At the outbreak of the war with Turkey, in
1912, General Putnik was made head of the army and received the
grade of voivode (field marshal), being the first Serbian to enjoy
that distinction. The grade of field marshal was created in the
Serbian army during the First Balkan War.

With him worked Colonel Pavlovitch, the son of a farmer, who had
won a series of scholarships, enabling him to study in Berlin. He
had directed the military operations in the field against Turkey
and Bulgaria, and he was to do the same thing under his old chief
against the Austrians.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XLVII

AUSTRIA'S STRENGTH AND STRATEGY

Let us now review the Austrian forces that participated in the
invasions of Serbia. In number they were practically unlimited; at
least they far outnumbered the Serbian forces that met them in the
field. Their armament was of the best and their equipment as complete
as boundless resources could make it. They were, however, partly made
up of the peoples of the Slavic provinces of Austria--Bohemians,
Croatians, Dalmatians, and Bosnians. Naturally there could be but
little enthusiasm in their attacks on their brother Slavs, and while
there are many mutual animosities between these various branches
of the Slavic race, such feelings are, at any rate, secondary to
the general dislike of the "Schwabs," as the German-Austrians are
called, and the Magyars. Possibly this had much to do with the
Austrian defeats. The Hungarian, or Magyar, regiments were probably
in the majority. But the Magyars from the interior of Hungary have
no special reason to hate the Serbians, and, aside from that, they
were attacking on foreign soil.

At the head of the Austrian campaigns against Serbia was General
Potiorek, generally described as a textbook strategist. But just
how much his failures were due to his own inefficiency and how
much to the inefficiency of those under him will probably never
be determined; he had in the end to suffer for both.

These were the two great contending forces that were set in motion
by the departure of Baron Giesl, the Austro-Hungarian Minister,
from Belgrade, on July 25, 1914. On the same day the Prince Regent
Alexander signed a decree ordering the general mobilization of the
Serbian army. Three days later, on July 28, 1914, Austria declared
war. By that time Serbia was in the midst of her mobilization.

That the Austrians, who had the advantage of having tak