Federal republic of Serbia

### Name(s)

Federal republic of Serbia, Serbian Federation, Савезна Република Србија (Savezna Republika Srbija, Serbian)

### Ruler(s)

Slobodan Milošević (1992-2005)Radoje Kontić (2005-2010)Ilija Dačić (2010-)

### GDP

112.4 billion USD

Serbia, officially the Federal republic of Serbia or the Serbian Federation, is a nation located in the Balkan peninsula of Europe. The nation's modern history is usually considered to have started after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1933, when Croatia and Slovenia broke free from Yugoslavia and left Serbia in an unstable federative kingdom.

History:

After the breakup of Yugoslavia in early 1933, King Alexander I of Serbia tried to centralize the power of the federative Kingdom in Serbia. His policies angered other ethnic groups such as Bulgarians living in Macedonia and the Bosniak Muslims, however their nationalist movements lacked enough support for rebellions.

The Serbian nation later declared war on the Kingdom of Croatia on the 15th of October, 1938, with the excuse that the Croatian nation was trying to distance itself from it's "south Slavic, originally Serbian" culture, which was said by Minister of the Interior Kosta Pećanac.

The war did not play out in Serbia's favor, as the majority of their fighting force was surrounded in Bosnia in early April of 1939. Soon after this, the Kingdom sued for peace and lost the province of Bosnia to the Kingdom of Croatia. Soon after the war ended, king Alexander I of Serbia was assassinated by an Albanian nationalist while he was visiting an arms factory near Mitrovica, Kosovo.

Kosta Pećanac became the Prime Minister of Serbia shortly after and set up a Nationalist, authoritarian regime in Serbia, which was under joint leadership of Pećanac's Chetniks and the Minister of Justice, Božidar Ljotić's ZBOR party. Eventually, the Nationalist regime was overthrown by Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović in March of 1940 and on the 17th of May, 1940, Serbia joined with Croatia to create the Federal Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a personal union between the two nations.

The Serbian nation was renamed to the General Governorate of Serbia and was de jure considered a part of the Federal Kingdom of Yugoslavia, while de facto, Serbia and Croatia functioned as separate entities. Draža Mihailović became the President of the Governing Council of Serbia in March of 1941 and started gathering morale for Serbs and other ethnic groups to fight against Axis occupation in the Balkans.

Serbia had a large part in fighting against the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Legionary Kingdom of Romania during the Second World War, as the majority of the Royal Croatian Army was focused on the German invasion in the west. Draža Mihailović was promoted to General Governor of Serbia on the 6th of February, 1943, by Vladislav I of Croatia, to make sure that everyone would trust Vladislav's credibility as being the King of Serbia, since Mihailović was a respected war hero and politician.

After the war, Serbia was reformed by Mihailović and eventually the General Governorate of Serbia followed in Croatia's footsteps by joining NATO in March of 1957. On the same year, the General Governorate of Serbia joined the Bulgar-Romanian war in April after Mihailović was given permission to fight in the war by Prime Minister Goran David Tito and heir to the throne Vladislav II. Serbia became a great partner for Bulgaria after this, repairing sour relations from the late 19th- and early 20th centuries.

The General Governorate's borders were threatened by Greece in early 1968, which eventually spilled out into a war, with the General Governorate of Serbia being joined by Bulgarian volunteers and the Kingdom of Croatia against Greece. The conflict ended in just two years, with Serbia and Croatia being the victors of it.

Serbia's autonomy was formally abolished in a decree by King Vladislav II of Croatia on the 25th of June, 1989, which established that Serbia would be considered a part of the Greater Kingdom of Croatia. This was the eventual cause for the Serbian revolution on the 9th of January, 1992, which eventually ended on the 23rd of March, 1992, when the two sides came to an agreement.

Serbia became a democratic federation lead by President Slobodan Milošević, who started modernizing the country's military, government and currency. Milošević approached Vladislav II to propose the idea of Serbia joining the Bosnian war and gaining the Bosnian-Serb territories after the nations defeat the Kingdom of Bosnia, which had declared it's independence in May of 1992. Vladislav agreed and Milošević's Serbia joined the war on the 19th of August, 1992.

After Bosnia was defeated, Serbia gained the Bosnian-Serb territories to the east, expanding by 24 857 square kilometers. Serbia was later threatened by the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) which wanted to incorporate the Albanian speaking areas of Kosovo into the Kingdom of Albania in late 1996. In March of 1997, it broke out into a full scale revolution after UCK members attacked a Serbian military base near Prizren in Kosovo.

The Kosovo war then broke out, with NATO attempting to send supplies and volunteers to Serbia, while Albania joined the war itself in January of 1998. Eventually, the two sides came to an agreement in October of 1999, where Albania would annex the majority Albanian area of Metohija, while Serbia would retain the mixed region of Kosovo.

Serbia would again find itself in a conflict involving minorities in the nation, when a nationalist Macedonian organization named the MMS (Macedonian Freedom Militia) started a revolution in south west Macedonia on the 8th of May, 2002. With help from Bulgaria, the Macedonian insurgents were crushed and they were forced to sign peace on the 19th of September, 2002.

Demographics:

The Federal republic of Serbia has a total population of 12 million, which means it stands as the 79th largest country in the world ranked by population. Unlike the Kingdom of Croatia, most people living in Serbia consider themselves to be Serbs, but there are still a few other ethnic groups inside the country, which are:

* Serbs (65.7%)
* Macedonians (7.6%)
* Albanians (6.1%)
* Montenegrins (2.9%)
* Bulgarians (1.5%)
* Others (16.2%)

Largest Cities in the nation:

1. Belgrade (population: 1 687 132)
2. Skopje (population: 578 144)
3. Novi Sad (population: 277 522)
4. Niš (population: 260 237)
5. Pristina (population: 198 897)
6. Banja Luka (population: 185 042)
7. Podgorica (population: 150 977)
8. Kragujevac (population: 150 835)
9. Leskovac (population: 126 883)
10. Kruševac (population: 136 752)

Government:

The government of Serbia is a semi-presidential federative republic which is split up into three different governing entities: Serbia proper, Montenegro and Vardar Macedonia. Each of the entities have a governing council, while the president acts as a head of government for all three entities. The cabinet is the same for each entity as well and is picked by the Prime Minister after he is inaugurated.

The current president of the federation is Ilija Dačić, who has been serving as the president of Serbia since 2010, as he was re-elected twice, once in 2015 and the other time in 2020. The current Prime Minister of the federation is Tomislav Nikolić, who had become Prime Minister in 2018.

Geography:

Compared to Croatia, Serbia has a much smaller coast on the Adriatic Sea, where 80% of their trade is made. The country is bordered by Croatia to the west, Hungary to the north, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the south west. The central and southern parts of the county are very mountainous, especially in Vardar Macedonia.

The highest peak in the country is Mount Korab, located near the Albanian border in Vardar Macedonia. Mount Korab reaches a height of 2 764 meters above sea level. The nation covers a total of 149 132 square kilometers, making it the 92nd largest nation in the world ranked by area.

Religion:

The majority of the population of the country consider themselves to be of the Orthodox faith, with around 91% of the population hearing to the religion. Another 6.5% of the population consider themselves to be Muslims and the remaining 2.5% of the population are of the Catholic faith.

Administrative regions and divisions:

The Federation is usually split into the three administrative entities, but it is also split into 6 administrative divisions in governmental matters. These are the following provinces:

1. Serbia proper (Serbian: Uže Srbije)
2. Vardar Macedonia (Serbian: Vardarska Makedonija)
3. Kosovo (Albanian: Kosovë)
4. Montenegro (Serbian: Crna Gora)
5. Serbian Bosnia (Serbian/Bosnian: Srpska Bosna)
6. Vojvodina