Map of 850
CITY AT THE CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD
Yes, it has been one of the most turbulent spots on earth. Don't fall asleep...here's a little recap of my roots....
Map of 1355
Karadjorde led the first uprising of Serbia's independence from the Ottoman Empire (not winning) then Obrenovic in 1815 led the 2nd uprising...and won in a slow step by step to create the Principality ("Knezevina" ) of Serbia,
officially recognized by the Berlin Congress in 1878. Serbia become a Kingdom in 1882. In this period 2 dynasty's fought back and forth to rule this neck of the woods. Who's King of the hill now...
WWI- 1914...the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (heir to Austro-Hungarian throne) triggered the war-Sarajevo June 28-a young Bosnian Serb (19 yrs old) shot Franz. Was Principe a freedom fighter or a terrorist? Was he the Arafat of Bosnia? The Yugoslav (not under the King, the Bosnians were under the Austro-Hungarian veil) dream to free themselves from foreign rule. Last week marked the 100th anniversary of this event.
Yug means south Slav- country of South Slavs not South Slaves thank you very much. Then Austria declared war on Serbia....kicking off the First World War. Serbia was also attacked by Germany and Bulgaria. And in 1918 at last: Yugoslavia was born.
Map of 1918
The Serbs lost 28% of the total population- 2/3 of males between 18-35. But problems persisted...some Croatian, Macedonia, Muslim and Slovenian leaders dreamed of separating from Yugoslavia and getting internationally recognized as independent states. So what we have seen in the past several years has been on going for many years. Then in 1934 the Serb King Alex was assassinated in Marcel, France ...my pals grandpa.
Yug means south Slav- country of South Slavs not South Slaves thank you very much. Then Austria declared war on Serbia....kicking off the First World War. Serbia was also attacked by Germany and Bulgaria. And in 1918 at last: Yugoslavia was born.
Map of 1918
The Serbs lost 28% of the total population- 2/3 of males between 18-35. But problems persisted...some Croatian, Macedonia, Muslim and Slovenian leaders dreamed of separating from Yugoslavia and getting internationally recognized as independent states. So what we have seen in the past several years has been on going for many years. Then in 1934 the Serb King Alex was assassinated in Marcel, France ...my pals grandpa.
Here comes WWII...in 1941 Serbs signed with Axis powers...provoking massive demonstration and a Coup. Hitler decided to punish the Serbs and bombed Belgrade and the blitzkrieg started....Yugoslavia surrendered in 11 days. The man with the mustache marched into Slovenia, Croatia...seeing him as a liberator. The Germans promised everything to the Slovenians and Croatians - you will have your own country etc....and they did. Slovenia was split between Italy and Germany. Croatia was made an independent fascist country, which also included Bosnia. They also installed Nazi party into running these "countries"- called Ustashi. With a Nazi support, fascist Croatian regime established and ethnic cleaning of Serbs started. Now it becomes understandable why the Serbs Croatian Serbs were afraid and strongly resisted to become part of Croatia during 1990.
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"The Resistance"- Tito and General Mihajlovic- Partisans and Royalist resistance movements. The goal was to liberate Yugoslavia...then in 1943 Tito wins the support of the Allies. Churchill..."Tito is the man- he did the job of liberating the country. Not the Royals". And Tito started leading the country, actually quite different from the Soviet Model- pissing off Stalin. He tried to assassinate Tito 22 times!
"Stop sending assassins to kill me or Ill send one to Moscow and there will be no need to send another!"
Tito was a great film lover just like my cousin Voikan. As a matter of fact a movie was made about this/him, The 5th Offensive...Richard Burton playing him. Tito died in 1980....then warlords took over. Greedy politicians pushed for their respective territorial freedom. In 1991 Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia...triggering the civil war. First, there was a short conflict in Slovenia, and then the war spread to Croatia and Bosnia where Serbs, Bosnians and Croats were fighting each other for territories. The last stage of this "Balkanization' process was Albanians rebellion for the independence of Kosovo province from Serbia in 1999....then the patchwork quilt comes...the new map.
Remember Serbia under Milosevic- 1989-2000? After a couple of years he lost popularity and people protested but no critical mass was achieved. His decisions were wrong and he mis "led" the country....greedy dictator?
But we Serbs are hardheaded...on Oct 5 2000 they rioted in Belgrade (together with my cousin Voikan) and this is the day the Serb Nation made a quantum leap....
Democratic Opposition of Serbia came to power and the new, democratic period of Serbia started...Milosevic went to war tribunal in The Hague...eventually had a heart attack and died.
But we Serbs are hardheaded...on Oct 5 2000 they rioted in Belgrade (together with my cousin Voikan) and this is the day the Serb Nation made a quantum leap....
Democratic Opposition of Serbia came to power and the new, democratic period of Serbia started...Milosevic went to war tribunal in The Hague...eventually had a heart attack and died.
Djindjich rose to lead the country in 2001 and became the first democratic prime minister of Serbia and he was assassinated in 2003...by a special unit of the Serb Police...hello mobsters.
Today Serbia has 7.1 million citizens...28 different ethnic groups, 6 big religious denominations...cyrillic and latin alphabet and many languages. Good news: landmark agreement with Kosovo authorities was reached in April 2013 that opens the way to further advancement into the EU.
Accession talks with EU started this year-Jan 2014. With anticipation being accepted soon...yeah, what about the Serb stock market??? Hopefully the most difficult transition is behind them...time will tell.
What does the future hold? Things are never simple, always complex and complicated...never boring. Yeah said Bubs- being married to a Serb for 38 years I feel your pain!
DINNER INVITE
Adela and Oliver Antic invited us over for dinner. Oliver is a former law professor and recent assistant to the Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolic, and just named Ambassador to Portugal. This well known and high profile guy has an intriguing resume. The Antic's will be moving to Portugal next month to take over that post. We met them through their beautiful daughter, Adela, several years back. After taking a cab to the wrong address (the perpetrator will remain nameless- you know who you are!) we finally hooked up.
We enjoyed their beautiful historic artwork and discussing the history of my grandparents birthplace.
Historical artifacts...
Bubs enjoyed the paintings...
and Boca is always about the Icon.
but the best religious, historic or artwork was this one....the grand kids. Awwww. Included, is a picture of Adela the 7th. How's that for passing the Torch...
Thank you for a fab evening! We look forward to seeing The Ambassador and Mrs. Antich in Lisbon....and better yet, the grands in Naples.
Adela and Oliver Antic invited us over for dinner. Oliver is a former law professor and recent assistant to the Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolic, and just named Ambassador to Portugal. This well known and high profile guy has an intriguing resume. The Antic's will be moving to Portugal next month to take over that post. We met them through their beautiful daughter, Adela, several years back. After taking a cab to the wrong address (the perpetrator will remain nameless- you know who you are!) we finally hooked up.
We enjoyed their beautiful historic artwork and discussing the history of my grandparents birthplace.
Historical artifacts...
but the best religious, historic or artwork was this one....the grand kids. Awwww. Included, is a picture of Adela the 7th. How's that for passing the Torch...
Thank you for a fab evening! We look forward to seeing The Ambassador and Mrs. Antich in Lisbon....and better yet, the grands in Naples.
