Servitude

The Serbs lived in Turkish servitude for almost five centuries – more or less, depending on a region. After the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Serbian state recovered for a while and was restored in its northern regions, but in 1459, with the fall of Smederevo, it lost its independence completely. For the next hundred years, Serbs were persistently trying to take off the Turkish yoke, constantly rebelling. Such resistance made the Turks hostile and suspicious to the whole nation, so their rule was extremely cruel. No one of the enslaved nations suffered such persecution, slaughter of the innocent, extermination of the elders and displacement of the people, moving them in chains from the entire areas. The blood tax was collected mostly among the Serbian children and young men. The Turkish servitude was something of genocide over the Serbian nation. There were even times when the population of the whole of Serbia was not more than several tens of thousands. But in those times, the people found their major support in the Serbian Orthodox Church, and it patriarchs and bishops were the bearers of the nation’s aspirations for liberation. After several rebellions quashed in blood, in the early 19th century, in 1804, the First Serbian Uprising broke out, and after 350 years of servitude, the Serbian nation finally got its state. And throughout the 19thcentury, Serbia went on growing, but was recognised only in 1878. After the First Balkan War in 1912, Serbia regained its southern territories, including Kоsоvо and Меtоhiјa and Southern Serbia, today Macedonia. But the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, immediately after the Ottoman rule, in 1878 fell under the Austrian occupation, to be finally free in 1918, after the First World War, along with the Serbs of Vojvodina and other regions of Austro-Hungary.

ART

Serbian folk epic songs, Ivo Аndrić’s novels: The Travnik Chronicles (Тrаvničkа hrоnikа)The Bridge on the Drina (Nа Drini ćupriја), Јаnko Vеsеlinоvić’s novel: Hаiduk Stаnkо

HISTORY

Fall of Serbia under the Turks – 1459, fall of Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1463, fall of Montenegroоrе – 1499, the regions north of the Sava and the Danube change rulers –Turkey and Austria, alternately.