“Austria has declared war on us. It will be the end of her. God will grant us victory.”
These words were spoken by the President of the Serbian Government in Niš on July 28, 1914, when a telegram was delivered to him with the declaration of war on Serbian by Austria-Hungary. On that day, the greatestwar in history of the world until then began in Niš – the First World War.
The text of the telegram with the declaration of war (Niš, 7. 28. 1914): “The Royal Serbian Government not having answered in a satisfactory manner the note of July 23, 1914, presented by the Austro-Hungarian Minister at Belgrade, the Imperial and Royal Government are themselves compelled to see to the safeguarding of their rights and interests and, with this object, to have recourse to force of arms. Austria-Hungary consequently considers herself henceforward in state of war with Serbia.”
Shortly before the beginning of the First World War, on July 26, 1914, the Government of the Kingdom of Serbian and the National Assembly left Belgrade and came to Niš. Niš became the “wartime capital” and the center of political and diplomatic life in Serbia. All important decisions related to the war and the future of the country were brought to this city during those years. Beside the members of the Government and the National Assembly, there were also ambassadors of friendly countries, numerous foreign and war correspondents and journalists, doctors, thousands of refugees from the entire Serbia, as well as a large number of prisoners of war. The town of approximately only 25.000 inhabitants grew into the city with 147.000 people during this period.
In autumn 1915, the Serbian army withdrew under the pressure of military forces of three empires (Austria-Hungary, Germany and Bulgaria), and on November 6, 1915, Bulgarian troops entered the city. The period of occupation was one of the most difficult periods in the history of Niš. There is no provision of the Hague Convention which was not broken. The city was subjected to terror with the purpose of destroying the national identity. Three years after the occupation, on October 12, 1918, the First Serbian Army under the command of Petar Bojović liberated Niš.
