Serbia

Republic of Serbia

SERBIAN ANTHEM

SERBIAN LYRICS

Boze pravde, ti sto spase od propasti dosad nas, cuj i od sad nase glase, i odsad nam budi spas. Mocnom rukom vodi, brani buducnosti srpske brod, Boze spasi, Boze hrani nasu zemlju i nas rod.

Slozi srpsku bracu dragu na svak' dican slavan rad, sloga bice poraz vragu, a najjaci srpstvu grad. Nek' na srpstvu blista grana bratske sloge zlatan rod, Boze spasi, boze hrani moli ti se sav nas rod.

Nek na srpsko vedro celo tvog ne padne gneva grom, blagoslovi Srbu selo polje, njivu, grad i dom! Kad nastupe borbe dani, k' pobedi mu vodi hod. Boze spasi, Boze hrani Srpskog Kralja, srpski rod!

Iz mracnoga sinu groba srpske krune novi sjaj, nastalo je novo doba, novu srecu Boze daj. Kraljevinu srpsku brani, pet vekovne borbe plod. Boze spasi, Boze hrani, moli ti se srpski rod!

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

God of Justice; Thou who saved us when in deepest bondage cast, Hear Thy Serbian children’s voices, Be our help as in the past. With Thy mighty hand sustain us, Still our rugged pathway trace; God, our hope; protect and cherish Serbian crown and Serbian race!

Bind in closest links our kindred Teach the love that will not fail, May the loathed fiend of discord Never in our ranks prevail. Let the golden fruits of union Our young tree of freedom grace; God, our Master! guide and prosper Serbian crown and Serbian race.

Lord! Avert from us Thy vengeance, Thunder of Thy dreaded ire; Bless each Serbian town and hamlet, Mountain, meadow, heart and spire. When our host goes forth to battle Death or victory to embrace- God of armies! be our leader Strengthen then the Serbian race.

On our sepulchre of ages Breaks the resurrection morn, From the slough of direst slavery Serbia a new is born. Through five hundred years of durance We have knelt before Thy face, All our kin, O God! deliver, Thus entreats the Serbian race.

Capital	Belgrade
Official languages	Serbian
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
Population	7,041,599
Area	88,361m²
Currency	Serbian dinar(RSD)
Calling code	+381
Time zone	CET(UTC+1), CEST(UTC+2)
Internet TLD	.rs, .срб

Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: Република Србија/Republika Srbija), is a landlocked sovereign statea situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Serbia is situated along a number of cultural, geographic, and climatic crossroads. It borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east;a Macedonia and Albania to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro to the southwest. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, ranks among the largest cities ina Southeast Europe.

Serbia is a member of numerous organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC, and CEFTA. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014. The country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an upper-middle income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. The country ranks high on the Human Development Index (66th), Social Progress Index (47th) as well as the Global Peace Index (48th).

Prehistory

Archeological evidence of Paleolithic settlements on the territory of present-day Serbia are scarce. A fragment of a human jaw, was found in Sićevo (Mala Balanica) and believed to be up to 525,000—397,000 years old. Approximately around 6,500 years BC, during the Neolithic, the Starčevo, and Vinča cultures existed in or near modern-day Belgrade and dominated much of the Southeastern Europe, (as well as parts of Central Europe and Asia Minor). Two important local archeological sites from this era, Lepenski Vir and Vinča-Belo Brdo, still exist near the banks of the Danube.

Ancient history

During the Iron Age, Thracians, Dacians, and Illyrians were encountered by the Ancient Greeks during their expansion into the south of modern Serbia in the 4th century BC; the northwesternmost point of Alexander the Great's empire being the town of Kale-Krševica. The Celtic tribe of Scordisci settled throughout the area in the 3rd century BC and formed a tribal state, building several fortifications, including their capital at Singidunum (present-day Belgrade) and Naissos (present-day Niš).

Felix Romuliana Imperial Palace, UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Romans conquered much of the territory in the 2nd century BC. In 167 BC the Roman province of Illyricum was established; the remainder was conquered around 75 BC, forming the Roman province of Moesia Superior; the modern-day Srem region was conquered in 9 BC; and Bačka and Banat in 106 AD after the Dacian Wars. As a result of this, contemporary Serbia extends fully or partially over several former Roman provinces, including Moesia, Pannonia, Praevalitana, Dalmatia , Dacia and Macedonia.

The chief towns of Upper Moesia (and wider) were: Singidunum (Belgrade), Viminacium (now Old Kostolac), Remesiana (now Bela Palanka), Naissos (Niš), and Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica), the latter of which served as a Roman capital during the Tetrarchy. Seventeen Roman Emperors were born in the area of modern-day Serbia, second only to contemporary Italy. The most famous of these was Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, who issued an edict ordering religious tolerance throughout the Empire.

When the Roman Empire was divided in 395, most of Serbia remained under the Eastern Roman Empire, while its northwestern parts were included in the Western Roman Empire. By the early 6th century, South Slavs were present throughout the Byzantine Empire in large numbers.

Middle age

The Proclamation of Dušan's Law Codex in Skopje Fortress in 1349

Serbs, a Slavic tribe that settled the Balkans in the 6th or early 7th century, established the Serbian Principality by the 8th century. It was said in 822 that the Serbs inhabited the greater part of Roman Dalmatia, their territory spanning what is today southwestern Serbia and parts of neighbouring countries. Meanwhile, the Byzantine Empire and Bulgarian Empire held other parts of the territory. Christianity was adopted by the Serbian rulers in ca. 870, and by the mid-10th-century the Serbian state stretched the Adriatic Sea by the Neretva, the Sava, the Morava, and Skadar. Between 1166 and 1371 Serbia was ruled by the Nemanjić dynasty (which legacy is especially cherished), under whom the state was elevated to a kingdom (and briefly an empire) and Serbian bishopric to an autocephalous archbishopric (through the effort of Sava, the country's patron saint). Monuments of the Nemanjić period survives in many monasteries (several being World Heritage) and fortifications. During these centuries the Serbian state (and influence) expanded significantly. The northern part, Vojvodina, was ruled by the Kingdom of Hungary. The period known as the Fall of the Serbian Empire saw the once-powerful state fragmented into duchies, culminating in the Battle of Kosovo (1389) against the rising Ottoman Empire. The Serbian Despotate was finally conquered by the Ottomans in 1459. The Ottoman threat and eventual conquest saw large migrations of Serbs to the west and north.

Ottoman and Habsburg rule

After the loss of independence to the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, Serbia briefly regained sovereignty under Jovan Nenad in the 16th century. Three Habsburg invasions and numerous rebellions constantly challenged Ottoman rule. One famous incident was the Banat Uprising in 1595, which was part of the Long War between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs. The area of modern Vojvodina endured a century-long Ottoman occupation before being ceded to the Habsburg Empire at the end of the 17th century under the Treaty of Karlowitz.

The Great Migrations into Habsburg Empire led by Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević

In all Serb lands south of the rivers Danube and Sava, the nobility was eliminated and the peasantry was enserfed to Ottoman masters, while much of the clergy fled or were confined to the isolated monasteries. Under the Ottoman system, Serbs, as Christians, were considered an inferior class of people and subjected to heavy taxes, and a small portion of the Serbian populace experienced Islamisation. The Ottomans abolished the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć (1463), but reestablished it in 1557, providing for limited continuation of Serbian cultural traditions within the empire.

As the Great Serb Migrations depopulated most of southern Serbia, the Serbs sought refuge across the Danube River in Vojvodina to the north and the Military Frontier in the west, where they were granted rights by the Austrian crown under measures such as the Statuta Wallachorum of 1630. The ecclesiastical center of the Serbs also moved northwards, to the Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci, as the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć was once-again abolished by the Ottomans in 1766. Following several petitions, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I formally granted Serbs who wished to leave the right to their autonomous crownland.

In 1718–39, the Habsburg Monarchy occupied Central Serbia and established the "Kingdom of Serbia". Apart from Vojvodina and Northern Belgrade which were absorbed into the Habsburg Empire, Central Serbia was occupied by the Habsburgs again in 1686–91 and in 1788–92.

Revolution and independence

Beginning of the Second Serbian Uprising in Takovo, the second phase of the Serbian Revolution

The Serbian Revolution for independence from the Ottoman Empire lasted eleven years, from 1804 until 1815. The revolution comprised two separate uprisings which gained autonomy from the Ottoman Empire that eventually evolved towards full independence (1835–1867). During the First Serbian Uprising, led by Duke Karađorđe Petrović, Serbia was independent for almost a decade before the Ottoman army was able to reoccupy the country. Shortly after this, the Second Serbian Uprising began. Led by Miloš Obrenović, it ended in 1815 with a compromise between Serbian revolutionaries and Ottoman authorities. Likewise, Serbia was one of the first nations in the Balkans to abolish feudalism. The Convention of Ackerman in 1826, the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829 and finally, the Hatt-i Sharif, recognized the suzerainty of Serbia. The first Serbian Constitution was adopted on 15 February 1835.

Following the clashes between the Ottoman army and Serbs in Belgrade in 1862, and under pressure from the Great Powers, by 1867 the last Turkish soldiers left the Principality, making the country de facto independent. By enacting a new constitution without consulting the Porte, Serbian diplomats confirmed the de facto independence of the country. In 1876, Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire, proclaiming its unification with Bosnia.

The formal independence of the country was internationally recognized at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, which formally ended the Russo-Turkish War; this treaty, however, prohibited Serbia from uniting with Bosnia by placing Bosnia under Austro-Hungarian occupation, alongside the occupation of Sanjak of Novi Pazar. From 1815 to 1903, the Principality of Serbia was ruled by the House of Obrenović, save for the rule of Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević between 1842 and 1858. In 1882, Serbia became a Kingdom, ruled by King Milan I. The House of Karađorđević, descendants of the revolutionary leader Karađorđe Petrović, assumed power in 1903 following the May Overthrow. In the north, the 1848 revolution in Austria led to the establishment of the autonomous territory of Serbian Vojvodina; by 1849, the region was transformed into the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar.

Balkan Wars, World War I and the First Yugoslavia

In the course of the First Balkan War in 1912, the Balkan League defeated the Ottoman Empire and captured its European territories, which enabled territorial expansion into Raška and Kosovo. The Second Balkan War soon ensued when Bulgaria turned on its former allies, but was defeated, resulting in the Treaty of Bucharest. In two years, Serbia enlarged its territory by 80% and its population by 50%; it also suffered high casualties on the eve of World War I, with around 20,000 dead. Austria-Hungary became wary of the rising regional power on its borders and its potential to become an anchor for unification of all South Slavs, and the relationship between the two countries became tense.

Nikola Pašić, Prime Minister during World War I

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Young Bosnia organization, led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. In defense of Serbia, and to maintain her status as a Great Power, Russia mobilized its troops, which resulted in Austria-Hungary's ally Germany declaring war on Russia. Serbia won the first major battles of World War I, including the Battle of Cer and Battle of Kolubara – marking the first Allied victories against the Central Powers in World War I.

Despite initial success, it was eventually overpowered by the Central Powers in 1915. Most of its army and some people retreated into exile to Greece and Corfu, where they recovered, regrouped and returned to the Macedonian front to lead a final breakthrough through enemy lines on 15 September 1918, liberating Serbia and defeating the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria. Serbia, with its campaign, was a major Balkan Entente Power which contributed significantly to the Allied victory in the Balkans in November 1918, especially by helping France force Bulgaria's capitulation. Serbia was classified as a minor Entente power.

Serbia's casualties accounted for 8% of the total Entente military deaths; 58% (243,600) soldiers of the Serbian army perished in the war. The total number of casualties is placed around 700,000, more than 16% of Serbia's prewar size, and a majority (57%) of its overall male population. As the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed, the territory of Syrmia united with Serbia on 24 November 1918, followed by Banat, Bačka and Baranja a day later, thereby bringing the entire Vojvodina into the Serb Kingdom. On 26 November 1918, the Podgorica Assembly deposed the House of Petrović-Njegoš and united Montenegro with Serbia. On 1 December 1918, at Krsmanović's House at Terazije, Serbian Prince Regent Alexander of Serbia proclaimed the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes under King Peter I of Serbia.

King Peter was succeeded by his son, Alexander, in August 1921. Serb centralists and Croat autonomists clashed in the parliament, and most governments were fragile and short-lived. Nikola Pašić, a conservative prime minister, headed or dominated most governments until his death. King Alexander changed the name of the country to Yugoslavia and changed the internal divisions from the 33 oblasts to nine new banovinas. The effect of Alexander's dictatorship was to further alienate the non-Serbs from the idea of unity.

Alexander was assassinated in Marseille, during an official visit in 1934 by Vlado Chernozemski, member of the IMRO. Alexander was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son Peter II and a regency council was headed by his cousin, Prince Paul. In August 1939 the Cvetković–Maček Agreement established an autonomous Banate of Croatia as a solution to Croatian concerns.

World War II and the Second Yugoslavia

In 1941, in spite of Yugoslav attempts to remain neutral in the war, the Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia. The territory of modern Serbia was divided between Hungary, Bulgaria, Independent State of Croatia and Italy (greater Albania and Montenegro), while the remaining part of Serbia was placed under German Military administration, with Serbian puppet governments led by Milan Aćimović and Milan Nedić. The occupied territory was the scene of a civil war between royalist Chetniks commanded by Draža Mihailović and communist partisans commanded by Josip Broz Tito. Against these forces were arrayed Axis auxiliary units of the Serbian Volunteer Corps and the Serbian State Guard. Draginac and Loznica massacre of 2,950 villagers in Western Serbia in 1941 was the first large execution of civilians in occupied Serbia by Germans, with Kragujevac massacre and Novi Sad Raid of Jews and Serbs by Hungarian fascists being the most notorious, with over 3,000 victims in each case. After one year of occupation, around 16,000 Serbian Jews were murdered in the area, or around 90% of its pre-war Jewish population. Many concentration camps were established across the area. Banjica concentration camp was the largest concentration camp, with primary victims being Serbian Jews, Roma, and Serb political prisoners.

Serbia (right) occupied by Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia

During this period, hundreds of thousands of Serbs fled the Axis puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia and sought refuge in Serbia, seeking to escape the large-scale persecution and genocide of Serbs, Jews, and Roma being committed by the Ustaše regime.

The Republic of Užice was a short-lived liberated territory established by the Partisans and the first liberated territory in World War II Europe, organized as a military mini-state that existed in the autumn of 1941 in the west of occupied Serbia. By late 1944, the Belgrade Offensive swung in favour of the partisans in the civil war; the partisans subsequently gained control of Yugoslavia. Following the Belgrade Offensive, the Syrmian Front was the last major military action of World War II in Serbia.

The victory of the Communist Partisans resulted in the abolition of the monarchy and a subsequent constitutional referendum. A one-party state was soon established in Yugoslavia by the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, between 60,000 and 70,000 people were killed in Serbia during the communist takeover. All opposition was suppressed and people deemed to be promoting opposition to socialism or promoting separatism were imprisoned or executed for sedition. Serbia became a constituent republic within the SFRY known as the Socialist Republic of Serbia, and had a republic-branch of the federal communist party, the League of Communists of Serbia.

Serbia's most powerful and influential politician in Tito-era Yugoslavia was Aleksandar Ranković, one of the "big four" Yugoslav leaders, alongside Tito, Edvard Kardelj, and Milovan Đilas. Ranković was later removed from the office because of the disagreements regarding Kosovo's nomenklatura and the unity of Serbia. Ranković's dismissal was highly unpopular among Serbs. Pro-decentralization reformers in Yugoslavia succeeded in the late 1960s in attaining substantial decentralization of powers, creating substantial autonomy in Kosovo and Vojvodina, and recognizing a Yugoslav Muslim nationality. As a result of these reforms, there was a massive overhaul of Kosovo's nomenklatura and police, that shifted from being Serb-dominated to ethnic Albanian-dominated through firing Serbs on a large scale. Further concessions were made to the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo in response to unrest, including the creation of the University of Pristina as an Albanian language institution. These changes created widespread fear among Serbs of being treated as second-class citizens.

Breakup of Yugoslavia and political transition

In 1989, Slobodan Milošević rose to power in Serbia. Milošević promised a reduction of powers for the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina, where his allies subsequently took over power, during the Anti-bureaucratic revolution.[91] This ignited tensions between the communist leadership of the other republics, and awoke nationalism across the country that eventually resulted in its breakup, with Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina Macedonia declaring independent. Serbia and Montenegro remained together as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).

Fueled by ethnic tensions, the Yugoslav Wars erupted, with the most severe conflicts taking place in Croatia and Bosnia, where the large ethnic Serb communities opposed independence from Yugoslavia. The FRY remained outside the conflicts, but provided logistic, military and financial support to Serb forces in the wars. In response, the UN imposed sanctions against Serbia which led to political isolation and the collapse of the economy (GDP was $24 billion in 1990 to under $10 billion in 1993).

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and territories of Serb breakaway states (Republika Srpska and Republika Srpska Krajina) during the Yugoslav wars (1991–95).

Multi-party democracy was introduced in Serbia in 1990, officially dismantling the one-party system. Critics of Milošević claimed that the government continued to be authoritarian despite constitutional changes, as Milošević maintained strong political influence over the state media and security apparatus. When the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia refused to accept its defeat in municipal elections in 1996, Serbians engaged in large protests against the government.

In 1998, peace was broken again, when the situation in Kosovo worsened with continued clashes between the Albanian guerilla Kosovo Liberation Army and Yugoslav security forces. The confrontations led to the short Kosovo War (1998–99), in which NATO intervened, leading to the withdrawal of Serbian forces and the establishment of UN administration in the province. After presidential elections in September 2000, opposition parties accused Milošević of electoral fraud. A campaign of civil resistance followed, led by the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), a broad coalition of anti-Milošević parties. This culminated on 5 October when half a million people from all over the country congregated in Belgrade, compelling Milošević to concede defeat. The fall of Milošević ended Yugoslavia's international isolation. Milošević was sent to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The DOS announced that FR Yugoslavia would seek to join the European Union. In 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed Serbia and Montenegro; the EU opened negotiations with the country for the Stabilization and Association Agreement. Serbia's political climate remained tense and in 2003, the prime minister Zoran Đinđić was assassinated as result of a plot originating from circles of organized crime and former security officials.

On 21 May 2006, Montenegro held a referendum to determine whether to end its union with Serbia. The results showed 55.4% of voters in favor of independence, which was just above the 55% required by the referendum. On 5 June 2006, the National Assembly of Serbia declared Serbia to be the legal successor to the former state union. The Assembly of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008. Serbia immediately condemned the declaration and continues to deny any statehood to Kosovo. The declaration has sparked varied responses from the international community, some welcoming it, while others condemned the unilateral move. Status-neutral talks between Serbia and Kosovo-Albanian authorities are held in Brussels, mediated by the EU.

In April 2008 Serbia was invited to join the Intensified Dialogue programme with NATO despite the diplomatic rift with the alliance over Kosovo. Serbia officially applied for membership in the European Union on 22 December 2009, and received candidate status on 1 March 2012, following a delay in December 2011. Following a positive recommendation of the European Commission and European Council in June 2013, negotiations to join the EU commenced in January 2014.

Serbia update 08.10.2017. 🇷🇸