Muslim terror against serbs in the ottoman empire-gallery
History of Jihad against the Serbs (1371-1912)
Wars for Serbia (1371–1540)
The Turks defeated the Serbian army in two crucial battles: on the banks of the river Maritsa in 1371, where the forces of Serbian nobleman Mrnjavčević from today's Macedonia were defeated, and the Battle of Kosovo in Kosovo Polje (Kosovo Field) in 1389. This battle pitted vassal troops commanded by Prince Lazar against the Turkish Sultan Murad I. According to Serbian folk tradition, the contest ended with the legendary "sudden departure" of Branković's Serbian troops. Sultan Murad I, though victorious at the battle, was later stabbed and assassinated by a Serbian nobleman named Miloš Obilić who was taken as a prisoner inside his tent, where the Turks expected him to show his respect to the sultan. Obilić himself was immediately executed by the sultan's Janissary bodyguards as a response.
The Battle of Kosovo defined the fate of Serbia, because after that it had no force capable of standing up to the Turks. This was an unstable period marked by the rule of Prince Lazar's son — despot Stefan Lazarević — a true European-style knight, a military leader, and even poet. Along with his cousin Đurađ Branković, he moved thecapital north to the newly built fortified town of Smederevo. The Turks continued their conquest until they finally seized all of northern Serbian territory in 1459 when Smederevo fell into their hands. The only free Serbian territories were parts of Bosnia and Zeta. After the fall of the Bosnian kingdom in 1496, Serbia was ruled by the Ottoman Empire for almost three centuries. A Serbian principality under Hungarian protection was created after the fall of the Serbian despotate by the Brankovic's (and later other local noblemen assumed the throne) in what is now Slavonia, Vojvodina, and northern Serbia and Bosnia. The state spent its entirety fighting the Ottomans and represented the continuation of what was left of the Serbian Kingdom. It fell in 1540 when the Ottoman conquest of the Serbian lands, which lasted about 200 years of continuous warfare, was finally complete.
Hungary and Serbia (1389–1540)
From the 14th century onward an increasing number of Serbs began migrating north to the region today known as Vojvodina, which was then under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian kings encouraged the immigration of Serbs to the kingdom, and hired many of them as soldiers and border guards. Therefore, the Serb population of this region highly increased.
During the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and Hungary, this Serb population attempted a restoration of the Serbian state. In the battle of Mohač on August 29, 1526, Ottoman Turkey destroyed the army of the Hungarian–Bohemian king Louis Jagellion, who was killed on the battlefield. After this battle Hungary ceased to be independent state, and much of its former territory became part of the Ottoman Empire. Soon after the Battle of Mohač the leader of Serbian mercenaries in Hungary, Jovan Nenad, established his rule in Bačka, northern Banat, and a small part of Srem (These three regions are now parts of Vojvodina). He created an independent state, with city Subotica as its capital. At the pitch of his power Jovan Nenad crowned himself in Subotica as the Serb emperor. Taking advantage of the extremely confused military and political situation, the Hungarian noblemen from the region joined forces against him and defeated the Serbian troops in the summer of 1527. Emperor Jovan Nenad was assassinated and his state collapsed.
After the Siege of Belgrade, Suleiman I settled Serbs in the nearby Forest of Istanbul, present day Bahçeköy, calledBelgrade forest
Austria and Serbia
European powers, and Austria in particular, fought many wars against the Ottoman Empire, relying on the help of the Serbs that lived under Ottoman rule. During the Austrian–Turkish War (1593–1606), in 1594, the Serbs staged an uprising in Banat, the Pannonian part of Turkey. Sultan Murad III retaliated by burning the remains of Saint Sava the most sacred saint of all Serbs. Serbs created another center of resistance in Herzegovina, but when peace was signed by Turkey and Austria, they were abandoned to Turkish vengeance. This sequence of events became usual in the centuries that followed.
The Great War between Ottomans and the Holy League
The Great War between Ottomans and the Holy League took place from 1683 to 1699. The Holy League was created with the sponsorship of the Pope and including Austria, Poland and Venice. These three powers incited the Serbs to rebel against the Ottoman authorities, and soon uprisings and guerrilla warfare spread throughout the western Balkans, ranging from Montenegro and the Dalmatian coast to the Danube basin and Old Serbia (Macedonia, Raška, Kosovo and Metohija). However, when the Austrians started to pull out of Serbia, they invited the Serbian people to come north with them to the Austrian territories. Having to choose between Ottoman reprisal and living in a Christian state, Serbs abandoned their homesteads and headed north led by patriarch Arsenije Čarnojević.
Austrian-Ottoman War
Another important episode in Serbian history took place in 1716–1718, when the Serbian ethnic territories ranging from Dalmatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to Belgrade and the Danube basin became the battleground for a new Austrian-Ottoman war launched by Prince Eugene of Savoy. The Serbs sided once again with Austria. After a peace treaty was signed in Požarevac, Ottomans lost all its possessions in the Danube basin, as well as northern Serbia, northern Bosnia, and parts of Dalmatia and the Peloponnesus.
The last Austrian-Ottoman war was known as the Dubica War (1788–1791), when the Austrians urged the Christians in Bosnia to rebel. No wars were fought afterwards until the 20th century, which marked the fall of both mighty empires (by this time, Austria had become Austria-Hungary).
Banat Uprising (1594)
In the Banat region, which then formed part of the Ottoman Eyalet of Temeşvar, in the area around Vršac, a large uprising began against the Ottoman Empire in 1594. It was the largest uprising of Serbian people against Ottoman rule till date. The leader of this uprising was Teodor Nestorović, the Bishop of Vršac. Other leaders were Sava Ban and voivode Velja Mironić.
For a short time, the Serb rebels captured several cities in Banat, including Vršac, Bečkerek, and Lipova, as well as Titel and Bečej in Bačka. The size of this uprising is illustrated by the verse from one Serbian national song: "Sva se butum zemlja pobunila, Šest stotina podiglo se sela, Svak na cara pušku podigao!" ("The whole land has rebelled, a six hundred villages arose, everybody pointed his gun against the emperor"). The rebellion had the character of a holy war, the Serb rebels carrying flags with the image of Saint Sava. Sinan Pasha, who led the Ottoman army, ordered the green flag of Muhammad brought from Damascus to counter the Serbian flag, and burned the mortal remains of Saint Sava in Belgrade.
Eventually, the uprising was crushed, and most of the Serbs from this region, fearing Ottoman retaliation, fled to Transylvania, leaving the Banat region deserted. The Ottoman authorities, who needed population in this fertile land, promised clemency to all who returned. The Serb population did come back, but the authorities' mercy did not apply to the leader of the rebellion, Bishop Teodor Nestorović, who was flayed as a punishment.
Planned revolts with Russian aid
Habsburg takeovers (1718–1739); (1788–1793)
From 1718 until 1739 the country was known as Kingdom of Serbia (1718–1739). The fall of Habsburg Serbia was followed by great Serbian migrations from Ottoman into Austrian Empire.
In the latter half of te century, officer Koča Andjelković led a successful rebellion against the Ottomans with the help of Austria and again placed Serbia under the rule of the Habsburgs, the territory was known as Koča's frontier. It ended with the Treaty of Sistova and the withdrawal of Austrians.
Kingdom of Serbia (1718–1739)
was a province of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1718 to 1739. It was formed from the territories in the south of the rivers Sava and Danube that Habsburg Monarchy conquered from Ottoman Empire in 1718, but it was abolished and returned to Ottoman Empire in 1739.
The Habsburg Serbian crownland was oppressive and exploited local Serbs,however the Serbs benefited from self-government, an autonomous Serbian militia and integrated economic ties with the Habsburg monarchy.
Serbia's population had increased rapidly from 270,000 to 400,000.
Tekelija's aimSava Tekelija, Serbian nobleman, doctor of law and patron of arts, had a significant role in the cultural life of Serbs in the Habsburg monarch, as well as the overall political life of the realm. In the Timisioara meeting in 1790, he made a famous speech in which he pleaded for the legal inclusion of Serbian privileges. He supported his standpoint with thorough analysis of privileges with legal arguments, stating that the law presented a higher authority than the will of individuals, rulers, thus the privileges would be better protected if included in the Hungarian laws. At the time of the First Uprising, he made the map of the Serbian lands, which acted as a political programme. He sent letters to Napoleon, proposing the establishment of a South Slavic political unit, with Serbia as core, including the parts conquered by France - of which the Illyrian provinces would be formed out of. To achieve the goal of this political unit, he proposed that France would help the Serbian Revolution, because it would prevent the Russian penetration and influence in these territories. He sent a similar letter to Austrian Emperor Francis I in 1805 proposing other political alliances, also with the goal of preventing Russian influence. His project implies an establishment of a Serbian state, or more precisely, a South Slavic state. His works show his view of potential future of the South Slavic nations.
1791–1804
The withdrawal of the Austrians from Serbia in 1791 marked the end of the Kočina Krajina Serb rebellion, which was ignited by Austria in 1788. However Austria needed to settle the war and returned the Belgrade region to the Ottoman Empire. Despite guarantees that Austria had insisted on, many of the participants in the uprising and their families went into exile in Austria. Reforms made by the Porte to ease the pressure on Serbs were only temporary; by 1799 the Janissary corps have returned, suspended the Serb autonomy and drastically increased taxes, enforcing martial law in Serbia.
Serb leaders from both sides of the Danube began to conspire against the dahias. When they found out, they rounded up and murdered tens of Serbian noblemen on the main square of Valjevo in an event known today as Seča knezova (Slaughter of the Dukes in 1804).
The massacre outraged the Serbian people and incited the revolt across the Pashaluk of Belgrade. Within days, in the small Šumadija village of Orašac, the Serbs gathered to proclaim the uprising, electing Karađorđe Petrović as the leader. That afternoon, a Turkish inn (caravanserai) in Orašac was burned and its residents fled or were killed, followed by similar actions country-wide. Soon the cities Valjevo and Požarevac were liberated, and the siege of Belgrade launched.
Initially fighting to restore their local privileges within the Ottoman system (until 1807), the revolutionaries - supported by the wealthy Serbian community from southern Austrian Empire (present-day Vojvodina) and Serb officers from Austrian Military Frontier - offered themselves to be placed under the protection ofHabsburg-, Russian- and French Empires respectively, entering, as a new political factor, into the converging aspirations of the Great Powers during the Napoleonic wars in Europe.
First Serbian Uprising
During almost 10 years of the First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813), Serbia perceived itself as an independent state for the first time after 300 years of Ottoman and short-lasting Austrian occupations. Encouraged by the Russian Empire, the demands for self-government within Ottoman Empire in 1804 evolved into a war for independence by 1807. Combining patriarchal peasant democracy with modern national goals the Serbian revolution was attracting thousands of volunteers among the Serbs from across the Balkans and Central Europe. The Serbian Revolution ultimately became a symbol of the nation-building process in the Balkans, provoking peasant unrest among the Christians in both Greece and Bulgaria.
Following the successful siege with 25,000 men, on 8 January 1807 the charismatic leader of the revolt Karađorđe Petrović proclaimed Belgrade the capital of Serbia.
Serbs responded to the Ottoman brutalities by establishing its separate institutions: Governing Council (Praviteljstvujušči Sovjet), the Great Academy (Velika škola), the Theological Academy (Bogoslovija) and other administrative bodies. Karađorđe and other revolutionary leaders sent their children to the Great Academy, which had among its students also Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787–1864), the famous reformer of Serbian alphabet. Belgrade was repopulated by local military leaders, merchants and craftsmen but also by an important group of enlightened Serbs from the Habsburg Empire who gave a new cultural and political framework to the egalitarian peasant society of Serbia. Dositej Obradović, a prominent figure of the Balkan Enlightenment, the founder of the Great Academy, became the first Minister of Education of Serbia in 1811.
Following the French invasion in 1812 the Russian Empire withdrew its support for the Serb rebels; unwilling to accept anything less than independence, the revolutionaries were fought into submission following the brutal Ottoman incursion into Serbia. One quarter of Serbia's population (at the moment around 100,000 people) were exiled into Habsburg Empire, including the leader of the Uprising, Karađorđe Petrović.
Recaptured by the Ottomans in October 1813, Belgrade became a scene of brutal revenge, with hundreds of its citizens massacred and thousands sold into slavery as far as Asia. Direct Ottoman rule also meant the abolition of all Serbian institutions and the return of Ottoman Turks to Serbia.
Hadži-Prodan's Revolt (1814)
Despite the lost battle, the tensions nevertheless persisted. In 1814 an unsuccessful Hadži Prodan's revolt was launched by Hadži Prodan Gligorijević, one of the veterans of the First Serbian Uprising. He knew the Turks would arrest him, so he thought it would be the best to resist the Ottomans; Milos Obrenović, another veteran, felt the time was not right for an uprising and did not provide assistance.
Hadži Prodan's Uprising soon failed and he fled to Austria. After a riot at a Turkish estate in 1814, the Turkish authorities massacred the local population and publicly impaled 200 prisoners at Belgrade. By March 1815, Serbs have held several meetings and decided upon a new revolt.
Second Serbian Uprising
The Second Serbian Uprising (1815–1817) was a second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, which erupted shortly after the brutal annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire and the failed Hadži Prodan's revolt. The revolutionary council proclaimed an uprising in Takovo on April 23, 1815, with Milos Obrenović chosen as the leader (while Karađorđe was still in exile in Austria). The decision of the Serb leaders was based on two reasons. First, they feared a general massacre of knezes. Second, they learned that Karađorđe was planning to return from exile in Russia. The anti-Karađorđe faction, including Miloš Obrenović, was anxious to forestall Karađorđe and keep him out of power.
Fighting resumed at Easter in 1815, and Milos became supreme leader of the new revolt. When the Ottomans discovered this they sentenced all of its leaders to death. The Serbs fought in battles at Ljubic, Čačak, Palez, Požarevac and Dublje and managed to reconquer the Pashaluk of Belgrade. Milos advocated a policy of restraint:captured Ottoman soldiers were not killed and civilians were released. His announced goal was not independence but an end to abusive misrule.
Wider European events now helped the Serbian cause. Political and diplomatic means in negotiations between the Prince of Serbia and the Ottoman Porte, instead of further war clashes coincided with the political rules within the framework of Metternich's Europe. Prince Miloš Obrenović, an astute politician and able diplomat, in order to confirm his hard won loyalty to the Porte in 1817 ordered the assassination of Karađorđe Petrović. The final defeat of Napoleon in 1815 raised Turkish fears that Russia might again intervene in the Balkans. To avoid this the sultan agreed to make Serbia suzerain- semi independent state nominally responsible to the Porte.
Principality of Serbia(1815)
The Principality of Serbia was a semi-independent state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian revolution which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agreement between Miloš Obrenović, leader of the Second Serbian Uprising and Ottoman official Marashli Pasha. It was followed by the series of legal documents published by thePorte in 1828, 1829 and finally, 1830 — the Hatt-i Sharif.
Despite oppression by the Ottoman authorities, first Karađorđe and then Miloš Obrenović, the revolutionary leaders, succeeded in their goal to liberate Serbia after centuries of Turkish rule. Turkish authorities acknowledged the state in 1830 by the charter known as the Hatt-i Sharif, and Miloš became a hereditary prince of the Serbian Principality.
At first, the principality included only the territory of the former Pashaluk of Belgrade, but in 1831-1833 it expanded to the east, south, and west. In 1867 theOttoman army was expelled from the Principality, securing its de facto independence.
A new Constitution in 1869 defined Serbia as an independent state.
Herzegovina rebellions (1852–1862)
Ottoman general Omar Pasha decided in March 1852 to disarm the Herzegovinians of their weapons, this sparked an outrage in the region in which local clan chief Luka Vukalović was holding. The refusal of giving up arms resulted in minor fights between Herzegovinians and Turks, which in turn resulted in an uprising, which Vukalović would lead.
The uprising began in winter 1852/53, when Grahovo, Banjani and Drobnjaci refused to pay the Turks a debt. As the actions against Montenegro by the Ottomans began, the East Herzegovinian clans fought alongside Montenegrins. Although there weren't major actions in the period of 1853–57, there wasn’t peace. Austria evidently interfered in the actions of Vukalović, as it would help Montenegro, and the French consulates followed the uprising. The uprising was boosted in December 1857, after Knez Danilo started backing the rebels, bitter at the Porte because of its statements in the Paris Congress in 1856.
After the Battle of Grahovac on May 1, 1858, when Montenegrin and Herzegovinian rebels defeated the Turks, Knez Danilo titled Vukalović the voivode of Zubac, Kruševica, Dračevica and Sutorina, giving him some autonomy.
The Porte agreed on appeasement, it carried out a border with Montenegro, thus recognizing the independence of Montenegro. As the great part of East Herzegovina, except Grahovo, part of Banjani, Drobnjaci, Župa and Nikšič Rudina was left under Ottoman rule, Vukalović continued the uprising. This strongly echoed in Bosnia, in particular the revolts in Bosanska Krajina and Posavina in 1858. Afraid that the uprising would spill over in its territory, Austria increased its tackling of Vukalović, helping in different ways even the Turks.
Vukalović in his requests didn't only deal with economical problems of Herzegovina, but marking the fight for national liberaiton, seeking for Herzegovina to join Montenegro. This character of uprising sparked the interest of the great powers of Europe, whom consulate representatives worked on giving Vukalović to the Ottoman government. Vukalović continued fighting against the Turks, and after the violent death of Knez Danilo in 1860, inspired by the unification of Italy which was led by Garibaldi.
Since 1861, Omer-paša tried in many ways to end the uprising, unsuccessfully. But when Montenegro, after a defeat to the Turk in August 1862, promised that it wouldn't help the rebel movement in Herzegovina, Vukalović understood this as the people had been strained and then wrote to Omer-paša, who promised amnesty for all rebels. Omer-paša promised Vukalović that he would continue his office asvoivode of Zubac, Kruševica, Dračevica and Sutorina, but this was not held, he instead appointed him bimbaša of 500 pandurs who would secure peace along the borders. When he saw that the Ottomans didn't give their promises of relief on feudal duties and tax cuts, he tried in 1865 to once again start an uprising, but without any help, was unsuccessful. Vukalović left his birthplace and migrated to Russia, where he died in 1873.
Herzegovina Uprising (1875–1878)
The Herzegovina Uprising of 1875–1878 was an uprising led bySerbs against the Ottoman Empire, firstly in Herzegovina (hence its name) and then in Bosnia. It is the most significant of the rebellions against Ottoman rule in Herzegovina. The uprising was precipitated by the harsh treatment under the beys and aghas of the Ottoman province of Bosnia.The reforms announced by the Turkish Sultan Abdülmecid I, involving new rights for Christian subjects, a new basis for army conscription, and an end to the much-hated system of tax-farming, were either resisted or ignored by the powerful Bosnian landowners. They frequently resorted to more repressive measures against their Christian subjects. The tax burden on Christian peasants constantly increased.
Over 200,000 Christian fugitives was a result of Turkish and Bosnian Muslim atrocities in 1877.
The rebels were aided with weapons and volunteers of Montenegro and Serbia which led to the Serb-Turkish War and Great Eastern Crisis. A result of the uprisings and wars was the Berlin Congress in 1878, which gave Montenegro and Serbia independence and territorial expansion, while Austro-Hungary occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina for 30 years, while being de jure Ottoman territory.
Serbo-Turkish War (1876–1878)
The Serbo-Turkish War , sometimes called the Serbian–Ottoman War, was fought between the Principality of Serbiaand the Ottoman Empire from the Serbian declaration of war on 30 June 1876 until the Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March 1878. The war merged with theBulgarian uprising, the Montenegrin War and the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78).
A rebellion in nearby Herzegovina, backed unofficially by Serbia and Montenegro, sparked a series of rebellions and uprisings against the Ottoman forces in Europe. Montenegro and Serbia agreed to declare a war on Turkey on 18 June 1876. Forces of Serbia were joined by numerous volunteers from Old Serbia and Macedonia.
The Ottoman forces were composed to the large extent of Albanians from Kosovo Vilayet (modern day Kosovo and Macedonia).
In July–August, the ill-prepared and poorly equipped Serbian army helped by Russian volunteers failed to achieve offensive objectives but did manage to repulse the Ottoman offensive into Serbia, and on August 26, Serbia pleaded European powers to mediate in ending the war. A joint ultimatum by the European powers forced the Porte to give Serbia a one month truce and start peace negotiations. Turkish peace conditions however were refused by European powers as too harsh.
In early October, after the truce expired, the Turkish army resumed its offensive and the Serbian position quickly became desperate. As a result, on October 31, 1876 Russia issued an ultimatum requiring the Ottoman Empire to stop the hostilities and sign a new truce with Serbia within 48 hours. This was supported by the partial mobilization of the Russian army (up to 20 divisions). The Sultan accepted the conditions of the ultimatum.
The atrocities of the Ottoman Empire in suppressing unrest in the Balkan provinces eventually led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, which ended in Turkish defeat, and the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878, followed in July of the same year by the Treaty of Berlin, severely reducing Ottoman territories and power in Europe.
Serbia was further expanded to the south-east in 1878, when its independence from the Ottoman Empire won full international recognition at theTreaty of Berlin. The Principality would last until 1882 when it was raised to the level of the Kingdom of Serbia.
Kingdom of Serbia in the Balkan Wars(1912-1913)
The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria) against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success.
As a result of the war, almost all remaining European territories of the Ottoman Empire were captured and partitioned among the allies. Ensuing events also led to the creation of an independent Albanian state. Despite its success, Bulgaria was dissatisfied over the division of the spoils in Macedonia, which provoked the start of the Second Balkan War.
Serbia called upon about 255,000 men (out of a population of 2,912,000 people) with about 228 guns, grouped in 10 infantry divisions, two independent brigades and a cavalry division, under the effective command of the former War Minister Radomir Putnik. The Serbian High Command, in its pre-war wargames, had concluded that the likeliest site of the decisive battle against the Ottoman Vardar Armywould be on the Ovče Pole plateau, before Skopje. Hence, the main forces were formed in three armies for the advance towards Skopje, while a division and an independent brigade were to cooperate with the Montenegrins in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar.
The First Army (132,000 men) was commanded by General Petar Bojović, and was the strongest in number and force, forming the center of the drive towards Skopje. The Second Army (74,000 men) was commanded by General Stepa Stepanović, and consisted of one Serbian and one Bulgarian (7th Rila) division. It formed the left wing of the Army and advanced towards Stracin. The inclusion of a Bulgarian division was according to a pre-war arrangement between Serbian and Bulgarian armies, but that division ceased to obey orders of Gen. Stepanović as soon as the war began, followed only the orders of the Bulgarian High Command. The Third Army (76,000 men) was commanded by General Božidar Janković and, being the right-wing army, had the task to take Kosovo. It would then join the other armies in the expected battle at the Ovče Polje. There were two other concentrations in northwestern Serbia across the Serbo-Austrohungarian borders, the Ibar Army (25,000 men) under General Mihailo Živković and the Javor brigade (12,000 men) under Lt Colonel Milovoje Anđelković.
The Serbian forces operated against major part of Ottoman Western army which were located in the areas of Novi Pazar, Kosovo and northern and eastern Macedonia. Strategically the Serbian forces were divided into four independent armies and groups: Javor brigade and Ibar Army against Ottoman forces in the area of Novi Pazar, Third Army against Ottoman forces in the areas of Kosovo and Metohija, First Army against Ottoman forces in the area of northern Macedonia and Second Army (operating from the Bulgarian territory) against Ottoman forces in the area of eastern Macedonia. The decisive battle was expected to be fought in the area of northern Macedonia, more specifically in the plains of Ovče Pole, where the main forces of Ottoman Vardar Army were expected to concentrate. According to the plan of the Serbian Supreme Command, three Serbian armies (First, Second and Third) were supposed to encircle and destroy the Vardar Army in that area, with First Army advancing from the north (direction Vranje-Kumanovo-Ovče Pole ), Second Army advancing from the east (direction Kriva Palanka-Kratovo-Ovče Pole) and Third Army advancing from the north-west (direction Priština-Skopje-Ovče Pole). In the execution of this plan the main role was given to the First Army while Second Army was expected to cut of the Vardar Army's retreat route, and if necessary attack its rear and right flank. The main goal of Third Army was to take Kosovo and Metohija and if necessary give assistance to the First Army by attacking the Vardar Army's left flank and rear. Ibar Army and the Javor brigade had a minor role in the Serbian plan, they were expected to secure the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and replace Third Army in Kosovo after advancing farther south.
The Serbian Army under General (later Marshal) Putnik dealt three decisive victories in Vardar Macedonia, its primary objective in the war, effectively destroying the Ottoman forces in the region and conquering north Macedonia. They also helped the Montenegrins to take the Sandžak and sent two divisions to help the Bulgarians at the siege of Edirne.
The last battle for Macedonia was the battle of Monastir, in which the remains of the Ottoman Vardar Army were forced to retreat to central Albania. After the battle, Prime Minister Pasic asked Gen. Putnik to take part in the race for Thessaloniki. Putnik declined and instead turned his army to the west, towards Albania, foreseeing that a future confrontation between the Greeks and Bulgarians over Thessaloniki could greatly help Serbia's own plans over Vardar Macedonia.
After the Great Powers applied pressure on them, the Serbs started to withdraw from northern Albania and the Sandžak, although they left behind their heavy artillery park to help the Montenegrins in the continuing siege of Shkodër. On 23 April 1913 Scutari's garrison was forced to surrender due to starvation.
The Kingdom of Serbia was one of the main parties in the Balkan Wars during the early twentieth century. Serbia, victorious in two Balkan wars, gained significant territorial areas of the Central Balkans and almost doubled its territory. During the Balkan Wars of 1912, most of Kosovo was taken from the Ottoman Empire by the Kingdom of Serbia while the region of Metohija was taken by the Kingdom of Montenegro. Over the centuries, populations of ethnic Serbs and muslims Albanians tended to shift following territorial handovers. As a result of the multi-ethnic composition of Kosovo, the new administrations provoked a mixed response from the local population. Whilst Albanians did not welcome Serbian rule,the non-Albanian population in Kosovo (largely Serb but other Slavic ethnicities too) considered this a liberation.
After the First Balkan War of 1912, Kosovo was internationally recognised as a part of Serbia and northern Metohija as a part of Montenegro at the Treaty of London in May 1913.
The Turks defeated the Serbian army in two crucial battles: on the banks of the river Maritsa in 1371, where the forces of Serbian nobleman Mrnjavčević from today's Macedonia were defeated, and the Battle of Kosovo in Kosovo Polje (Kosovo Field) in 1389. This battle pitted vassal troops commanded by Prince Lazar against the Turkish Sultan Murad I. According to Serbian folk tradition, the contest ended with the legendary "sudden departure" of Branković's Serbian troops. Sultan Murad I, though victorious at the battle, was later stabbed and assassinated by a Serbian nobleman named Miloš Obilić who was taken as a prisoner inside his tent, where the Turks expected him to show his respect to the sultan. Obilić himself was immediately executed by the sultan's Janissary bodyguards as a response.
The Battle of Kosovo defined the fate of Serbia, because after that it had no force capable of standing up to the Turks. This was an unstable period marked by the rule of Prince Lazar's son — despot Stefan Lazarević — a true European-style knight, a military leader, and even poet. Along with his cousin Đurađ Branković, he moved thecapital north to the newly built fortified town of Smederevo. The Turks continued their conquest until they finally seized all of northern Serbian territory in 1459 when Smederevo fell into their hands. The only free Serbian territories were parts of Bosnia and Zeta. After the fall of the Bosnian kingdom in 1496, Serbia was ruled by the Ottoman Empire for almost three centuries. A Serbian principality under Hungarian protection was created after the fall of the Serbian despotate by the Brankovic's (and later other local noblemen assumed the throne) in what is now Slavonia, Vojvodina, and northern Serbia and Bosnia. The state spent its entirety fighting the Ottomans and represented the continuation of what was left of the Serbian Kingdom. It fell in 1540 when the Ottoman conquest of the Serbian lands, which lasted about 200 years of continuous warfare, was finally complete.
Hungary and Serbia (1389–1540)
From the 14th century onward an increasing number of Serbs began migrating north to the region today known as Vojvodina, which was then under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian kings encouraged the immigration of Serbs to the kingdom, and hired many of them as soldiers and border guards. Therefore, the Serb population of this region highly increased.
During the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and Hungary, this Serb population attempted a restoration of the Serbian state. In the battle of Mohač on August 29, 1526, Ottoman Turkey destroyed the army of the Hungarian–Bohemian king Louis Jagellion, who was killed on the battlefield. After this battle Hungary ceased to be independent state, and much of its former territory became part of the Ottoman Empire. Soon after the Battle of Mohač the leader of Serbian mercenaries in Hungary, Jovan Nenad, established his rule in Bačka, northern Banat, and a small part of Srem (These three regions are now parts of Vojvodina). He created an independent state, with city Subotica as its capital. At the pitch of his power Jovan Nenad crowned himself in Subotica as the Serb emperor. Taking advantage of the extremely confused military and political situation, the Hungarian noblemen from the region joined forces against him and defeated the Serbian troops in the summer of 1527. Emperor Jovan Nenad was assassinated and his state collapsed.
After the Siege of Belgrade, Suleiman I settled Serbs in the nearby Forest of Istanbul, present day Bahçeköy, calledBelgrade forest
Austria and Serbia
European powers, and Austria in particular, fought many wars against the Ottoman Empire, relying on the help of the Serbs that lived under Ottoman rule. During the Austrian–Turkish War (1593–1606), in 1594, the Serbs staged an uprising in Banat, the Pannonian part of Turkey. Sultan Murad III retaliated by burning the remains of Saint Sava the most sacred saint of all Serbs. Serbs created another center of resistance in Herzegovina, but when peace was signed by Turkey and Austria, they were abandoned to Turkish vengeance. This sequence of events became usual in the centuries that followed.
The Great War between Ottomans and the Holy League
The Great War between Ottomans and the Holy League took place from 1683 to 1699. The Holy League was created with the sponsorship of the Pope and including Austria, Poland and Venice. These three powers incited the Serbs to rebel against the Ottoman authorities, and soon uprisings and guerrilla warfare spread throughout the western Balkans, ranging from Montenegro and the Dalmatian coast to the Danube basin and Old Serbia (Macedonia, Raška, Kosovo and Metohija). However, when the Austrians started to pull out of Serbia, they invited the Serbian people to come north with them to the Austrian territories. Having to choose between Ottoman reprisal and living in a Christian state, Serbs abandoned their homesteads and headed north led by patriarch Arsenije Čarnojević.
Austrian-Ottoman War
Another important episode in Serbian history took place in 1716–1718, when the Serbian ethnic territories ranging from Dalmatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to Belgrade and the Danube basin became the battleground for a new Austrian-Ottoman war launched by Prince Eugene of Savoy. The Serbs sided once again with Austria. After a peace treaty was signed in Požarevac, Ottomans lost all its possessions in the Danube basin, as well as northern Serbia, northern Bosnia, and parts of Dalmatia and the Peloponnesus.
The last Austrian-Ottoman war was known as the Dubica War (1788–1791), when the Austrians urged the Christians in Bosnia to rebel. No wars were fought afterwards until the 20th century, which marked the fall of both mighty empires (by this time, Austria had become Austria-Hungary).
Banat Uprising (1594)
In the Banat region, which then formed part of the Ottoman Eyalet of Temeşvar, in the area around Vršac, a large uprising began against the Ottoman Empire in 1594. It was the largest uprising of Serbian people against Ottoman rule till date. The leader of this uprising was Teodor Nestorović, the Bishop of Vršac. Other leaders were Sava Ban and voivode Velja Mironić.
For a short time, the Serb rebels captured several cities in Banat, including Vršac, Bečkerek, and Lipova, as well as Titel and Bečej in Bačka. The size of this uprising is illustrated by the verse from one Serbian national song: "Sva se butum zemlja pobunila, Šest stotina podiglo se sela, Svak na cara pušku podigao!" ("The whole land has rebelled, a six hundred villages arose, everybody pointed his gun against the emperor"). The rebellion had the character of a holy war, the Serb rebels carrying flags with the image of Saint Sava. Sinan Pasha, who led the Ottoman army, ordered the green flag of Muhammad brought from Damascus to counter the Serbian flag, and burned the mortal remains of Saint Sava in Belgrade.
Eventually, the uprising was crushed, and most of the Serbs from this region, fearing Ottoman retaliation, fled to Transylvania, leaving the Banat region deserted. The Ottoman authorities, who needed population in this fertile land, promised clemency to all who returned. The Serb population did come back, but the authorities' mercy did not apply to the leader of the rebellion, Bishop Teodor Nestorović, who was flayed as a punishment.
Planned revolts with Russian aid
- Serbian-Russian Sava Vladislavich maintained trade contacts with fellow Serbs and was under the impression that they would rise in revolt against the Sultan as soon as the Tsar invaded the Danubian Principalities. Having launched the invasion in 1711, Tsar Peter sent him on a mission to Moldavia and Montenegro, whose population Vladislavich was expected to incite to rebellion. Little came of these plans, despite the assistance of a pro-Russian colonel, Michael Miloradovich (the ancestor of Count Miloradovich). There has been preserved an inscription from that time, in a chronicle:
- Petar I Petrović-Njegoš, the Prince-Bishop of Montenegro (Serbian Orthodox Episcop of Cetinje) was the conceiver of a plan to form a new Serbian Empire out of Bosnia, Serbia, Herzegovina and Montenegro with Boka, with Dubrovnik as its Imperial Capital. In 1807, he sent a letter to the Russian General of the Danube Army regarding this subject: "The Russian Czar would be recognized as the Tsar of the Serbs and the Metropolitan of Montenegro would be his assistant. The leading role in the restoration of the Serbian Empire belongs to Montenegro."
Habsburg takeovers (1718–1739); (1788–1793)
From 1718 until 1739 the country was known as Kingdom of Serbia (1718–1739). The fall of Habsburg Serbia was followed by great Serbian migrations from Ottoman into Austrian Empire.
In the latter half of te century, officer Koča Andjelković led a successful rebellion against the Ottomans with the help of Austria and again placed Serbia under the rule of the Habsburgs, the territory was known as Koča's frontier. It ended with the Treaty of Sistova and the withdrawal of Austrians.
Kingdom of Serbia (1718–1739)
was a province of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1718 to 1739. It was formed from the territories in the south of the rivers Sava and Danube that Habsburg Monarchy conquered from Ottoman Empire in 1718, but it was abolished and returned to Ottoman Empire in 1739.
The Habsburg Serbian crownland was oppressive and exploited local Serbs,however the Serbs benefited from self-government, an autonomous Serbian militia and integrated economic ties with the Habsburg monarchy.
Serbia's population had increased rapidly from 270,000 to 400,000.
Tekelija's aimSava Tekelija, Serbian nobleman, doctor of law and patron of arts, had a significant role in the cultural life of Serbs in the Habsburg monarch, as well as the overall political life of the realm. In the Timisioara meeting in 1790, he made a famous speech in which he pleaded for the legal inclusion of Serbian privileges. He supported his standpoint with thorough analysis of privileges with legal arguments, stating that the law presented a higher authority than the will of individuals, rulers, thus the privileges would be better protected if included in the Hungarian laws. At the time of the First Uprising, he made the map of the Serbian lands, which acted as a political programme. He sent letters to Napoleon, proposing the establishment of a South Slavic political unit, with Serbia as core, including the parts conquered by France - of which the Illyrian provinces would be formed out of. To achieve the goal of this political unit, he proposed that France would help the Serbian Revolution, because it would prevent the Russian penetration and influence in these territories. He sent a similar letter to Austrian Emperor Francis I in 1805 proposing other political alliances, also with the goal of preventing Russian influence. His project implies an establishment of a Serbian state, or more precisely, a South Slavic state. His works show his view of potential future of the South Slavic nations.
1791–1804
The withdrawal of the Austrians from Serbia in 1791 marked the end of the Kočina Krajina Serb rebellion, which was ignited by Austria in 1788. However Austria needed to settle the war and returned the Belgrade region to the Ottoman Empire. Despite guarantees that Austria had insisted on, many of the participants in the uprising and their families went into exile in Austria. Reforms made by the Porte to ease the pressure on Serbs were only temporary; by 1799 the Janissary corps have returned, suspended the Serb autonomy and drastically increased taxes, enforcing martial law in Serbia.
Serb leaders from both sides of the Danube began to conspire against the dahias. When they found out, they rounded up and murdered tens of Serbian noblemen on the main square of Valjevo in an event known today as Seča knezova (Slaughter of the Dukes in 1804).
The massacre outraged the Serbian people and incited the revolt across the Pashaluk of Belgrade. Within days, in the small Šumadija village of Orašac, the Serbs gathered to proclaim the uprising, electing Karađorđe Petrović as the leader. That afternoon, a Turkish inn (caravanserai) in Orašac was burned and its residents fled or were killed, followed by similar actions country-wide. Soon the cities Valjevo and Požarevac were liberated, and the siege of Belgrade launched.
Initially fighting to restore their local privileges within the Ottoman system (until 1807), the revolutionaries - supported by the wealthy Serbian community from southern Austrian Empire (present-day Vojvodina) and Serb officers from Austrian Military Frontier - offered themselves to be placed under the protection ofHabsburg-, Russian- and French Empires respectively, entering, as a new political factor, into the converging aspirations of the Great Powers during the Napoleonic wars in Europe.
First Serbian Uprising
During almost 10 years of the First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813), Serbia perceived itself as an independent state for the first time after 300 years of Ottoman and short-lasting Austrian occupations. Encouraged by the Russian Empire, the demands for self-government within Ottoman Empire in 1804 evolved into a war for independence by 1807. Combining patriarchal peasant democracy with modern national goals the Serbian revolution was attracting thousands of volunteers among the Serbs from across the Balkans and Central Europe. The Serbian Revolution ultimately became a symbol of the nation-building process in the Balkans, provoking peasant unrest among the Christians in both Greece and Bulgaria.
Following the successful siege with 25,000 men, on 8 January 1807 the charismatic leader of the revolt Karađorđe Petrović proclaimed Belgrade the capital of Serbia.
Serbs responded to the Ottoman brutalities by establishing its separate institutions: Governing Council (Praviteljstvujušči Sovjet), the Great Academy (Velika škola), the Theological Academy (Bogoslovija) and other administrative bodies. Karađorđe and other revolutionary leaders sent their children to the Great Academy, which had among its students also Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787–1864), the famous reformer of Serbian alphabet. Belgrade was repopulated by local military leaders, merchants and craftsmen but also by an important group of enlightened Serbs from the Habsburg Empire who gave a new cultural and political framework to the egalitarian peasant society of Serbia. Dositej Obradović, a prominent figure of the Balkan Enlightenment, the founder of the Great Academy, became the first Minister of Education of Serbia in 1811.
Following the French invasion in 1812 the Russian Empire withdrew its support for the Serb rebels; unwilling to accept anything less than independence, the revolutionaries were fought into submission following the brutal Ottoman incursion into Serbia. One quarter of Serbia's population (at the moment around 100,000 people) were exiled into Habsburg Empire, including the leader of the Uprising, Karađorđe Petrović.
Recaptured by the Ottomans in October 1813, Belgrade became a scene of brutal revenge, with hundreds of its citizens massacred and thousands sold into slavery as far as Asia. Direct Ottoman rule also meant the abolition of all Serbian institutions and the return of Ottoman Turks to Serbia.
Hadži-Prodan's Revolt (1814)
Despite the lost battle, the tensions nevertheless persisted. In 1814 an unsuccessful Hadži Prodan's revolt was launched by Hadži Prodan Gligorijević, one of the veterans of the First Serbian Uprising. He knew the Turks would arrest him, so he thought it would be the best to resist the Ottomans; Milos Obrenović, another veteran, felt the time was not right for an uprising and did not provide assistance.
Hadži Prodan's Uprising soon failed and he fled to Austria. After a riot at a Turkish estate in 1814, the Turkish authorities massacred the local population and publicly impaled 200 prisoners at Belgrade. By March 1815, Serbs have held several meetings and decided upon a new revolt.
Second Serbian Uprising
The Second Serbian Uprising (1815–1817) was a second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, which erupted shortly after the brutal annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire and the failed Hadži Prodan's revolt. The revolutionary council proclaimed an uprising in Takovo on April 23, 1815, with Milos Obrenović chosen as the leader (while Karađorđe was still in exile in Austria). The decision of the Serb leaders was based on two reasons. First, they feared a general massacre of knezes. Second, they learned that Karađorđe was planning to return from exile in Russia. The anti-Karađorđe faction, including Miloš Obrenović, was anxious to forestall Karađorđe and keep him out of power.
Fighting resumed at Easter in 1815, and Milos became supreme leader of the new revolt. When the Ottomans discovered this they sentenced all of its leaders to death. The Serbs fought in battles at Ljubic, Čačak, Palez, Požarevac and Dublje and managed to reconquer the Pashaluk of Belgrade. Milos advocated a policy of restraint:captured Ottoman soldiers were not killed and civilians were released. His announced goal was not independence but an end to abusive misrule.
Wider European events now helped the Serbian cause. Political and diplomatic means in negotiations between the Prince of Serbia and the Ottoman Porte, instead of further war clashes coincided with the political rules within the framework of Metternich's Europe. Prince Miloš Obrenović, an astute politician and able diplomat, in order to confirm his hard won loyalty to the Porte in 1817 ordered the assassination of Karađorđe Petrović. The final defeat of Napoleon in 1815 raised Turkish fears that Russia might again intervene in the Balkans. To avoid this the sultan agreed to make Serbia suzerain- semi independent state nominally responsible to the Porte.
Principality of Serbia(1815)
The Principality of Serbia was a semi-independent state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian revolution which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agreement between Miloš Obrenović, leader of the Second Serbian Uprising and Ottoman official Marashli Pasha. It was followed by the series of legal documents published by thePorte in 1828, 1829 and finally, 1830 — the Hatt-i Sharif.
Despite oppression by the Ottoman authorities, first Karađorđe and then Miloš Obrenović, the revolutionary leaders, succeeded in their goal to liberate Serbia after centuries of Turkish rule. Turkish authorities acknowledged the state in 1830 by the charter known as the Hatt-i Sharif, and Miloš became a hereditary prince of the Serbian Principality.
At first, the principality included only the territory of the former Pashaluk of Belgrade, but in 1831-1833 it expanded to the east, south, and west. In 1867 theOttoman army was expelled from the Principality, securing its de facto independence.
A new Constitution in 1869 defined Serbia as an independent state.
Herzegovina rebellions (1852–1862)
Ottoman general Omar Pasha decided in March 1852 to disarm the Herzegovinians of their weapons, this sparked an outrage in the region in which local clan chief Luka Vukalović was holding. The refusal of giving up arms resulted in minor fights between Herzegovinians and Turks, which in turn resulted in an uprising, which Vukalović would lead.
The uprising began in winter 1852/53, when Grahovo, Banjani and Drobnjaci refused to pay the Turks a debt. As the actions against Montenegro by the Ottomans began, the East Herzegovinian clans fought alongside Montenegrins. Although there weren't major actions in the period of 1853–57, there wasn’t peace. Austria evidently interfered in the actions of Vukalović, as it would help Montenegro, and the French consulates followed the uprising. The uprising was boosted in December 1857, after Knez Danilo started backing the rebels, bitter at the Porte because of its statements in the Paris Congress in 1856.
After the Battle of Grahovac on May 1, 1858, when Montenegrin and Herzegovinian rebels defeated the Turks, Knez Danilo titled Vukalović the voivode of Zubac, Kruševica, Dračevica and Sutorina, giving him some autonomy.
The Porte agreed on appeasement, it carried out a border with Montenegro, thus recognizing the independence of Montenegro. As the great part of East Herzegovina, except Grahovo, part of Banjani, Drobnjaci, Župa and Nikšič Rudina was left under Ottoman rule, Vukalović continued the uprising. This strongly echoed in Bosnia, in particular the revolts in Bosanska Krajina and Posavina in 1858. Afraid that the uprising would spill over in its territory, Austria increased its tackling of Vukalović, helping in different ways even the Turks.
Vukalović in his requests didn't only deal with economical problems of Herzegovina, but marking the fight for national liberaiton, seeking for Herzegovina to join Montenegro. This character of uprising sparked the interest of the great powers of Europe, whom consulate representatives worked on giving Vukalović to the Ottoman government. Vukalović continued fighting against the Turks, and after the violent death of Knez Danilo in 1860, inspired by the unification of Italy which was led by Garibaldi.
Since 1861, Omer-paša tried in many ways to end the uprising, unsuccessfully. But when Montenegro, after a defeat to the Turk in August 1862, promised that it wouldn't help the rebel movement in Herzegovina, Vukalović understood this as the people had been strained and then wrote to Omer-paša, who promised amnesty for all rebels. Omer-paša promised Vukalović that he would continue his office asvoivode of Zubac, Kruševica, Dračevica and Sutorina, but this was not held, he instead appointed him bimbaša of 500 pandurs who would secure peace along the borders. When he saw that the Ottomans didn't give their promises of relief on feudal duties and tax cuts, he tried in 1865 to once again start an uprising, but without any help, was unsuccessful. Vukalović left his birthplace and migrated to Russia, where he died in 1873.
Herzegovina Uprising (1875–1878)
The Herzegovina Uprising of 1875–1878 was an uprising led bySerbs against the Ottoman Empire, firstly in Herzegovina (hence its name) and then in Bosnia. It is the most significant of the rebellions against Ottoman rule in Herzegovina. The uprising was precipitated by the harsh treatment under the beys and aghas of the Ottoman province of Bosnia.The reforms announced by the Turkish Sultan Abdülmecid I, involving new rights for Christian subjects, a new basis for army conscription, and an end to the much-hated system of tax-farming, were either resisted or ignored by the powerful Bosnian landowners. They frequently resorted to more repressive measures against their Christian subjects. The tax burden on Christian peasants constantly increased.
Over 200,000 Christian fugitives was a result of Turkish and Bosnian Muslim atrocities in 1877.
The rebels were aided with weapons and volunteers of Montenegro and Serbia which led to the Serb-Turkish War and Great Eastern Crisis. A result of the uprisings and wars was the Berlin Congress in 1878, which gave Montenegro and Serbia independence and territorial expansion, while Austro-Hungary occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina for 30 years, while being de jure Ottoman territory.
Serbo-Turkish War (1876–1878)
The Serbo-Turkish War , sometimes called the Serbian–Ottoman War, was fought between the Principality of Serbiaand the Ottoman Empire from the Serbian declaration of war on 30 June 1876 until the Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March 1878. The war merged with theBulgarian uprising, the Montenegrin War and the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78).
A rebellion in nearby Herzegovina, backed unofficially by Serbia and Montenegro, sparked a series of rebellions and uprisings against the Ottoman forces in Europe. Montenegro and Serbia agreed to declare a war on Turkey on 18 June 1876. Forces of Serbia were joined by numerous volunteers from Old Serbia and Macedonia.
The Ottoman forces were composed to the large extent of Albanians from Kosovo Vilayet (modern day Kosovo and Macedonia).
In July–August, the ill-prepared and poorly equipped Serbian army helped by Russian volunteers failed to achieve offensive objectives but did manage to repulse the Ottoman offensive into Serbia, and on August 26, Serbia pleaded European powers to mediate in ending the war. A joint ultimatum by the European powers forced the Porte to give Serbia a one month truce and start peace negotiations. Turkish peace conditions however were refused by European powers as too harsh.
In early October, after the truce expired, the Turkish army resumed its offensive and the Serbian position quickly became desperate. As a result, on October 31, 1876 Russia issued an ultimatum requiring the Ottoman Empire to stop the hostilities and sign a new truce with Serbia within 48 hours. This was supported by the partial mobilization of the Russian army (up to 20 divisions). The Sultan accepted the conditions of the ultimatum.
The atrocities of the Ottoman Empire in suppressing unrest in the Balkan provinces eventually led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, which ended in Turkish defeat, and the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878, followed in July of the same year by the Treaty of Berlin, severely reducing Ottoman territories and power in Europe.
Serbia was further expanded to the south-east in 1878, when its independence from the Ottoman Empire won full international recognition at theTreaty of Berlin. The Principality would last until 1882 when it was raised to the level of the Kingdom of Serbia.
Kingdom of Serbia in the Balkan Wars(1912-1913)
The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria) against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success.
As a result of the war, almost all remaining European territories of the Ottoman Empire were captured and partitioned among the allies. Ensuing events also led to the creation of an independent Albanian state. Despite its success, Bulgaria was dissatisfied over the division of the spoils in Macedonia, which provoked the start of the Second Balkan War.
Serbia called upon about 255,000 men (out of a population of 2,912,000 people) with about 228 guns, grouped in 10 infantry divisions, two independent brigades and a cavalry division, under the effective command of the former War Minister Radomir Putnik. The Serbian High Command, in its pre-war wargames, had concluded that the likeliest site of the decisive battle against the Ottoman Vardar Armywould be on the Ovče Pole plateau, before Skopje. Hence, the main forces were formed in three armies for the advance towards Skopje, while a division and an independent brigade were to cooperate with the Montenegrins in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar.
The First Army (132,000 men) was commanded by General Petar Bojović, and was the strongest in number and force, forming the center of the drive towards Skopje. The Second Army (74,000 men) was commanded by General Stepa Stepanović, and consisted of one Serbian and one Bulgarian (7th Rila) division. It formed the left wing of the Army and advanced towards Stracin. The inclusion of a Bulgarian division was according to a pre-war arrangement between Serbian and Bulgarian armies, but that division ceased to obey orders of Gen. Stepanović as soon as the war began, followed only the orders of the Bulgarian High Command. The Third Army (76,000 men) was commanded by General Božidar Janković and, being the right-wing army, had the task to take Kosovo. It would then join the other armies in the expected battle at the Ovče Polje. There were two other concentrations in northwestern Serbia across the Serbo-Austrohungarian borders, the Ibar Army (25,000 men) under General Mihailo Živković and the Javor brigade (12,000 men) under Lt Colonel Milovoje Anđelković.
The Serbian forces operated against major part of Ottoman Western army which were located in the areas of Novi Pazar, Kosovo and northern and eastern Macedonia. Strategically the Serbian forces were divided into four independent armies and groups: Javor brigade and Ibar Army against Ottoman forces in the area of Novi Pazar, Third Army against Ottoman forces in the areas of Kosovo and Metohija, First Army against Ottoman forces in the area of northern Macedonia and Second Army (operating from the Bulgarian territory) against Ottoman forces in the area of eastern Macedonia. The decisive battle was expected to be fought in the area of northern Macedonia, more specifically in the plains of Ovče Pole, where the main forces of Ottoman Vardar Army were expected to concentrate. According to the plan of the Serbian Supreme Command, three Serbian armies (First, Second and Third) were supposed to encircle and destroy the Vardar Army in that area, with First Army advancing from the north (direction Vranje-Kumanovo-Ovče Pole ), Second Army advancing from the east (direction Kriva Palanka-Kratovo-Ovče Pole) and Third Army advancing from the north-west (direction Priština-Skopje-Ovče Pole). In the execution of this plan the main role was given to the First Army while Second Army was expected to cut of the Vardar Army's retreat route, and if necessary attack its rear and right flank. The main goal of Third Army was to take Kosovo and Metohija and if necessary give assistance to the First Army by attacking the Vardar Army's left flank and rear. Ibar Army and the Javor brigade had a minor role in the Serbian plan, they were expected to secure the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and replace Third Army in Kosovo after advancing farther south.
The Serbian Army under General (later Marshal) Putnik dealt three decisive victories in Vardar Macedonia, its primary objective in the war, effectively destroying the Ottoman forces in the region and conquering north Macedonia. They also helped the Montenegrins to take the Sandžak and sent two divisions to help the Bulgarians at the siege of Edirne.
The last battle for Macedonia was the battle of Monastir, in which the remains of the Ottoman Vardar Army were forced to retreat to central Albania. After the battle, Prime Minister Pasic asked Gen. Putnik to take part in the race for Thessaloniki. Putnik declined and instead turned his army to the west, towards Albania, foreseeing that a future confrontation between the Greeks and Bulgarians over Thessaloniki could greatly help Serbia's own plans over Vardar Macedonia.
After the Great Powers applied pressure on them, the Serbs started to withdraw from northern Albania and the Sandžak, although they left behind their heavy artillery park to help the Montenegrins in the continuing siege of Shkodër. On 23 April 1913 Scutari's garrison was forced to surrender due to starvation.
The Kingdom of Serbia was one of the main parties in the Balkan Wars during the early twentieth century. Serbia, victorious in two Balkan wars, gained significant territorial areas of the Central Balkans and almost doubled its territory. During the Balkan Wars of 1912, most of Kosovo was taken from the Ottoman Empire by the Kingdom of Serbia while the region of Metohija was taken by the Kingdom of Montenegro. Over the centuries, populations of ethnic Serbs and muslims Albanians tended to shift following territorial handovers. As a result of the multi-ethnic composition of Kosovo, the new administrations provoked a mixed response from the local population. Whilst Albanians did not welcome Serbian rule,the non-Albanian population in Kosovo (largely Serb but other Slavic ethnicities too) considered this a liberation.
After the First Balkan War of 1912, Kosovo was internationally recognised as a part of Serbia and northern Metohija as a part of Montenegro at the Treaty of London in May 1913.
Great Serb Migrations
The First Serbian Migration occurred during the Great Turkish War under Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević, and came as a result of the Habsburg retreat from Ottoman territories in the Balkans, which were temporarily held by the Habsburgs between 1689 and 1692. The Second Serbian Migration took place in 1737–1739 under the Patriarch of Peć, Arsenije IV Jovanović, also parallel with the Habsburg withdrawal from territories that they held in the Balkans, which between 1718 and 1739 were known as the Kingdom of Serbia and Banat of Temeswar.
The influx of Serbs to the Habsburg Monarchy, constant since the fall of Serbian Despotate in the late 15th century, gained more momentum following the Statuta Valachorum act of 1630, by which the Habsburgs encouraged their settlement in the Military Krajina region.
In 1690, Emperor Leopold I allowed the refugees gathered on the banks of the Sava and Danube in Belgrade to cross the rivers (and to settle in Habsburg Monarchy), he recognized Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević as their spiritual leader. The Emperor had recognized the Patriarch as deputy-voivode (civil leader of the migrants), which over time developed into the etymology of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina (this origin of the name of Vojvodina is related to the fact that patriarch Čarnojević and subsequent religious leaders of Serbs in the Habsburg Monarchy had jurisdiction over all Serbs in the Habsburg Monarchy, including Serbs of Vojvodina, and that Serbs of Vojvodina accepted the idea of a separate Serbian voivodeship in this area, which they managed to create in 1848).
In 1694, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor appointed Arsenije III Čarnojević as the head of the newly established Orthodox Church in the Monarchy.
The patriarchal right of succession was secured by the May Assembly of the Serbian people in Karlovci in 1848, following the proclamation of Serbian Vojvodinaduring the Serbian revolution in Habsburg lands 1848-49. Serbs received privileges from the Emperor, which guaranteed them national and religious singularity, as well as a corpus of rights and freedoms in the Habsburg Monarchy.
Most of the Serbs from this migration settled in the territory of present-day Hungary, while smaller part of them settled in the territory of present-day Croatia and present-day north-western Vojvodina (the rest of Vojvodina was still under Ottoman administration). This, however, did not result in a significant increase of existing Serb population in the territory of present-day Vojvodina. Serbs (together with Muslims) were recorded as a dominant population in Vojvodina long before the migration, i.e. in the time of Ottoman administration (16th-17th century).
Number of migrants is 35,000 to 40,000 families, between 400,000 and 500,000 people.
The influx of Serbs to the Habsburg Monarchy, constant since the fall of Serbian Despotate in the late 15th century, gained more momentum following the Statuta Valachorum act of 1630, by which the Habsburgs encouraged their settlement in the Military Krajina region.
In 1690, Emperor Leopold I allowed the refugees gathered on the banks of the Sava and Danube in Belgrade to cross the rivers (and to settle in Habsburg Monarchy), he recognized Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević as their spiritual leader. The Emperor had recognized the Patriarch as deputy-voivode (civil leader of the migrants), which over time developed into the etymology of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina (this origin of the name of Vojvodina is related to the fact that patriarch Čarnojević and subsequent religious leaders of Serbs in the Habsburg Monarchy had jurisdiction over all Serbs in the Habsburg Monarchy, including Serbs of Vojvodina, and that Serbs of Vojvodina accepted the idea of a separate Serbian voivodeship in this area, which they managed to create in 1848).
In 1694, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor appointed Arsenije III Čarnojević as the head of the newly established Orthodox Church in the Monarchy.
The patriarchal right of succession was secured by the May Assembly of the Serbian people in Karlovci in 1848, following the proclamation of Serbian Vojvodinaduring the Serbian revolution in Habsburg lands 1848-49. Serbs received privileges from the Emperor, which guaranteed them national and religious singularity, as well as a corpus of rights and freedoms in the Habsburg Monarchy.
Most of the Serbs from this migration settled in the territory of present-day Hungary, while smaller part of them settled in the territory of present-day Croatia and present-day north-western Vojvodina (the rest of Vojvodina was still under Ottoman administration). This, however, did not result in a significant increase of existing Serb population in the territory of present-day Vojvodina. Serbs (together with Muslims) were recorded as a dominant population in Vojvodina long before the migration, i.e. in the time of Ottoman administration (16th-17th century).
Number of migrants is 35,000 to 40,000 families, between 400,000 and 500,000 people.
Main territory settled by Serbs during the Great Serb migration in 1690 (represented with blue colour)
Arsenije III Čarnojević, Patriarch of Habsburg Serbs, leader of the First Great Serb migration
The fall of the Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia (1718–1739) to the Ottomans triggered the Second Serb migration into the (rest of the) Habsburg Monarchy.
The Second Serb migration from 1739 was of much smaller extent than the first one from 1690 and most of the refugees from the second migration settled in Syrmia.
The Second Serb migration from 1739 was of much smaller extent than the first one from 1690 and most of the refugees from the second migration settled in Syrmia.
Arsenije IV Jovanović Šakabenta, leader of the Second Great Serb migration