Military history of Serbia

Themilitary historyofSerbiaspans over 1200 years on theBalkan peninsuladuring the various forms of the Serbian state and Serbian military.

Historical preview[edit]

Middle Ages[edit]

The Serbian army in the Middle Ages primarily consisted of light cavalry and infantry force armed withspears,javelinsorbows.With the increasing wealth from mining, mercenaryknightswere recruited to complement noble cavalry armed withbowandlance.This enabled the Serbs to fight effectively outside their mountain strongholds. The core of the army consisted of noblecavalry(vlastela) armed with lance and bow in theByzantinestyle in early medieval times. These were increasingly supplemented by western-style knights, mostly Germans (inEmperor Dušanreign).

Emperor Dušan's military tactics consisted of wedge-shaped heavy cavalry attacks with horse archers on the flanks. Many foreign mercenaries were in the Serbian army, mostlyGermansas cavalry andSpaniardsas infantry. He also had personal mercenary guards, mainly German knights. A knight named Palman was the commander of this unit and was the leader of all German mercenaries. Light horses were provided byHungarianandCumanmercenaries. Later in the period, Serbian lance armedHussarstook over this role. The infantry still included lightly armed javelin troops although the bow andcrossbowbecame the most important infantry weapon in the 14th century. A western-style charge by the armoured cavalry and knights was the main tactic that the infantry used to follow up.^[1] Ragusan historianMavro Orbinrecorded that PrinceLazarused cannons as early as 1373 in his war against Nikola Altamanovich in northern Serbia.^[2]DespotStefanhas armed hisknightswith light firearms (musket"Fitiljača" ), also withspears,swords,daggers,maces,bowandarrows,crossbows,shields,armours,halberdandcannons.He also introduced European-style knight tournaments.

Modern Age and Contemporary period[edit]

The modern Serbian military dates back to theSerbian revolutionwhich started in 1804 with theFirst Serbian Uprisingagainstthe Ottoman occupation of Serbia.The victories in the battles ofIvankovac(1805),Mišar(August 1806),Deligrad(December 1806) andBelgrade(November–December 1806), led to the establishment of thePrincipality of Serbiain 1817. The subsequentSecond Serbian Uprisingof 1815–1817 led to full independence and recognition of theKingdom of Serbiaand weakened theOttomandominance in theBalkans.In November 1885 theSerbo-Bulgarian Waroccurred followingBulgarian unificationand resulted in a Bulgarian victory. In 1912 theFirst Balkan War(1912–1913) erupted between theOttoman Empireand theBalkan League(Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria). Balkan League victories in theBattle of Kumanovo(October 1912), theBattle of Prilep(November 1912), theBattle of Monastir(November 1912), theBattle of Adrianople(November 1912 to March 1913), and theSiege of Scutari(October 1912 to April 1913) resulted in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which lost most of its remaining Balkan territories per theTreaty of London(May 1913). Shortly after, theSecond Balkan War(June to August 1913) broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with the division of territory, declared war against its former allies, Serbia and Greece. Following a string of defeats, Bulgaria requested anarmisticeand signed the 1913Treaty of Bucharest,formally ending the war.

Serbia's independence and growing influence threatened neighboringAustria-Hungarywhich led to theBosnian crisisof 1908–09. Consequently, from 1901, all Serbian males between the ages of 21 and 46 became liable for general mobilization.^[3]Following theassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austriain June 1914, Austria-Hungary implicated Serbians anddeclared waron Serbia (July 1914), which marked the beginning of theFirst World Warof 1914–1918. Serbian forces repelled three consecutive invasions by Austria in 1914, securing the first major victories of the war for theAllies,but were eventually overwhelmed by the combined forces of theCentral Powers(October–November 1915) and forced toretreatthroughAlbania(1915–1916) to theGreekisland ofCorfu(1915–1916).

Serbian military activity after World War I took place in the context ofvarious Yugoslav armiesuntil thebreak-up of Yugoslaviain the 1990s and the restoration of Serbia as anindependent countryin 2006.

References[edit]

^Churches of Eastern Cheristendom
^Serb Worldvolumes 5–6, page 10
^"Serbian Army in WWI".Archived fromthe originalon 23 March 2009.

Sources[edit]

Momir Jović, Kosta Radić. Srpske zemlje i vladari (1955), str. 68 – 80.
Pavle Vasić, Uniforme srpske vojske 1808–1918, Prosveta, Beograd, 1980.
Ćorović, Vladimir (1921).Istorija Srba[History of the Serbs] (in Serbian). pp. 201–215.ISBN 978-86-13-00641-1.
Znamenite bitke i bojevi srpske i crnogorske vojske: Srpska vojska u velikim bitkama na Ceru, Drini i Kolubari.Pravoslavna reč. 1998.ISBN 978-86-335-0038-8.
Branko Pavićević; Petar Opačić; Borislav Ratković; Mitar Rurišić (1998).Znamenite bitke i bojevi srpske i crnogorske vojske: od Careva Laza 1712. do Dobropoljske Bitke 1918.Pravoslavna reč.ISBN 978-86-335-0038-8.
Petar Tomac (1959).Vojna istorija.Vojnoizdavački zavod JNA "Vojno delo,".

External links[edit]

[1] Churches of Eastern Cheristendom

[2] Serb Worldvolumes 5–6, page 10

[3] "Serbian Army in WWI".Archived fromthe originalon 23 March 2009.

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