Serbs lived under the rule of the Ottoman sultans for nearly 370
years, though the Serbian Orthodox Church, with several disruptions,
transmitted Serbian heritage and helped preserve Serbian identity
during this period. Movements for Serbian independence began with
uprisings led by Karadjordje Petrovic (1804-13) and Milos Obrenovic
(1815-17), founders of two rival dynasties that would rule Serbia
until World War I. Serbia became an internationally recognized
principality under Turkish suzerainty and Russian protection after
the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829. After waging war against Turkey
in support of Bosnian rebels in 1876, Serbia formally gained
independence in 1878 at the Congress of Berlin, largely thanks to
Russian support. Following Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia,
Serbia led a successful coalition of Montenegrin, Bulgarian, and
Greek troops (the Balkan League) that in 1913 seized remaining
Ottoman-controlled territory in Europe and established Serbia as a
regional military leader.
The assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28,
1914 in Sarajevo by a Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip, set off a
series of diplomatic and military actions among the great powers
that culminated in World War I. Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian
forces occupied Serbia soon after World War I began. After the
collapse of Austria-Hungary at the war's end in 1918, Vojvodina and
Montenegro united with Serbia, and former south Slav subjects of the
Habsburgs sought the protection of the Serbian crown within the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Serbia was the dominant
partner in this state, which in 1929 adopted the name Yugoslavia.
The kingdom soon encountered resistance when Croatians began to
resent control from Belgrade. This pressure prompted King Alexander
I to split the traditional regions into nine administrative
provinces. During World War II, the Axis powers occupied Yugoslavia.
Royal army soldiers, calling themselves Chetniks, formed a Serbian
resistance movement, but the communist Partisans, with Soviet and
Anglo-American help, succeeded in defeating the Chetniks and forcing
German forces from Yugoslavia by 1944. In an effort to avoid Serbian
domination during the postwar years, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Macedonia, and Montenegro were given separate and equal republican
status within the new socialist federation of Yugoslavia; Kosovo and
Vojvodina were made autonomous provinces within Yugoslavia.
Despite the appearance of a federal system of government in
Yugoslavia, Serbian communists ruled Yugoslavia's political life for
the next four decades under Josip Broz Tito, a former Bolshevik and
committed communist. After Tito made several significant foreign
policy decisions without consulting Moscow, Yugoslavia in 1948 was
expelled from the Soviet bloc, signifying a split with Moscow that
left Tito independent to accept aid from the Marshall Plan and
become a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement. Communist rule
transformed Serbia from an agrarian into an industrial society;
however, by the 1980s, Yugoslavia's economy started to fail. With
the death of Tito in 1980, separatist and nationalist tensions
emerged in Yugoslavia.
In the late 1980s, Slobodan Milosevic propelled himself to power in
Belgrade by exploiting Serbian nationalism, especially over Kosovo.
In 1989, he arranged the elimination of Kosovo's autonomy in favor
of direct rule from Belgrade. Belgrade ordered the firing of large
numbers of Albanian state employees, whose jobs were then taken by
Serbs. As a result of this oppression, Kosovo Albanian leaders led a
peaceful resistance movement in the early 1990s and established a
parallel government funded mainly by the Albanian diaspora.
Between 1991 and 1992, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
and Macedonia all seceded from Yugoslavia. On April 27, 1992, in
Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro joined in passing the Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (F.R.Y.).
Kosovo's peaceful resistance movement failed to yield results, and
in 1997 the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) began an armed resistance.
The KLA's main goal was to secure the independence of Kosovo.
In late 1998, Milosevic unleashed a brutal police and military
campaign against the separatist KLA, which included atrocities
against civilian noncombatants. For the duration of Milosevic's
campaign, large numbers of ethnic Albanians were either displaced
from their homes in Kosovo or killed by Serbian troops or police.
These acts, and Serbia's refusal to sign the Rambouillet Accords,
provoked 79 days of bombing by NATO forces from March to June 1999
and led the UN Security Council to authorize, through UNSC
Resolution 1244 (June 10, 1999), an international civil and military
presence in Kosovo, placing these international presences under UN
auspices, calling for a process to determine Kosovo's status, and
calling for UN interim administration of Kosovo. Following
Milosevic's capitulation, international forces--including the UN
Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the NATO-led security force
KFOR--moved into Kosovo.
In March 2002, the heads of the federal and republican governments
signed the Belgrade Agreement, setting forth the parameters for a
redefinition of Montenegro's relationship with Serbia within a joint
state. On February 4, 2003, the F.R.Y. parliament ratified the
Constitutional Charter, establishing a new state union and changing
the name of the country from Yugoslavia to Serbia and Montenegro.
On May 21, 2006, the Republic of Montenegro held a successful
referendum on independence and declared independence on June 3.
Thereafter, the parliament of Serbia stated that the Republic of
Serbia was the continuity of the state union, changing the name of
the country from Serbia and Montenegro to the Republic of Serbia,
with Serbia retaining Serbia and Montenegro's membership in all
international organizations and bodies.
On February 17, 2008, Kosovo declared its independence following a
120-day last-ditch effort by the EU-Russia-U.S. Troika to facilitate
an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo on the latter's status. The
UNSC was deadlocked on a way forward on Kosovo status and how to act
on the report of UN Special Envoy Maarti Ahtisaari in mid-2007. The
United States officially recognized Kosovo's independence the
following day. More than 50 nations recognized Kosovo as of late
2008. Serbia has rejected Kosovo independence. Government officials
declared their intent to pursue all peaceful, political, and
diplomatic means to retain Kosovo and sought a UN resolution to
request that the International Court of Justice review the legality
of Kosovo's declaration of independence. After a vigorous lobbying
campaign, on October 9, 2008, the UN General Assembly voted in favor
of Serbia's proposal. |
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