Belgrade

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BELGRADE

Geography and national and international politics determined the history of the city of Belgrade. Placed at the confluence of two major rivers—the Danube and the Sava, which connected central and southeastern Europe with the eastern Mediterranean—the city played a significant role in the wars waged by European powers against the Ottomans for the heritage of their empire.

From the end of the seventeenth century, when the Ottomans were defeated at the siege of Vienna by the Christian coalition in 1683 until the end of the eighteenth century, Serbia was a constant battleground. The country was devastated and depopulated; the few travelers visiting the area described it as a desert, invaded by warring armies, outlaws, and brigands. During four wars (1683–1699, 1716–1718, 1737–1739, and 1788–1791), Belgrade changed hands between both Ottoman and Austrian masters and was besieged and bombarded by both sides. The captured Serbian population was enslaved and sold in the slave market in Istanbul. Finally after the peace treaty of 1791 signed in Svishtov between the Austrians and the Turks, Belgrade became a border city in the hands of the Ottomans. The frontier nature of Belgrade had a dual effect on the role that the city was to play in history. Externally it introduced Serbia into European diplomacy and the Eastern Question. Domestically it offered a political and economic leader to the nation, the role of administrative and cultural center of the nascent Serbian statehood, first a principality, later a kingdom, the autonomy of which was granted in 1830 by the sultan's hatti-sherif (decree). After a brawl between Serbs and Turks, and the bombardment of the city, the Turkish garrison had to withdraw from the Belgrade fortress and all Serbian cities (1867). Independence was granted to Serbia by the European Great Powers at the Berlin Conference in 1878. The price to accomplish this was high: war after war, conflict and strife, as well as two Serbian uprisings in 1804 and 1815.

The Serbian Orthodox Church, seated in Belgrade, became independent from the Greek patriarch in 1879. A concordat with the Vatican, concluded in 1914, confirmed the rights of Catholics in Serbia.

All European powers played an important role in Serbian politics. The most influential was Russia, until the turn of the twentieth century, when France and western Europe took the lead. Of the two rival Serbian dynasties, the Obrenovi?es were Austrophiles, the Karadjordjevi?es Russophiles. The public in Belgrade considered Russia a protector of its Slavic brother, while Austria-Hungary was suspected as an opponent of the Slavic cause. The first Russo-Serbian Convention of military and political alliance was concluded in 1807, and the Russian diplomatic representative arrived in Belgrade. The Austrian consulate in Belgrade was opened in 1836, the British in 1837, and the French in 1839. When studying abroad, Belgrade's young intelligentsia chose France for law and the political sciences, Germany for economy and finance, and Russia for military studies.

During the nineteenth century, Belgrade went through significant demographic changes. The number of Serbs rose and the number of Turks steadily declined. According to censuses made annually by Serbian authorities, the population of Belgrade rose from 4,500 in 1810 to 89,876 in 1910. Belgrade and Serbia became attractive to immigrants from surrounding regions settled by Serbs, as well as South Slavs in Balkan areas. According to statistics, in 1900 there were 21,105 Belgrade citizens who were born abroad. Among them were educated professionals from Vojvodina (then in Hungary). Most became teachers, civil servants, army officers, and policemen.

Belgrade entered the Industrial Age rather late, having relied on cattle breeding, pig farming, and the export of these livestock for its main source of revenue. The construction of railroads after the Berlin Congress (1878) encouraged the investment of foreign and domestic capital in industry. However, at the end of the nineteenth century, there were only twenty industrial establishments in the city. The Austrian sanctions imposed on Serbia during their Custom War of 1906–1911 removed Austrian industrial competition and facilitated the development of Serbian industry, especially food processing, flour milling, and breweries.

Improved economy, traffic, and communication required a new urban plan for the city. The narrow, winding, little streets in the center of the city were replaced by tree-lined, large, straight avenues. The urban architecture of new Belgrade showed a strong French influence. The city boasted imposing buildings: the new palace, the Serbian National Bank, the National Theatre, the Grand Hotel, and many others. These were designed by young domestic architects trained abroad. Street squares were ornamented with monuments of distinguished Serbs made by domestic sculptors. City traffic was regulated and facilitated. The first telephone was installed in Belgrade in 1882; electricity in the streets was introduced in 1892. The first streetcars, pulled by horses, were replaced by electric versions. In 1884, Belgrade was connected by railways with central Europe and other Balkan cities.

Receptive to western European culture, Belgrade also preserved and further developed Serbian national culture. The Royal Serbian Academy of Sciences, founded in 1887, replaced the former Serbian Learned Society and the previous Great School (Velika Skola) was transformed in 1905 into the University of Belgrade. Among cultural institutions were the National Library, the National Museum, the Ethnographic Museum (1901), the National Theatre (1868), the School of Music, and the Clerical College. Together, they produced internationally and nationally recognized scholars.

Parliamentarism and democracy were introduced in Serbia under King Peter I after the 1903 regicide in Belgrade. During the decade preceding World War I, Belgrade was at the helm of the Serbian and Yugoslav national movement for liberation and unification. It also caused a conflict with Austria-Hungary during and after its 1908 annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The government in Belgrade was one of the main architects of the Balkan Alliance in 1912, which enabled the victory in the Balkan Wars of 1912, but clashed with its Bulgarian ally in 1913. On the eve of World War I the Belgrade government was accused of involvement in the assassination of Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo, which triggered the started of World War I.