Battle Of Kosovo Research Articles

The Balkan Wars: Conquest, Revolution, and Retribution from the Ottoman Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond

War after war has ravaged this part of the world with frightening regularity - will the region ever achieve stability or is each Balkan state doomed to repeat a history characterized by the unending cycle of butchery, bloodlust and retribution? The author gives the characters in this historical drama a human face, and in doing so, brings the events of long ago into the sharp focus of current events. The book shows that violence and terror have had plenty of precedence in the region The reader is introduced to key figures who have played a hand in the shaping of the cultural and ethnic landscape of the Balkans, beginning with Sultan Murad I, Prince Lazar and Milos Obolic, the legendary trinity of the Battle of Kosovo that inspired countless generations of Serbian resistance and vengeance. Covered are the ruthless mountain bandits who became romantic symbols of freedom and patriotism during the 19th century. Also covered is the chilling account of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, the 525th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, the details of the Archduke's fateful visit and the conspirators who awaited him.

Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo by Ger s> Duijzings (review)

REVIEWS 791 history,where it exists,points to some alternativeconclusionsabout the nature and directionof Hungariansocialdevelopment.Tibor Valuchin an impressive yet provisional social history of Hungary since I945 has argued that behind the impact of the grand strategies of the Stalinist, Kadarist and liberal democratic regimes some remarkablecontinuitiesin society can be discerned. The time has come for more complex conceptualizations of social change in Hungarywhich allow for the autonomy of social groupsvis-a-vis the state. Department ofHistoy M. D. PITTAWAY TheOpenUniversity Duijzings, Ger.Religion andthePolitics ofIdentity inKosovo. C. Hurst&Company, London, 2000. XV+ 238 pp. Notes. Illustrations.Maps. Bibliographical references.Index. ?35.00; Ci6.50. GERDuIJzINGS claims that his anthropological work in Kosovo gave him insights which offer a corrective approach to the more characteristic and widely publicized characteristicstudies of South-East European politics. By 'enteringsmalland unknownside-paths'as a participantobserverhe attempts to 'open up new perspectiveson old problems'(p. 2 Io). Duijzings has researched widely and surveys a range of views, besides detailing and analysing his own extensive findings; he completed a project very differentfrom that upon which he had set out to complete. His originally projected micro-studyof a small ruralKosovar Croatian community close to the Macedonian border was eroded shortly after his arrivalby the exodus of thatcommunity in responseto theviolence Croatiancommunitieshad already experienced elsewhere in the by-then-former-Yugoslavia.This led to what Duijzings termed 'ethnic unmixing'which is the subjectof his second chapter. Thereafter the author's focus widened to include other ethnographic casestudies which are collected in the present volume, thereby portraying the 'tension between conflict and symbiosis [... .] and the role played by religion in the local, regional and national politics of identity' (p. x). One of his chaptersis on the revivalof popular Sufismin Kosovo (basedon his I989 MA thesis). Commenting that religion is a major source identification in the Balkans (P. 157),he qualifiesthat due to theirfluctuatingplace in Europe,the Kosovar identity also fluctuates. A range of groups with various oppressors have occupied the same geographicalarea.Albanianshave been Serbianized,Serbs have been Albanianized. The Turkishlanguage is widely spoken, leading to the labeling of some as 'Turks'. This in turn made it easier to demand the removal of such groups to 'return' to Turkey. Duijzings spent time visiting shrines, especially at times of pilgrimages, and found that Muslims and Gypsies regularlyvisited Orthodox shrines, that ethnic syncretism,although not sanctioned by the church authoritieswas not only tolerated, but actually encouraged locally. There areparallelsin Albania and elsewhere. The way divisions emerged in particularperiods also varied; for example during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the widest division was between landlords and others. In the I950S the divisions were political: 792 SEER, 79, 4, 200I communists versus irredentists (Albanians sentenced fellow Albanians as 'counter-revolutionaries'). Clear labels are a recent phenomenon (p. 24), especially as a form of manipulation through the use of categories in census gathering. Dominant groups attempted to include smallergroups to increase their power. As an example of this Duijzing's chapter on 'The Making of Egyptans in Kosovo and Macedonia' recordsthe remarkableemergence of a group whose first claims were made in i99i. Some considered these were merely Gypsies, but Serbs and Macedonians were keen to disclaim their Albanian origins;the resultwas the manipulationof as many as 83,000 people in one study. Duijzings analysesboth Balkanand Westernmythsabout the Balkans,even going so far as to state that European nation-stateshave encouraged most of the violence (p. 208); he cites the excessive resort to nationalist discourseby journalists and scholars. He devotes a chapter each to the Serbian myths of the Battle of Kosovo and to the Albanian Qerbalaja (or Kerbela) myth. He finds they have much in common: each have been portrayed through epic song and folk verse, both record a lost battle where righteous forces were overcome by evil ones, and the main hero was sacrificed, leading to the necessity for followersto accept sufferingas a step to redemption and a revolt against tyranny. Both lent weight to growing nationalism during the nineteenth century. For Albanians, 'religion is almost irrelevant in (official) political life' (P. I59); Albanian nationalism is not clothed in religious terms. Albanian nationalism never became entwined with its religion, nor were Kosovo's...

Songs of the Serbian People: From the Collections of Vuk Karadzic

In the early nineteenth century, Vuk Karadzic, a Serb scholar and linguist, collected and eventually published transcriptions of the traditional oral poetry of the South Slavs. It was a monumental and unprecedented undertaking. Karadzic gathered and heard performances of the rich songs of Balkan peasants, outlaws, and professional singers and their rebel heroes. His four volumes constitute the classic anthology of Balkan oral poetry, treasured for nearly two centuries by readers of all literatures, and influential to such literary giants as Goethe, Merimee, Pushkin, Mickiewicz, and Sir Walter Scott.This edition of the songs offers the most complete and authoritative translations ever assembled in English. Holton and Mihailovich, leading scholars of Slavic literature, have preserved here the unique meter and rhythm at the heart of Serbian oral poetry, as well as the idiom of the original singers. Extensive notes and comments aid the reader in understanding the poems, the history they record and the oral tradition that lies beneath them, the singers and their audience.The songs contain seven cycles, identified here in sections titled: Songs Before History, Before Kosovo, the Battle of Kosovo, Marko Karadzic, Under the Turks, Songs of the Outlaws, and Songs of the Serbian Insurrection. The editors have selected the best known and most representative songs from each of the cycles. A complete biography is also provided.

Who owns the battlefield?

History In the Balkans is a commodity used and traded by all sides in furtherance of competing claims. The fourteenth century Battle of Kosovo has become central to Serbia's present claims to Kosovo

Comprehensive Peace in the Balkans: The Kosovo Question

Comprehensive Peace in the Balkans: The Kosovo Question David L. Phillips (bio) I. Introduction Recent incidents in Kosovo suggest that the simmering situation there could further escalate into violent conflict. This would result in a humanitarian disaster with dimensions as serious as those seen in Bosnia-Herzegovina and with serious security implications throughout the Balkans. Regional destabilization might also disrupt implementation of The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Annexes thereto (Dayton Agreement) 1 which, after many years of bloody conflict, holds forth some prospect for peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina. 2 While Dayton establishes a framework intending to resolve the Bosnian conflict, the Agreement omits reference to Kosovo. In the post-Dayton period, there are new opportunities for a comprehensive settlement of issues in the former Yugoslavia, including the Kosovo question. The United States and its allies should be building on Dayton’s momentum by becoming more fully engaged in achieving a comprehensive [End Page 821] peace in the Balkans. With the success of US diplomacy in Dayton, everyone is looking to the United States for decisive action. There is, however, a responsibility which accompanies status as the world’s sole superpower. Today, there are heightened expectations about the role of US leadership in solving regional conflicts such as Kosovo. 3 II. The Kosovo Context A. The Heart of Serbia When queried about the origin of their problems with Albanians, many Serbs speak with romantic reminiscence about the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. The defeat of Christendom’s defenders against the invading Ottoman Turks is still commemorated by Serbs. The Battle of Kosovo has become a defining moment in their cultural history and self-perception as a long suffering people. Slobodan Milosevic proclaimed Kosovo “the heart of Serbia.” For every Serb, “Kosovo is a holy [land] . . . . There were 200,000 Serbs living in Kosovo much before Albanians ever came from the rocky mountains.” 4 However, today’s reality is different. There are approximately two million ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, which is 90 percent of the total population. Since their autonomous status was revoked in 1988, Kosovars complain about a campaign of “quiet ethnic cleansing” which is making life increasingly miserable. 5 Serbian nationalism has its roots in the fallow plains of Kosovo; Milosevic’s political base was built on a platform of Serbian hegemony over the Kosovars. With surprising familiarity, the term “ethnic cleansing” has permeated the lexicon of international relations. “Quiet ethnic cleansing” is also now becoming common parlance. Practiced out of the glare of international attention, quiet cleansing is an insidious policy which seeks to make life so unbearable that whole communities are displaced or relocate voluntarily. The conflict in the former Yugoslavia represents a dramatic instance where the dislocation of populations is the cause of war—not merely the result. [End Page 822] B. Human Rights and Self-Determination Bujar Bukoshi, Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, likens the conditions in Kosovo to apartheid in South Africa. In response to the absence of political rights, stagnant economic opportunity, and a grossly degraded physical environment, Kosovars express their deep frustration living as a “captive nation” within Serbia. 6 Milosevic claims, “[w]e don’t have any kind of conflict with the Albanians.” 7 Despite Milosevic’s assurances, UN findings describe systematic discrimination of ethnic Albanians for which there is an ample body of evidence. Resolutions and reports of the UN General Assembly, 8 the UN Human Rights Commission, 9 the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia, 10 and the UN Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities 11 have voluminously documented the deteriorating human rights situation in Kosovo. Human rights violations include random acts of violence by Serbian authorities, routine harassment and intimidation of the local population, and arbitrary arrests. There is evidence of police brutality, arbitrary searches, seizures, detentions, forced evictions, torture, and ill-treatment of detainees. 12 The administration of justice is discriminatory. In addition, local self government and civil society institutions have been suspended. Ethnic Albanian civil servants from the police and judiciary have been dismissed. There is discrimination against Albanian pupils and teachers; Albanian language elementary and...

The Battle of Kosovo

The Battle of Kosovo

Celebrating the Glorious Revolution, 1689–1989

1988 and 1989 have been vintage years all over the world for centenary celebrations. People have celebrated the centenary of the Eiffel Tower, the bicentenary of the French Revolution, the bicentenary of Australia, the bicentenary of the American Bill of Rights, the quatercentenary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the sexcentenary of the battle of Kosovo (this one may have escaped your notice, but it brought over a million people to a gathering in the city of Pristina in Yugoslavia in June 1989), and, of course, the tercentenary of the English Revolution of 1688–89, with which I am concerned tonight. You will have no trouble believing that I have been “concerned with” and “celebrating” the Glorious Revolution for two years now, but I want to confess to you in the intimacy of this festive occasion that it has really been at least ten years, and that sometimes it feels more like three hundred!How did centennial observances start? Why do people go to trouble, take time, and spend money to call to mind an event that happened one, two, or three hundred years ago? What is it about centennial moments that turns serious-minded, scholarly-inclined historians like ourselves into “party people”? What do celebrations tell us about the uses of the past in successive “presents”? The fact is that celebrations, each varying in character, have attended the Glorious Revolution from its beginnings on through each centennial anniversary thereafter — in 1788–89, 1888–89, and 1988–89. The observances at these centennial moments not only celebrated the Revolution itself, but also served, even as they reflected, current political, cultural, and/or economic ideas and goals. In a long perspective, the celebrations are an important part of the political and cultural history of the Revolution of 1688–89 itself. They illustrate how high and low politics may intersect, show how political ideas circulate through society and undergo transformation, and offer an index of changing ideological and cultural assumptions and aspirations over three hundred years.

The Battle of Kosovo

The Battle of Kosovo