The Balkan Wars in Serbian History Textbooks (1920–2013)

Abstract

Through her analysis of history textbooks, the author demonstrates that the Balkan Wars were convenient events for building key components of the Serbian romantic national myth, and that they were used to send political messages in every political phase that Serbia and Yugoslavia went through since 1920 and during the twentieth century. As she shows, the Balkan Wars were the most popular wars in modern Serbian history because they meant great victory over the perceived archenemy, the Ottomans, and because, as a result, Serbia’s territory doubled in size. In fact, the Balkan Wars’ narrative continues to enable the idea of a “victim nation” which—being historically “just” and “righteous”—has stoically endured the territorial avarice of both the surrounding neighbors and the so-called great powers.