Serbia was one of the winners of WWI. Almost 60 percent of all males in Serbia perished during WWI. Thirty-two percent of the country's entire population of 4.6 million back then was killed. Not a single nation has ever faced such a tragic loss of life in any war. But yet it was the Serbian army that arguably dealt a decisive blow to the armies of Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Bulgaria back in 1918 in the so-called "Southern Front." Even German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm in a telegram to his Bulgarian counterpart admitted back in September 1918 that the Serbian army determined the outcome of the war.

After hostilities ended, Serbia started recuperating, but only for a couple of decades, it was soon struck by WWII. An additional one million Serbs were killed in the war. Although in both wars, Serbia emerged victorious in the end, it could never regain its full strength. In the decades following the wars, the West-dominated historiography conveniently tucked away all those facts, and the unimaginable sacrifice of the Serbian people fell into oblivion.

On the 100th anniversary of the end of that horrible carnage, unlike any other nation, Serbia decided to mark that event in a very special way. It mobilized almost an entire professional military force and staged one of the biggest military drills in decades. Over 8,000 troops, 645 pieces of military hardware practiced various combat scenarios at 10 locations across the country.

CGTN had access to one of those locations. It was in the town of Titel, at the banks of river Tisa, some 50 kilometers northeast from capital Belgrade.

Dozens of boats and small ships of Serbian Navy River Flotilla participated in the live firing exercise. In the sky, MiG29s and domestically-built G4s were providing air cover to the ground troops. Dozens of Yugoslavia-made M-84 main battle tanks forced the river over the pontoon bridges. At the river banks, hundreds of citizens gathered to watch this once-in-a-lifetime spectacle. 

Serbian state-owned broadcaster had live coverage of not just this, but two more, most significant events of the military drills that were being conducted in Serbia. While some were proud about this show of the country's military might, some eyebrows were raised in the region. Military analysts are claiming that this symbolizes the tensions looming over the Balkan region.

And that two most important Balkan countries--Serbia and Croatia-- are currently engaged in an arms race. The latter requested multiple launch rocket systems from the US, acquired tracked howitzers from Germany and bought F-16 fighter jets from Israel, all in the time span of a couple of years.

During the same time, Serbia bought combat drones from China, MiG29 fighter jets, T-72 tanks, and BRDM armored vehicles from Russia.

Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin spoke with CGTN, “As you know, Serbia is military neutral. That means that in a time of need we cannot rely on anyone, except us. This is not a question for us, it is a question for them, why they need so many weapons and they are part of a military alliance.”

Some 19 years ago, Serbia found itself in the crosshairs of the largest military alliance the world has ever seen - NATO. For 78 days over 1,000 NATO planes bombarded this small Balkan country which was refusing to accept terms given by the alliance. The memory of the latest war which hit Serbia is still fresh.

Some Serbian military officers told CGTN that the lessons learned from WWI, combined with the current tensions over its breakaway province of Kosovo and Metohija and undeniable arms race with Croatia were pushing the Serbian military into drills like the one witnessed in the town of Titel.

It seems that the Balkan countries do not show the signs of willingness to eventually and finally break the perpetual circle of hardships, wars and tensions.