The Macedonian Front of the First World War (1915-1918)

The Macedonian Front, or the Thessaloniki Front, was a conflict of World War I, which began with the landing of the Allied Army of the East of the Triple Consensus (Entente) in Thessaloniki on October 5th, 1915, aiming to provide military assistance to Serbia, which was in a disadvantageous position due to the triple invasion of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, that had just joined the Central Powers (September 1915). Reinforcements from the Entente side were delayed and thus it was not possible to prevent the fall of Serbia to the Central Powers. At the same time, the Allied invasion of the Entente and the occupation of Northern Greece aggravated the internal political crisis of the National Schism between Eleftherios Venizelos and King Constantine I.

The Macedonian Front was consolidated and extended from the Adriatic coast in Albania to the Strymon River, with the French and British eventually gathering large forces from the Allied countries, Italy and Russia (until the Bolshevik armistice with Germany in 1917), but mainly from Greece and Serbia, to break the Bulgarian Army, which received reinforcements from the other Central Powers respectively. The pressure of the Entente forces on the Macedonian Front led the Central Powers' troops to a stalemate, resulting in Bulgaria's capitulation on 29 September 1918. Ultimately, the victory of the Entente Allies on the Western Front resulted in the defeat of the Central Powers, with the Ottoman Empire capitulating on 30 October, Austria-Hungary on 4 November and Germany on 11 November 1918. Pictured: Postcard of a Greek soldier on the Macedonian Front, 1918. ©Central Service of the General State Archives of Greece.