Southern Austria and were keen to unite with Serbia. better to conquer Serbia to stop the threat as the Czechs and Croats also wanted independence. establish pro-Russian governments in the Balkans which would allow their ports to be used to transport Russian goods in the Mediterranean.

They felt this was inadequate and blamed Austria-Hungary for their loss of land. This was a significant factor in the hostility between the two sides as it made Austria-Hungary fear Serbian growth and angered Serbia as they felt that whenever they made gains of land in the Balkans the Austrians would thwart it.

As the provinces were coveted by many—in fact, both Austria and Hungary wanted Bosnia and Herzegovina for themselves—the decision was more or less a stopgap to preserve the delicate balance of power in Europe.

The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in October, 1908, led to a controversy between the Dual Monarchy and Turkey. It also led to international complications which for several weeks early in 1909 threatened to end in a general European war. This was the Bosnian crisis.

To spite Austria-Hungary, Izvolsky then suggested that Serbia should receive territorial compensation from Austria-Hungary to balance up the land annexed from Bosnia-Herzegovina. This Austria refused to even consider. Serbia had been against the annexation, as she wanted Bosnia-Herzegovina for herself.

Furthermore, Serbia, which was closely related to Bosnia and Herzegovina geographically and ethnically, was outraged by the annexation. It demanded that Austria cede a portion of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbia, and Izvolsky, pressed by anti-Austrian opinion in Russia, was forced to support the Serbian claims.

The war ended in 1995 after Nato bombed the Bosnian Serbs and Muslim and Croat armies made gains on the ground. A US-brokered peace divided Bosnia into two self-governing entities, a Bosnian Serb republic and a Muslim-Croat federation lightly bound by a central government.

Inspired by Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic as he turned from Communism to nationalism, Bosnia’s Serbs set about trying to unite Bosnia with Serbia, in an echo of Princip’s dream.

Bosnian Serbs are also the largest Serb community outside of Serbia itself. The main dispute in Bosnia arose from the dissolution of Yugoslavia, when most Serbs did not support the country’s independence, but instead joined the Serbian war-effort to dismember Bosnia and attach Serb controlled areas to Serbia.

Both Croat and Croatian refer to the language and people of Croatia; Serbian refers to the language of Serbia, while Serb designates the people. Serbs and Croats understand one another’s speech, but their alphabets are very different. Lejla’s mother is a Serb, and her father is a Croat, but she is a Canadian.

The closest languages are Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Slovenian. Russian is kind of close but not so much. There are some main differences in accent (Serbians speak with a hard accent and we generally speak very fast), grammar etc.

The World Bank classifies Serbia as a middle-income country and its economy is transitioning from being dominated by the state sector to a market-driven model. The country is a member of the IMF, United Nations and WHO and is a candidate country for the European Union.

Currently, according to the Census in Serbia, in regard to religious affiliation, there are 84.6% Orthodox Christians, 5% Catholics, 3.1% Muslims, 1.1% atheists, 1% Protestants, 3.1% do not declare themselves confessionally, and about 2% other confessions.

Serbian Orthodox Church

Yugoslavia

National dishes of Serbia include sarma (a mix of ground pork or beef with rice rolled in leaves of cabbage), gibanica (an egg and cheese pie made with filo dough), pljeskavica (a ground beef or pork patty), ćevapi (grilled meat), paprikaš (a soup made of fish), gulaš] ( soup of meat and vegetables usually seasoned …

Red Star Belgrade, byname of Fudbalski Klub Crvena Zvezda (Serbian: “Football Club Red Star”), also known as Red Star, Serbian professional football (soccer) team based in Belgrade.

By far the two most popular clubs in the country are Partizan and Crvena zvezda, both from Belgrade.

Rakija (Serbian Cyrillic: Ракија) is one of the most popular alcoholic drinks in Serbia. It is the national drink of Serbia present for centuries.

In Serbia, Orthodox Christian families celebrate an important holiday in honour of the patron saint, Slava, who is believed to be their protector and provider of welfare. The celebration consists of the ritual offering of a bloodless sacrifice and a feast held for relatives, neighbours and friends.

Serbia has only one nationwide official language, which is Serbian. Other languages spoken in Serbia include Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak, Rusyn, Croatian (all of which are official regional languages in the Vojvodina province), Bosnian, Romani, Albanian, Vlach, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Bunjevac, etc.

According to censuses, there were 3,247 ethnic Russians living in Serbia (2011) and 3,510 Serbs with Russian citizenship (2010). Russia and Serbia are both predominantly Slavic and Eastern Orthodox countries, which share a strong mutual cultural affinity.

Location: Serbia is a landlocked country in South East Europe which covers part of the Pannonian Plain and Central and Western Balkan Peninsula. It borders Hungary to the north, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, North Macedonia and Kosovo to the south, and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the west.