The First Defeat of the Central Powers in the Great War: The 1914 Battle of Cer
By Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović
It passed more than the 100й anniversary of the end of the Great War in 1914−1918. Proportionally, in the war, Serbia suffered mostly among all countries involved in the conflict as it lost ¼ of its population followed by 50% of industrial destruction. The first war crimes or even the genocide occurred on the territory of Serbia but on other hand, the first allied victory on the battlefield against the Central Powers happened as well as in Serbia – the 1914 Battle of Cer in the Machva District with the administrative center of Shabac. Before and during the Great War, the town of Shabac and the district of Machva have been bordering Bosnia-Herzegovina, at that time Austria-Hungary, on the Drina River being situated in the north-western part of the Kingdom of Serbia). Before the war, the area of Machva District was developed in both industrial and cultural aspects in many features according to the Central European pattern (for instance, the first piano in Serbia appeared in the town of Shabac in the 19й century).