By the Battle Of Kumanovo on 23 – 24 October 1912, the First Balkan War was young, but already in full swing – it would be a decisive victory for the Serbian forces, and a shattering loss for the Ottoman. Just a week prior, on 18 October 1912, King Peter I of Serbia had issued …
Between 1804 and 1835 Serbia fought for independence from the Ottoman Empire that had ruled over the Balkans for more than 400 years. Men like Dositej Obradović and Vuk Karadžić emphasized the essentials of being Serbian, the things that unified the Serbian people and nation. Language, customs, and a shared history became the foundation of the rallying …
In August 1963, one month after an earthquake decimated the capital of Skopje, an open topped car zipped around the Socialist Republic of Macedonia carrying two powerful men who were dancing around a renewed relationship. Josip Broz Tito, whose fantastic response to Stalin’s constant dispatching of assassins ended Soviet/Yugoslav relations for many years, was showing …
From fairy tales and legends of ancient warriors to a history of rescuing the Christian world, we will bring to life the influences that shape an ethnicity. Truth is lost between history and belief The alphabet. The religion. The tragedies. the glory. The Slavic world is often an enigma to the west, …
At the same time of the turn of the nineteenth century that Franz Ferdinand and Sophie Chotek of Austria-Hungary were attempting to convince Emperor Franz Josef that their marriage would not lead to the end of the Empire, another culturally inappropriate marriage was taking place between Alexander I of Serbia and Draga Lunjevica Mašin. Draga, …
Anka Obrenović, who was also called Ana, was self-confident and fearless. She loved her last name and luxury. Because of her love of Viennese fashion, she was nicknamed “Anka Pomodarka”. She was killed in 1868 in the Topčider forest during the assassination of Mihailo Obrenović, and it is little known that she tried to protect …
Historical fiction can be the a fantastic way to ingrain history events as long as it doesn’t deviate too far from the dry and dusty demands of factual “truthiness”, and in the vein The Second Seal by Dennis Wheatley is an excellent primer for the dabbler who wants to get started in the area World …
First Jelena Branković lost her father. Then before four months could pass, in 1459 at the age of 11, she was married to the son of the King of Bosnia. Stjepan Tomasević had not even met Jelena, but they were married on 1 April 1459. Given that Tomasević had been casting around the Balkans for …
For Croats I was a Serb and a unitarian from the beginning. To Serbs, a Frankist [radical Croatian nationalist] and Ustaša; to Ustaše a dangerous Marxist and communist; to Marxists a salon communist; to clergy and believers, the antichrist who should be nailed to a shameful pillar. For the bourgeoisie after the war I am …