Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat (Dukedom of Serbia and Tamiš Banat). Against the will of the Serbs, the province was abolished in 1860, but the Serbs from the region gained another opportunity to achieve their political demands in 1918. Today, this region is known as Vojvodina
.
Independence 1878
Main articles:
Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878
Serbia and Montenegro declared war on Turkey in 1876 and were badly defeated. Russia, inspired by
war alongside Russia against the Turks in 1877 achieved victory and brought full independence for Serbia and large territorial gains toward the south-east, including Niš, henceforth Serbia's second largest city. Some of the gains from the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano were reversed by the intervention of Germany, Britain and other powers at the Treaty of Berlin (1878).[1]
The Serbian Kingdom was proclaimed in 1882, under King Milan I. Serbia was one of the rare countries at the time that had its own domestic ruling dynasty on the throne (similarly to Italy). However, millions of Serbs still lived outside Serbia, in Austro-Hungarian Empire (Herzegovina, Bosnia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Vojvodina, Sandžak) and the Ottoman Empire (Kosovo, Macedonia). Russia and Austria constantly became involved in Serbian domestic politics and foreign affairs.[2]
The new country was, like most of the Balkan lands, poor and overwhelmingly agrarian, with little in the way of industry or modern infrastructure. The total population rose from a million in the early 19th century to 2.5 million in 1900, when Belgrade contained 100,000 inhabitants (northern part was held by Austro-Hungary), Niš 24,500 and half a dozen other cities 10–15,000 each.
Internal politics revolved largely around the dynastic rivalry between the
Karađorđević families, descendants respectively of Miloš Obrenović (recognised as hereditary prince in 1829) and Karađorđe
(Black George), leader of the 1804 revolt but killed in 1817. The Obrenovići headed the emerging state in 1817–1842 and 1858–1903, the Karađorđevići in 1842–1858 and after 1903. Milan I was ruler of Serbia from 1868 to 1889, first as prince (1868–1882), subsequently as king (1882–1889).
After the 1880s the dynastic issue became entwined to some extent with wider diplomatic divisions in Europe. King Milan I aligned his foreign policy with that of neighbouring
Habsburg
support for his elevation to king.
1900–1914
The Karađorđevići inclined more toward
Dragutin Dimitrijević Apis. After the 1903 coup, Serbia was securely in the Russian camp and henceforth followed a policy of irritating Austria-Hungary at every opportunity.[citation needed
]
Serbian opposition to Austria-Hungary's October 1908 annexation of
and Austro-Hungarian pressure forced Russia to prevail on Serbia (March 31, 1909) to accept the annexation, but Russia undertook to defend Serbia against any future threats to her independence.
Following Bulgaria's independence (October 1908) from Ottoman overlordship and a successful movement by Greek army officers (August 1909) to steer their government onto a more nationalistic course, Serbia joined with the other two countries and her Serb-populated neighbour Montenegro in invading (October 1912) Ottoman-held Macedonia and reducing Turkey-in-Europe to a small region around Constantinople (now Istanbul).
Bulgaria failed in her subsequent attempt (July 1913) to take from her allies territory which she had originally been promised (see Balkan Wars), and to Habsburg alarm at another near-doubling of Serbia's territory was added Bulgarian resentment at having been denied what she saw as her just share of the territorial gains.
Serbia in World War I
Main article:
Serbian Campaign (World War I)
Kingdom of Serbia in 1913
On June 28, 1914, a team of seven assassins awaited the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,
July Ultimatum from July 23, Austria-Hungary asked Serbia to act in conformity with its March 1909 commitment to the Great Powers to respect the territorial integrity of Austria-Hungary and to maintain good neighborly relations, giving Serbia a 48-hour time limit. Failure to accept these demands would result in the withdrawal of Austria-Hungary's diplomatic legation from Serbia. Serbia drafted a conciliatory response, accepting all the points except point #6, demanding a criminal investigation against those participants in the conspiracy that were present in Serbia, and point #7 to allow an Austrian delegation to participate in the investigation.[7]
Prior to issuing its reply to the Austrian Note, the Serbian army was mobilized. In response, Austria-Hungary withdrew its ambassador. It was reported that Serbian reservist soldiers on tramp steamers fired on Austro-Hungarian troops near Temes-Kubin in Hungary, on July 27. This report was false.[8] However, together with the unsatisfactory Serbian reply to the Austrian Note and the fact that Serbia had mobilized its army before sending the reply, the report convinced the Austrian Foreign Minister, Berchtold, that the problem of Austro-Serbian tension could only be solved by war. War was formally declared on Serbia at noon on July 28, 1914, even though Serbia was not a signatory to the international convention which required this step.
Serbia repulsed three Austro-Hungarian invasions (August, September and November–December 1914), in the last of which Belgrade was held temporarily by the enemy. But during 1915 an epidemic of typhus decimated the Serbian army, and renewed invasion in early October, this time involving also German and Bulgarian forces, resulted in the occupation of the whole country. The remnants of Serbia's armed forces retreated into Albania and Macedonia, where British and French forces had landed at Thessaloniki. Persecutions and deaths followed.
The period of government exile in
White Hand" faction of Gen. Petar Živković, later prime minister (1929–32) of an extra-constitutional monarchical regime
.
A successful Allied offensive in September 1918 secured first Bulgaria's surrender and then the liberation of the occupied territories (November 1918). On November 25, the Assembly of
History of Yugoslavia
). Comparing to the other European countries Serbia had by far the greatest casualties in the war, having over 30% (1,3 million) of its total population perished.
History of Serbia since 1918
Borders of the Kingdom of Serbia on November 26, 1918, after unification with Syrmia (November 24), Banat, Bačka and Baranja (November 25) and Montenegro (November 26)
After the military victory over
Axis
invasion in 1941 (de jure until the proclamation of the republic on November 29, 1945).
Map showing the proposals for creation of Banovina of Serbia, Banovina of Croatia and Slovene Banovina (in 1939–1941).
From 1918 to 1941, Serbia did not exist as a political entity, since the SCS Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later the
In 1941, after the Axis invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia, German occupational authorities created an occupied territory named
Partisans. The two resistance movements also turned one against another, which resulted in a general armed civil war in Serbia. Temporarily, in the autumn of 1941, the communist resistance movement created a short lived Republic of Užice in south-western Serbia,[12]
but this entity was soon destroyed by the joint efforts of Axis troops and pro-Axis Serbian armed forces.
In 1944, the
Kosovo
. From the 1974 Yugoslav constitution, the autonomous provinces of Serbia gained extensive political rights and were represented separately from Serbia in some areas of federal government, although they were still de jure subordinated to Serbia.
The new Serbian constitution from 1990 greatly reduced the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina and strengthened the central government in Serbia. After the breakup of the
UN protectorate. In 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was transformed into the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and following the Montenegrin Independence Referendum of 2006, Serbia and Montenegro were transformed into two independent states. In 2008 Kosovo
declared independence from Serbia and this was subsequently recognized by the majority of other countries in Europe and the World.
^Vaso Trivanovitch, "Serbia, Russia, and Austria during the Rule of Milan Obrenovich, 1868-78." Journal of Modern History 3.3 (1931): 414-440. Online
^Charles Jelavich, Tsarist Russia and Balkan nationalism: Russian influence in the internal affairs of Bulgaria and Serbia, 1879-1886 (U of California Press, 1958).
Armour, Ian D. "Apple of Discord: Austria-Hungary, Serbia and the Bosnian Question 1867-71." Slavonic and East European Review (2009): 629–680. Online
Ilić, Aleksandra. "Origin and development of political parties in Serbia and their influence on political life in the period 1804-1918." Facta universitatis-series: Law and Politics 4.1 (2006): 41–50.
Armour, Ian D. "“Like the Lord Lieutenant of a county”: the Habsburg monarchy and Milan Obrenović of Serbia 1868–1881." Canadian Slavonic Papers 55.3-4 (2013): 305-342. Online
Jelavich, Barbara (1983a). History of the Balkans. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press.
Jelavich, Barbara (1983b). History of the Balkans. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press.
Petrovich, Michael Boro. A history of modern Serbia, 1804-1918 (Harcourt, 1976).
Roudometof, Victor. "The social origins of Balkan politics: Nationalism, underdevelopment, and the nation-state in Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria, 1880-1920." Mediterranean Quarterly 11.3 (2000): 144–163. Online
Stavrianos, Leften Stavros. The Balkans since 1453 (1958).
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