The “Ten Years’ War”
Ten years of almost continuous war began with the onset of the Balkan Wars in October 1912 and lasted—at least for Serbia—through World War I and to the resolution of the status of Albania in May 1922. This decade was decisive both in shaping the modern Serbian state and in connecting Serb national consciousness to a Yugoslav state that would include all Serbs.
Despite their competing expectations of territorial expansion in the area, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece concluded in 1912 a series of secret treaties creating a Balkan League, the explicit intention of which was to eject the Turks from Europe. On October 8, 1912, Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire, precipitating the First Balkan War. The Serbian army pushed into northern Macedonia (Vardar Macedonia), and the Bulgarian army reached the gates of Constantinople in a matter of weeks. Bulgaria’s refusal to accept the division of Macedonia instigated a brief Second Balkan War in 1913, the result of which was Serbia’s division of the Sandžak with Montenegro and acquisition of Kosovo and Metohija, as well as the lion’s share of Macedonia. Its area was expanded by some four-fifths and its population by more than half.
Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
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Serbia - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
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Serbia is a country in southeastern Europe. It was a republic, or state, of the country of Yugoslavia for much of the 1900s. In the 1990s all of Yugoslavia’s republics except Serbia and Montenegro became independent countries. The two remaining republics formed a new country called Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. However, Montenegro declared its independence in 2006. In 2008 the province of Kosovo broke away from Serbia and declared its own independence. However, Serbia refused to recognize it as an independent country. The capital of Serbia is Belgrade.
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Serbia - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
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For most of the 20th century, the Balkan country of Serbia was a republic, or state, of the country of Yugoslavia. After World War I, Yugoslavia was created as a homeland for several different ethnic groups. It was formed largely from remnants of the collapsed Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. Demands for self-determination by Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and others went unrecognized, and Yugoslavia became an uneasy association of peoples conditioned by centuries of ethnic and religious hatreds. World War II aggravated these rivalries, but a Communist dictatorship took power after the war and kept them restrained for 45 years. When the Communist system failed, the old rivalries reasserted themselves; in 1991-92 the provinces of Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina seceded from the union, leaving the republics of Serbia and Montenegro as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The country became Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. This federation came to an end in 2006, however, as Montenegro and Serbia were recognized as independent nations. The capital of Serbia is Belgrade. Area 29,922 square miles (77,498 square kilometers). Population (2013 est.) 7,131,000.
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