Five Fronts by Robert Dunn 1915

[slick63]

I`ve just finished reading this, and I`m tempted to re read it as it`s almost like a boys own adventure. The author was a war correspondent for the New York Evening Post, and travelled around Europe during the early part of the war, gaining passes from various sides. The writing is very descriptive and lends itself to the imagination. I particularly liked the comparison between the different armies and the approach to warfare each had. The eastern front episode in particular could almost be describing a Napoleonic era conflict

I was intrigued by a conversation the author had with an Austrian officer, which seemed to mention that the start of the war was caused by a country in the Balkans refusal to allow Austria the use of one of its ports. I`ll have to re read the page to get the details, but the same cause seemed agreed by both parties, in contrast no mention was made of the assassination of the Archduke as the igniter of tensions.

I`d be interested if anyone else has heard of this ?

The book is downloadable here.... https://archive.org/details/fivefrontsonfiri00dunn

[slick63]

I found the text on page 140, it wasn`t quite as I remembered it but puzzling nonetheless....

[slick63]

Also found this text going into some detail about the demands for access to a port by the Serbians. Seems to have been an important demand around 1912....

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WIZzAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA181&lpg=PA181&dq=serbia+port+dalmatian+coast&source=bl&ots=b024JLVFdH&sig=LzP3pr6LiGvcz3BFtNFpqJ6kOzM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjL1p247PLJAhUGWxoKHTBBBY8Q6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=serbia%20port%20dalmatian%20coast&f=false