Another good reason to visit serbia is Guča trumpet festival

Guča trumpet festival, also known as the Dragačevo Assembly (Serbian: Драчевски сабор or Dragačevski sabor), is an annual trumpet festival held in the town of Guča, near the city of Čačak, in the Dragačevo region of western Serbia. Guča is a five-hour bus journey from Belgrade.

300,000 visitors make their way to the town of 2,000 people every year, both from Serbia and abroad. Elimination heats earlier in the year mean only a few dozen bands get to compete. Guča’s official festival is split into three parts. Friday’s opening concert, Saturday night celebrations and Sunday’s competition. Friday’s concerts are held at the entrance to the official Guča Festival building. This event features previous winners, each orkestar getting to play three tunes while folk dancers, all kitted out in bright knitting patterns, dance kolos and oros in front of a hyped-up audience.

An English party site, ThisIsTheLife.com, has named Guča the best festival in the world.
“ Forget Glastonbury, Reading, Burning Man and Cochella: the wildest music festival on earth is a cacophonic and crazy brass band festival that takes place every summer in the tiny Serbian town of Guča in the western region of Dragačevo. ”

Said Miles Davis, a Guča Festival visitor:
“ I didn't know you could play trumpet that way ”

History

The village of Guča has gained world fame owing to its Assembly of Trumpet Players, the largest trumpet event on the planet. The love of the people of Dragačevo for music, especially for the trumpet, began in the rule of Prince Miloš Obrenović, who ordered the formation of the first military band in 1831. From then until now the trumpet has reigned here uninterrupted while woodwind instruments, in keeping with the customs, warm the soul of its population.

The sound of the trumpet traditionally accompanies every major event in Serbia's rural and small-town life: births, baptisms, weddings, Slavas {family patron saint day}, farewell parties for those joining military service, state and church festivals, harvesting, reaping, and also departing this world. Appropriate music is played on these occasions, thus preserving the spirit of the existing tradition. The music is very diverse: from indigenous melodies, via kolo {a fast-rhythm chain dance}, marches and characteristic southern Serbia čoček dances, all the way to tunes that have emerged more recently, but always taking care to honor old harmonies. This music has won over the hearts of not only the local population, but has also warmed the hearts of outsiders and foreigners. In the several days of the Guča festival, hardly anyone can resist giving themselves to the adrenalin-rushing rhythms and melodies that simply force one to jump to ones feet and dance.

The traditional Dragačevo trumpet - its cult kept alive for nearly two centuries regardless of political and social considerations - has with time become world-renowned. It is owing to the trumpet that the name of Serbia has resounded worldwide, in all the continents. Some orchestras, when they appear on stage, whether for official competition national dress, the authentic and indigenous dances and other folk-inspired elements, coupled with music, have become an integral part of national gathering. The virtuoso music performers, the trumpet players to the paradox and make the story more authentic - are for the most part fully self-taught. They play by ear and quite spontaneously, relying on their musical memory; they play from the heart and soul, and their music reaches out to listeners precisely for this quality. The Guča Assembly of Trumpet Players continues to grow year after year: today, this musical feast of recognizable national skills is more popular, more diverse and bigger than ever before.

The first Dragačevo Assembly of Trumpet Players was held on October 16, 1961 in the yard of the Church of Sts. Michael and Gabriel in Guča. Initially, it was a very modest Assembly - almost subversive for the prevailing political circumstances of that time. However, the Assembly gradually grew and expanded its, one might say, magical influence, and over the past ten or so years has become the folk remained its key symbol and raison d'etre, it is no longer held solely for the trumpet players. It grew into an Assembly of toastmasters, painters, song "Sa Ovčara i Kablara", marks the beginning of the festival each year. Some church music festivals notwithstanding, the Assembly of Trumpet Players is the best know event of this kind extending uninterruptedly for 43 years and attracting guests and musicians alike from every continent. Trumpet players and folk song and dance groups from around the world deem it a great honor to be invited to the Assembly, and the number of visitors increases with each coming year.

With considerable experience in organizing Assemblies, today the traditionally hospitable Guča has earned its place on the map of world music festivals, inviting high interest from ethno music lovers, and deservedly so. As an internationally recognized trumpet capital, and a singular corner of positive energy, a place with accumulated joy, gaiety and spontaneity, coupled with the piercing yet gentle sound of the trumpet, Guča is a place of catharsis of the heart and soul while the festival lasts. All this is more than enough to attract visitors to Guča from Mexico, Spain, Greece, Denmark, China and other countries. The names of Boban Marković, Ekrem Sajdić, Elvis Ajdinović, Fejat and Zoran Sejdić have carried the glory of the Serbian trumpet across the world.

[edit] Recent festivals

* 2001 - 2001 was the first time ever that a musician, Boban Marković, got the highest mark from every jury member. Since then, Boban decided not to compete any more. Instead he performs three or four songs as a special guest at each festival thereafter. Attending the competition this year, among other dignitaries, were Princess Katherine of Yugoslavia (from the line of Black George, to whose uprising the music can be traced), and Zoran Đinđić, the prime minister.
* 2002 - Attendance record was set in 2002, when Guča hosted in excess of 300,000 visitors.
* 2005 - A documentary about the festival was filmed at the 2005 event.
* 2006 - In 2006 every 6th visitor came from abroad, mostly from Slovenia, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria, but also from New Zealand and Australia.[citation needed] The majority of the 1500 participants of the 46th festival were Roma from around the region. Serbian brewery MB, the main sponsor of the 2006 festival, reported beer sales of 4,000 hectoliters, or more than 700,000 British pints. The event has also become lucrative for various travel agencies throughout Europe.While visiting the festival, Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica stated:

“ Guča represents in a best way what Serbia is today, what does its openness, belief in oneself, hospitality, party and music. [The] trumpet festival is a confirmation on our courage and joy both in good and bad times. It represents people’s return to the roots, joy and meaning of life. It speaks about who we are, what we are, our urges. We express our joy and sadness with [the] trumpet, we are born with sounds of [the] trumpet, and also buried with sounds of [the] trumpet. Guča is [a] Serbian brand, it’s a value that can represent Serbia in the world. Those that can’t understand and love Guča, can’t understand Serbia. If we are going to go in [the] EU without our melodies and colours, then we wouldn’t know who we are. ”

* 2007 - On 10th August was a great concert of a famous Balkan musician Goran Bregović who is known by trumpet sound and Balkan ethno music.

AND NOW SOME PICTURES FROM GUCHA























MORE PICTURES AND VIDEOS on

www.guca.co.yu

Why you should come to Serbia?

First of all you should come when is EXIT (festival). the most popular festival in
Europe.And now something about EXIT

State of EXIT) is an annual summer music festival in Petrovaradin fortress of Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia. It is staged annually since 2000 and usually lasts four days (since 2003).

Held in the picturesque setting of an eighteenth century fortress by the Danube, the festival quickly grew in stature and reputation. From its grass roots political beginnings, over to occasional problems with financing, and ending with wide praise it's lately receiving, EXIT tries to stick to its initial mission of providing relevant entertainment to Serbian youth while also bringing pertinent social topics to the forefront.

The festival was started by three University students from Novi Sad: Dušan Kovačević, Ivan Milivojev and Bojan Bošković. In 2000 and 2001 festival was organized through the Students' Union of Faculty of Technical Sciences and University of Novi Sad. In the meantime several NGO's and commercial companies have been involved into organization.

UK Festival Awards 2007, together with Yourope, the European Association of the 40 largest festivals in Europe, awarded EXIT as the Best European Festival. Public from all over the world voted for abouth a month, and among 10 festivals, EXIT won this award that is being awarded for the first time in categorie of the Best European Festival.

EXIT 00

The inaugural installment of EXIT was held over 100 days throughout the summer of 2000 on various stages set up between University of Novi Sad's Faculty of Philosophy building and the Danube's left bank. Initially the festival had a pronounced political component, representing, in effect, another form of anti-Milošević protest. Although, due to fear of regime repression, its activism was thinly veiled under the guise of merely getting the youth interested in political process, the festival's ties with Otpor and other forces pushing for the regime change were clear to all that attended.

Through multiple appearances by domestic bands like Darkwood Dub, Orthodox Celts, Eyesburn, Van Gogh, Atheist Rap, Deca loših muzičara, as well as a wide variety of art performances, the crowds were encouraged to get involved. The festival ended a couple of days before the, now historic, September 24, 2000 general federal elections, which ended up becoming the first step in the dictator's overthrow, in the sense that they provided the legal basis for Milošević's eventual forceful removal from power in the 5th October overthrow. The slogan of the festival was: "EXIT out of ten years of madness". And obvious reverence to the Milošević regime.

EXIT 01

After straightening out some issues with municipal authorities over the use of Petrovaradin fortress [1], EXIT crossed the Danube to move into the historic site. The 2001 festival (July 6 to July 14) was set as the celebration of Serbia finally being rid of Milošević, as well as of the country opening up to the world again after years of international isolation. This year's event also went under the name 'EXIT - Noise Summer Fest'.

In many ways EXIT became the new authorities' darling as different levels of government (municipal, provincial and republican) all made sure the event received plenty of funding. The presence of politicians was very heavy indeed - the festival was opened by Vojvodina provincial assembly president Nenad Čanak and Novi Sad mayor Borislav Novaković. Furthermore, in what was a truly bizarre sight, Minister of Finance Božidar Đelić and the National Bank governor Mlađan Dinkić performed a set of EKV covers before a raucous crowd. Still, not even the photo-op hungry politicians could take away from the tangible feeling of excitement. EXIT 01 was an overwhelming success.

It was cut down to the more focused and manageable nine days with foreign acts Finley Quaye, Banco de Gaia, Kosheen, Tony Allen, manCHILD, Maximum Roach, 4 Hero, etc. rocking the Main and DJ stages. Still, equally, if not more exciting for the Serbian crowds was an opportunity to again see the acts from other parts of ex-Yugoslavia like Darko Rundek, or KUD Idijoti that not too long before that started touring Serbia again after staying away for close to a decade.

This was also the year when the festival organizers started to carve out its musical profile. With the Main stage reserved for most commercially appealing acts (both foreign and domestic), they also introduced the DJ and Rock stages, clearly indicating the festival would be open to all kinds of music.

In addition to music, 2001 EXIT featured drama performances from different regional theatres, as well as workshops and socio-political roundtables discussing issues like reconciliation among the nations of former Yugoslavia.

EXIT 02

EXIT's 2002 edition (July 5 - July 13) was in many ways a repeat of the previous year, which noticeably clashed with the festival's new marketing mantra "Serbia, are you ready for the future?". Though it brought plenty of fresh DJ talents like David Morales, Darren Emerson, LTJ Bukem, Lottie, Marshall Jefferson, Erick Morillo, as well as Main stage acts like Asian Dub Foundation, Transglobal Underground, Smoke City, Blue States, etc., EXIT 02 featured too many of the already seen performers like Tony Allen, Manchild, Banco de Gaia, Darko Rundek, Roni Size, Van Gogh, and Love Hunters.

Even if attendance was impressive once again (more than 250,000 visitors over nine days), many among the crowds were somewhat disappointed by the absence of really big and relevant names. Additionally, the prevailing feeling was that nine days of non-stop festival performances inevitably water down its overall effect.

Immediately following the end of 2002 EXIT, the organizers announced a €300,000 loss for that year's event.

This led to criticism and allegations of financial mismanagement by the Democratic Party of Serbia's (DSS) Novi Sad branch. The party announced plans of pushing for the creation of special commission within the Novi Sad municipal assembly that would look into the festival's finances.[2]

EXIT 03

EXIT 03 was staged from July 3 to July 6, 2003. Organizers heeded the previous public advice by giving the festival a major organizational and conceptual makeover. It was shortened down to four days along with a new 'State of EXIT' marketing campaign. Additionally, they also did away with most of the non-musical content, marking the beginning of festival's commercial shift. This was visibly reflected in the aggressive advertising presence, of which the festival had been spared up to that point through generous government funding. Each of the seven stages had a separate sponsor, and the ticket prices went up.

Justifiably, the lineup was much more mass-audience friendly with acts like Rollins Band, Tricky, Moloko, Stereo MC's, Dirty Vegas, Chumbawamba, Soul II Soul, Shane MacGowan, Misty in Roots, Pete Tong, Tim Deluxe, Jeff Mills, Rambo Amadeus, Mizar along with old favorites Roni Size, Darren Emerson, Lottie, etc.

EXIT 04

The events leading up to EXIT 04 (July 1 - July 4, 2004) were almost as interesting as the 4-day happening itself. On June 7, three weeks before the festival's scheduled opening night, four of the organizers were arrested for embezzlement. The specific charge was "defrauding the organization of 12 million dinars (around US$160,000) by doctoring official financial papers".

Two of them, suspected of assisting, were released almost immediately, while Dušan Kovačević, EXIT society president and Bojan Bošković, EXIT general manager were assigned 30-day detention to prevent them from influencing potential witnesses since they were now suspected of failing to report the actual revenue from EXIT 03 ticket sales by writing up false invoices.

The remaining EXIT team fronted by spokesperson Aleksandra Kolar vehemently denied the charges, claiming the festival was the target of political persecution. The arrests were such a big story in Serbian press that even presidential candidates who were campaigning at the time, weighed in on the controversy.

On June 15, after examining seven witnesses that confirmed the earlier police statements by Kovačević and Bošković, the duo was released after seven days of prison detention.No charges were ever pressed.

So following a rough week during which it looked like the festival might even be cancelled for the year, the event was on again. The commercialization took further root with many more in-your-face sponsors and even the omnipresent MTV coming to Petrovaradin fortress for the first time to shoot a documentary on Novi Sad and the festival, as well as to publicize a human trafficking awareness campaign. The insatiable British music press also discovered the festival, resulting in some very affirmative reviews in NME and Mojo.

EXIT 04 instituted a Balkan Fusion stage for the variety of regional acts. The Main stage was reserved for headliners Massive Attack, Soulfly, Iggy and the Stooges, Cypress Hill as well as Brand New Heavies, Goldfrapp, The Wailers, Peaches, Rambo Amadeus, Partibrejkers, Darkwood Dub, Obojeni program, Adam Freeland, 4 Hero, Neneh Cherry, and especially reunited for-one-night-only 1980s Novi Sad favourites Luna.

The DJ stage featured some big names like Timo Maas, Sander Kleinenberg, Roger Sanchez, Howie B, X-Press 2, Ken Ishii, etc., while the aforementioned Balkan stage saw the return of new-look Kanda, Kodža i Nebojša after a 3-year absence, and a memorable set by perhaps the most unlikely EXIT participant ever - Zvonko Bogdan.

EXIT 05

In 2005 (July 7 to July 10), EXIT received a further media boost when BBC Radio 1 announced it would be covering the festival live. With a DJ crew of Annie Mac, Annie Nightingale, Gilles Peterson, and Fabio descending upon Novi Sad, British listeners as well as the BBC's worldwide audience were able to hear live broadcasts from the festival site. MTV also returned for the second year in a row.

In addition to great music, EXIT 05 featured a lot of 'politics' both in the lead up and during actual festival days. In many ways this was anticipated since in September 2004, Serbian Radical Party (SRS) candidate Maja Gojković got elected as mayor of Novi Sad. Seeing that EXIT has the reputation of an internationalist (some of its opponents would say pro-Western) gathering, many expected problems from a party like SRS which is staunchly nationalist and traditional. There was even talk of moving the festival to Belgrade. Many feared additional cutbacks and obstacles imposed by the Novi Sad city authority, especially when it comes to always contentious issues like municipal funding or fortress usage, but, perhaps surprisingly, no skullduggery occurred whatsoever. On the contrary, EXIT director Dušan Kovačević and mayor Maja Gojković even signed a 1-year 'cooperation protocol' in late March 2005, stipulating the city's financial commitment to the festival in the amount of thirteen million dinars (around US$155,000).

In a bizarre twist, this immediately drew ire from some leftist NGOs as well as left-wing politicians like, currently out of power, former president of Vojvodina provincial assembly Nenad Čanak who blasted the EXIT organizers for being "money hungry". He also added: "it's finally obvious EXIT is not a festival that promotes anti-war, anti-nationalist politics nor does it uphold democratic and European values" and even stated he's now sorry he took part in the festival's opening ceremonies back in 2001.

Kovačević rubbished such claims, while EXIT general manager Bojan Bošković objected to cameras and journalists being present at the protocol signing, which in his opinion gave SRS unwarranted free publicity.

There was no shortage of problems once the event started, either. A twenty seven year old festival goer was found dead in his tent at the EXIT temporary camp along Danube's right bank near the fortress. The cause of death was drug overdose.

Also, the organizers' idea to commemorate some painful events from recent Balkans' history didn't exactly go according to plan. Their initial intention was to dedicate a minute of silence to victims of Srebrenica Massacre at the stroke of midnight between the festival's last day and July 11 early morning - Srebrenica's tenth anniversary. However, after crowd commotion on one of the smaller stages during the Dubioza kolektiv set couple of days before, when this band consisting of Bosnian Muslims played a collage of Srebrenica-related soundbites by Serbian politicians on the screen behind them, provoking the mostly Serbian crowd into pelting the performers on stage with plastic water bottles, as well as continuous pressure from far-right SRS that objected to what it saw to be glorification of Bosnian Muslim victims of war over Bosnian Serb ones, the organizers scrapped the minute of silence fearing more crowd trouble. Instead, they announced plans to play the song 'I Saved the World Today' by Annie Lennox as a way to remember all victims with different video beams around the festival site showing a message of peace "Standing here ten years later, let's promise our children, our children's grandchildren as well as the children of our children's grandchildren that Srebrenica, Bratunac, Vukovar, Operation 'Storm', Ahmići, Đakovica, Staro Gacko will not be repeated. Never again!"

But even that plan was abandoned on suggestions from local police after few earlier bomb threats that turned out to be false. The final decision was left up to the festival organizers and they decided the possible threat of security trouble was just too big. This drew even more ire from left-wing circles of Serbian society that basically accused the organizers of completely selling out.

Afterwards, mayor Maja Gojković also revealed she received anonymous threats ordering her to "stay away from the fortress during the festival, or else".[12]

As for the music itself, the lineup was by far the strongest ever. With headliners Apocalyptica, Garbage, The White Stripes, and Fatboy Slim, hugely popular Ladytron, Slayer, Underworld, Ian Brown, The Datsuns, Carl Cox, Felix da Housecat, DJ Marky & DJ Patife, 2 Many DJs, Sasha, and regional favourites Edo Maajka, Disciplin A Kitschme, Laibach, etc., the crowds were treated to some truly diverse music. Unfortunately, the weather often didn't cooperate, twice forcing the festival to come to a complete stop due to torrential rain, but nothing could dampen the crowd's enthusiasm.

More than 150,000 people passed through the fortress' gates over four days. For the first time since its inception, EXIT saw a large foreign (outside of former Yugoslavia) presence. Over one thousand Britons attended, which was the result of extremely cheap admission tickets for an average Westerner as well as positive reviews the festival has been getting in British press.

EXIT 06

EXIT 06 took place July 6 - July 9, 2006.

The headliners on the main stage were Franz Ferdinand, Morrissey, Billy Idol, Pet Shop Boys, The Cardigans, The Cult, Dizzee Rascal, HIM and Scissor Sisters. Dance Arena performers included Dave Clarke, David Guetta, Derrick May, Eric Prydz, Hernan Cattaneo, James Zabiela, Jeff Mills, Junior Jack, Layo and Bushwacka, Nick Warren, Simian Mobile Disco and Steve Angello. Other artists that were playing on EXIT 06 are Suzanne Vega, Darkwood Dub, Siddharta, Eyesburn, Moonspell, Madball, The Beat Fleet, Dog Eat Dog, Partibrejkers, Obojeni program, and Rambo Amadeus. The festival was closed in total euphoria by Kiril Džajkovski.

EXIT 06 had 22 stages with more than 600 performers in total: Main Stage - the main festival ground; Dance Arena - former DJ Arena, the 2nd biggest stage reserved for electronic music; Fusion stage - stage reserved for performers coming from South-Eastern Europe; World Music stage - World and ethno music; Happynovisad stage - second-in-size electronic music stage; Hip-Hop stage - new stage as of 2006 reserved for hip-hop performers; Future Shock stage - unknown bands have a chance to get heard on this stage; Metal stage - metal, hard rock and punk stage with a capacity of 5,000; DJ Super Star stage; Café del Danube stage; Roots & Flowers stage; SUS stage; Elektrana stage; MTV Free Your Mind stage; Positive Vibration stage; Latino stage; Reggae stage and also smaller stages: Agora stage; Stripanziva stage; Cinema stage; VIP stage and Crossroad stage.

The festival saw a large foreign contingent, mostly from the UK, Ireland and Germany, accounting for 27% of the total visitors' number of over 150,000. The most attended performance was the one of Billy Idol with around 45,000 spectators according to the festival sources.

Visitors could watch the World Cup finals on big screens that were placed around the fortress.

In mid-April 2006, EXIT organizers signed a contract with mayor Maja Gojković stipulating terms of a 3-year cooperation commitment on the part of Novi Sad municipal government. Olli Rehn, EU Commissioner for Enlargement, visited the festival opening ceremony and he held a speech about European visas.

[edit] EXIT 07

EXIT 07 was held from July 12 to July 15, 2007. It was attended by 190,000 people, with more than half being foreigners. Most came away from the festival with positive opinions regarding the festival and Serbia. [1]

On November 9, 2006, EXIT organizers and Serbian Ministry of Finance signed a support protocol ensuring the Ministry's minimum commitment of 30 million dinars (around €380,000) in each of the next four years (2007 - 2010) towards the festival's annual operating costs.[13] Present at the public signing were the outgoing Minister of Finance Mlađan Dinkić, EXIT co-founder Bojan Bošković, as well as performers Rambo Amadeus and Obojeni program's frontman Kebra. Noticeably absent was the festival's other co-founder Dušan Kovačević.

On the same day it became known that Kovačević filed a lawsuit against Udruženje Exit as a whole, and specifically against its members Bojan Bošković, Ivan Milivojev and Vladan Joler, as well as Internet providers Neobee and Verat, naming them all as parties in the alleged illegal re-registration of exitfest.org, the Internet domain under Bošković's name. Kovačević accused Bošković of initiating this without his permission and is seeking RSD40 million in damages (around €500,000).[14]

In the meantime, Bošković and president of Vojvodina's government Bojan Pajtić signed a protocol about "Winter EXIT" series of club dates, which took place from January 5 until January 20 as a club tour of several Serbian acts throughout six cities in Vojvodina. For this project, the government spent about €50,000.[2]

On January 19, a well established production company 'Komuna' made a public offer to the EXIT team in regards to the festival's organizational and operating costs in the next five years but the offer was rejected.[3]

Performers on the Main Stage were (in order of appearance): Tanya Stephens, Robert Plant and Strange Sensation, The Prodigy, Groove Armada, Stanton Warriors and MC Wreck, Overflow, The Pipettes, Cansei de Ser Sexy, Beastie Boys, Zinc b2b Friction and Dynamite MC, Dubioza Kolektiv, Lauryn Hill, Basement Jaxx, Snoop Dogg, LTJ Bukem and MC Conrad, Mala Vita, Van Gogh, Audio Bullys, Wu-Tang Clan, Pendulum DJ set with MC Verse, and finally Tayo DJ Set

Performers on the Dance Arena were (in order of appearance): Marko Milosavljević, Deepchild, Trentemøller, Green Velvet, Richie Hawtin, Magda, Dee Face, Serge Santiago, 20:20 Soundsystem, Paul Woolford, Danny Tenaglia, Nick Fanciulli, Ivan Mastermix, Hannah Holland, Buraka Som Sistema, Frankie Knuckles, Roger Sanchez, Justin Martin, Noise Destruction, Dejan Milićević, Sebastien Leger, Blackstrobe, John Digweed, Eric Prydz, Marko Nastić.

WELL JUST LOOK AT THE NAMES OF ALL THIS MUSIC STARS AND YOU WILL NOW HOW GOOD IS AT EXIT

SO DO NOT THINK. I WANT TO SEE ALL OF YOU NEXT YEAR IN NOVI SAD. A LOT OF DRINK (BEAR) AND A LOT OF GOOD ELECTRO SOUND :))))))

AND NOW PICTURES FROM EXIT























MORE PICTURE YOU CAN FIND ON OFFICIAL EXTI WEB SITE
http://www.exitfest.org/

History of Serbia

One of the first Serbian State was Rasla.Raskawas founded in the first half of 7th century on Byzantine territory by the Unknown Archot,the founder of the House of Vlastimirovic,it envolved into the Serbian Empire under the House of Nemanjic.In the modern era Serbia has been an autonomous principality (1817-1879),an independent principality and kingdom as the Kingdom of Serbia in period of 1878-1918),part of the Kingdom of the Serbs,Croats and Slovenes in period after First World War till start of Second World War.Name of country was changed in 1929 in Kingdom of Yugoslavia. A Nazi occupied puppet stat (1941-1944),a socialist republic within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945-1992),a republic within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992-2003),and a republic within the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006),before proclaming independence as the Republic of Serbia on June 5, 2006.

MEDIEVAL SERBIA,7th - 14th CENTURY

The Serbs entered their present territory early in the 7th century setting in six distinct tribal delimitations:
- Raska
- Bosnia
- Duklja or Zeta
- Zahumlje
- Travunija
- Paganija

The first entry point was at Stari Vlah in Serbia.The first recorded Serb princes were Viseslav,Radoslav,Prosigoj,and Vlastimir.By that time,the country had enirely accepted Christianity.In Zeta,today's Montenegro,King Mihailo was crowned by the Pope in 1077.At this time,Serbs were Catholics as well as Ortodox.Due to Serbia's location on the Theodosian line.King Mihailo also obtained from the Pope the title of Archbishop for the city of Bar. With this act, the Serbs managed to achieve religious independence. His son, Konstantin Bodin, claimed the throne in 1080, and ruled until his death in 1101. The rulers kept changing and the country accepted supreme protection from the Byzantine Empire rather than from Bulgaria.Serbia was freed from the Byzantine Empire a century later.

Serbs have not been united since the Middle Ages. The nation was split into several states, which were at times independent but at other times united. The names of those states were Duklja (Zeta), Zahumlje (today's Hercegovina, with the city Dubrovnik), Travunija (Trebinje, part of today's Bosnia and Croatia), Pagania (today's eastern Dalmatia with the Islands), Bosna (Bosnia) and Rascia (today's Sandžak). Eventually Rascia emerged as the strongest and took the name Serbia instead. The first Serb-organized state emerged under Časlav Klonimirović in the mid-10th century in Rascia. The first half of the 11th century saw the rise of the Vojislavljevic family in Zeta.Marked by disintegration and crises,it lasted until the end of 12th century.

After a struggle for the throne with his brothers, Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, rose to power in 1166 and started renewing the Serbian state in the Raska region. Sometimes with the sponsorship of Byzantium, and sometimes opposing it, the veliki župan ('Grand Župan', a Slavic title, then equivalent to the rank of prince) Stefan Nemanja expanded his state by seizing territories in the east and south, and newly annexed the littoral and the Zeta region. Along with his governmental efforts, the veliki zupan dedicated much care to the construction of monasteries. His endowments include the Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery and the Studenica Monastery in the Raška region, and the Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos. The Nemanjići led Serbia to a golden age which produced a powerful state with its apogee under Tsar Stefan Dušan in the mid-14th century, before finally succumbing to the Ottoman Empire (with Zeta, the last bastion, finally falling in 1499).



Stefan Nemanja was succeeded by his middle son Stefan II, whilst his first-born, Vukan, was given the rule of the Zeta region (present-day Montenegro). Stefan Nemanja's youngest son Rastko became a monk and took the name of Sava, turning all his efforts to spreading Christianity among his people. Since the Curia already had ambitions to spread its influence to the Balkans as well, Stefan Prvovenčani of Serbia used these propitious circumstances to obtain his crown from the Pope Honorius III, thus becoming the first Serbian king in 1217. He was actually only the first Serbian King to come from Rascia, because the first Serbian king was King Mihailo (1077) from Zeta. In the Byzantine Empire, his brother Sava managed to secure the autocephalous status for the Serbian Church and became the first Serbian orthodox archbishop in 1219. Thus, the Serbs acquired both forms of independence: temporal and religious.



The next generation of Serbian rulers - the sons of Stefan Prvovenčani - Radoslav, Vladislav and Uroš I, marked a period of stagnation of the state structure. All three kings were more or less dependent on some of the neighboring states - Byzantium, Bulgaria or Hungary. Hungary's ties played a decisive role in his son's Dragutin succession to the throne because of his son's marriage to a Hungarian princess. Later when Dragutin abdicated in favor of his younger brother Milutin (in 1282), the Hungarian king Ladislaus IV gave him lands in northeastern Bosnia, the region of Mačva, and the city of Belgrade, whilst he managed to conquer and annex lands in northeastern Serbia. Thus, some of these territories became part of the Serbian state for the first time. His new state was named Kingdom of Srem. In that time the name Srem was a designation for two territories: Upper Srem (present day Srem) and Lower Srem (present day Mačva). Kingdom of Srem under the rule of Stefan Dragutin was actually Lower Srem, but some historical sources mention that Stefan Dragutin also ruled over Upper Srem and Slavonia. After Dragutin died (in 1316), new ruler of the Kingdom of Srem became his son, king Vladislav II, which ruled this state until 1325.

Under the rule of Dragutin's younger brother — Milutin, Serbia grew stronger in spite of the fact that it had to fight wars on three different fronts occasionally. King Milutin was an apt diplomat much inclined to the use of customary medieval diplomatic expedients — dynastic marriages. He was married five times, with Hungarian, Bulgarian and Byzantine princesses. He is also famous for building churches, some of which are the brightest examples of medieval Serbian architecture: the Gračanica monastery in Kosovo, the Cathedral in Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos, the St Archangel Church in Jerusalem etc. Because of his endowments, King Milutin has been proclaimed a saint, in spite of his tumultuous life. He was succeeded on the throne by his son Stefan, later dubbed Stefan Dečanski. The kingdom spread to the east by conquering the town of Niš and the surrounding counties, and to the south by acquiring territories in Macedonia. Stefan Dečanski was worthy of his father and built the Visoki Dečani Monastery in Metohia — the most monumental example of Serbian medieval architecture — that earned him his nickname.

Medieval Serbia enjoyed a high political, economic, and cultural reputation in Europe. It was one of the few states that did not practice the feudal order. Medieval Serbia reached its apex in the mid-14th century, during the rule of Tzar Stefan Dušan. This is the period of the Dušanov Zakonik (Dušan's Code, 1349), a juridical achievement unique among the European states of the time. Tzar Dušan opened new trade routes and strengthened the state's economy. Serbia flourished, featuring one of the most evolved countries and cultures in Europe. Some of Serbia's greatest Medieval arts were created during this period, most notably St. Sava's Nomocanon. Dušan doubled the size of his kingdom seizing territories to the south, southeast and east at the expense of Byzantium and conquered almost the entire of today's Greece without Peloponnesia and the islands. After he conquered the city of Ser, he was crowned as the Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks by the first Serbian Patriarch in 1346. Before his sudden death, Stefan Dušan tried to organize a Crusade with the Pope against the threatening Turks. Unfortunately, he died in December 1355 at the age 47. Modern abduction of the emperor's body revealed that he was poisoned. He was succeeded by his son Uroš, called the Weak, a term that might also apply to the state of the kingdom slowly sliding into feudal anarchy. This was a period marked by the rise of a new threat: the Ottoman Turk sultanate which, gradually spread from Asia to Europe conquering Byzantium first and then the remaining Balkans states.



TURKISH CONQUEST

Two of the most powerful barons in the Serbian Empire, Mrnjavčević brothers, gathered a great army to fight and push back the Turks. They marched into Turkish territory in 1371 to attack the enemy but they were too confident in themselves. They built an overnight camp near the river Maritsa at Chermen in today's Bulgaria, and started celebrating and getting drunk. During the night, a detachment of Turkish forces attacked the drunken Serbian knights and drove them back to the river. Most of the Serbs were either drowned or killed, thereby annihilating the Serbian army that was gathered from southern states. The event eventually become known as Battle of Maritsa.


("A Portrait of the Evangelist", a miniature from the Radoslav Gospel (1429).)

Serbs heavily defeated Turks in Battle of Plocnik in 1386.The most famous Serbian knight Milos Obilic was wounded by arrow in battle. The Battle of Kosovo was a turning point in the war. Vassal troops commanded by Prince Lazar, the strongest regional ruler in Serbia at the time, killed Turkish sultan Murad I but suffered a defeat, due to the legendary "sudden departure" of Vuk Branković's troops. The Battle of Kosovo defined the fate of Serbia, because after it no force capable of standing up to the Turks existed. Kosovo as a whole was taken by the Ottomans in the coming years whereby the Serbian realm was moved northwards. That unstable period was marked by the rule of Prince Lazar's son, despot Stefan Lazarević, a true European-style knight a military leader as well as a poet, and his cousin Đurađ Branković, who moved the capital north to the newly built fortified town of Smederevo. The Turks continued their conquest until they finally seized the entire northern Serbian territory in 1459 when Smederevo fell into their hands. Only free Serbian territories were parts of Bosnia and Zeta, but they lasted only until 1496. The present-day Serbian territory would be ruled by the Ottoman Empire for the next four centuries.

From the 14th century onward an increasing number of Serbs began migrating to the north to the region today known as Vojvodina, which was under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary in that time. 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 performed an attempt of the restoration of the Serbian state. In the Battle of Mohács on August 29, 1526, Ottoman Turkey destroyed the army of Hungarian-Czech 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 Mohács, 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 ephemeral independent state, with city of Subotica as its capital. At the pitch of his power, Jovan Nenad crowned himself in Subotica for 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.


(Seoba Srbalja (The Moving of Serbs), a picture by Paja Jovanović)

MODERN SERBIA

Serbia gained its autonomy from the Ottoman Empire in two uprisings in 1804 (led by Đorđe Petrović - Karađorđe) and 1815 (led by Miloš Obrenović), although Turkish troops continued to garrison the capital, Belgrade, until 1867. The Turkish Empire was already faced with a deep internal crisis without any hope of recuperating. This had a particularly hard effect on the Christian nations living under its rule. The Serbs launched not only a national revolution but a social one as well and gradually Serbia started to catch up with the European states with the introduction of the bourgeois society values. Resulting from the uprisings and subsequent wars against the Ottoman Empire, the independent Principality of Serbia was formed and granted international recognition in 1878. Serbia was a principality or kneževina (knjaževina), between 1817 and 1882, and a kingdom between 1882 and 1918, during which time the internal politics revolved largely around dynastic rivalry between the Obrenović and Karađorđević families.

This period was marked by the alternation of two dynasties descending from Đorđe Petrović — Karađorđe, leader of the First Serbian Uprising and Miloš Obrenović, leader of the Second Serbian Uprising. Further development of Serbia was characterized by general progress in economy, culture and arts, primarily due to a wise state policy of sending young people to European capitals to get an education. They all brought back a new spirit and a new system of values. One of the external manifestations of the transformation that the former Turkish province was going through was the proclamation of the Kingdom of Serbia in 1882.


(Karađorđe Petrović, leader of Serbian uprising in 1804)

During the Revolutions of 1848, the Serbs in the Austrian Empire proclaimed Serbian autonomous province known as Serbian Vojvodina. By a decision of the Austrian emperor, in November 1849, this province was transformed into the Austrian crown land known as the Vojvodina of Serbia and Tamiš Banat (Dukedom of Serbia and Tamiš Banat). Against the will of the Serbs, the province was abolished in 1860, but the Serbs from the region gained another opportunity to achieve their political demands in 1918. Today, this region is known as Vojvodina.

In the second half of 19th century, Serbia gained statehood as the Kingdom of Serbia. It thus became part of the constellation of European states and the first political parties were founded, thus giving new momentum to political life. The coup d'état in 1903, bringing Karađorđe's grandson to the throne with the title of King Petar I opened the way for parliamentary democracy in Serbia. Having received a European education, this liberal king translated "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill and gave his country a democratic constitution. It initiated a period of parliamentary government and political freedom interrupted by the outbreak of the liberation wars. The Balkan wars 1912–13, terminated the Turkish domination in the Balkans. Turkey was pushed back towards the Bosporus, and national Balkan states were created in the territories it withdrew from.



SERBIA IN WORLD WAR I

The June 28, 1914 assassination of Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, by Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia and one of several (seven) assassins organized by The Black Hand (Crna Ruka), served as a pretext for the Austrian declaration of war on Serbia, marking the beginning of World War I, despite Serbia's acceptance (on July 25) of nearly all of Austria-Hungary's demands (they refused to hand over the assassin to Austria). The Serbian Army defended the country and won several victories, but it was finally overpowered by the forces of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, and had to withdraw from the national territory marching across the Albanian mountain ranges to the Adriatic Sea. On 16 August Serbia was promised by the Entente the territories of Srem, Bačka, Baranja, eastern Slavonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and eastern Dalmatia as a reward after the war. Having recuperated on Corfu the Serbian Army returned to combat on the Thessaloniki front together with other Entente forces comprising France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy and the United States. In World War I, Serbia had 1,264,000 casualties — 28% of its 4½m population, which also represented 58% of its male population — a loss from which it never fully recovered.


(Kingdom of Serbia in 1913)

THE KINGDOM OF YUGOSLAVIA

A successful Allied offensive in September 1918 secured first Bulgaria's surrender and then the liberation of the occupied Serbian territories (November 1918). On November 25, the Assembly of Serbs, Bunjevci, and other nations of Vojvodina in Novi Sad voted to join the region to Serbia. Also, on November 29 the National Assembly of Montenegro voted for union with Serbia, and two days later an assembly of leaders of Austria–Hungary's southern Slav regions voted to join the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.

With the end of World War I and the collapse of both the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires the conditions were met for proclaiming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in December 1918. The Yugoslav ideal had long been cultivated by the intellectual circles of the three nations that gave the name to the country, but the international constellation of political forces and interests did not permit its implementation until then. However, after the war, idealist intellectuals gave way to politicians, and the most influential Croatian politicians opposed the new state right from the start. However, what pushed the Kingdom into crisis was when a Serb representative opened fire on the opposition benches in the Parliament, killing two outright and mortally wounding the leader of the Croatian Peasants Party, Stjepan Radić in 1928.

Taking advantage of the resulting crisis, King Alexander I banned national political parties in 1929, assumed executive power, and renamed the country Yugoslavia. He hoped to curb separatist tendencies and mitigate nationalist passions. However, the balance of power changed in international relations: in Italy and Germany, Fascists and Nazis rose to power, and Stalin became the absolute ruler in the Soviet Union. None of these three states favored the policy pursued by Alexander I. The first two wanted to revise the international treaties signed after World War I, and the Soviets were determined to regain their positions in Europe and pursue a more active international policy. Yugoslavia was an obstacle for these plans, and King Aleksandar I was the pillar of the Yugoslav policy.

During an official visit to France in 1934, the king was assassinated in Marseille by a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization — an extreme nationalist organization in Bulgaria that had plans to annex territories along the eastern and southern Yugoslav border — with the cooperation of the Ustaše — a Croatian fascist separatist organization. The international political scene in the late 1930s was marked by growing intolerance between the principal figures, by the aggressive attitude of the totalitarian regimes, and by the certainty that the order set up after World War I was losing its strongholds and its sponsors were losing their strength. Croatian leader Vlatko Maček and his party managed to extort the creation of the Croatian banovina (administrative province) in 1939. The agreement specified that Croatia was to remain part of Yugoslavia, but it was hurriedly building an independent political identity in international relations.


(De facto borders of Serbia on November 30, 1918.)

SERBIA IN WORLD WAR II

In the pretext to WW II, Prince Regent Paul signed a treaty with Hitler (as did Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary). However, a popular uprising amongst the people rejected this agreement and Prince Regent Paul was sent to exile. King Peter II assumed full royal duty.

Thus the beginning of the 1940s, Yugoslavia found itself surrounded by hostile countries. Except for Greece, all other neighboring countries had signed agreements with either Germany or Italy. Hitler was strongly pressuring Yugoslavia to join the Axis powers. The government was even prepared to reach a compromise with him, but the spirit in the country was completely different. Public demonstrations against Nazism prompted a brutal reaction.

In April 1941, the Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade and other major cities. Ground forces from Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria invaded Yugoslavia. After a brief war, Yugoslavia surrendered unconditionally. Acting upon advice and with a heavy heart, King Peter II left the country to seek Allied support. He was greeted as the hero who dared oppose Hitler. The Royal Yugoslav Governmet, the only legal body of Yugoslavia, continued to work in London. The occupying Axis powers then divided Yugoslavia up. The western parts of the country together with Bosnia and Herzegovina were turned into a Nazi puppet state called the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and ruled by the Ustashe. Serbia was set up as another puppet state under Serbian army general Milan Nedić, which was known as Nedić's Serbia. The northern territories were annexed by Hungary, and eastern and southern territories by Bulgaria. Kosovo and Metohia were mostly annexed by Albania which was under the sponsorship of fascist Italy. Montenegro also lost territories to Albania and was then occupied by Italian troops. Slovenia was divided between Germany and Italy, which also seized the islands in the Adriatic.

In Serbia, the German occupation authorities organized several concentration camps for Jews and members of the communist Partisan resistance movement as well as the royalist Chetniks who remained loyal to the King and who started a resistance movement of their own.

The biggest concentration camps were Banjica and Sajmište near Belgrade, where, according to the most conservative estimates, around 40,000 Jews were killed. In all those camps, some 90 percent of the Serbian Jewish population perished. In the Bačka region annexed by Hungary, numerous Serbs and Jews were killed in 1942 raid by the Hungarian authorities. The persecutions against ethnic Serb population also occurred in the region of Syrmia, which was controlled by the Independent State of Croatia and in the region of Banat, which was under direct German control.

The ruthless attitude of the German occupation forces and the genocidal policy of the Croatian Ustaša regime, aimed at Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and anti-Ustaša Croats, created a strong anti-fascist resistance in the NDH. Many Serbs and other nationalities stood up against the genocide and the Nazis. Many joined the Partisan forces created by the Communist Party (National Liberation Army headed by Josip Broz Tito) in the liberation and the revolutionary war against Nazis and all the others who were against communism. There was another resistance movement, namely that of royalist General Dragoljub Draza Mihailovic, which was mostly active in Serbia, and among the Serbian people in Montenegro, Bosnia, Hercegovina. The Royalists fought the Ustashe and the Communists, as well as the Germans. Thanks to the shifts of the big powers, in the end, the Communists illegally seized power in all of Yugoslavia.

During this war and after it, the Partisans killed many civilians who did not support their Communist ideals. The Communists shot people without trials, or following politically and ideologically motivated courts. It is believed that tens of thousands of people, mostly Serbs, were killed by the Communists in the first few years after the war. The Agricultural Reform conducted after the war meant that peasants had to give away most of their wheat, grain, and cattle to the state, or face serious imprisonment. Land and property were confiscated on a massive scale. Many people also lost civil rights and their names were smeared. Also, a censorship was enforced on all levels of the society and media, and a cult of Tito was created in the media.

By the end of 1944, the Red Army liberated Serbia, and by May 1945, the remaining republics were meeting up with the Allied forces in Hungary, Austria and Italy. Yugoslavia was among the countries that had the greatest losses in the war: 1,700,000 (10.8% of the population) people were killed and national damages were estimated at 9.1 billion dollars according to the prices of that period.



SERBIA IN SOCIALIST FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

Josip Broz Tito became the first president of the new — socialist — Yugoslavia, which he ruled with an iron hand. Once a predominantly agricultural country, Yugoslavia was transformed into a mid-range industrial country, and acquired an international political reputation by supporting the decolonization process and by assuming a leading role in the non-aligned movement. Socialist Yugoslavia was established as a federal state comprising of six republics, from north to south: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia and two autonomous regions within Serbia — Vojvodina and Kosovo and Metohija. Even though, for ethnic and historical reasons, autonomous regions could have been formed in almost all other republics of Yugoslavia, they were only formed in Serbia. Many saw this as the deliberate attempt of non-Serb Tito to weaken Serbia.

The basic motto of Tito's Yugoslavia was "brotherhood and unity", workers' self-management, state-owned property with minimal privately owned property. In the beginning, the country copied the Soviet model, but after the 1948 split with the Soviet Union, it turned more towards the West. Eventually, it created its own brand of socialism, with a hint of a market economy, and milked both the East and the West for significant financial loans.

The 1974 constitution produced a significantly less centralized federation, increasing the autonomy of Yugoslavia's republics as well as the autonomous provinces of Serbia. Many today see this as the actual point when things in Yugoslavia started to go downhill and when cracks began to eat the system, which would become visible some time later.

When Tito died in 1980, he was succeeded by a rotating presidency that led to a further weakening of ties between the republics. During the 1980s the republics pursued significantly different economic policies, with Western-oriented Slovenia and Croatia allowing significant market-based reforms, while Serbia kept to its existing program of state ownership. This, too, was a cause of tension between north and south, as Slovenia in particular experienced a period of strong growth. Prior to the war, inflation skyrocketed. Then, under Prime Minister Ante Markovic, things began to improve. Many say 1989 was the best year of the former Yugoslavia. Economic reforms had opened up the country, the living standard was at its peak, capitalism seemed to have entered the country and nobody thought that just a year later the first gunshots would be fired.



THE BREAK-UP OF YUGOSLAVIA

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia broke up in 1991/1992 in a series of wars following the independence of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the Macedonia left the federation peacefully. The two remaining republics of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, formed in 1992 a new federation named Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 2003 this state was transformed into the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro). After a peaceful separation, Montenegro became a sovereign state in 2006, and so did Serbia. The international rights and obligations passed to Serbia as the successor state of Yugoslavia.

All the countries of the former Yugoslavia are now believed to be democratic and in transition towards market economy, respect of human rights and potential membership in the European Union. Only the status of Kosovo remains unsolved, and presents a potential region of instability not only for Serbia, but for the wider Balkan region as well. So far, of all the countries that have emerged from Yugoslavia, only Slovenia has become a member of the European Union.

Regarding the actual causes of the breakup of Yugoslavia, this would require long and objective analyses of the truly numerous internal and external events that led to the tragedy of a once beautiful country. Such analyses do not exist at this point. Western media and politicians have proven to be extremely one-sided, and the same goes for each of the countries of the former Yugoslavia, whose relations between each other remain quite fragile, but improving.

SERBIAN INDEPENDENCE

Following Montenegro's vote for full independence in the plebiscite of May 21, 2006, Montenegro declared independence on June 3, 2006. This was followed on June 5, 2006 by Serbia's declaration of independence, marking the final dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and the re-emergence of Serbia as an independent state, under its own name, for the first time since 1918.