Serbia

In the middle of the twelfth century the Serb lands lay on the contested frontier between the Byzantine Empire and the kingdom of Hungary. Out of the region of Raška, in the hills around the early capital of Stari Ras, rose Stefan Nemanja, who as veliki župan (grand chieftain) from around 1166 began to consolidate the Serb principalities into a single state while manoeuvring among his powerful neighbours. The dynasty he founded, the Nemanjić, would rule for nearly two centuries and develop Raška into one of the leading powers of the medieval Balkans. Around 1196 Nemanja abdicated and withdrew to the monastery of Studenica, which he had founded, and later joined his son on Mount Athos, dying as the monk Simeon.

The Nemanjić state drew much of its strength from the fusion of secular and sacred authority. Nemanja's youngest son, Rastko, became the monk Sava; in 1219 he obtained from the exiled patriarch of Constantinople, then at Nicaea, the status of autocephalous archbishop, founding an independent Serbian Orthodox Church. Two years earlier his brother Stefan had been recognised as king, earning the name Stefan the First-Crowned (Prvovenčani) and raising the grand principality to the rank of a kingdom. The alliance of crown and church, expressed in a remarkable flowering of monastic building and fresco painting in the Raška school, gave the Nemanjić realm an enduring cultural and political coherence.

Over the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the kingdom expanded southward at the expense of a weakening Byzantium, reaching its zenith under Stefan Dušan. Having seized broad territories in Macedonia, Albania and northern Greece, Dušan had himself crowned 'Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks' in April 1346, transforming the kingdom into an empire that was briefly the dominant power of the Balkans. He promulgated a celebrated code of laws and elevated the archbishopric of Peć to a patriarchate. His empire, however, depended on his own person, and his death in 1355 would expose it to rapid disintegration just as a new power, the Ottoman Turks, advanced into the peninsula.

Turning points

1. c. 1166–1196Formation

   Stefan Nemanja founds the Nemanjić state

   As grand chieftain of Raška, Stefan Nemanja united the Serb principalities and founded the Nemanjić dynasty, which would develop Serbia into a major medieval Balkan power.

   [3] [2]

2. 1190sReligion

   Foundation of Studenica Monastery

   Stefan Nemanja founded the marble monastery of Studenica, retiring there around 1196; its churches became a masterpiece of the Raška school and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

   [22]

3. 1217Politics & Power

   Stefan the First-Crowned becomes king

   Stefan Nemanjić obtained recognition as king, raising the grand principality of Raška to the rank of a kingdom and earning the name Prvovenčani, the 'First-Crowned'.

   [5] [2]

4. 1219Religion

   Autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church

   Saint Sava obtained from the patriarch at Nicaea the status of autocephalous archbishop, founding an independent Serbian church that bound religious and royal authority together.

   [4]

5. Apr 1346Politics & Power

   Imperial coronation of Stefan Dušan

   Having expanded the realm across the southern Balkans, Stefan Dušan was crowned 'Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks' and raised the church of Peć to a patriarchate, the high point of medieval Serbia.

   [6] [2]

Figures of the era

The empire of Stefan Dušan did not long survive him. When he died in 1355 his realm passed to a weak successor and rapidly broke apart into competing principalities ruled by rival lords, leaving the southern Balkans politically fragmented just as the Ottoman Turks were expanding out of Anatolia and across Thrace. Through the second half of the fourteenth century the Ottomans pushed steadily up the Balkan river valleys, defeating Serbian and allied forces and reducing local princes to vassalage.

The decisive confrontation came on 28 June 1389 (15 June, Old Style) at Kosovo Polje, the 'Field of Blackbirds', where the army of the Serbian prince Lazar Hrebeljanović met the forces of the Ottoman sultan Murad I. The battle was savage and left both Lazar and Murad dead; though its immediate outcome was indecisive, it shattered organised Serbian resistance and is conventionally regarded as the end of an independent medieval Serbia. Around the battle gathered an extraordinary cycle of epic poetry and legend — the martyrdom of Prince Lazar, the heroism and alleged treachery of his nobles, the choice of a 'heavenly kingdom' over an earthly one — which made Kosovo the central myth of Serbian national identity for centuries to come.

Kosovo did not bring immediate conquest. A diminished Serbian state survived for seventy years as the Despotate, ruled from the fortress of Smederevo and at times balancing between the Ottomans and Hungary. But the respite was temporary. In 1459 the Ottomans took Smederevo and extinguished the Despotate, absorbing the Serb lands into the empire. There followed nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule, during which the Serbian Orthodox Church, periodically reorganised under the patriarchate of Peć, became the principal guardian of Serbian language, faith and historical memory.

Turning points

1. from 1346Religion

   Patriarchate of Peć

   Elevated under Dušan, the patriarchate of Peć became the spiritual heart of the Serbs; its medieval churches in Kosovo survive as UNESCO World Heritage monuments of the Serbian Orthodox tradition.

   [23]

2. 1355Politics & Power

   Death of Dušan and the empire's collapse

   The death of Stefan Dušan in 1355 led to the rapid disintegration of the Serbian Empire into rival principalities, leaving the Balkans divided as the Ottomans advanced.

   [6] [1]

3. 28 Jun 1389War & Rupture

   The Battle of Kosovo

   On the Field of Blackbirds the army of Prince Lazar fought the Ottoman sultan Murad I; both leaders were killed and Serbian resistance was broken, making Kosovo the central event of national memory.

   ↗See the data

   [7]

4. 1402–1459Politics & Power

   The Serbian Despotate

   A reduced Serbian state survived as the Despotate, ruled latterly from Smederevo and balancing between the Ottomans and Hungary, prolonging Serb statehood for another half-century.

   [1]

5. 1459War & Rupture

   Ottoman conquest of Serbia

   The Ottomans captured the fortress of Smederevo and extinguished the Despotate, absorbing the Serb lands into the empire and beginning nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule.

   ↗See the data

   [1]

Figures of the era

After more than three centuries of Ottoman rule, modern Serbia was born in revolution. The First Serbian Uprising broke out in 1804, led by Đorđe Petrović, known as Karađorđe ('Black George'), and for nearly a decade the insurgents governed a self-proclaimed Serbia before the rising was crushed in 1813. The Second Uprising of 1815, led by Miloš Obrenović, secured lasting concessions; by 1830 the Ottoman government had granted the Serbian principality full autonomy under Miloš as hereditary prince, and the Serbian church its own status. The rivalry between the Karađorđević and Obrenović houses would shape Serbian politics for the rest of the century.

Autonomy gradually hardened into independence. The last Ottoman garrisons left the Belgrade fortress in 1867, giving Serbia de facto sovereignty, and the great powers confirmed full independence in international law at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, also enlarging the principality with the districts of Niš, Pirot, Toplica and Vranje. In 1882 Serbia was proclaimed a kingdom under Milan Obrenović. The young state built modern institutions and was recognised abroad — the United States had concluded consular and commercial agreements with the Kingdom of Serbia in 1881 — even as it remained caught between the ambitions of Austria-Hungary and Russia.

In the early twentieth century Serbia emerged as the leading power among the Balkan states. In the First Balkan War of 1912 it joined its neighbours in driving the Ottomans from most of their remaining European territory, and in the Second Balkan War of 1913 it secured Kosovo, Metohija and much of Macedonia, roughly doubling in size. This rapid expansion alarmed Austria-Hungary. When, on 28 June 1914 — the anniversary of Kosovo — the Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Habsburg heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Vienna blamed Belgrade; the resulting ultimatum and Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia set off the chain of alliances that began the First World War.

Turning points

1. 1804–1813War & Rupture

   First Serbian Uprising

   Led by Karađorđe, Serbs rose against Ottoman rule and for nearly a decade governed a self-proclaimed state, the opening act of the Serbian Revolution before its suppression in 1813.

   ↗See the data

   [8] [9]

2. 1815Politics & Power

   Second Uprising and autonomy under Miloš Obrenović

   Miloš Obrenović led the Second Uprising; by 1830 the Ottomans granted the principality full autonomy under him as hereditary prince, establishing self-governing Serbia.

   [9]

3. 1878Independence

   Independence recognised at the Congress of Berlin

   The Treaty of Berlin confirmed Serbia's full independence in international law and enlarged the principality, which became the Kingdom of Serbia in 1882.

   ↗See the data

   [9] [21]

4. 1912–1913War & Rupture

   The Balkan Wars

   Serbia drove the Ottomans from most of their European lands and, after the Second Balkan War, gained Kosovo, Metohija and much of Macedonia, nearly doubling its territory and alarming Austria-Hungary.

   ↗See the data

   [1]

5. 28 Jun 1914War & Rupture

   Assassination at Sarajevo

   The Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo; Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia, and its declaration of war triggered the First World War.

   ↗See the data

   [1]

Figures of the era

Serbia paid a terrible price in the First World War, suffering one of the highest proportional death tolls of any combatant before its army's epic retreat through Albania and eventual return to victory. Out of that war came a long-cherished project: the union of the South Slavs. On 1 December 1918 the Serbian prince regent Alexander Karađorđević proclaimed in Belgrade the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, joining Serbia and Montenegro with the South Slav lands of the collapsed Habsburg monarchy under the Serbian Karađorđević crown. The new kingdom, renamed Yugoslavia in 1929 when Alexander imposed a royal dictatorship, was dominated by Serbia but riven from the start by tensions between centralism and the national aspirations of its many peoples.

The Second World War brought renewed catastrophe. Axis powers invaded and dismembered Yugoslavia in April 1941; Serbia fell under harsh German occupation while a brutal civil war overlay the resistance, pitting the communist-led Partisans of Josip Broz Tito against the royalist Chetniks and the Axis-aligned regimes. The Partisans emerged victorious, and at the war's end Tito's movement controlled the country, with enormous loss of life across the Yugoslav lands.

From 1945 Tito built a 'second Yugoslavia', a socialist federation of six republics in which Serbia was the largest. After the dramatic break with Stalin in 1948, Tito pursued an independent road to socialism and made Yugoslavia a leader of the Cold War non-aligned movement. Within Serbia, the 1974 federal constitution granted wide autonomy to two provinces, Vojvodina in the north and Kosovo in the south, a settlement that many Serbs resented and that would become a flashpoint after Tito's death in 1980.

Turning points

1. 1 Dec 1918Formation

   Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes proclaimed

   Prince Regent Alexander proclaimed the South Slav kingdom in Belgrade, uniting Serbia and Montenegro with former Habsburg lands under the Serbian crown; it was renamed Yugoslavia in 1929.

   [10] [11]

2. 1929Politics & Power

   Royal dictatorship and renaming as Yugoslavia

   Amid party deadlock King Alexander suspended the constitution, imposed a royal dictatorship and renamed the state the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, deepening tensions among its nations.

   [10]

3. Apr 1941War & Rupture

   Axis invasion and occupation

   Germany and its allies invaded and dismembered Yugoslavia in April 1941, placing Serbia under occupation and unleashing a multi-sided war of resistance and civil conflict.

   ↗See the data

   [12] [1]

4. 1945Politics & Power

   Socialist Yugoslavia under Tito

   Tito's Partisans triumphed and built a socialist federation of six republics; after breaking with Stalin in 1948, Yugoslavia pursued non-alignment, with Serbia its largest republic.

   [12]

5. 1974Politics & Power

   Autonomy for Vojvodina and Kosovo

   The federal constitution of 1974 granted wide autonomy to the Serbian provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo, a settlement resented by many Serbs that would ignite conflict after Tito's death.

   [1]

Figures of the era

The crisis that destroyed Yugoslavia gathered around Kosovo and the figure of Slobodan Milošević. Rising through the Serbian Communist Party in the late 1980s on a wave of Serbian nationalism, Milošević curtailed the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina in 1989, a move that alarmed the other republics and helped propel Slovenia, Croatia and others toward secession. As Yugoslavia broke apart from 1991, war engulfed Croatia and then Bosnia and Herzegovina, conflicts marked by ethnic cleansing and atrocity in which Belgrade backed Serb forces; the wars left the federation in ruins and Serbia and Montenegro alone in a rump Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Kosovo, where an ethnic Albanian majority had long sought self-rule, became the final theatre. From 1998 fighting escalated between Yugoslav forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army, accompanied by the mass displacement of Albanian civilians. After diplomacy failed, NATO launched a campaign of air strikes against Yugoslav targets on 24 March 1999 that lasted some eleven weeks and extended to Belgrade. In June 1999 Milošević accepted terms requiring the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo.

On 10 June 1999 the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1244, which authorised an international civil presence (UNMIK) and security presence in Kosovo, provided for substantial autonomy and self-administration for the province, and reaffirmed the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Kosovo thus passed under United Nations administration while remaining, in the terms of the resolution, within Yugoslavia. The defeat hastened Milošević's fall: after disputed elections, mass protests in Belgrade — the 'Bulldozer Revolution' — drove him from power on 5 October 2000. He was later transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, where he was tried on charges arising from the wars in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia, including genocide, but died in his cell in March 2006 before a verdict.

Turning points

1. 1989Politics & Power

   Milošević curtails Kosovo's autonomy

   Riding a wave of Serbian nationalism, Slobodan Milošević revoked the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina, deepening the crisis that would break Yugoslavia apart.

   [15] [13]

2. 1991–1995War & Rupture

   Wars in Croatia and Bosnia

   As Yugoslavia disintegrated, war engulfed Croatia and Bosnia amid ethnic cleansing and atrocity, with Belgrade backing Serb forces and the federation collapsing into a rump Yugoslavia.

   ↗See the data

   [13] [15]

3. 24 Mar – Jun 1999War & Rupture

   Kosovo War and NATO bombing

   After fighting between Yugoslav forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army and the displacement of Albanian civilians, NATO bombed Yugoslavia for some eleven weeks until Milošević agreed to withdraw from Kosovo.

   ↗See the data

   [14]

4. 10 Jun 1999Politics & Power

   UN Security Council Resolution 1244

   The Security Council placed Kosovo under an international civil (UNMIK) and security presence, granting substantial autonomy while reaffirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia.

   [18]

5. 5 Oct 2000Politics & Power

   Fall of Milošević

   After disputed elections, mass protests in Belgrade forced Milošević from power; he was later tried at the ICTY in The Hague but died in 2006 before a verdict was reached.

   [15] [20]

Figures of the era

After 2000 Serbia rebuilt itself as a democratic state and reordered its borders. The loose Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was reconstituted in 2003 as the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, but that union proved short-lived: in a referendum on 21 May 2006 Montenegrins narrowly voted for independence, and on 3 June 2006 Montenegro declared itself sovereign. Serbia accepted the result and declared itself the successor state, reducing the country, for the first time in nearly a century, to Serbia alone, with the northern province of Vojvodina retaining its restored autonomy.

The status of Kosovo, left open under Resolution 1244, then came to a head. On 17 February 2008 Kosovo's assembly declared independence, a step recognised by the United States and many European states but rejected by Serbia, Russia and others. At Serbia's request the United Nations General Assembly sought an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, which on 22 July 2010 found that Kosovo's declaration of independence did not violate international law. Serbia nonetheless continued to refuse recognition, regarding Kosovo as its southern autonomous province and the medieval and religious heartland of the nation — a position it maintains, leaving the dispute one of Europe's most intractable.

Rather than resolving the question of status, Belgrade and Pristina pursued a normalisation of practical relations through a dialogue facilitated by the European Union. The First Agreement of Principles, the Brussels Agreement of 19 April 2013, integrated Serb-majority areas of northern Kosovo into Kosovo's institutions without amounting to Serbian recognition. A further Agreement on the Path to Normalisation was reached in February 2023, with an implementation annex agreed at Ohrid on 18 March 2023; it commits the parties to good-neighbourly relations and mutual recognition of documents and symbols, while expressly leaving aside the underlying dispute over status. Serbia, which won European Union candidate status in 2012 and opened accession negotiations in 2014, continues to pursue EU membership even as the Kosovo question remains unresolved.

Turning points

1. Jun 2006Independence

   Montenegro's independence and the end of the State Union

   Following a referendum on 21 May 2006, Montenegro declared independence; Serbia accepted the result and declared itself the successor state, dissolving the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

   ↗See the data

   [16] [21]

2. 17 Feb 2008Independence

   Kosovo declares independence

   Kosovo's assembly declared independence from Serbia, a step recognised by many Western states but rejected by Serbia, which continues to regard Kosovo as its autonomous province.

   ↗See the data

   [17] [14]

3. 22 Jul 2010Politics & Power

   ICJ advisory opinion on Kosovo

   The International Court of Justice found that Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence did not violate international law; Serbia continued nonetheless to withhold recognition.

   [17]

4. 19 Apr 2013Politics & Power

   Brussels Agreement

   In the EU-facilitated dialogue, Belgrade and Pristina reached the First Agreement of Principles, integrating Serb-majority northern Kosovo into Kosovo's institutions without constituting Serbian recognition.

   [19]

5. Feb–Mar 2023Politics & Power

   Agreement on the Path to Normalisation (Ohrid)

   Serbia and Kosovo agreed to develop normal relations and recognise each other's documents and symbols, with an implementation annex agreed at Ohrid, while leaving the question of status unresolved.

   [19]

Figures of the era