It was one of the smaller and newer nations of Europe in 1914, and it was one of the first
two that went to war that year, though that war spiraled within days into a world war,
but what was going on there before the war?
Let’s take a look at Serbia.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great war special episode about Serbia before the First
World War.
Serbia had been part of the Ottoman Empire for centuries as the 19th century began, but
outlaw ex Janissaries - the elite Ottoman infantry - took control of large parts of
Serbia.
Their rule was far more brutal than that of the Sultan, and involved a suspension of the
rights the Serbs had enjoyed within the empire.
This led to the First Serbian Uprising in 1804, under the leadership of Karadjordje
- Black George.
The Serbs took big chunks of the country, set up a new government, and got rid of Janissary
repression.
This uprising lasted until 1813, but the Serbs had had Russian support, and they lost this
when the Russo-Turkish War ended and the Ottomans then invaded with over 200,000 soldiers.
There was now new repression as revenge for rebellion.
This didn’t last long, as the Second Serbian Uprising began in 1815.
The leader now was Milos Obrenovic, and though there were pitched battles, this uprising
had a more diplomatic character.
This resulted in limited Serbian autonomy within the empire, as the Principality of
Serbia was created with Obrenovic as the first modern Prince.
Black George returned from exile in 1817 to try a new uprising, and Obrenovic, who did
not want a return to war, ordered George’s execution.
This began a division in Serbian society that would last for 100 years between the Karadjordjevic
and Obrenovic dynasties.
Feudalism was abolished in the early 1830s and the first Serbian constitution, though
not officially recognized, was still one of the most modern in Europe and was passed in
1835.
In all this time of political struggle for independence, Serbia also went through a cultural
and educational evolution.
The language was reformed and simplified with a new Cyrillic alphabet, dozens of schools
were established, and the cultural elite enjoyed a great reputation in places like Vienna.
The capital was moved to Belgrade in 1841, during the rule of the young Prince Mihailo
Obrenovic, but he was deposed just a year later and Alexander Karadjordjevic, the son
of Black George, became Prince.
His reign was marked by the introduction of a standing army and the establishment of the
first Serbian industrial plants.
Alexander’s unpopularity grew though and in 1858 he was deposed, succeeded by old Milos
Obrenovic until his death in 1860 and once again Mihailo Obrenovic.
He introduced the first official Serbian army of 90,000 men, created the ministerial council,
and pushed for the complete independence of Serbia.
In 1867, Sultan Abdul Aziz orders the withdrawal of all Ottoman troops from Serbia, and decrees
that in Serbia the Serbian and Ottoman flags should fly beside each other.
Mihailo was assassinated the following year, though, and was succeeded by his 14 year old
cousin Milan, who himself survived two assassination attempts before he turned 18 and officially
took power from a tripartite governorship.
An uprising by Serbs in Herzegovina in 1875, which spread to Bosnia, eventually led to
Milan, under public pressure, declaring war on the Ottomans in 1876.
Montenegro soon joined in.
The First Serbo-Turkish war had as its goal the liberation of all parts of the Balkans
where Serbs lived under Ottoman rule.
Serbia was forced to sign an armistice in 1877, but two months later Russia launched
a war against the Ottomans.
So a few months after that the Second Serbo-Turkish War began.
The Ottomans were defeated in February 1878, but the Treaty of San Stefano gave the bulk
of the territory taken by the Russians to the Bulgarians.
The Congress of Berlin in July 1878, however, resulted in Serbia’s official independence
as its own nation.
I gotta point out though, that neither Serbia nor Bulgaria were really satisfied with the
Congress decisions, and the Bosnian question will fall under the Austro-Hungarian sphere
of interest.
Also of note here is that during those wars all four future World War One Serbian Field
Marshals - Stepanovic, Bojovic, Misic, and Putnik - received their baptism of fire.
Anyhow, Milan visits St. Petersburg, where he finds himself not especially welcome, and
then Vienna, where he shifts his policy toward Austria and Western Europe.
With Emperor Franz Josef’s personal support, Serbia is declared a kingdom in 1882 with
Milan as the first Serbian king since the Middle Ages.
But his cozying up to Austria-Hungary and his seizure of weapons from the local population
made him unpopular to a lot of people, and new political parties- the radicals, liberals,
and progressives- immediately sprang up.
His popularity reached a new low in 1885 after the Serbo-Bulgarian war.
Unprepared, unorganized, and under the pretext that Bulgaria was violating the Berlin Congress
by appropriating Eastern Rumelia- which was kinda true- Milan suddenly attacked Bulgaria,
which surprised even many of his mobilized forces, who thought they were to fight the
Ottomans again.
The Serbian army was defeated, the European powers intervened, and the status quo was
maintained.
Milan is forced to abdicate in favor of his son Alexander in 1889, leaving the country
to the new Radicals Constitution, which relied on western democratic ideals.
Alexander is underage, so a governorship made up of Milan’s personal friends is the official
power.
The 1893 Parliament elections gave an equal number of seats to the radicals and liberals
that precipitated a political crisis.
This ended bizarrely when Alexander declared himself old enough to rule and dismissed the
government.
The next ten years of his absolutist rule were very unstable, featuring coup attempts,
12 new governments, and three constitutions.
On a diplomatic level, he was quite successful though, establishing stronger relationship
with Greece and Montenegro.
Alexander’s downfall begins with his affair with Draga Mashlin, a personal servant to
his mother who is 12 years his elder.
Long story short- he proposes to her, the country turns against him, he sends his opponents
to prison, and conspirators led by Dragutin Apis enter the palace in May 1903 and kill
King Alexander and now Queen Draga.
The Obrenovic dynasty disappears and Petar Karadjordjevic takes power.
The new King Petar will still be the Serbian king during World War One.
He restores the 1888 constitution, established freedom of speech and the press, and supports
the idea of the assembly holding more power than the king.
He is popular with the people, and the radical party, led by Nikola Pasic, who were initially
against the new king, soon get along with him very well and Pasic established his own
politic in the country, which marks the end of the Austrophilic period and begins a new
nationalistic and pro-Russian period.
Serbia and Bulgaria declare a joint customs union in 1905, which angers Vienna.
Austria responds with sanctions and an embargo.
This hurts the Serbian economy, and when Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia in 1908, there is a big call
for war.
Bloodshed is avoided, but the Serbian army is modernized and reorganized, with a significant
amount of arms coming from France.
Pasic works on strengthening the Balkan Alliance against the weakening Ottoman Empire, underground
groups like the Black Hand- with Apis as one of its founder- fight for the freedom of Serbs
and Slavs in lands occupied by other powers, Young Bosnia fight for freedom against Austrian
occupation, and in 1912 the now Balkan League of Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro
begins the First Balkan War against the Ottomans.
This was initially to take Macedonia, but the Ottoman defeat was so complete the empire
lost nearly all of its European territory, the Serbs winning a famous victory at Kumanovo.
Macedonia was to be divided among the victors, but quarrels over how led to Bulgaria attacking
Greek and Serb forces in the Second Balkan War.
Bulgaria was soundly defeated and Serbia gained Kosovo and parts of north and Central Macedonia.
After those two wars Serbia finds itself with 1.5 million new inhabitants in 33,000 new
square kilometers.
A frustrated Bulgaria now turns to Austria-Hungary for support, and an also frustrated Serbia
is forced to give up its Albanian territorial claims as Albania becomes independent.
This causes tensions between Serbia and Austria to be worse than ever.
And just after all this, in June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, claimed to be a member of Young Bosnia,
shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife.
And everything that follows is history.
We want to thank Igor Lazarevic for helping with the research for this episode.
If you want to learn more about one of the Serbian field marshals, you can click right
here for our episode about Stepa Stepanovic.
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