The history of Serbia

Book abstract:

'Don't mess with the Balkans' might well have been the watchwords on the minds of most European leaders in the twentieth century, and whilst Tito led the former Yugoslavia the watchwords were generally heeded. Tito's death unleashed a groundswell of self-determination aspirations and the former constituents of Yugoslavia began a bloody confrontation, which to many Western observers seemed to fulfil the warning contained in the opening statement. It is difficult to shed the emotional baggage we may have gathered through all the recent tribulations and this work seeks to restore a level perspective to the study of Serbian history, politics, society and culture.

The author shows how the citizens of Serbia have dealt with enormous political, military and socio-economic challenges. He demonstrates the societal and cultural developments that have affected Serbia and reflected political and economic events. Following an introductory chapter on Serbia today, the author takes us on a time journey from the Ottoman Rule in the Balkans through the Wars of Independence and the revival years of Serbia 1868-1914, the death of the Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo and the Great War that followed, to the birth of Yugoslavia and its troubled early years until the invasion by the Axis powers in 1941 and the Second World War, followed by Tito's Yugoslavia and the break-up in 1989. A bloody history which modern Serbia seeks to shake off through its artists, writers, human rights campaigners, journalists, as they strive to build a civic society and a nation fit and ready to take its place in a roll call of democracies.

John K. Cox is Associate Professor of History at Wheeling Jesuit University.

Greenwood Press books are distributed in the UK by Harcourt Education.

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