SERBIA 



5311 



SERBIA 



STORY OF SERBIA 



L^^X ERBIA. sur'bia, a country of Europe, situated in the 

 northwestern corner of the Balkan Peninsula and inhabited by the 

 Serbs, a people belonging to the Slav race. The name of Servia 

 for the country and that of Servians for the people, which were 

 used until recently by English and American writers, are not only 

 incorrect, but they are objectionable to the Serbians, for they sug- 

 gest the Latin word servus, which means slave. 



Serbia gained its complete independence from 

 Turkey by the Treaty of Berlin, which closed 

 the Russo-Turkish War of 18)7-1878. As a re- 

 sult of the two Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 

 the country almost doubled its area. When the 

 War of the Nations broke out in 1914, Serbia 

 had an area of 33,891 square miles, or about 

 2,400 square miles less than the area of Indiana. 

 It contained 4,548,000 inhabitants, or about a 

 quarter of a million less than the population 

 of Ohio. This little country was one of the 

 greatest sufferers from the great war, for it was 

 overrun by the Germanic troops and held by 

 them to the close of the conflict. 



The complete defeat of the Central Powers in 

 the war made possible the union of peoples of 

 the same language and aspirations, and Serbia 

 joined the new Jugo-Slavia as the largest and 

 most important unit in that ambitious state. 

 See JUGO-SLAVIA. 



Its People. The Serbs are closely related to 

 the Russians, the Poles, the Bohemians and 

 the Montenegrins. They are found not only 

 in Serbia, but also in the adjoining provinces 

 of Jugo-Slavia particularly Croatia, Sla- 

 vonia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Banat and Dal- 

 matia where they form the great majority of 

 the population. The Serbs and the Croatians 

 speak the same language, but the majority of 

 the Croatians are Roman Catholics, while the 

 Serbs belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. 

 During the last twenty-five years a strong 

 movement for the creation of a Greater 

 Serbia, which would include in one national 

 state all the provinces inhabited by the Serb 

 race, developed. As the realization of such an 

 ideal could be brought about only at the ex- 



pense of Austria-Hungary, it created a spirit 

 of great enmity between Serbia and Austria- 

 Hungary. The hatred against the latter coun- 

 try was intensi- 

 fied in 1908 when 

 Austria - Hungary 

 formally annexed 

 the provinces of 

 Bosnia and Her- 

 zegovina, which 

 are inhabited by 

 large numbers of 

 Serbs. 

 There was cer- LOCATION MAP 



i This little, almost insignifi- 



tam to be a day cant kin g dom O f Southern 

 of reckoning for Europe, through the crime of 

 , _, a fanatic, furnished the di- 



the feerbs became rect cause needed to fan 



war into a con- 



smoldering 

 suming flame. 



more and more 

 incensed at the 



arrogance of the Austro-Hungarian govern- 

 ment. 



Physical Features. The country is high and 

 mountainous, being traversed by spurs of the 

 Carpathian Mountains in the northeast, the 

 Balkan Mountains in the southeast and the 

 Dinaric Alps in the west. The highest peak in 

 the country, Liubotrn, reaches an altitude esti- 

 mated to be 8,600 feet. Extensive plains and 

 many deep and fertile valleys are found be- 

 tween the mountain ranges. The chief topo- 

 graphical feature of the whole region is the 

 wide and extensive valley of the Morava River, 

 which flows through the middle of the kingdom 

 and empties into the Danube. Next in impor- 

 tance is the valley formed by the Vardar River, 

 which flows south and empties into the Gulf 

 of Saloniki, an arm of the Aegean Sea. Other 

 important rivers are the Danube and the Save, 



