“At Best Indifferent, and on the Whole Outright Bad”? A Reassessment of Morale in the British Salonika Force, 1915–1918

Abstract This article reassesses British morale in Macedonia during the First World War. The extent to which the soldiers of the British Salonika Force successfully endured the hardships of the region has gone unstudied despite considerable wartime controversy and the influence of morale on the overall outcome of the campaign. Based on a wide range of letters, diaries, and memoirs alongside official documents such as observer reports and unit war diaries, it shows that morale was neither as consistently poor nor excellent as previously suggested. Instead, it fluctuated across the campaign. In late 1915, morale amongst the troops in Serbia collapsed and contributed to defeat at the Battle of Kosturino. In September 1918, however, when disease-stricken soldiers assaulted the formidable Bulgarian defences at Doiran, positions that had already repelled the British the previous year, they displayed great spirit and suffered heavy losses in the ultimate test of their willingness to fight.