Serbia History

History
Serbia was settled by Serbs who were pushed across the Danube by Avars in the 7th century. In the 12th century they were converted to eastern Christianity. Serbia became an independent kingdom by 1217. Its army was catastrophically defeated by the Turks at the Battle of Kosovo, 1389. Because Serbs chose death rather than surrender, it has become a permanent symbol in Serbian national consciousness. All of Serbia had been incorporated into the Ottoman Empire by 1459.

In 1830, Serbia obtained autonomous status Agrarian reform transformed the Serbian society into a society of free peasants. Laws were set up to protect the peasant and to establish the size of holdings. Attempts were undertaken to establish a Serbian standing army. New churches began to be built. Six Turkish districts were annexed in 1833. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the Congress of Berlin added territory and recognized Serbia as a completely independent state. The state was expanded further after victory in the First Balkan War, 1912-1913.

Orthodox bishops served not only as religious but also as civil leaders in Montenegro. Montenegro began to receive international recognition as a state in 1858. More territory and final recognition as an independent state was acquired after the Russo-Turkish war in 1878.

After World War I, Serbia led the movement for unification and in December 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes emerged. In 1929 the kingdom was renamed as Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia was invaded by the armed forces of Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria in 1941 during World War II. In 1991, Yugoslavia was dissolved. Serbia and Montenegro formed a confederated state on April 11, 1992. The confederation includes the autonomous regions of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Kosovo, in the south, was part of the territory annexed by Serbia as a result of the First Balkan War in 1913. Vojvodina, in the north, was formerly part of the Hungarian Kingdom. It became part of Yugoslavia after World War I.

Timeline
1346 - 1766 Patriarchate of Peć, was an self headed Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate that existed with its seat in the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć 1459 - The Serbian Despotate was finally conquered by the Ottomans and the Ottoman threat and eventual conquest saw large migrations of Serbs to the west and north 1689 - 1692 The First Great Migration 1737 - 1739 The Second Great Migration 1804 - 1815 The Serbian Revolution for independence from the Ottoman Empire lasted eleven years 1803 - 1835 Serbia gained independence from Ottoman Turkish control following the Serbian Revolution and it emerged as an independent principality 1912 - In The First Balkan War the Balkan League defeated the Ottoman Empire and captured its European territories, which enabled territorial expansion into Raška and Kosovo 1914 - The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia 1915 -1919 During WW I The total number of casualties is placed around 700,000 1941 - During WW II hundreds of thousands of ethnic Serbs fled the Axis puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia and sought refuge in German-occupied Serbia, seeking to escape the large-scale persecution and genocide of Serbs, Jews, and Roma being committed by the Ustaše regime 1944 - During WW II 273,000 people were killed in Serbia 1945 - Between 60,000 and 70,000 people were killed in Serbia during the communist takeover 1992 - Serbia and Montenegro, officially the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, also known as Yugoslavia before 2003, was a country in Southeast Europe, created from the two remaining federal republics of Yugoslavia after its breakup 2006 - The National Assembly of Serbia declared Serbia to be the legal successor to the former state union

Online Sources

 * Immigration Immigration patterns/history from Serbia to Victoria, Australia.
 * Royal Family dynasty
 * History of Yugoslavia Third World Traveler.com
 * Serbia History kosovo.net
 * Serbian Culture
 * History of Serbia from 8th-15th Century