The First World War has, to date, been the subject of much work and has been already extensively written about in various ways. However, given that the POW issue has been a neglected area of WWI research, it has received relatively limited attention. This is particularly true for the relatively small number of Serbian POWs, whose history has not been studied in depth by the Hungarian historians. Thus, despite the fact that research on POWs in Hungary began in the period surrounding the centenary, to date the daily lives and ordeals of these people are under-explored. This was also due to the general focus of the literature on the former soldiers of the Monarchy on prisons held on foreign soil. Therefore, in order to provide a foundation for filling in the gaps, my doctoral thesis focused on the daily life and living conditions of Serbian POWs held in Hungary between 1914 and 1918.
In constructing my thesis, I considered it important to present the theoretical background of the topic, focusing on the history of the development of the institution of captivity. This provided an opportunity to examine the views of different historical periods on captivity and the role of POWs in the conduct of war. Moreover, I have sought not only to describe certain historical issues related to prisoner of war but also to explore their genesis. Thus, in addition to the main topic defined in the dissertation, I included a description of the campaigns against the Kingdom of Serbia as well as an illustration of the factors leading to the employment of POWs, which, in my opinion, can contribute to a better understanding of the issue of POWs.