SERBIA IN FOREIGN POLICY OF THE GREAT BRITAIN IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Abstract

The article researches the place and role of Serbia in Great Britain’s foreign policy in the years of the First World War. The author focused on British-Serbian relations and a number of questions that were not covered enough by historiography: the value of Serbia in Foreign Office’s activities on Balkans, problems of joining of Bulgaria and Greece to Entente, territorial disputes about Macedonia, foreign policy aspect of the Dardanelles operation. Changing of London’s views on Serbia from the beginning to the end of the war was outlined. The research found out that 1914 is characterized by skepticism to Serbia both from official London and British society. Foreign Office’s activities of 1915 are characterized by greater priority to Serbia because of the sharpening of the diplomatic struggle in the region. Value of the Seriba for London after 1915 until the end of the war became significantly lower because of the occupation of the country. Results of the research are valuable for analysis of the current military and political situation around Ukraine because of similarity of the confrontation of Serbia and Ukraine to the superior forces of the Central Powers and the Russian Federation respectively, the value of the foreign assistance for Serbia in 1914 and for Ukraine in 2022, necessity to reflect on fatal mistakes of Entente which lead to the Serbian catastrophe of the autumn 1915.

Keywords: Great Britain, United Kingdom, Serbia, Foreign Office, First World War, foreign policy, international relations, diplomacy.