The Danubian Campaign (apr 3, 1915 – sep 15, 1915)
Description:
Desperate for a quick victory to hopefully end the war, Russia developed a plan to knock out Austria-Hungary within the year. The first part would rely on the command of General Brusilov, given orders to punch a hole in Galicia. The second part relied upon Russian diplomats securing the support of Romania, who, with the death of Carol I, was a potential ally of the Russians.
The first part was initially quite successful, with Brusilov launching a massive grand assault across the entire Austrian frontier. Austrian casualties numbered almost one million and it soon looked as though the breakthrough would allow the Russian forces to breakthrough to the Carpathian Basin. Sadly for the Russians, this was not to be.
The failure of the plan was the result of a very slow entry of Romania. Russian command assumed Romania would join by June and hence would be able to attack during the brunt of the push in Galicia. This was not to be. Romania demanded a strong level of autonomy and indeed would not even commit to involvement in a campaign in the Carpathians. Russian diplomats for their part were no better, handling the Romanians as subordinates quite often and not wishing to rile Romanian nationalism, lest Romanians in Russia get any ideas.
And so, despite Russian efforts, there was no breakthrough to Budapest. By the time Romania did join in August, the Austrians were able to move troops from Serbia to reinforce the region and the Germans detached parts of the 8th Army to begin counter attacks in the Krakow region. By September 1st, the offensive was essentially over, ignoring Romanian skirmishes.
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