This post and the following ones will be dedicated to some of the actors who played an important role in these days of the Crisis which led to the Great War and who are now almost forgotten.
Serbian general Radomir Putnik was Chief of the General Staff. Caught in Budapest when Austria-Hungary declared war upon his country, Field Marshal Putnik was allowed safe passage back to Serbia in a chivalrous and possibly self-defeating gesture by the Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Josef. After a troublesome trip, Putnik returned to Serbia and offered his resignation to King Peter I of Serbia on the grounds of age and ill health. It was rejected, the king insisting that Field Marshal Putnik take command over the army, if only in a strategic sense, while younger generals, such as Stepa Stepanović, Živojin Mišić and Petar Bojović would take over operational duties. (source: Wikipedia).
