18.10.2013.
Minister of Defence at Seminar devoted to Celebration of the Great War
Minister of Defence of the Republic of Serbia Nebojsa Rodic took part today in the work of the seminar dedicated to the celebration of the centenary of the beginning of the First World War in Paris.At the gathering, it was pointed out that the Republic of Serbia actively joined the celebration of the centenary of the First World War. Forming the Organizing Committee for the jubilee was initiated, and at the state level, Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia should be one of the major responsible structures for this activity.
In the First World War that was at the global scale, with 65 million mobilized men, about 10 million dead and 21 million wounded, Serbia that had about 4,500,000 inhabitants mobilized at the beginning of the war about 400,000 people. By the end of the Great War, most of the Serbian citizens passed through some form of conscription. With the start of the war the Serbian front was of secondary importance, but the Serbian victory at Cer Mountain in 1914 was the first Allied victory in the war. In addition, the Serbian Army along with allies, primarily the French, played a significant role in the breakthrough of the Macedonian front in September in 1918.
Since the estimates of the total number of Serbian victims in the Great War range from about 800,000 to 1,250,000 killed and dead, the cost of participation in the war was extremely high for Serbia, and the numbers of casualties, suffering and material destruction should serve as a warning to future generations.For this reason, after the First World War, where both sides suffered heavy losses, advanced forces worked on reconciliation of the people and creating a new world order in which international relations will be regulated by law and mutual respect.
The crisis of the thirties, and the rise of totalitarianism, removed the hopes invested in the creation of the League of Nations. It was only after the Second World War, which was even more severe than the first one, that the United Nations set up new long-term framework of international relations. Therefore, it is necessary that the upcoming anniversary is celebrated together by the allied countries and the countries which were former enemies in the Great War.
