Serbian nationalism

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Not to be confused with Serbdom.
The Serbian horizontal red-blue-white tricolour has been a common symbol of Serbian nationalism since the 19th century.
The shield of Serbia bearing the Christian cross and the slogan Само слога Србина спасава ("Only Unity Saves the Serbs"). This has been a popular symbol of Serbian nationalism.

Serbian nationalism refers to the ethnic and cultural nationalism of Serbs.[1] Originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, under the influence of Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Ilija Garašanin.[1] Serbian nationalism was an important factor during the Balkan Wars which contributed to the decline of the Ottomans, during World War I, and again during the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 19th century

Further information: Rise of nationalism in the Balkans
Portrait of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, the founder of Serbian nationalism.

The origins of Serbian nationalism date back to the 19th century beginning with the 1804 uprisings by Serbs against Ottoman rule that eventually led to the creation of an independent Serbian state in 1878.[2] However Serbian nationalists themselves cite the origins of the movement as being the Battle of Kosovo on Saint Vitus Day in 1389 between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire, the battle that holds important symbolic meaning to Serbian nationalists.[1] The Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić is commonly considered the father of Serbian nationalism.[1] Karadžić created a linguistic definition of the Serbs that included all speakers of the Štokavian dialect regardless of their religious affiliation or geographical origin.[1] However Karadžić acknowledged the right of some Štokavian-speaking peoples to call themselves names other than Serbs.[1] Ilija Garašanin was another early proponent of Serbian nationalism and a proponent of a Greater Serbia - a Serbian state whose borders were extended to include all Serbs in the Balkan region.[1]

After Serbia was recognized as an independent state in 1878, both South Slavs and the Serbian government considered their peoples in Habsburg-ruled Austria-Hungary to be under occupation resulting in increasing antagonism between Serbia and Austria-Hungary from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.[1]

[edit] World War I

In 1914 Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by the Bosnian Serb militant Gavrilo Princip resulting in Austria-Hungary accusing Serbia of involvement and subsequently declaring war on Serbia, resulting in a clash of alliances and the eruption of World War I.[3] In spite of heavy casualties, Serbia benefited from its allies' eventual victory against Germany and Austria-Hungary, with Serbia subsequently joining with territories claimed by Yugoslav nationalists to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, informally known as Yugoslavia, in 1918.[3] Serbian nationalists associated with a centralist vision of Yugoslavia as opposed to a confederal or federal state as advocated by non-Serbs.[3] The antagonism between a centralized Yugoslavia supported by Serbian nationalists and a decentralized Yugoslavia supported by Croatian and Slovenian nationalists was the main cause of unstable governance in Yugoslavia during the interwar period.[3]

[edit] Yugoslavia

In 1920, the centralized vision of Yugoslavia as supported by Serbian nationalists was enacted in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes passed on Saint Vitus Day that became known as the "St. Vitus Day Constitution" (Vidovdanski ustav).[3] Antagonism which rose between Serbian nationalists versus Croatian and Slovenian nationalists culminated in the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić on the floor of the Yugoslav parliament and the subsequent deterioration of parliamentary democracy in the country.[3] In the aftermath King Alexander discarded the St. Vitus Day Constitution, proclaimed a royal dictatorship, and officially renamed the country Kingdom of Yugoslavia.[3] King Alexander pursued a policy of encouraging modern Yugoslav nationalism which caused dissatisfaction amongst Serbian nationalists who saw Yugoslav nationalism as a disavowal of Serbian nationalism.[3] Serbian nationalists were outraged at the Cvetković–Maček Agreement between Serb and Croat political leaders that created the Banovina of Croatia, an autonomous province within the kingdom which gave Croatia virtual autonomy.[3] In response, Serbian nationalists founded the Serb Cultural Club which attacked the new Yugoslav nationalism under the motto of "Strong Serbdom, Strong Yugoslavia".[3]

File:Drazam.jpg
Draža Mihailović, World War II senior Chetnik leader.

Yugoslavia was invaded and occupied by the Axis Powers during World War II, with Nazi Germany establishing puppet states throughout occupied Yugoslavia.[3] Serbian nationalism rose in a militant response by the Chetnik forces of Draža Mihailović against both the Axis forces and the communist Yugoslav Partisans.[3] The war saw the rise of an extreme anti-Muslim variant of Serbian nationalism practised by the Chetniks who massacred Bosnian Muslims during the war.[3]

In the aftermath of World War II and the seizure of power by the Yugoslav Partisans, Josip Broz Tito's communist Yugoslavia was established. The new regime repressed nationalism of any culture that was deemed to be a threat to the state.[3] Serbian nationalism then developed during the 1960s by intellectuals such as Dobrica Ćosić and challenged the state-sponsored policies of Yugoslavism and "Brotherhood and Unity".[3] Tito's later expulsion of the nationalist-leaning Serbian communist official Aleksandar Ranković in the 1960s was perceived as an attack on Serbian nationalism.[3] After the ousting of Ranković, Serbian nationalist intellectuals increasingly began viewing Yugoslavia as a detrimental experience for the Serb nation.[3]

Serbian nationalism escalated following the death of Tito in 1980.[4] Serbian intellectuals began breaking a number of taboos - for example, Branko Petranović identified Mihailović, the Chetnik rival of Tito during World War II as being an important "anti-fascist".[4] Dobrica Ćosić joined other Serb political writers in writing the highly controversial Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts of 1986.[5] The Memorandum claimed to promote solutions to restore Yugoslav unity, but it focused on fiercely condemning Titoist Yugoslavia of having economically subjugated Serbia to Croatia and Slovenia and accused ethnic Albanians of committing genocide against Serbs in Kosovo.[6] The Memorandum was harshly condemned by the ruling League of Communists of Yugoslavia as well as the government of Serbia led by Ivan Stambolić.[7] Members who would later support Serbian nationalism chose follow the party line and denounced the Memorandum as well. Slobodan Milošević, at the time a Serbian communist official, did not speak publicly about the issue, but in a meeting with members of the secret police he formally endorsed the official government denouncement of the Memorandum, stating:

The appearance of the Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences represents nothing else but the darkest nationalism. It means the liquidation of the current socialist system of our country, that is the disintegration after which there is no survival for any nation or nationality. … Tito’s policy of brotherhood and unity … is the only basis on which Yugoslavia’s survival can be secured.[7]

Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia (1989-1997), President of FR Yugoslavia (1997-2000).

[edit] Breakup of Yugoslavia and Yugoslav Wars

However, amidst the rising nationalist sentiment in Serbia, Milošević joined the Serbian nationalists in 1987 as their major spokesperson in the communist establishment.[8] Milošević supported the premises of the Memorandum that included promoting centralization of power in the federal Yugoslav government to decrease the powers of the republics and autonomous provinces and a nationalist motto of "strong Serbia, strong Yugoslavia".[8] Milošević and the Serbian government supported a tricameral legislature, that would include a Chamber of Citizens to represent the population of Yugoslavia, a system that would give Serbs a majority; a Chamber of Provinces and Republics to represent regional affairs; and a Chamber of Associated Labour.[9] Serbia's specific endorsement of a Chamber of Citizens and a Chamber of Associated Labour faced opposition from the republics of Croatia and Slovenia as they saw the proposals as increasing Serbia's power and federal state control over the economy, which was the opposite of their intention to decrease federal state control over the economy.[9] Slovenia staunchly opposed the Milošević government's plans and promoted its own reforms that would make Yugoslavia a decentralized confederation.[10]

Croatia and Slovenia denounced the actions by Milošević and began to demand that Yugoslavia be made a full multi-party confederal state.[11] Milošević claimed that he opposed a confederal system but also declared that should a confederal system be created, the external borders of Serbia would be an "open question", insinuating that his government would pursue creating a Greater Serbia if Yugoslavia was decentralized.[12]

The rotating presidency was dissolved in favour of a Serbian-based one; the autonomy of SAP Kosovo and SAP Vojvodina were abolished.

The Serbian Orthodox Church profited from the religious angle in Serbian ethnic nationalism, expressed in constructions like the Temple of Saint Sava. As a consequence of the radicalization of the various populations of Yugoslavia, nationalism reached high levels. Among Serb nationalists, this culminated on the idea that a revised "Greater Serbia" would be the new aim for Belgrade once each republic declared independence.[citation needed] Factors such as these ignited the violence that ravaged through the territory of the former-Yugoslavia from 1990 onward.[citation needed]

[edit] Ethnic and national symbolism

Further information: Symbols of Serbia and Serbian mottos
Battle of Kosovo (1870), painting by Adam Stefanović, a depiction of the Battle of Kosovo of 1389.

The Battle of Kosovo on Saint Vitus Day in 1389 between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire holds important symbolism in Serbian nationalism.[1]

Symbols used to express Serbian ethnic nationalism include the Serbian cross, a number of mottos or slogans and the so-called three-finger salute.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Motyl 2001, pp. 470.
  2. ^ a b Motyl 2001, pp. 470–472.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Motyl 2001, pp. 471.
  4. ^ a b Ramet 2006, 322.
  5. ^ Wachtel 2006, pp. 86.
  6. ^ Wachtel 2006, pp. 85–87.
  7. ^ a b Ramet 2006, pp. 321.
  8. ^ a b Ramet 2006, pp. 337.
  9. ^ a b Ramet 2006, pp. 338.
  10. ^ Ramet 2006, pp. 339.
  11. ^ Ramet 2006, pp. 355.
  12. ^ Ramet 2006, pp. 359.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading
Forms of nationalism based primarily on ethnicity are listed below. This does not imply that all nationalists with a given ethnicity subscribe to that form of ethnic nationalism.
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