Serbs are a people with ancient traditions and a broad soul. History and ethnology. Data. Events. Fiction

  SERBIANS- South Slavic people, whose representatives live in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Austria and other countries.

There are several theories about the origin of the Serbs.

The Serbs were first mentioned by Pliny the Elder and also by Ptolemy in his Geography in the 2nd century AD. and were classified as Sarmatian tribes living in the North Caucasus and Lower Volga. In the 4th century, the Sarmatian Serbs, along with other Slavic tribes, under the onslaught of the Huns and Alans, moved to Central Europe, where they settled in White Serbia, an area located in the modern East German and Western Polish regions. According to some researchers in the Elbe-Saale region, others - in the upper reaches of the Vistula and Oder, and still others - in all lands from the Elbe-Saale to the upper Vistula. There they mixed with the local Slavic peoples. To this day, the region of Sorbia (Lusatia, Lusatia, Sorbian Łužica, German Lausitz) has been preserved in Saxony, where the great-grandchildren of those same Serbs live - the Lusatians (Sorbs).

Serbs, Croats and Slovenes occupied the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula in the 7th century. The Croats and Serbs had to defend their independence from the Avars, Bulgarians, Franks and Byzantium. According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in the first half of the 7th century. Byzantine Emperor Heraclius allowed the Serbs and Croats to settle in the north-west of the Balkan Peninsula so that they would defend these lands from the Avars. The Serbs were baptized by the Greeks in the 60s and 70s. 9th century Bulgaria and Byzantium sought to establish their power over the Serbian principalities. In the middle of the 10th century. The prince of the region Raska subjugated other Serbian regions and Bosnia. After his death, strife began among the Serbian bans, and Serbia fell under Byzantine rule. But in the middle of the 11th century. The prince of the Duklja region (or Zeta, later Montenegro) achieved independence from Byzantium and subjugated the princes of other regions who supported Byzantium. In Dukla in the second half of the 12th century. a chronicle is being created that traces the family of the rulers of Duklja to the ancient kings of the Goths and Croats. Thus, the chronicler sought to justify the power of the kings of Duklja over all Serbs. This power was not durable. The kingdom disintegrated in the 12th century, and independent regions emerged from it, including Bosnia. At the end of the 12th century. In the struggle for power over the Serbs, the “great zupan” of the Raska region, Stefan Nemanja, wins. One of his sons, Stefan the First-Crown, became king of Serbia in 1217, the other, Sava, archbishop of the independent Serbian Orthodox Church. Nemanja and Sava were canonized - declared saints - by the Orthodox Church.

During the reign of the Nemanjić dynasty, the construction of numerous churches and monasteries, “zaduzhbins,” began for the sake of saving the soul. Temple buildings were built from cut stone, decorated with marble, and painted with frescoes inside. The capital of Raska, the ancient city of Ras, became the cultural center of Serbia. Croats and Serbs (like Montenegrins and residents of Bosnia) are Slavic peoples, they speak the same language - Serbo-Croatian, but use different scripts. Croats use the Latin alphabet, Serbs use the Cyrillic alphabet. The Croats, like the Slovenes, became Catholics, the Serbs - Orthodox. These cultural traditions are shared not only by the South Slavs. Catholicism spread in the Middle Ages among the Western Slavs - Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatian Serbs. These peoples use the Latin alphabet. Rus' and the Eastern Slavs - Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians - became Orthodox and use the Cyrillic alphabet.

A thousand years later, during the Ottoman conquests in Europe, many Serbs, under pressure from the Turkish aggressors who ravaged the country, began to move north and east beyond the Sava and Danube rivers into the territory of present-day Vojvodina, Slavonia, Transylvania and Hungary. Later, in the 18th century, thousands of Serbs went to the Russian Empire, where they were allocated lands for settlement in Novorossiya - in areas called New Serbia and Slavyanoserbia.

(581 thousand people) [during the period following the collapse of the SFRY (1991), accompanied by tragic events in the life of the peoples of this country, the ratio of the number of Serbs in individual states that arose in the post-Yugoslav space changed], in neighboring European countries - Germany, Romania , Austria, Hungary, as well as in the USA, Canada, Argentina, Australia.

Serbs speak Serbian, a language belonging to the Slavic group of the Indo-European family. In those regions where Serbs live together with other peoples, they are often bilingual. Writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet. The majority of believers are Orthodox, a small part are Catholics and Protestants, and there are Sunni Muslims.

The ethnic history of the Yugoslav peoples, including the Serbs, is associated with the massive resettlement of Slavic tribes to the Balkans in the 6th-7th centuries. The local population was largely assimilated, partially pushed to the west and into the mountainous regions. Slavic tribes - the ancestors of the Serbs, Montenegrins and the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Serbs themselves, the Dukljans, the Tervunians, the Konavlans, the Zahlumians, the Narecans) occupied a significant part of the territory in the basins of the southern tributaries of the Sava and Danube, the Dinaric Mountains, and the southern part of the Adriatic coast. The center of settlement of the ancestors of the Serbs was the Raska region (the basins of the Drina, Lim, Piva, Tara, Ibar, Western Morava rivers), where an early state was formed in the second half of the 8th century.

In the middle of the 9th century, the Serbian Principality was created. In the 10th-11th centuries, the center of political life moved either to the southwest, to Duklja, Travuniya, Zakhumie, then again to Raska. From the end of the 12th century, the Serbian state intensified its aggressive policy and in the 13th - first half of the 14th centuries. significantly expanded its borders, including at the expense of Byzantine lands. This contributed to the strengthening of Byzantine influence on many aspects of the life of Serbian society, in particular on the system of social relations, art, etc. After the defeat at Kosovo Polje in 1389, Serbia became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, and in 1459 it was included in its composition. Ottoman rule, which lasted almost five centuries, restrained the processes of Serb consolidation.

During the period of Ottoman rule, Serbs repeatedly resettled both within the country (mainly to mountainous regions) and beyond its borders, especially to the north to Vojvodina - to Hungary. These movements contributed to changes in the ethnic composition of the population. The weakening of the Ottoman Empire and the intensified movement of the Serbs for liberation from foreign rule, especially the First Serbian Uprising (1804-13) and the Second Serbian Uprising (1815), led to the creation of an autonomous (1833) and then independent (1878) Serbian state. The struggle for liberation from the Ottoman yoke and state unification was an important factor in the formation of the national identity of the Serbs. There were new large population movements into the liberated areas. In one of the central regions - Šumadija - the absolute majority were immigrants. This region became the center of consolidation of the Serbian people, and the process of national revival began. The development of the Serbian state and market relations, economic and cultural ties between individual regions led to some leveling in the culture of their population, the blurring of regional boundaries and the strengthening of a common national identity.

The historical fate of the Serbs was such that for a long time they were separated politically, economically and culturally within different states (Serbia, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary). This left an imprint on the culture and life of different groups of the Serbian population (some specific features remain today). Thus, for the villages of Vojvodina, the development of which was carried out according to plans approved by the authorities, a typical layout is in the form of a rectangle or square with wide streets, with a rectangular central square, around which various public institutions are grouped. Certain elements of the culture of the Serbian population of this region were formed under the influence of the culture of the population of Vojvodina, with whom the Serbs lived in close contact.

The Serbs are aware of their national unity, although the division into regional groups (Šumadians, Žičans, Moravians, Macvanes, Kosovars, Sremcs, Banacans, etc.) is preserved in the memory of the people. There are no sharply defined boundaries in the culture of individual local groups of Serbs.

The unification of Serbs within a single state took place in 1918, when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was created (later the name and partly the borders of this state changed). However, after the collapse of the SFRY, the Serbs again found themselves divided by the borders of the countries that arose in the post-Yugoslav space.

In the past, Serbs were mainly engaged in agriculture - farming (mainly grain crops), gardening (plum cultivation remains a special place), and viticulture. Cattle breeding, mainly transhumance, and pig breeding played an important role. They also engaged in fishing and hunting. Crafts have developed significantly - pottery, wood and stone carving, weaving (including carpet weaving, mainly lint-free), embroidery, etc.

The Serbs were characterized by a scattered (mainly in the mountainous regions of the Dinaric massif) and crowded (eastern regions) type of settlement with a varied form of layout (cumulus, row, circular). In most settlements there were blocks separated from each other by 1-2 km.

Traditional Serbian dwellings are wooden, log houses (they were widespread in the middle of the 19th century in areas rich in forests), as well as stone (in karst areas) and frame (Moravian type). The houses were built on a high foundation (with the exception of the Moravian type), with four- or gable roofs. The oldest dwelling was single-chamber, but in the 19th century two-chamber became predominant. Stone houses could have two floors; the first floor was used for economic purposes, the second - for housing.

The folk clothing of the Serbs varies significantly by region (if there are common elements). The oldest elements of men's clothing are a tunic-like shirt and trousers. Outerwear - vests, jackets, long raincoats. Beautifully decorated belts were an obligatory accessory of a men's suit (they differed from women's ones in length, width, and ornament). Leather shoes such as moccasins - opankas - are typical. The basis of women's traditional costume was a tunic-like shirt, richly decorated with embroidery and lace. The women's costume included an apron, a belt, as well as various vests, jackets, dresses, sometimes swinging ones. Folk clothing, especially women's, was usually decorated with embroidery, woven patterns, cord, coins, etc.

Traditional food also differed by region and depended not only on the financial status of the family, but also on the direction of the economy. Bread was eaten everywhere - sour or unleavened. A significant place in the diet was occupied by corn (bread was baked from it, porridge was cooked from it), beans, potatoes, cabbage (fresh and pickled), and pepper. Ate dairy products. Meat dishes (Serbs love pork most of all) were eaten mainly in winter and on holidays.

The social life of Serbs in the past was characterized by rural communities. Various forms of mutual assistance and joint work were widespread, for example when grazing livestock. The Serbs had two types of families - simple (small, nuclear) and complex (large, extended). Even in the first half of the 19th century, zadruga (up to 50 or more people) was widespread. Zadruga were characterized by collective ownership of land and property, collective consumption, virilocality, etc.

Among the calendar and family customs are family glory (a kind of collective name day for the whole family), the customs of twinning and sisterhood, and the institution of nepotism.

In the oral folk art of the Serbs, a special place is occupied by the epic genre (youth songs), which reflect the historical destinies of the Serbian people and their struggle for freedom. Folk dances are characterized by a circular movement (kolo), similar to a round dance.

The radical socio-economic transformations that took place in the life of Serbs in the second half of the 20th century, the transition of a significant number of them from agriculture to industry, the service sector, and the growth of the intelligentsia lead to some leveling of culture. However, the Serbs, who defended their independence and freedom in centuries-old struggle, take great care of historical and cultural monuments, folk architecture, traditional crafts, and oral folk art. Folk traditions are combined with innovations in the layout of homes, the cut and decoration of clothing, etc. Some elements of traditional culture (clothing, food, architecture, crafts) are sometimes revived artificially (including to attract tourists). Traditional folk art is preserved - decorative weaving, pottery, carving, etc.

The Serbs have not had a period in their history when they lived in any of their vast territories alone - without others. Representatives of other peoples in all centuries lived in the neighborhood, in border areas, or directly among the Serbs. The Serbs had a variety of connections and relationships with them: they accepted and assimilated some, and assimilated themselves with others, increasing their commonality.

From the very beginning, two components were clearly defined: the resettled Slavs and the autochthonous inhabitants - old-timers whom the Slavs found in their new lands. Neither one nor the other represented homogeneous groups. There were many tribes among the Slavs, and the Serbs were only one of them; the tribe that inhabited any lands met in these territories with parts of other tribes. As has already been shown, the territory of the Serbian tribe does not directly correspond to the territory of the later Serbian state. Such political unions as the principalities of the Neretlyans, Zakhumlyans and Travunyans, formed in the space of karst fields (the area beyond the Adriatic coast), had a Serbian ethnic basis; Subsequently, special ethnic groups were formed in these principalities, which retained their identity for a long time. This originality is found in the Serbian royal title of the first half of the 13th century. - “king of the Serbian and Pomeranian lands.”

There were also many ethnic groups among the Balkan old-timers. Cities and islands, where state institutions, power structures and the army were preserved together with the local population, initially belonged to the Roman Empire. During the era of the migration of the Slavs, the Eastern Roman Empire experienced times of such serious changes that the Greek substrate became dominant among the population of the Balkan Peninsula, and the empire that had previously adopted Christianity becomes Greek - the Serbs who came to its territory will perceive it as Greek for many subsequent centuries.

In addition to the remnants of the Roman Empire, numerous enclaves of the provincial population remain on the Balkan Peninsula, with which the state center has long lost contact. Since in previous centuries these various tribes lived in the Roman Empire, they were all more or less Romanized.
In the cities on the Adriatic coast and on the islands, novels lived for a long time, whose dialect, different from the Italian dialects, survived until the 19th century. In the continental parts of the peninsula, the Slavs encountered the Vlachs, who were also largely Romanized. One part of them merged with the population of the principalities on the eastern bank of the Danube, where the Romanian people would later arise; the other lived for centuries under the name “Vlachs” in Eastern Serbia and under the name “Aromuns” (Tsintsars) in Macedonia, while the bulk of the then Vlachs gradually dissolved over the centuries into the Slavic or Greek surroundings. In the mountainous part of modern Northern Albania, slightly Romanized Albanians still live, who are called "Arbanas" in Serbian manuscripts. This ethnonym preserves the ancient name of the people, who in subsequent centuries called themselves shipetag.

Unlike Italy and the western Roman provinces, it remains unknown that on the Balkan Peninsula old-timers and settlers lived together in the same city or in any one small territory. Later sources (X-XIII centuries) speak of enmity between the Slavs and the Vlachs. Apparently, only the adoption of Christianity, the creation of strong states, constant trade and economic cooperation created the conditions for the establishment of stronger ties and the subsequent mixing of the Slavs with the Vlachs.

Historical studies about the origins of the nations inhabiting the Balkan Peninsula began to appear only in the 18th and 19th centuries. Then they concerned only those peoples that had already formed; the same ethnic groups, which at that time had not yet formed into a separate people with a special culture and literature, remained unnoticed by historians. The historical role of the Vlachs as the most widespread and largest group of autochthonous inhabitants of the Balkans was discovered only by research in the 20th century. Controversy arose around them in historiography. By “Vlachs” we meant cattle breeders who participated in the resettlement of the Serbs in the 15th-16th centuries, undoubtedly had Slavic names, spoke the Slavic language, and adherents of the Orthodox faith. Meanwhile, many foreign scientists denied that the Vlachs were Serbs. The Serbian side argued that the name “Vlach” meant status, not ethnicity, that Vlachs as an ethnic factor did not exist at all at such a later time (XV-XVI centuries).

Nevertheless, the special name “Vlachs” was retained as long as the representatives of this group were engaged in a special type of activity, led a different way of life and had special forms of social organization. When these differences lost their meaning, the name “Vlachs” also disappeared. The process of Slavicization of the Vlachs lasted for centuries. Already in the 12th century. There were ethnic groups of Vlachs with Slavic names of leaders (chelnik, voivode, judge). In the next century, Slavic names of Vlach communities - Katuns - are already found, which indicates a certain degree of Slavicization. From century to century, more and more Vlachs cease to be isolated, mix with the Slavic environment and dissolve in it.

When the Serbian state was the "kingdom of the Serbs and Greeks", it owned the largest territory in its entire history. The expression “king of the Greeks,” which was included in the title of the Serbian ruler on the basis that Serbia owned Greek territories, was supposed, among other things, to justify the imperial claims of Serbia. However, it was not only the Greeks who were different for the Serbs at that time: the texts of decrees and laws testify to the ethnic diversity of the Serbian medieval state. One of the charters from 1300 says about potential visitors to the market in Skopje: “...and the Greek, and the Bulgarian, and the Serb, and the Latin, and the Arbanas, and the Vlachs must pay a legal fee.” The name “Latin” meant Catholic merchants from Italy and coastal cities, as well as immigrants from the mainland of Serbia who settled in coastal cities and converted to Catholicism. From the middle of the 13th century. Saxons - German miners - appeared in Serbia, and from the end of the 14th century. - Turks, first as travelers and trading people. When the Turks become masters on Serbian soil, their number will be very large.

Serbia at that time did not have the goal of unifying or uniting different parts of society. On the contrary, she respected the rights of individual ethnic groups in the same way as the rights of individual classes. The authorities carried out such a policy in order to maintain balance in society, trying to improve relations and find mechanisms for resolving disputes between representatives of different ethnic groups, each having their own special rights.

The development of the Serbian people was interrupted by the Turkish conquest (1459). Serbia as an independent power ceased to exist, its ruling class was eradicated, and state institutions were destroyed. After numerous relocations, the Serbs found themselves scattered over a vast territory - right up to the Slovenian lands, Central Hungary and Transylvania. In each of these territories they lived in a minority; their enclaves were not connected with each other. Until 1557 - the time of the revival of the Peć Patriarchate - the Serbs had neither internal connections nor external borders. Only under the rule of the patriarchs did they become a religious association bound by the church hierarchy.

Conquerors came to Serbian land - the Turks from Asia Minor, and with them their subjects from previously conquered regions of Europe who converted to Islam. Armenian, Greek, Jewish and Aromunian (Tsintsar) merchants are settling in Serbian cities, and groups of gypsies are settling throughout the country, who, still not accepted or recognized by anyone, remain on the margins of society.
Religious differences, significant for subjects in earlier periods, were now brought to the fore in the Ottoman system of privileges and duties. Although Islamization was not carried out by force, accepting the faith of the owners of the country gave the convert many advantages in public life, so people converted to Islam constantly. In certain periods (XVI-XVIII centuries) in some regions (Bosnia, Albania) this process was especially intense.

Balkan Christians who converted to Islam and adopted the corresponding customs and way of life were no longer considered by other Christians to be their fellow tribesmen; they were looked upon as Turks. On the other hand, such a significant church center as the Pec Patriarchate was a powerful factor influencing the disappearance of differences within the Christian community and the merging of small ethnic groups with the bulk of Christians. Thus, not only the ethnic groups of the late Slavicized Vlachs, but also small Greek communities dissolved among the Serbs, and the assimilation of the Tsintsars (Aromuns) continued until modern times.
War at the end of the 17th century. (1683-1699) marked a great turning point, as part of the Serbs again found themselves under Christian rule. They begin to develop in conditions significantly different from the conditions in which the Serbs lived, remaining under Turkish rule. Such a divided life lasted more than two centuries and subsequently became an obstacle to national unification. The religious criterion came into force again: the Serbs under Habsburg rule were promised that the monarchs would respect the faith and church life of their new subjects. Serbian society, increasingly dynamic in its development, continued to remain essentially ecclesiastical and sacralized. This circumstance will later become an obstacle to the adoption of new ideas about the nation as a community of people speaking the same language, and will hinder broad integration processes. Under the rule of Austria-Hungary, the Serbs also regrouped territorially - they left the peripheral regions and concentrated in the Military Border area and in the territories along the border with the Ottoman Empire (since 1804; since 1815 this is already the border with Serbia). This movement was directly facilitated by colonization, intensively carried out by the Habsburg government in the second half of the 18th century. The Serbs have new neighbors in the form of Germans, Romanians, Hungarians, Slovaks, and Rusyns.

The great turning point in the history of the Serbian people was the creation of a state: first an autonomous principality (1815), then an independent principality (1878) and finally a kingdom (1882). The revived Serbian state is gradually adopting what was created in the 18th century. Serbs in Hungary cultural heritage, develops it and becomes the center of the Serbian unification. Observing the political events in Europe at that time (the unification of Germany, Italy) and participating in some of them (the unrest of 1848 in the Habsburg monarchy), the Serbs came to the conclusion that their cause was just and that the struggle for the liberation and unification of a partially enslaved and divided people necessary and justified.
The Serbian struggle for liberation since the time of the First Serbian Uprising (1804-1813) was perceived in Europe as a revolutionary movement that disrupted relations between states; it does not matter whether these states were bound by formal obligations, as in the Holy Alliance, or whether they were truly interested in preserving the European balance. At first, the Serbs fought mainly with the Ottoman Empire, but since the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1878), Austria-Hungary also became an enemy of Serbia. At the same time, other peoples also tried to free themselves from Turkish rule: Greeks, Bulgarians, and, with some delay, Albanians. However, each of these peoples determined the boundaries of their state, in which the process of national integration was to begin, based on their “historical rights,” so conflicts between them became inevitable.

At the cost of enormous sacrifices in the two Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and in the First World War (1914-1918), the Serbs finally overcame their centuries-long disunity and division by borders, they found themselves almost all in one state - the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918 -1929), and then in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929-1941). Starting from this period of time, it becomes obvious that the unified state inherited from previous eras not only national and cultural heritage, but also serious problems. It becomes clear that the obstacle to integration is not so much the overcome borders themselves, but the differences that arose as a result of the existence of these borders and the unequal conditions of development of the people living on different sides of them. In the course of the political and party struggle, along with antagonism between nations (Slovenes, Croats, Serbs), conflicts within individual nations caused by regional differences were also discovered: among the Serbs, such friction occurred between the so-called “Serbs” and “Prečans,” that is, residents of Serbia and Serbs - former subjects of Austria-Hungary. Friction also arose among the Montenegrins: between those who were dissatisfied with the principles of unification, on the one hand, and everyone else, on the other. Residents of the territories annexed to Serbia in 1913 were officially considered Serbs, residents of Southern Serbia, but this did not correspond to the actual state of affairs, since a significant part of the population of Southern Serbia considered themselves either Bulgarians or Macedonians.
It was not easy to change another aspect of the historical heritage - the spread of Serbs across the territory of the new state and their mixing with representatives of other peoples. In the state formed in 1918, relative homogeneity of the Serbian population was achieved - through the use of means that were then common in European nation-states - only in the long-liberated territories of Serbia and Montenegro (including the areas acquired in 1878). In the nationally heterogeneous Vojvodina, Serbs did not even make up half of the population. In Croatia, they lived compactly only on the territory of the former Military Border, remaining in the minority in all Croatian cities. The Serbs shared the territory of historical Bosnia and Herzegovina with Muslims and Croats, and in Kosovo and the so-called Old Serbia during this time the number of Albanians increased significantly.
The lack of unity in the view of what are the criteria for distinguishing the Serbs from other peoples is also one of the problems of the historical heritage. While the Serbian Orthodox Church argued that only adherents of Orthodoxy could be considered Serbs, secular politicians, political movements and parties fought to include both “Catholic Serbs” and Muslims as “Mohammedan Serbs.” Most Catholics and Muslims were never integrated into the Serbian nation. Moreover, subsequent historical events, especially after 1944, showed that a considerable number of Serbs could also be atheists.
If you look at the events of 1918 from the perspective of today, it becomes obvious that the Serbs, although they found themselves together in one state, were nevertheless not sufficiently consolidated as a nation. The political and cultural elite of that time did not realize how necessary it was to continue the integration processes among the Serbs themselves. Instead, a focus was chosen on the integration of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, on the creation of a single South Slavic nation. While among other Yugoslav peoples this project was supported by a minority of intellectuals, among the Serbs the creation of a unified nation was the highest goal of state policy, which only a minority of intellectuals resisted. But the “South Slavic synthesis” did not work out, the contradictions between nations intensified, and among the Serbs there was again a division into supporters of Yugoslavism and guardians of Serbian traditions.

The history of Serbia is the history of the struggle for freedom and independence. During its history, Belgrade was conquered by 40 armies and rebuilt 38 times. The Serbs never relied on anyone other than Russia. It’s not for nothing that they say that Russians and Serbs are brothers forever.

Why "Serbs"?

There is still no clear opinion on where the ethnonym “Serbs” came from, but there are many versions. Slavist Pavel Safarik traced the word “Serbs” to the proto-Slavic forms *srb and *sarb, which, in turn, came from an Indo-European word meaning “sow, give birth, produce.”

Max Vasmer interpreted the word "Serbs" as "belonging to the same clan, the same tribe." A similar meaning was also supported by philologists Ilyinsky and Kovalev. In their opinion, a “Serb” is “a person, a member of a clan union.”

Also interesting, but unsubstantiated, is the version of the Slavist Moszczyński, who connected the origin of the word “Serb” with the Indo-European root *ser-v-, meaning “to guard, guard cattle.”

In 1985, researcher Shuster-Shevts suggested that the word “Serbs” is related to the Russian dialect verb “serbat” (to slurp). This version is interesting, since all Slavic languages ​​have words with the root “s-r”, the meaning of which is “to separate, highlight, squeeze out”.

This root stem is a metathesis of Indo-European *res>*ser, which means “to cut, cut, separate.” In the Old Slavic language, the predominant meaning of the root stem *ser became “to separate, highlight, squeeze out.” This meaning has been preserved, for example, in the Russian glavgol “scoop”, which comes from the same verb “serbat”. The word "sulphur" has the same origin. This is nothing more than the resinous secretions of a tree.

Thus, we can say that the word “Serbs” most likely means “selected, separated on some basis.” If we take into account that the Wends were considered the ancestors of the Slavs in European historiography, then, most likely, the Serbs were named that way when they separated from the Wends.

There is also a version that is followed by those who do not like Serbs. Harvat nationalists, following Ante Starcevic, believe that the ethnonym “Serbs” comes from the Latin word servus - slave. Within this version, it is believed that the Croats are the heirs of the Germans, who switched to the Slavic language in order to better cope with Serbian slaves. As they say, comments are unnecessary.

Fight for freedom

The Serbs were first mentioned by Herodotus and Ptolemy back in the 2nd century AD, but Serbia as a territorial entity dates back to the 6th century; in the 8th century, Serbian proto-state formations already emerged. In the 13th century, the Nemanjic dynasty came to power in the Serbian state, at the same time the country was freed from the rule of Byzantium.

Serbia reached great heights and developed into a large state, which began to occupy almost the entire southwest of the Balkan Peninsula. The Serbian state reached its greatest peak during the reign of Stefan Dušan (1331-1355), but after the death of the monarch, the history of Serbia changed dramatically. In the mid-14th century, the Ottoman Empire rapidly conquered territories. The Serbian prince Lazar Hrebelianovich sought to unite the Serbian lands in order to more successfully resist Turkish aggression, but he did not have enough time for this.

In 1382, Murad took the Tsatelitsa fortress. The Serbs did not have the strength to resist the powerful Osan army, and Lazar made the difficult decision to conclude a truce on enslaving conditions. According to the terms of the agreement, he undertook to give the Sultan 1000 of his soldiers in case of war.
This state of affairs did not suit either side: the Turks sought to develop expansion, and the Serbs were dissatisfied with the dubious terms of the truce.

The military aggression of the Turks continued, and in 1386 Murad I took the city of Niš, after which the Serbs announced the beginning of a popular uprising. On June 15, 1389, the powerful army of the Ottoman Empire defeated the army of the Serbian princes in the Battle of Kosovo. This led to Serbia recognizing the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. Serbia was finally conquered by the Turks in 1459.

From that time on, Serbia was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire for almost 400 years. However, throughout the Ottoman rule in Serbia, the liberation movement did not stop. Every now and then uprisings broke out, which were supervised by the Patriarchate of Pecs, which managed to establish ties with Spain, Hungary and Spain. The uprisings achieved their greatest success in the 19th century (the first and second Serbian uprisings). However, only in 1878 did Serbia gain its long-awaited independence.

Brothers forever

The Serbs themselves admit that nowhere do they love Russians as much as in Serbia. The history of relations between our peoples has deep roots and begins at least from the time of the baptism of Rus'. Until now, Orthodoxy is one of the “spiritual bonds” connecting Russians and Serbs.

During the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the Serbs supported the monastery of St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos; since the time of Ivan III, there has been active support for Serbian monasteries. In 1550, Ivan the Terrible, after communicating with the Serbian hierarchs, sent a letter to the Turkish Sultan Suleiman II, urging him to honor the shrines of Hilandar and other Serbian monasteries.

Six years later, the Russian Tsar even gave the monks of the Hilandar Monastery premises for a monastic courtyard in the center of Moscow, which immediately became a Serbian diplomatic center in which funds were collected to be sent to Serbia. During the reign of Boris Godunov, Serbian migrants already received serious support from Russia.

Russian-Serbian relations received special development under Peter the Great. During the reign of the emperor, Serbs were accepted into the Russian army, and close ties were established in the cultural environment. Separately, it is necessary to say about Savva Vladislavlich-Raguzinsky, a Russian diplomat of Serbian origin. It was he who signed the Treaty of Kyakhta, served as Russia’s ambassador to Constantinople and Rome, and also translated Mavro Orbini’s book “The Slavic Kingdom.”

In 1723, Peter the Great allowed Ivan Albanez, a Montenegrin by origin, to create a settlement in the area of ​​the city of Sumy, where more than a hundred Serbian families moved. This is where two Serbian territorial entities that existed in the Russian Empire originated - Slavyanoserbia and New Serbia.

Ice Calvary

During the First World War (which actually began in Serbia), Nicholas II took the side of the fraternal state. Unable to help the Serbian army with Russian troops, the Russian emperor organized the delivery of ammunition, military equipment and provisions to Serbia. Several sanitary units were also sent to Serbia. At the very beginning of the war, the Serbian army was able to withstand several frontal attacks by the Austrian army, and twice cleared its territory of invaders.

However, in October 1915, Bulgaria dealt a blow to the Serbs in the back. Serbia found itself in a difficult situation. On October 9, Belgrade fell, and the very next day the Bulgarians united with the Austrians in Nis.

Winter battles with superior enemy forces did not bode well, so in order to avoid capture, the Serbian military decided to retreat the 300,000-strong army to the south, to the Adriatic Sea. However, in order to get there, the Serbs had to go through the Albanian mountains. Together with the soldiers and ordinary people who were forced to leave their lands so as not to be drafted (recruits were sent to the Galician front, where they had to fight the Russians), the elderly Serbian king Petar also went to the mountains.

This retreat of the Serbs went down in history as the “ice Golgotha.” Every third died. Later, the Serbs began to say: “People ask us why we call our children non-holy names? Every third boy froze on Ice Golgotha, so since then we have all holy names.”

Chetniks

The Serbs are characterized by a high degree of popular self-organization, especially on the basis of the national liberation movement. A phenomenon in the history of Serbia called “Chetnicism” deserves special mention.

Its creation can be dated back to 1903, when the so-called Serbian Committee was created in Belgrade, which, in addition to external activities, was engaged in the creation of armed Chetnik formations for the further fight against Turkish rule in the Balkans.

Detachments were convened as needed and took part in both the Balkan and the First World Wars. In the interwar period, after Serbia gained independence, Chetnicism “educated” young people - it was a veteran’s organization that conducted ideological propaganda, and also supported disabled combat veterans and the families of those killed.

The negative connotation of the term "Chetnik" has its roots in the events of World War II. On the territory of Yugoslavia it developed into an internal armed confrontation. Part of the Yugoslav army, led by Colonel Dragoljub Mihailović (a veteran of the Balkans and the First World War), refused to recognize the surrender of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Mihailovic himself did not rely directly on previous Chetnik organizations, considering himself still an integral part of the Army of the Kingdom, and called the forces under his control the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland. People already called them Chetniks. Nationalist monarchists initially tried to fight the Axis powers together with Joseph Brosa-Tito's partisans, but after a few months, the alliance between nationalists and communists fell apart.

Certain Chetnik groups began to openly collaborate with the occupation authorities against the Red partisans. Until the end, Mikhailovich maneuvered between rejection of communist ideology (despite his respectful attitude towards the armed forces of the Soviet Union) and unwillingness to cooperate with the occupation authorities.

In the end, Mikhailovich, already in the rank of general, was removed by the exile government from all commanding posts. Despite this, he continued the armed struggle until March 1946, when his detachment was defeated by the forces of Broza-Tito after the occupation of Yugoslavia by the Red Army. Dragoljub Mihailović was executed after a trial that did not take into account the testimony of the American Air Force pilots rescued by the Chetniks (there were about 500 people in total), on July 15, 1946.

Home of the Roman Emperors

Serbia is the birthplace of many Roman emperors. The city of Sremska Mitrovica, in ancient times was called Sirmium and was part of the Roman Empire. This city is considered the birthplace of sixteen Roman emperors. Constantine the Great was also born in Serbia.

In Serbia, Olivier is called Russian salad, sweet kvass is Russian kvass, and for some reason black sweet bread, which can be with marmalade, is called Russian.

Serbia is a real "raspberry country". A third of the world's raspberries are grown here.

Ethnogenesis

There are several theories about the origin of the Serbs.

A thousand years later, during the Ottoman conquests in Europe, many Serbs, under pressure from the Turkish aggressors who ravaged the country, began to leave to the north and east beyond the Sava and Danube rivers in the territory of present-day Vojvodina, Slavonia, Transylvania and Hungary. Later, in the 18th century, thousands of Serbs went to the Russian Empire, where they were allocated lands for settlement in Novorossiya - in areas called New Serbia and Slavyanoserbia.

Settlement

The main area of ​​residence of the Serbs is Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are also separate regions in other countries where Serbs have lived for a long time: in Macedonia (Kumanovo, Skopje), Slovenia (Bela Krajina), Romania (Banat), Hungary (Pecs, Szentendre, Szeged). Sustainable Serbian diasporas exist in many countries, the most prominent being in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States and Australia. Diasporas in New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Chile, although not as large, are not disappearing, but on the contrary, they continue to grow.

The exact number of Serbs living in diasporas outside the Balkans has not been established and, according to various sources, varies from approximately 1-2 million to 4 million people (data). In this regard, the total number of Serbs in the world is unknown; according to rough estimates, it ranges from 9.5 to 12 million people. The 6.5 million Serbs make up about two-thirds of Serbia's population. Before the military conflicts, 1.5 million lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 600 thousand in Croatia, and 200 thousand in Montenegro. According to the 1991 census, Serbs represented 36% of the total population of Yugoslavia, that is, about 8.5 million people in total.

The urban population is represented in Belgrade (1.5 million Serbs), Novi Sad (300 thousand), Niš (250 thousand), Banja Luka (220 thousand), Kragujevac (175 thousand), Sarajevo (130 thousand .). Outside of the former Yugoslavia, Vienna is the city with the largest number of Serbian inhabitants. A significant number of Serbs live in Chicago and the surrounding area and Toronto (with Southern Ontario). Los Angeles is known as a metropolis with a significant Serbian community, as are Istanbul and Paris.

Serbs in Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia, 1981.png

SerbsInYugoslavia1992-1995.png

see also

Write a review about the article "Serbs"

Notes

Excerpt characterizing the Serbs

Anatole recently moved in with Dolokhov. The plan to kidnap Rostova had been thought out and prepared by Dolokhov for several days, and on the day when Sonya, having overheard Natasha at the door, decided to protect her, this plan had to be carried out. Natasha promised to go out to Kuragin’s back porch at ten o’clock in the evening. Kuragin had to put her in a prepared troika and take her 60 versts from Moscow to the village of Kamenka, where a disrobed priest was prepared who was supposed to marry them. In Kamenka, a setup was ready that was supposed to take them to the Warsaw road and there they were supposed to ride abroad on postal ones.
Anatole had a passport, and a travel document, and ten thousand money taken from his sister, and ten thousand borrowed through Dolokhov.
Two witnesses - Khvostikov, a former clerk, whom Dolokhov used for games, and Makarin, a retired hussar, a good-natured and weak man who had boundless love for Kuragin - were sitting in the first room having tea.
In Dolokhov’s large office, decorated from walls to ceiling with Persian carpets, bear skins and weapons, Dolokhov sat in a traveling beshmet and boots in front of an open bureau on which lay abacus and stacks of money. Anatole, in an unbuttoned uniform, walked from the room where the witnesses were sitting, through the office into the back room, where his French footman and others were packing the last things. Dolokhov counted the money and wrote it down.
“Well,” he said, “Khvostikov needs to be given two thousand.”
“Well, give it to me,” said Anatole.
– Makarka (that’s what they called Makarina), this one will selflessly go through fire and water for you. Well, the score is over,” said Dolokhov, showing him the note. - So?
“Yes, of course, so,” said Anatole, apparently not listening to Dolokhov and with a smile that never left his face, looking ahead of him.
Dolokhov slammed the bureau and turned to Anatoly with a mocking smile.
– You know what, give it all up: there’s still time! - he said.
- Fool! - said Anatole. - Stop talking nonsense. If only you knew... The devil knows what it is!
“Come on,” said Dolokhov. - I'm telling you the truth. Is this a joke you're starting?
- Well, again, teasing again? Go to hell! Eh?...” Anatole said with a wince. - Really, I have no time for your stupid jokes. - And he left the room.
Dolokhov smiled contemptuously and condescendingly when Anatole left.
“Wait,” he said after Anatoly, “I’m not joking, I mean business, come, come here.”
Anatole entered the room again and, trying to concentrate his attention, looked at Dolokhov, obviously involuntarily submitting to him.
– Listen to me, I’m telling you for the last time. Why should I joke with you? Did I contradict you? Who arranged everything for you, who found the priest, who took the passport, who got the money? All I.
- Well, thank you. Do you think I'm not grateful to you? – Anatol sighed and hugged Dolokhov.
“I helped you, but I still have to tell you the truth: it’s a dangerous matter and, if you look at it, stupid.” Well, you take her away, okay. Will they leave it like that? It turns out that you are married. After all, they will bring you to criminal court...
- Ah! nonsense, nonsense! – Anatole spoke again, wincing. - After all, I explained it to you. A? - And Anatole, with that special passion (which stupid people have) for the conclusion that they reach with their minds, repeated the reasoning that he repeated to Dolokhov a hundred times. “After all, I explained to you, I decided: if this marriage is invalid,” he said, bending his finger, “then I don’t answer; Well, if it’s real, it doesn’t matter: no one abroad will know this, right? And don't talk, don't talk, don't talk!
- Really, come on! You will only tie yourself...
“Get to hell,” said Anatole and, holding his hair, he went into another room and immediately returned and sat down with his feet on a chair close in front of Dolokhov. - The devil knows what it is! A? Look how it beats! “He took Dolokhov’s hand and put it to his heart. - Ah! quel pied, mon cher, quel regard! Undeesse!! [ABOUT! What a leg, my friend, what a look! Goddess!!] Huh?
Dolokhov, smiling coldly and shining with his beautiful, insolent eyes, looked at him, apparently wanting to have more fun with him.
- Well, the money will come out, then what?
- What then? A? – Anatole repeated with sincere bewilderment at the thought of the future. - What then? I don’t know what’s there... Well, what nonsense to talk about! – He looked at his watch. - It's time!
Anatole went into the back room.
- Well, will you be there soon? Digging around here! - he shouted at the servants.
Dolokhov removed the money and, shouting to the man to order food and drink for the road, he entered the room where Khvostikov and Makarin were sitting.
Anatole was lying in the office, leaning on his arm, on the sofa, smiling thoughtfully and gently whispering something to himself with his beautiful mouth.
- Go, eat something. Well, have a drink! – Dolokhov shouted to him from another room.
- Don't want! – Anatole answered, still continuing to smile.
- Go, Balaga has arrived.
Anatole stood up and entered the dining room. Balaga was a well-known troika driver, who had known Dolokhov and Anatoly for six years and served them with his troikas. More than once, when Anatole’s regiment was stationed in Tver, he took him out of Tver in the evening, delivered him to Moscow by dawn, and took him away the next day at night. More than once he took Dolokhov away from pursuit, more than once he took them around the city with gypsies and ladies, as Balaga called them. More than once he crushed people and cab drivers around Moscow with their work, and his gentlemen, as he called them, always rescued him. He drove more than one horse under them. More than once he was beaten by them, more than once they plied him with champagne and Madeira, which he loved, and he knew more than one thing behind each of them that an ordinary person would have deserved Siberia long ago. In their revelry, they often invited Balaga, forced him to drink and dance with the gypsies, and more than one thousand of their money passed through his hands. Serving them, he risked both his life and his skin twenty times a year, and at their work he killed more horses than they overpaid him in money. But he loved them, loved this crazy ride, eighteen miles an hour, loved to overturn a cab driver and crush a pedestrian in Moscow, and fly at full gallop through the Moscow streets. He loved to hear this wild cry of drunken voices behind him: “Go! let's go! whereas it was already impossible to drive faster; He loved to pull the man's neck painfully, who was already neither alive nor dead, avoiding him. "Real gentlemen!" he thought.