# Serbophilia

Serbophilia (Serbian: Србофилија, romanized: Srbofilija) is the admiration, appreciation and/or emulation of a non-Serbian person who expresses a strong interest, positive predisposition or appreciation for the Serbian people, Serbia, Republika Srpska, Serbian language, culture or history. Its opposite is Serbophobia.

## History
### 20th century
#### World War I

During World War I, Serbophilia was present in western countries.

#### Breakup of Yugoslavia

Political scientist Sabrina P. Ramet writes that Serbophilia in France during the 1990s was "traditional", partly as a response to the closeness between Germany and Croatia. Business ties continued during the war and fostered a desire for economic normalization.

## Serbophiles

* Jacob Grimm — German philologist, jurist and mythologist. Learnt Serbian in order to read Serbian epic poetry.
* Archibald Reiss — German-Swiss publicist, chemist, forensic scientist, a professor at the University of Lausanne.
* Victor Hugo — French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. Hugo wrote the speech Pour la Serbie.
* Alphonse de Lamartine — French author, poet, and statesman.
* Helen of Anjou — French noblewoman who became queen consort of the Serbian Kingdom.
* Mircea I and Vlad III Dracula
* Several notable composers used motifs from Serbian folk music and composed works inspired by Serbian history or culture, such as:
** Johannes Brahms— German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period.
** Franz Liszt — Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, and organist of the Romantic era.
** Arthur Rubinstein — Polish-American classical pianist.
** Antonín Dvořák — Czech composer, one of the first to achieve worldwide recognition.
** Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Russian composer of the Romantic period (See Serbo-Russian March).
** Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov — Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five (See Fantasy on Serbian Themes).
** Franz Schubert — Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
** Hans Huber — Swiss composer. Between 1894 and 1918, he composed five operas.
* Rebecca West (1892–1983) — British travel writer. Was described by American media as having a pro-Serbian stance.
* Flora Sandes — British Irish volunteer in World War I.
* Ruth Mitchell — American volunteer in the Chetniks, World War II. Sister of Billy Mitchell.
* Richard Grenell— American diplomat, public official, and Trump administration official.
* Robert De Niro— American actor
* John Challis— English actor best known for portraying Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the BBC Television sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003) and its sequel/spin-off The Green Green Grass (2005–2009)
* Peter Handke — Austrian novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize winner. Supported Serbia in the Yugoslav Wars.
* Eduard Limonov — Russian writer and poet.
* Ángel Pulido — Spanish physician, publicist and politician, who stood out as prominent philosephardite during the Restoration
* Essad Pasha Toptani — Ottoman Albanian politician.
* Anna Dandolo— Venetian noblewoman who became Queen of Serbia.
* Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic — Polish poet and historian of the Baroque era.
* Adam Jerzy Czartoryski — Polish nobleman, statesman, diplomat and author.
* Pavel Jozef Šafárik — Slovakian philologist, poet, literary historian, historian and ethnographer in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was one of the first scientific Slavistics.
* Ján Kollár — Slovakian writer (mainly poet), archaeologist, scientist, politician, and main ideologist of Pan-Slavism.
* Ľudovít Štúr — Slovakian revolutionary politician and writer.
* Henry Bax-Ironside — British diplomat.
* Eleftherios Venizelos — Greek statesman and a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement.
* Dimitrios Karatasos — Greek armatolos who participated in the Greek War of Independence, and several other rebellions, seeking to liberate his native Greek Macedonia.
* Herbert Vivian — British journalist and author of Servia: The Poor Man's Paradise and The Servian Tragedy: With Some Impressions of Macedonia.
* Alexander Kolchak — Imperial Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer.
* Yu Hua — Chinese author.
* František Zach — Czech soldier and military theorist.

## Gallery

* "A Threatening Situation", a comic published in the American newspaper the Brooklyn Eagle in July 1914
* Departure for Serbia
* WWI poster - Kosovo Day, June 28, 1916, published in solidarity with the Serb allies
* WWI poster - Save Serbia (1915)
* American poster of the Serbian Relief Fund, organised by Mabel Grouitch, asking for donations to help Serbia on the brink of famine.