This article is about the history of Serbs in general, including the history of Serbs in Serbia and other historical Serbian Lands, as well as history of Serbian regional migrations and modern Serb diaspora. For history of Serbia itself, see History of Serbia.
dispersed people of Serb descent to Western Europe, North America and Australia.
Middle Ages
Seal of prince Strojimir of Serbia, from the late 9th centuryBasil I with a delegation of Serbs.The 1389 Battle of Kosovo is considered as one of the most influential events in the history of the Serbs.
Council of Trullo (691-691).[7] In contemporary historiography and archaeology, the narratives of De Administrando Imperio have been reassessed as they contain anachronisms and factual mistakes. The account in DAI about the Serbs mentions that they requested from the Byzantine commander of present-day Belgrade to settle in the theme of Thessalonica, which was formed ca. 150 years after the reign of Heraclius which was in the 7th century. For the purposes of its narrative, the DAI formulates a mistaken etymology of the Serbian ethnonym which it derives from Latin servi (serfs).[8]
As the Byzantine Empire sought to establish its hegemony towards the Serbs, the narrative of the DAI sought to establish a historical hegemony over the Serbs by claiming that their arrival, settlement and conversion to Christianity was the direct result of the Byzantine interference in the centuries which preceded the writing of DAI.[9] Historian Danijel Dzino considers that the story of the migration from White Serbia after the invitation of Heraclius as a means of explanation of the settlement of the Serbs is a form of rationalization of the social and cultural change which the Balkans had undergone via the misinterpretation of historical events placed in late antiquity.[10]
After their initial settlement in the western regions of the Balkans, Serbs created their first state, the early medieval
Travunija and Duklja. Some scholars, like Tibor Živković and Neven Budak, doubt their Serbian identity in 7th century and suppose that sources like De Administrando Imperio are based on data related to Serbian rule and identity in 10th century when Serbian ethnogenesis was finalized.[12][13]
Early medieval Serbian areal was also attested by the
Ljudevit left his seat at Sisak and went to the Serbs.[14] According to Živković, the usage of the term Dalmatia in the document to refer both to the land where Serbs ruled as well as to the lands under the rule of Croat duke, was likely a reflection of the Franks' territorial aspirations towards the entire area of the former Roman Province of Dalmatia.[15] The same entry mentions "the Serbs, who are said to hold a great/large part of Dalmatia" (ad Sorabos, quae natio magnam Dalmatiae partem obtinere dicitur),[16][17][18] but according to John (Jr.) Fine, it was hard to find Serbs in this area since the Byzantine sources were limited to the southern coast, also it is possible that among other tribes exists tribe or group of small tribes of Serbs.[19][20] However, the mentioning of "Dalmatia" in 822 and 833 as an old geographical term by the authors of Frankish Annals was Pars pro toto with a vague perception of what this geographical term actually referred to.[21]
Between 1166 and 1371, Serbs were ruled by the Nemanjić dynasty, founded by grand prince Stefan Nemanja (1166-1196), who conquered several neighbouring territories, including Kosovo, Duklja, Travunija and Zahumlje. Serbian state was elevated to a kingdom in 1217, during the reign of Nemanja's son, Stefan Nemanjić.[23] In the same time, Serbian Orthodox Church was organized as an autocephalous archbishopric in 1219,[24] through the efforts of Sava, who became the patron saint of Serbs.[25]
Over the next 140 years, Serbia expanded its borders. Its cultural model remained Byzantine, despite political ambitions directed against the empire. The medieval power and influence of Serbia culminated in the reign of
Lazar Hrebeljanović holding today's Central Serbia and a portion of Kosovo.[31] Hrebeljanović was subsequently accepted as the titular leader of the Serbs because he was married to a member of the Nemanjić dynasty.[29] In 1389, the Serbs faced the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo on the plain of Kosovo Polje, near the town of Pristina.[30] Both Lazar and SultanMurad I were killed in the fighting.[32] The battle most likely ended in a stalemate, and Serbia did not fall to the Turks until 1459.[32] There exists c. 30 Serbian chronicles from the period between 1390 and 1526.[33]
Early modern period
Arsenije III
See also:
Early modern history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Military Frontier
The Serbs had taken an active part in the wars fought in the Balkans against the Ottoman Empire, and also organized uprisings.[34] Because of this, they suffered persecution and their territories were devastated.[34] Major migrations from Serbia into Habsburg territory ensued.[34] The period of Ottoman rule in Serbia lasted from the second half of the 15th century to the beginning of the 19th century, interrupted by three periods of Habsburg occupation during later Habsburg-Ottoman wars.
In early 1594, the
An uprising broke out in 1596, but the rebels were defeated at the field of Gacko in 1597, and were forced to capitulate due to the lack of foreign support.[37]
; after this talk he sent a note to all Serb bishops to come to him and collaborate only with Habsburg forces.
A large migration of Serbs to Habsburg lands was undertaken by Patriarch Arsenije III.[40] The large community of Serbs concentrated in Banat, southern Hungary and the Military Frontier included merchants and craftsmen in the cities, but mainly refugees that were peasants.[40] Smaller groups of Serbs also migrated to the Russian Empire, where they occupied high positions in the military circles.[41][42] Serbia remained under Ottoman control until the early 19th century, with the eruption of the Serbian Revolution in 1804. [citation needed]
The uprising ended in the early 1830s, with Serbia's autonomy and borders being recognized, and with
Miloš Obrenović being recognized as its ruler. The last Ottoman troops withdrew from Serbia in 1867, although Serbia's independence was not recognized internationally until the Congress of Berlin in 1878.[43] When the Principality of Serbia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, Orthodoxy became crucial in defining the national identity, instead of language which was shared by other South Slavs (Croats and Muslims).[44]
20th century
Serbian Army during its retreat towards Albania; more than one hundred thousand Serbs died during World War I.
Serbia fought in the
Salonika front in Greece, before liberating Serbia from Austro-Hungarian occupation in November 1918.[47]
Serbs subsequently formed the
Serbian-Hungarian Baranya-Baja Republic) were given the option to leave Hungary for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
, and thereby change citizenship (these were called optanti).
Serbian civilians interned in Jasenovac concentration camp, 1942
During World War II, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers in April 1941. The country was subsequently divided into many pieces, with Serbia being directly occupied by the Germans.[49] Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) experienced persecution at the hands of the Croatian ultra-nationalist, fascist Ustaše, who attempted to exterminate the Serb population in death camps. More than half a million Serbs were killed in the territory of Yugoslavia during World War II.[50] Serbs in occupied Yugoslavia subsequently formed a resistance movement known as the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, or the Chetniks. The Chetniks had the official support of the Allies until 1943, when Allied support shifted to the Communist Yugoslav Partisans, a multi-ethnic force, formed in 1941, which also had a large majority of Serbs in its ranks in the first two years of war, later, after the fall of Italy, September 1943. other ethnic groups joined Partisans in larger numbers.[49] At the end of the war, the Partisans, led by the Croat Josip Broz Tito, emerged victorious. Yugoslavia subsequently became a Communist state. Tito died in 1980, and his death saw Yugoslavia plunge into economic turmoil.[51]
^Curta 2001, p. 66: They were first given land in the province of Thessalonica, but no such theme existed during Heraclius’ reign. Emperor Constantine's explanation of the ethnic name of the Serbs as derived from servi is plainly wrong
^Serbian Studies. Vol. 2–3. North American Society for Serbian Studies. 1982. p. 29. ...the Serbs, a people that is said to hold a large part of Dalmatia
. 'a people that is said to hold a large part of Dalmatia'. This was a reference to the ancient Roman province of Dalmatia, which extended deep into the western Balkan interior, from the eastern Adriatic coast to the valleys of the Ibar and Sava Rivers.
^Viktor Novak (1980). Revue historique. Иако је српски препород старији од бугар- ског, они су се надопуњивали. Књижевно „славеносрпски" и „сла- веноблгарски" су били блиски један другом, „нису се много разли- ковали и једнако су били доступни и за наше и за ...
. The Serbian revival is especially linked with the name of Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic, who has been extensively studied and the subject of numerous monographs.
^Soviet Literature. Foreign Languages Publishing House. January 1956. He helped Vuk Karadzich, prominent in the Serbian Renaissance, and one of the leading figures in the educational movement of his times,
Sources
Primary sources
Кунчер, Драгана (2009). Gesta Regum Sclavorum. Vol. 1. Београд-Никшић: Историјски институт, Манастир Острог.
Đorđević, Života; Pejić, Svetlana, eds. (1999). Cultural Heritage of Kosovo and Metohija. Belgrade: Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Serbia.
Isailović, Neven G.; Krstić, Aleksandar R. (2015). "Serbian Language and Cyrillic Script as a Means of Diplomatic Literacy in South Eastern Europe in 15th and 16th Centuries". Literacy Experiences concerning Medieval and Early Modern Transylvania. Cluj-Napoca: George Bariţiu Institute of History. pp. 185–195.
Krstić, Aleksandar R. (2017). "Which Realm will You Opt for? – The Serbian Nobility Between the Ottomans and the Hungarians in the 15th Century". State and Society in the Balkans Before and After Establishment of Ottoman Rule. Belgrade: Institute of History, Yunus Emre Enstitüsü Turkish Cultural Centre. pp. 129–163.
Živković, Tibor; Bojanin, Stanoje; Petrović, Vladeta, eds. (2000). Selected Charters of Serbian Rulers (XII-XV Century): Relating to the Territory of Kosovo and Metohia. Athens: Center for Studies of Byzantine Civilisation.
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