In February 1979, Joe Biden – the future American president – attended the funeral of Edvard Kardelj in Yugoslavia. Kardelj, although scarcely remembered outside the former Yugoslavia, was a figure of enormous importance in his time. An early adopter of communism (at age 16 in 1926), he spent time in a Kingdom of Jugoslavia jail …
Ox”The struggle now is for everything,” Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, 28 October 1940. At 3:00 in the morning on 28 October 1940, the Italian ambassador in Athens delivered a message to the Greek government. Allow the Italian army to enter Greece and occupy strategic positions, it said, or there will be war. “Alors, c’est …
The Battle of Kumanovo, on 23 October 1912, marked the end of the Ottoman Empire in Europe – even if the Ottomans didn’t quite fully accept the loss until May 1913. It was a victory that shocked the Great Powers of Europe; that the small and seemingly backward nations of the Balkans- long viewed as …
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 …
On 9 October 1934 the first political assassination to be caught on film took place in Marseilles, France. When the smoke and crowd (who beat the assassin so severely he not only died, but he was unidentifiable other than his tattoo) cleared, Alexander I Karađorđević had been killed. The French Foreign Minister had also been …
Bulgaria celebrates its independence on 22 September, which was the date that (now) Tsar Ferdinand issued his proclamation in the old Bulgaria capital of Tarnovo. To much of the rest of the world, the date was already 5 October – but the truth is that the actual date mattered far less than the momentous events …
On 10 September 1960, Abebe Bikila found that the new running shoes he had purchased in Rome were uncomfortable. Undeterred, he decided to run the marathon barefoot. He took the 1960 Rome Olympics gold medal. On 23 November 1915 the retreat from the World War I Serbian front began. Every male over the age of …
On 30 September 1915, Serbian gunner Radoje Ljutovac became the first man to shoot an aircraft from the sky. He was given an award and promoted to Corporal. The Balkans were a hotbed of firsts during WWI. In addition to the first plane that was shot down, the first real dogfight also occurred over Serbia. …
Successfully passing down cultural folktales is vital for a society that wishes to continue through the ages. Hans Christian Anderson and the Grimm brothers were wildly successful at making sure native tales would not be forgotten. Geoffrey of Monmouth firmly established the British King Arthur in the popular imagination. Croatia had its own passer-of-tales in …
“If you want to have serious riots in Yugoslavia or cause a regime change, you need to kill me. Shoot at me and be sure you have finished me off, because that’s the only way to make changes in Yugoslavia,” King Alexander I of Serbia to the Italian government after the Velabit Uprising in 1932. …
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