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.
Slavs settled in the
Balkans during the 6th and 7th centuries, where they encountered and partially absorbed the remaining local population (
Illyrians,
Thracians,
Dacians,
Celts,
Scythians).[2] One of those
early Slavic peoples were Serbs.[3] According to De Administrando Imperio, a historiographical work compiled by the Byzantine emperor
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (d. 959), migration of Serbs from
White Serbia to Balkans occurred sometime during the reign of emperor
Heraclius I (610-641) when they arrived in
an area near Thessaloniki, but shortly afterwards they left that area and settled lands between the
Sava and the
Dinaric Alps.[4][5][6] By the time of the first reign of emperor
Justinian II (685-695), who resettled several
South Slavic groups from Balkans to
Asia Minor, a group of Serbian settlers in the region of
Bithynia were already
christianized. Their settlement, the city of
Gordoserba (
Greek: Γορδόσερβα), had its bishop, who participated at the
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
Principality of Serbia, that was ruled by the first Serbian dynasty, known in historiography as the
Vlastimirović dynasty.[4] During their reigh,
christianization of the Serbs was undergoing, as a gradual process, that was finalized by the middle of the 9th century.[11] Serbs also created local states in regions of
Neretvanija,
Zahumlje,
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 Royal Frankish Annals, that note, under the entry for 822, that prince
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
Stefan Dušan, who ruled the state from 1331 until his death in 1355. and an
empire In 1346, he was crowned as emperor, thus creating the
Serbian Empire.[26] In the same time,
Serbian Orthodox Church was raised to the
Patriarchate (1346). Territory of the Empire included
Macedonia, northern Greece, Montenegro, and almost all of Albania.[27] When Dušan died, his son
Stephen Uroš V became Emperor.[28] With
Turkish invaders beginning their conquest of the Balkans in the 1350s, a major conflict ensued between them and the Serbs, the first major battle was the
Battle of Maritsa (1371),[29] in which the Serbs were defeated.[30] With the death of two important Serb leaders in the battle, and with the death of Stephen Uroš that same year, the
Serbian Empire broke up into several small Serbian domains.[29] These states were ruled by feudal lords, with
Zeta controlled by the Balšić family, Raška,
Kosovo and northern Macedonia held by the
Branković family and
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]
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
Serbs in Banat rose up against the Ottomans.[35] The rebels had, in the character of a
holy war, carried
war flags with the
icon of
Saint Sava.[36] After suppressing the uprising, the Ottomans publicly incinerated the relics of Saint Sava at the
Vračar plateau on April 27, 1595.[36] The incineration of Sava's relics provoked the Serbs, and empowered the Serb liberation movement. From 1596, the center of anti-Ottoman activity in Herzegovina was the
Tvrdoš Monastery in
Trebinje.[37]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]
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
Serbia fought in the
Balkan Wars of 1912–13, which forced the Ottomans out of the Balkans and doubled the territory and population of the
Kingdom of Serbia. In 1914, a young
Bosnian Serb student named
Gavrilo PrincipassassinatedArchduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which directly contributed to the outbreak of
World War I.[45] In the fighting that ensued, Serbia was invaded by
Austria-Hungary. Despite being outnumbered, the Serbs subsequently defeated the Austro-Hungarians at the
Battle of Cer, which marked the first
Allied victory over the
Central Powers in the war.[46] Further victories at the battles of
Kolubara and the
Drina meant that Serbia remained unconquered as the war entered its second year. However, an invasion by the forces of
Germany,
Austria-Hungary and
Bulgaria overwhelmed the Serbs in the winter of 1915, and a subsequent withdrawal by the
Serbian Army through Albania took the lives of more than 240,000 Serbs. Serb forces spent the remaining years of the war fighting on the
Salonika front in Greece, before liberating Serbia from Austro-Hungarian occupation in November 1918.[47]
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]
Yugoslavia
disintegrated in the early 1990s, and a
series of wars resulted in the creation of five new states. The heaviest fighting occurred in
Croatia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose Serb populations rebelled and sought unification with
Serbia, which was then still part of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The
war in Croatia ended in August 1995, with a Croatian military offensive known as
Operation Storm crushing the
Croatian Serb rebellion and causing as many as 200,000 Serbs to flee the country. The
Bosnian War ended that same year, with the
Dayton Agreement dividing the country along ethnic lines. In 1998–99, a
conflict in Kosovo between the Yugoslav Army and Albanians seeking independence erupted into full-out war, resulting in a 78-day-long
NATO bombing campaign which effectively drove Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo.[52] Subsequently, more than 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians fled the province.[53] On 5 October 2000, Yugoslav
PresidentSlobodan Milosević was overthrown in a bloodless revolt after he refused to admit defeat in the
2000 Yugoslav general election.[54]
The
Serbian Revival refers to a period in the history of the Serbs between the 18th century and the de jure establishment of the
Principality of Serbia (1878). It began in Habsburg territory, in
Sremski Karlovci.[55] The "Serbian renaissance" is said to have begun in 17th-century
Banat.[56] The Serbian Revival began earlier than the
Bulgarian National Revival.[57] The first revolt in the
Ottoman Empire to acquire a national character was the
Serbian Revolution (1804–1817),[55] which was the culmination of the Serbian renaissance.[58] According to Jelena Milojković-Djurić: "The first literary and learned society among the Slavs was
Matica srpska, founded by the leaders of Serbian revival in Pest in 1826."[59]Vojvodina became the cradle of the Serbian renaissance during the 19th century.[60]Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787–1864) was the most instrumental in this period.[61][62]
Maps
Serbs in Serbia as per 2002 census data for
Central Serbia and
Vojvodina, and 1991 census data for Kosovo
Serbs in Montenegro as per 2003 census data
Serbs (blue) in Bosnia and Herzegovina as per 2013 census
^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
^Djokić, Dejan (2023).
A Concise History of Serbia.
Cambridge University Press. p. 61.
ISBN9781107028388. '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.
^John V. A. (Jr.) Fine; (2010) When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans p. 35; University of Michigan Press,
ISBN0472025600
^Gavrilović, Slavko (2006),
"Isaija Đaković"(PDF), Zbornik Matice Srpske za Istoriju (in Serbian), vol. 74, Novi Sad:
Matica Srpska, Department of Social Sciences, Proceedings i History, p. 7, archived from
the original(PDF) on 16 September 2011, retrieved 21 December 2011
^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 ...
^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,
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