is something you simply cannot manufacture 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:12.360 in a factory. And that grit is put to the ultimate 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:15.620 test when the invasion actually begins. Put yourself 00:06:15.620 --> 00:06:17.740 in the shoes of the Serbian commander Putnik. 00:06:18.250 --> 00:06:22.610 You are staring down a 340 mile border with Austria 00:06:22.610 --> 00:06:25.470 -Hungary. You have a barefoot army and practically 00:06:25.470 --> 00:06:28.389 no bullets. What do you do? You exercise strategic 00:06:28.389 --> 00:06:30.829 patience. It's brilliant, really. Putnik knew 00:06:30.829 --> 00:06:33.029 he couldn't spread his battered army thin across 00:06:33.029 --> 00:06:35.970 a 340 mile line. They would be pierced instantly. 00:06:36.129 --> 00:06:38.620 Makes sense. So he pulls the bulk of his forces 00:06:38.620 --> 00:06:41.660 way back into the central region of Umidia. He 00:06:41.660 --> 00:06:43.279 basically decides he isn't going to guess where 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:45.019 the enemy is attacking. He's going to wait for 00:06:45.019 --> 00:06:46.920 them to show their hand. It's almost like a rope 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:49.100 -a -dope strategy in boxing. You let the opponent 00:06:49.100 --> 00:06:51.620 swing, commit their weight, and expose themselves 00:06:51.620 --> 00:06:54.660 before you react. That is a great analogy. He 00:06:54.660 --> 00:06:57.660 even ignores the early Austro -Hungarian artillery 00:06:57.660 --> 00:07:00.319 bombardments and faint attacks along the Danube 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:03.740 River. He just waits. And finally, on August 00:07:03.740 --> 00:07:07.060 12th, the Austro -Hungarian plan materializes. 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:10.160 They cross the Drina and Sava rivers, capture 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:12.560 the town of Jebak, and start converging on the 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.620 town of Valjevo. They are marching deep into 00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:18.220 Serbian territory. Once the Austro -Hungarian 00:07:18.220 --> 00:07:21.319 forces firmly commit to their routes, Putniks 00:07:21.319 --> 00:07:24.519 brings the trap. On August 15th, he orders the 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:26.779 counterattack, and this leads us to the slopes 00:07:26.779 --> 00:07:29.060 of Seir Mountain. This is where the reality of 00:07:29.060 --> 00:07:30.860 war hits you right in the face. It's the night 00:07:30.860 --> 00:07:34.199 of August 15th, pitch black. Around 11 p .m., 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:36.279 elements of the Serbian First Combined Division 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:38.379 are moving through the mountains and they literally 00:07:38.379 --> 00:07:41.279 stumble blindly into Austro -Hungarian outposts. 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:43.360 Just walked right into them. Yeah. I want to 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:45.300 read you an account from a Serbian captain named 00:07:45.300 --> 00:07:47.540 Shajeta Topolović recounting this exact moment 00:07:47.540 --> 00:07:50.500 because it paints such a vivid picture. He wrote, 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:52.720 the forward battalion had advanced during the 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:55.110 night. water was drenching us from all sides. 00:07:55.670 --> 00:07:57.430 Suddenly, another soldier, out of breath and 00:07:57.430 --> 00:08:01.610 excited, screamed, Major Sir, the Krauts! That's 00:08:01.610 --> 00:08:03.470 how the nighttime clash between our combined 00:08:03.470 --> 00:08:06.209 division and the enemy's 21st Landwehr Division 00:08:06.209 --> 00:08:08.910 started, and with it, the Battle of Surr Mountain. 00:08:09.149 --> 00:08:11.490 For context, that 21st Landwehr Division was 00:08:11.490 --> 00:08:14.029 essentially an Austro -Hungarian National Guard 00:08:14.029 --> 00:08:17.149 unit. But imagine the sheer chaos of that moment. 00:08:17.290 --> 00:08:19.930 You were exhausted, soaked to the bone in a violent 00:08:19.930 --> 00:08:23.189 thunderstorm, navigating steep, muddy, unfamiliar 00:08:23.189 --> 00:08:25.610 mountain terrain in the pitch dark. And suddenly 00:08:25.610 --> 00:08:27.610 you were face -to -face with the enemy. Exactly. 00:08:27.730 --> 00:08:29.850 So it's a completely accidental collision in 00:08:29.850 --> 00:08:31.550 the dark. What happens when the sun comes up? 00:08:31.670 --> 00:08:35.129 A grinding, brutal slog. That accidental spark 00:08:35.129 --> 00:08:37.610 ignited a massive, sprawling battle for control 00:08:37.610 --> 00:08:40.590 of the Devacha Range, the village of Barino Selo, 00:08:40.850 --> 00:08:43.779 and the surrounding towns. On August 16th, the 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:46.220 Serbians actually managed to dislodge the Austro 00:08:46.220 --> 00:08:48.700 -Hungarians from Reno -Salo, driving them back 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:51.419 in disorder. But it's not a clean sweep. The 00:08:51.419 --> 00:08:54.419 next day, August 17th, the Serbs try to retake 00:08:54.419 --> 00:08:56.840 the town of Ibak and they fail entirely. It's 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:58.980 just this vicious back and forth in the mud. 00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:02.940 The Austro -Hungarian 42nd Home Guard starts 00:09:02.940 --> 00:09:05.620 seriously threatening Valievo. It was a crucible. 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:09.659 But here's where the tide shifts. Yes, here's 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:11.700 where it gets really interesting. We move to 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:15.059 August 18 and 19. The Austro -Hungarians launch 00:09:15.059 --> 00:09:17.559 a major assault trying to push the Serbs off 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:20.320 the Abak bridgehead. They desperately need to 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:22.519 clear a path for their fifth army to advance. 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:25.860 Right. But the Serbs hold the line at the Dubrava 00:09:25.860 --> 00:09:28.360 River and completely break the assault. And we 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:30.480 need to look at the geography to understand why 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:33.440 this matters. The landscape here is defined by 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:35.879 these steep ridges, places like Velika Glava 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:38.620 and the Raja Ngarob Ridge. In mountain warfare, 00:09:38.700 --> 00:09:41.120 if you control the high ridges, you control the 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:43.019 movement between the valleys. Because you can 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:45.139 just rain down fire on anyone trying to pass. 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:47.440 Precisely. The Austro -Hungarian 4th Corps was 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:49.220 trying to push through the valleys to reinforce 00:09:49.220 --> 00:09:51.120 the fighting happening on Surr Mountain. But 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:53.200 they can't get past the Serbian defenders on 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:55.600 those ridges. Exactly. Because they are stalled 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:58.299 in the valleys, they can't maneuver. The Serbian 00:09:58.299 --> 00:10:01.529 1st Morava Division violently drives back the 00:10:01.529 --> 00:10:04.470 Austro -Hungarian 9th Infantry Division. The 00:10:04.470 --> 00:10:06.590 Austro -Hungarian forces are effectively severed 00:10:06.590 --> 00:10:08.809 from one another by the terrain and the Serbian 00:10:08.809 --> 00:10:12.470 defense. So by noon on August 19, the momentum 00:10:12.470 --> 00:10:14.710 is entirely Serdian. They retake the village 00:10:14.710 --> 00:10:18.470 of Rusulijaca. They storm Velikoglava. They seize 00:10:18.470 --> 00:10:20.909 the Rogengrab Ridge. And when they take that 00:10:20.909 --> 00:10:24.110 high ground, you can see the exact moment the 00:10:24.110 --> 00:10:27.929 Austro -Hungarian will to fight just snaps. Cohesion 00:10:27.929 --> 00:10:31.350 totally shatters. You have this massive, supposedly 00:10:31.350 --> 00:10:34.909 invincible imperial army retreating with increasing 00:10:34.909 --> 00:10:37.649 rapidity. By August 20, it is a full -blown panic. 00:10:37.649 --> 00:10:40.129 Loading chaos. The entire Austro -Hungarian 5th 00:10:40.129 --> 00:10:42.370 Army abandons their objectives and flees back 00:10:42.370 --> 00:10:44.230 toward the Draena River trying to cross back 00:10:44.230 --> 00:10:46.350 into Bosnia. The historical accounts note that 00:10:46.350 --> 00:10:49.049 in the frantic chaos of the retreat, many Austro 00:10:49.049 --> 00:10:51.210 -Hungarian soldiers literally drowned in the 00:10:51.210 --> 00:10:53.509 Draena River trying to escape the pursuing Serbs. 00:10:53.590 --> 00:10:56.169 It was a complete collapse. The route is so complete 00:10:56.169 --> 00:10:58.769 that Field Marshal Putnik sends a victorious 00:10:58.769 --> 00:11:08.200 telegram to King Peter. He wrote, By August 24, 00:11:08.519 --> 00:11:11.220 the Serbs officially re -enter Ammanback and 00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:14.340 the invasion is completely over. It's a monumental 00:11:14.340 --> 00:11:17.419 historic victory. But the toll it took on human 00:11:17.419 --> 00:11:19.909 life is staggering. And we need to look at these 00:11:19.909 --> 00:11:23.149 numbers because they truly herald the massive 00:11:23.149 --> 00:11:25.750 industrial scale slaughter that would define 00:11:25.750 --> 00:11:27.389 the rest of the First World War. What were the 00:11:27.389 --> 00:11:30.029 final casualty figures? Estimates vary slightly 00:11:30.029 --> 00:11:32.409 depending on the historical record, but the Austro 00:11:32.409 --> 00:11:35.230 -Hungarians suffered between 6 ,000 and 10 ,000 00:11:35.230 --> 00:11:38.710 soldiers killed, roughly 30 ,000 wounded, and 00:11:38.710 --> 00:11:41.529 4 ,500 taken as prisoners of war. And the Serbs. 00:11:41.610 --> 00:11:43.570 For the Sordians, despite winning the campaign, 00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:46.470 the cost was devastating. They suffered between 00:11:46.470 --> 00:11:50.169 3 ,000 and 5 ,000 killed and around 15 ,000 wounded. 00:11:50.750 --> 00:11:52.450 There is a haunting observation from a French 00:11:52.450 --> 00:11:54.909 journalist named Henry Barbie who visited the 00:11:54.909 --> 00:11:57.090 area between Serres and the Jadar River after 00:11:57.090 --> 00:11:59.309 the battle. He wrote that the battlefield was 00:11:59.309 --> 00:12:01.629 nothing but mass graves and putrefying flesh. 00:12:01.970 --> 00:12:04.669 It's hard to even imagine. He described a stretch 00:12:04.669 --> 00:12:07.309 so foul that it made approaching the mountain 00:12:07.309 --> 00:12:10.480 summit impossible. The sheer volume of corpses 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:13.559 was so enormous that the Serbian Second Army 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:16.220 eventually had to abandon burial efforts because 00:12:16.220 --> 00:12:19.440 they simply lacked the time and manpower to bury 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:23.059 the dead. It is a grim reality. What's fascinating 00:12:23.059 --> 00:12:25.840 here is how the historical texts document the 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:27.840 psychological deterioration that accompanied 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:30.669 this campaign. To be clear to you listening, 00:12:31.090 --> 00:12:33.190 we are strictly reporting what the historical 00:12:33.190 --> 00:12:35.549 records convey about the actions of both sides 00:12:35.549 --> 00:12:37.870 during this period. Of course. The breakdown 00:12:37.870 --> 00:12:41.370 of order was horrific. It was. The Austro -Hungarians 00:12:41.370 --> 00:12:44.009 formally accused Serbian civilians of mutilating 00:12:44.009 --> 00:12:47.039 their soldiers. Conversely, the records explicitly 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:49.419 note that undisciplined Austro -Hungarian troops, 00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:51.759 which, as we mentioned earlier, included fellow 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:54.399 South Slavs, committed horrific acts against 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:57.279 the local population. Right. They summarily executed 00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:59.620 hundreds of Serbian men and raped and murdered 00:12:59.620 --> 00:13:01.419 numerous women and children during the battle. 00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:04.460 There is a direct account from Serbian General 00:13:04.460 --> 00:13:08.159 Pavle Juris Oltorm. He recounted finding groups 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:10.460 of slaughtered civilians throughout the villages. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:13.799 He described finding 19 men, women and children 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:16.639 roped together and massacred by a tavern and 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:19.539 similar groups found elsewhere. Just awful. He 00:13:19.539 --> 00:13:22.139 explicitly details discovering mutilated women. 00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:25.259 It's a tragic documentation of the total breakdown 00:13:25.259 --> 00:13:27.379 of humanity that occurred on the ground during 00:13:27.379 --> 00:13:29.960 this invasion. It is a dark testament to the 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:31.879 animosity that had been building between these 00:13:31.879 --> 00:13:35.379 empires and peoples for decades. War strips away 00:13:35.379 --> 00:13:38.409 the veneer. of civilization very quickly, especially 00:13:38.409 --> 00:13:40.610 in such close quarters, desperate environments. 00:13:40.889 --> 00:13:42.870 Moving from the human cost back to the military 00:13:42.870 --> 00:13:45.549 logistics, how did the Serbians even pull this 00:13:45.549 --> 00:13:47.370 off? You mentioned they started this campaign 00:13:47.370 --> 00:13:50.190 desperately low on ammunition. It was an absolute 00:13:50.190 --> 00:13:53.090 logistical miracle. To secure this victory, the 00:13:53.090 --> 00:13:55.850 Serbians somehow managed to scrape together and 00:13:55.850 --> 00:13:59.549 burn through 6 .5 million rifle cartridges and 00:13:59.549 --> 00:14:03.080 35 ,000 artillery shells. That is insane. It 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:05.100 required stripping every reserve they had left. 00:14:05.659 --> 00:14:08.460 But the gamble paid off. Leadership was recognized 00:14:08.460 --> 00:14:11.220 for it immediately. General Stepa Stepanovich, 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:14.019 who commanded the Serbian Second Army, was promoted 00:14:14.019 --> 00:14:17.240 to the rank of Field Marshal or Vojvoda for his 00:14:17.240 --> 00:14:20.100 success. Meanwhile, General Poturek, the Austro 00:14:20.100 --> 00:14:22.159 -Hungarian commander who called them pig farmers, 00:14:22.820 --> 00:14:25.779 was utterly humiliated on the world stage. A 00:14:25.779 --> 00:14:28.379 very harsh lesson in underestimating your opponent. 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:31.080 OK, we have to talk about one of the most wild, 00:14:31.139 --> 00:14:33.820 unexpected details in this entire historical 00:14:33.820 --> 00:14:36.899 record, because alongside the muddy artillery 00:14:36.899 --> 00:14:40.019 barrages and the infantry charges, the Battle 00:14:40.019 --> 00:14:43.179 of Sur also features a completely unprecedented 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:46.980 moment in history. The very first aerial dogfight 00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:49.340 of World War One. It is such a surreal moment 00:14:49.340 --> 00:14:51.720 to visualize, especially given what we know aviation 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:54.159 becomes later in the century. It really is. You 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:57.519 have a Serbian aviator named Miodrag Tomic. He's 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.159 up in flying a reconnaissance mission over the 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:02.440 enemy lines, just gathering information. Right, 00:15:02.620 --> 00:15:04.120 because planes were basically just used for scouting 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:07.240 at this point. Exactly. Suddenly he encounters 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:09.720 an Austro -Hungarian plane doing the exact same 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:12.879 thing. Now remember, this is 1914. Fighter planes 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:14.840 with mounted machine guns don't really exist 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:17.820 yet. So what happens? The Austro -Hungarian pilot 00:15:17.820 --> 00:15:21.120 pulls out a standard issue revolver and literally 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:24.240 starts shooting at Tomich across the open sky. 00:15:24.539 --> 00:15:27.200 It's basically a Wild West shootout, but happening 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:29.379 thousands of feet in the air in these incredibly 00:15:29.379 --> 00:15:32.779 fragile wooden canvas flying machines. Yes. Tomich 00:15:32.779 --> 00:15:35.600 manages to escape the gunfire, but the implications 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:38.000 of that one bizarre encounter were immediate. 00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:40.799 Within just a matter of weeks of this incident, 00:15:41.299 --> 00:15:43.820 both the Serbian and Austro -Hungarian militaries 00:15:43.820 --> 00:15:46.000 looked at that encounter and began fitting all 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.480 of their planes with actual machine guns. Which 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:51.019 perfectly illustrates how rapidly warfare was 00:15:51.019 --> 00:15:53.259 evolving. But the broader impact of the Battle 00:15:53.259 --> 00:15:56.399 of Sur went far beyond aviation. As the very 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:58.759 first Allied victory over the Central Powers, 00:15:59.179 --> 00:16:01.159 it completely shifted the global narrative of 00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:03.580 the war. It proved Austria -Hungary could be 00:16:03.580 --> 00:16:07.269 beaten. Exactly. Serbia's triumph drew worldwide 00:16:07.269 --> 00:16:10.049 attention. It shattered the illusion of Austro 00:16:10.049 --> 00:16:13.370 -Hungarian indensibility and won the Serbs a 00:16:13.370 --> 00:16:16.470 massive wave of sympathy from both neutral and 00:16:16.470 --> 00:16:18.750 allied countries. Did that sympathy actually 00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:21.879 turn into tangible help? Absolutely. Foreigners 00:16:21.879 --> 00:16:24.480 flocked to Serbia, offering financial, humanitarian, 00:16:24.620 --> 00:16:27.559 and military aid. It even impacted international 00:16:27.559 --> 00:16:30.600 diplomacy. In Italy, certain cultural and political 00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:33.039 circles used the Serbian and Montenegrin successes 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:36.000 on the battlefield to advocate heaven for Italy 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.679 entering the war on the allied side. Oh, wow. 00:16:38.860 --> 00:16:40.980 They argued that if a small, exhausted nation 00:16:40.980 --> 00:16:43.299 could repel an empire, Italy should certainly 00:16:43.299 --> 00:16:45.840 join the fight. It even left a lasting cultural 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:49.480 mark in Serbia itself. The famous Soviet patriotic 00:16:49.480 --> 00:16:52.779 song, March on the Drina, was composed by Stanislav 00:16:52.779 --> 00:16:54.840 Benichi shortly after the battle to commemorate 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:57.200 the victory. He dedicated it to his favorite 00:16:57.200 --> 00:16:59.600 commander, Colonel Milovoje Solyanovich, who 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:01.360 was killed during the fierce fighting we talked 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:03.639 about earlier. It's a powerful reminder of how 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:05.779 a single localized battle can ripple outward, 00:17:06.180 --> 00:17:08.700 affecting art, global alliances, and the entire 00:17:08.700 --> 00:17:11.640 trajectory of a world war. So, what does this 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:14.319 all mean? We started this deep dive looking at 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:17.819 a ledger that heavily favored a massive empire. 00:17:18.420 --> 00:17:21.619 But a supposedly primitive barefoot army used 00:17:21.619 --> 00:17:23.900 their deep knowledge of the local terrain, their 00:17:23.900 --> 00:17:26.920 veteran grit, and sheer existential motivation 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:30.440 to completely break an invading force. They changed 00:17:30.440 --> 00:17:32.859 the early narrative of World War I in a matter 00:17:32.859 --> 00:17:35.200 of days. And for you listening, I think the real 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:38.160 insight here is about asymmetric warfare and 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:41.400 how geography can dictate technology. The Austro 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:43.640 -Hungarians had a massive industrial advantage. 00:17:44.059 --> 00:17:46.759 More guns, heavier artillery, better supply lines. 00:17:46.819 --> 00:17:49.400 On paper, they were unstoppable. But in the muddy, 00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:51.559 roadless, steep mountains of Serbia during a 00:17:51.559 --> 00:17:53.759 torrential thunderstorm, that heavy equipment 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:55.500 actually became a liability. They couldn't move 00:17:55.500 --> 00:17:57.240 it. They couldn't coordinate it. The Battle of 00:17:57.240 --> 00:17:59.240 Sur proves that paper statistics mean nothing 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:01.319 when an opponent uses the environment itself 00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:03.900 as a weapon. The industrial element simply could 00:18:03.900 --> 00:18:06.210 not outmaneuver the human element. I love that 00:18:06.210 --> 00:18:08.250 perspective. I want to leave you with one final 00:18:08.250 --> 00:18:10.990 thought to ponder today. Think back to that first 00:18:10.990 --> 00:18:14.650 aerial dogfight. Two men in fragile Candace and 00:18:14.650 --> 00:18:16.670 wood machines shooting handguns at each other 00:18:16.670 --> 00:18:19.650 in the sky. It makes you wonder, at what exact 00:18:19.650 --> 00:18:22.069 moment does an experimental, almost improvised 00:18:22.069 --> 00:18:24.250 piece of technology shift from being a novelty 00:18:24.250 --> 00:18:26.549 to becoming the very thing that dictates the 00:18:26.549 --> 00:18:28.829 fate of millions? Keep digging, and we'll catch 00:18:28.829 --> 00:18:29.930 you on the next deep dive.