The Serbian army at the beginning of World War I The events of the summer of 1914 left the Serbian army off guard for war. According to Nikola Pašić (Serbian Prime Minister), Serbia and its army would need at least three years for the rearmament and development of new military formations in the south. The influx of the new contingent of southern recruits did not begin until April 1914. Serbia needed a much longer period for the development of a new railway network in the southern and western parts of the country, as well as for the construction of a bridge over the Danube to establish a railway connection with Romania. These views were shared by the Major General Staff and Prince Alexander. The Serbian army lacked at least 120,000 rifles, heavy and mountain artillery, ammunition, means of transport, camping equipment, about 300,000 complete sets of uniforms, medical equipment, medical personnel, newly trained men to replace about 50,000 dead and disabled from the Balkan Wars and some 6...