The Republic of Serbia, or simply known as Serbia; celebrates her National Day on 15 February 2012. Serbia is surrounded by Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the west; and Kosovo and Macedonia to the south. She has no sea front with a land mass of 77,474 km sq and population of a little over 7.3 millions people of Serbian, Hungarian, Bosniak and Romany origins.
Serbia becomes a Republic through an October 28-29 2006 referendum but 15
February is celebrated as her National Day which was the day in 1835 when a nation-state won a victory under first constitution in the Balkans. The first Serbian kingdom was created in 1170 by Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Nemanjic dynasty, whose son was canonized as St. Sava. The Ottoman Empire exerted complete control over all Serb lands following the Battle of Smederevo in 1429. Serbs lived under the rule of the Ottoman sultans for nearly 370 years.
February is celebrated as her National Day which was the day in 1835 when a nation-state won a victory under first constitution in the Balkans. The first Serbian kingdom was created in 1170 by Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Nemanjic dynasty, whose son was canonized as St. Sava. The Ottoman Empire exerted complete control over all Serb lands following the Battle of Smederevo in 1429. Serbs lived under the rule of the Ottoman sultans for nearly 370 years.
Serbia became an internationally recognized principality under Turkish suzerainty and Russian protection after the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829. Serbia formally gained independence in 1878 at the Congress of Berlin with Russian support. In 1913, Serbia led a successful coalition of Montenegrin, Bulgarian and Greek troops forming the Balkan League and seized the remaining Ottoman controlled territory in Europe and this established Serbia as a regional military leader.
In 1918, after the end of World War I, Vojvodina and Montenegro united with Serbia, and former south Slav subjects of the Habsburg seeking the protection of the Serbian crown within the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Serbia being the dominant partner in this state adopted the name Yugoslavia in 1929.
During World War II, Royal army soldiers or Chetniks formed a Serbian resistance movement but the communist Partisans with Soviet and Anglo-American support defeated the Chetniks and forced German troops from Yugoslavia by 1944. In 1948, Yugoslavia was expelled from the Soviet bloc for making significant foreign policy decisions without consulting Moscow and this resulted in acceptance of aid from the Marshall Plan that transformed Serbia from an agrarian to an industrial society.
Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia seceded from Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1992, and on April 27 1992, in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro joined in passing the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1997 the Kosovo Liberation Army began an armed resistance to secure the independence of Kosovo which resulted in brutal police and military campaign by Milosevic in late 1998. Tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians were killed by Serbian troops and police, and this prompted the bombings by NATO forces for 79 days from March to June 1999. UN Security Council authorized UNSC Resolution 1244 and placed an international civil and military presence in Kosovo under UN auspices.
On May 21, 2006, the Republic of Montenegro held a successful referendum on independence and declared independence on June 3 and the Republic of Serbia was the continuity of Serbia and Montenegro. After challenging the legality of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in the International Court of Justice, Serbia agreed to engage in an EU-facilitated dialogue with Kosovo in Brussels in March 2011.