Serbia

File:Serbia map.gif

Map of Serbia

Serbia is a nation in the Balkans, and a part of former Yugoslavia. Its population is around ten million since the secession of Montenegro in 2006 and the establishment of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization protectorate in Kosovo in 1999.

Early history

The most important event in the national consciousness of Serbs throughout the second millenium was the Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389, when Serbian forces were defeated by the Ottoman Empire and most of what is now Serbia fell under Muslim rule. In the 19th century, Serbian nationalism reasserted itself, and a constitution was written in 1835. It was not until the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, however, that Serbia was made fully independent as a principality; it was renamed a Kingdom in 1882. This was made possible by the long-term decline of the Ottomans.

In the early 20th century, the Black Hand terrorist movement became increasingly influential in Serbia. It even forced a change of dynasty in 1903 through the murder of King Alexander I and his wife Queen Draga in the royal palace in the capital city of Belgrade. It took Petar Karadordevic four days (June 11 - June 15) to decide that profiting from the Black Hand's regicide was a less bad option than turning the government over to them immediately; he took the throne as Petar I. From this point, Serbia became increasingly a menace to the Austro-Hungarian Empire as well as the Ottomans due to its irredentist plots to unite all Serbs, many of whom lived on the territory of the former empire. Serbia was able to remain independent for more than another decade chiefly because it had a powerful protector in Czarist Russia.

Serbia in the World Wars and thereafter

Assassins of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the event which preciptated World War I, were members of the Black Hand assisted and funded by the Czarist Okhrana. This at least was the rationale for putting the leaders of the Black Hand -- Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, Rade Malobabic, and one Vulovovic -- on trial for treason following the deposition of Czar Nicholas II by the February revolution of 1917. They were duly executed just days before the third anniversary of Ferdinand's death.

In reality, however, the Serbian government always had a better idea than the Czar or the Okhrana what the Black Hand was up to, to the extent that it is not an exaggeration to say that primary responsibility for World War I itself lies with Serbia. This is because the government was incapable of formulating a united policy for dealing with the Black Hand and its black operations, to the extent that when moderate Prime Minister Nikola Pasic ordered the detention of three of the assassins of Franz Ferdinand at the Austrian border (Gavrilo Princip, Nedeljko Cabrinovic, and Trifko Grabez) before they could cross, his orders were ignored.

Following the assassination, when Serbia state sponsorship became apparent, Interior Minister Gruic declined a joint Austro-Hungarian-German request for an investigation. Austria-Hungary now decided on war, and sent the July Ultimatum to Serbia. The two points it knew would be rejected were 1) the immediate arrest of Dimitrijevic and two other Black Hand members (one of whom was Major Voja Tankosic, who had warned Pasic of the plot) and 2) the stationing throughout Serbia of Austro-Hungarian agents with powers to arrest any other person who might be found to be connected to the plot (which presumably could have included Pasic himself). Forced to side with the Black Hand, Pasic refused these points, accepted two others without reservation, and offered to negotiate the other six. Austria-Hungary declared war three days later.

Serbia was once ruled by Slobodan Milosevic, a dictator who killed many Albaniansin the 1990s. Serbians are often distrustful of Albanians and believe they are trying to steal their land. But this is rightfully so, because the Albanians in Kosovo say they are going to kill all the Serbs.

Current Status

Serbia is today a parliamentary democracy. The principal religion remains Orthodox Christianity, but there is more pluralism than existed under Milosevic. Like its neighbors it would like to join the European Union, but has been held back by the political baggage created by Milosevic's wars of the 1990's. In 2003, it became the last nation in Europe to suffer the assassination of its head of state.