The Balkan Wars 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War by Richard C. s> Hall Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars by Christopher Merill (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 759 impregnable, was almost universally ignored. Instead, most observers Japanese, Russian and fromthe widerworld attributedJapanese victoryto superior 'spirit'.It confirmed theoristsin their pet ideas of the superiorityof active, offensive warfare. The war at sea was equally misunderstood. The importance of mines, despite the loss of several ships, and the way that blockade duty tied up resourceswere not widely appreciated. As Mackenzie tells it, it was not understood that the major land battles were not decisive; that economic and logistical pressureswere crucial or, in Japan's case, that the surprise,PearlHarbour-style,opening assaultwas not a complete success. Overall, the war confirmed existing assumptions about the priority of large navies, offensive armies and the crucial role of morale. While Mackenzie is, by and large, correct, he does not do justice to those who drew the right conclusions. To name only the most famous on the Russian side, Durnovo assumed in his February I914 memorandum to the Tsar that war with Germany would test every aspect of Russian society, industryand infrastructure and would not be won or lost through 'spirit'. The othermajorpiece of socialanalysis,byAdrianJones, isa characteristically sweeping, pugnacious and, at the end of the day, unconvincing argument that the war created a seismic shiftin the outlook of the Russian intelligentsia by showing that the Japanese way to progress was the new wave not the Russian one for which they were striving.Japan was the trump card of the 'young' Asian nations, not Russia. The remaining articles are devoted to literaryportrayalsand show interestinginterrelationsbetween the two sides. In particular,paceJones, the Russian intelligentsiahad a pro-Japanesestreak throughout the war, holding Japan up as a symbol of how the 'backward' nation could progress were it not hampered by a decaying autocracy that some compared to the Turkish state. On the Japanese side socialist internationalistscalled for solidaritybetween the Russian andJapanese peoples while on the right the government was denounced for not pursuingthe war to total victory. Overall, the volume is a well-researched, well-presented and welcome addition to the history of the Russo-Japanesewar in particularand is a fine contributionto the culturalhistoryof warfarein general. Department ofHistogy CHRISTOPHER READ University of Warwick Hall, RichardC. TheBalkanWarsi9I2-IqI3. Prelude to theFirst WorldWar. Warfare and History. Routledge, London and New York, 2000. xvi + I76 Pp. Maps. Notes. Bibliography.Index. I5.j99(paperback). Merill, Christopher.OnlytheNailsRemain: Scenesfrom theBalkanWars. Rowman & Littlefield,Lanham, MD, Boulder, CO, New Yorkand Oxford, 1999. xx + 40I pp. Maps. Glossary.Bibliography.Index. $27.95. IN TheBalkan WarsI912-I9I3 Richard C. Hall, Professor of History at Minnesota State University, gives us a sound battlefields-and-negotiations study of the two wars that saw a Balkancoalition remove Ottoman rule from 760 SEER, 79, 4, 200 I almost all its remaining European dominions, and then break up in a fight over the spoils. Striking contrasts seem to characterize these wars: Western-trainedgenerals , and medieval inspiration or war cries (such as na nozh.'); disciplined attacks and panicked retreats;pioneering use of ships and aeroplanes, and fortresssieges; staged triumphant entries, and down-to-earth reactions (such as that of the Bulgarian officer who says, 'Let's divide the damn thing' [Macedonia, p. I08]); acquisition of strategic or economic locations, and capture of symbols;cooperation among allies, and fear that they would grab each other'sprizes ... In the end, there remained a defeated Turkey turning to nationalism and the Central Powers,and a vindictive Bulgaria,moving away from Russia and towardsAustria-Hungary.Serbiawas the clear winner. Its victoriesbestowed on it prestige among the Southern Slavs generally, whereas the shortcomings of King Nicholas's leadership of Montenegro boded ill for the continued existence of his kingdom. With much advice to the protagonists about how they should have conducted war and diplomacy, the author is led to subtitle the BalkanWars 'Preludeto the FirstWorldWar'.His galloping imagination sees thereafteran era of European conflictlasting('withsome gaps')until the end of the century (p. 141), and destined to go on until the 'adoption of a post-nationalist perspective by the Balkan peoples' (p. x). Such zooming is presumably intended to give 'relevance' to an otherwiseseriousif unexciting monograph. With less prolepsisone could also, more historicallythough less clamorously, see the BalkanWarsas the end of an era, going back...