Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
In the winter of 1915–1916, the Serbian Army, along with thousands of civilians, undertook one of the most brutal marches in history — a desperate retreat across the frozen mountains of Albania and Montenegro. Known as the Albanian Golgotha or The Great Retreat, this journey claimed the lives of countless soldiers and refugees through starvation, exhaustion, disease, and exposure.
Forced out by the combined armies of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Bulgaria, the Serbian Army had no choice but to abandon its homeland. What followed was a nightmarish trek through snow-covered passes, where hunger and cold proved just as deadly as enemy fire. Survivors eventually reached the Adriatic coast, where Allied ships evacuated them to Corfu and Salonika — but at an almost unimaginable cost.
This video explores the full story of the Albanian Golgotha:
The background and causes of the retreat
The suffering of soldiers and civilians alike
Eyewitness accounts of starvation, disease, and death
The role of France, Britain, and Italy in the evacuation
How this tragedy shaped the fate of Serbia and World War I
More than a century later, the Albanian Golgotha remains a powerful reminder of human endurance and suffering in the face of war.
In the winter of 1915–1916, the Serbian Army, along with thousands of civilians, undertook one of the most brutal marches in history — a desperate retreat across the frozen mountains of Albania and Montenegro. Known as the Albanian Golgotha or The Great Retreat, this journey claimed the lives of countless soldiers and refugees through starvation, exhaustion, disease, and exposure.
Forced out by the combined armies of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Bulgaria, the Serbian Army had no choice but to abandon its homeland. What followed was a nightmarish trek through snow-covered passes, where hunger and cold proved just as deadly as enemy fire. Survivors eventually reached the Adriatic coast, where Allied ships evacuated them to Corfu and Salonika — but at an almost unimaginable cost.
This video explores the full story of the Albanian Golgotha:
The background and causes of the retreat
The suffering of soldiers and civilians alike
Eyewitness accounts of starvation, disease, and death
The role of France, Britain, and Italy in the evacuation
How this tragedy shaped the fate of Serbia and World War I
More than a century later, the Albanian Golgotha remains a powerful reminder of human endurance and suffering in the face of war.
