The Urban, Political, and Socioeconomic Rise and Fall of Belgrade Through Its History

Abstract

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Belgrade only had about 69,100 inhabitants, while today it has around 1.6 million inhabitants, which is 23% of Serbia’s population. Belgrade has been the scene of social revolutions which have triggered frequent changes in its social and economic stratification, reflected in international relationships that have often broken down in frequent political crises, wars, and migrations. Immediately upon the city gaining autonomy, Belgrade’s history saw great changes in the nineteenth century. Belgrade, within a span of only several decades, significantly changed its appearance: from a derelict, poorly arranged small town with winding, narrow streets, it started to become the principal economic, cultural, and governmental center of the young Serbian state. In the aftermath of WWI, in 1918, Belgrade became the capital of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but changed its name in 1929 to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Socialist Yugoslavia was formed from the remains of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the aftermath of WWII. After Tito rejected making Yugoslavia dependent on the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia left the Soviet bloc in 1948 and changed its political course by establishing a new position between the two blocs. The country took part in establishing the Non-Aligned Movement, which positioned Yugoslavia in the major global political arena. The collapse of the Yugoslav federation in the 1990s was a result of complex internal and external geostrategic circumstances, culminating in violent political conflict. Belgrade arrived in the twenty-first century in a worse state than anyone could have ever possibly predicted in the time of its glory after WWII. This chapter analyzes the urban, political, and socioeconomic rise and fall of Belgrade through its long history. This extensive overall study of Belgrade is divided into five periods: Development of Belgrade to 1914, Belgrade between two World Wars, Belgrade from the end of WWII until 1991, Belgrade from 1991 to 2000, and Belgrade at the beginning of the twenty-first century.