Czech Republic, Cool Facts #172

<= 171. Slovakia                                                                                                             173. Poland => 

1. Ancient Regions of Czechia 

The contemporary Czechia has been traditionally divided into three lands:

Bohemia: first a duchy of Great Moravia, then an independent principality, a kingdom in Holy Roman Empire and after that part of Habsburg Monarchy and Austrian Empire before World War I.

Moravia: a crown land of the Lands of the Bohemia Crown (1348-1918), an imperial state of the Holy Roman Empire (1004-1806), crown land of Austrian Empire (1804-1867) and one of 17 former crown lands of the Cisleithanian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867-1918).

Czech Silesia: most of the historical Silesia is located in Poland nowadays. Along the history, Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, Bohemia, early Polish state, Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy, Prussia, German Empire, Weimar Republic, Czechoslovakia and Nazi Germany.

Czech lands

2. Old Church Slavonic

Great Moravia was Christianized in the 800s and the Saints Cyril and Methodius played a crucial role in this process. Brothers Cyril and Methodius were Byzantine Christian theologians and Christian missionaries. They are credited for creating the Glagolitic alphabet, which was used in Old Church Slavonic.

The brothers created Old Church Slavonic, which allegedly is based on the Slavic dialects spoken in the hinterlands of their hometown Thessaloniki. Cyril and Methodius translated Ancient Greek ecclesiastical texts into Old Church Slavonic as part of the Christianization of the Slavs.

Cyrcil and Methodius, painting by Jan Matejko, 1885

Baška tablet, an example of Glagolitic text

3. Kingdom of Bohemia

The Kingdom of Bohemia is the predecessor of the Czech state.

History

Duchy of Bohemia 
870 Duchy of Bohemia was established
900s Duke of Bohemia conquered Moravia, Silesia and expanded further to the east

Kingdom of Bohemia 1198-1918 
1198-1806 Imperial State of the Holy Roman Empire
1526-1804 Crown Land of the Habsburg Empire
1806-1867 Part of Austrian Empire
1867-1918 Cisleithanian part of Austria-Hungary

Events in the history 

Thirty Years' War 1618-1648 
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in the European history. With its eight million casualties it's the deadliest European religious war.

The war started from Bohemia, where the new Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II banned Protestantism as he himself was a devoted Catholic. Bohemians revolted and a series of events led most of the European great powers to get involved in the war. Protestants and Catholics fought against each other in alliances.

Famine and diseases devastated entire regions during the war. Most of the combatant countries were also bankrupted due to the war. The war ended in the treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, part of the wider Peace of Westphalia. The war altered the previous political order of Europe as Bourbon France, Sweden and the Netherlands all became more powerful than before the war.

Map of the Thirty Years' War

4. Czech Golden Age 

The 14th century and especially the reign of the Bohemian king Charles IV (1316-1378) is considered the Golden Age of Czech history.

Here is a list of important things that happened in the 14th century: 

- In 1346 Charles IV became the King of the Romans
- In 1348 Charles University in Prague was established
- In 1354 Charles IV became King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor
- Most of Prague Castle and the cathedral of Saint Vitus were completed
- Charles IV united Brandenburg (until 1415), Lusatia (until 1635) and Silesia (until 1742) under Bohemian rule

Charles IV

The Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by Charles IV

5. Hussite Wars 1419-1434

Jan Hus 1369-1415
Jan Hus was a religious and social reformer, who was named a heretic and burnt in Constance. Later the Hussite reform movement was named after him.

Hussite Wars 1419-1434
After the death of Jan Hus, his followers (known as Hussites) rebelled against their Roman Catholic rulers and managed to defeat five consecutive papal crusades between 1419-1434, in what became known as the Hussite Wars.

Legacy of Jan Hus
One century later 90% of inhabitants of the Czech lands were Hussites. Hus's thoughts inspired on the later emerging Lutheranism and Luther considered himself as Hus' direct successor and said "we are all Hussites, without having been aware of it".

Jan Hus at the Council of Constance

Burning of Jan Hus in Constance

Jan Žižka with a Hussite priest looking over Prague after the Battle of Vítkov Hill

Timeline

631-658 The Frankish merchant Samo established the first known Slav state in Central Europe, the Samo's Empire
833 The Principality of Great Moravia was established by Mojmir I
870 Duchy of Bohemia was established
900s Duke of Bohemia, Boleslaus I, conquered Moravia, Silesia and expanded further to the east
1198 Kingdom of Bohemia was established, it was an Imperial State of the Holy Roman Empire
1235 The Mongols launched an invasion of Europe raiding in Moravia as well
1278 King Přemysl Otakar II died in the Battle on the Marchfeld, he had managed to acquire Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola spreading the territory to the Adriatic Sea
1300 Otakar's son Wenceslaus II acquired the Polish crown for himself and the Hungarian crown for his son 
1346 Bohemia king Charles IV became the King of the Romans and in 1354 both King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor
1347-1352 Black death raged in Europe
1415 Jan Hus, the religious and social reformer was named a heretic and burnt in Constance 
1419-1434 Hussite wars, followers of Jan Hus defeated the five crusades organized against them by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund because Bohemia had seceded from the Catholic Church
1526 Bohemia came increasingly under Habsburg control
1618 Ferdinand II prohibited Protestantism, which led the Hussite Czechs to revolt against Catholic king and chose their own king, all the events led to the Thirty Years' War that involved several great powers of Europe
1627 The Habsburgs became the hereditary rulers of Bohemia
1663 Ottoman Turks and Tatars invaded Moravia
1679-1680 A devastating plague and an uprising of serfs occurred in the Czech lands
1740 Most of Silesia was seized by King Frederick II of Prussia in the Silesian Wars
1757 Battle of Prague, the Prussians invaded Bohemia and damaged Prague a lot
1770-1771 Great Famine killed about 10% of the Czech population causing peasant uprisings
1781 and 1848 Serfdom was abolished in two steps
1806 After the end of the Holy Roman Empire the Bohemian lands became part of the Austrian Empire and later of Austria-Hungary
1848 Revolution in Prague demanded liberal reforms and autonomy within the Austrian Empire, but the revolution was suppressed
1866 Austria was defeated in the Austro-Prussian War
1905 Prague pacifist Bertha von Sutner was awarded Nobel Peace Price
1918 The Habsburg Empire collapsed after the First World War and the independent Czechoslovakia was established
1938 Munich Agreement, the largely German speaking Sudetenland was ceded to Hitler's Germany in negotiations where Czechoslovakia wasn't invited
1939 Slovakia seceded from Czechoslovakia and allied with Hitle's coalition
1945 German occupation ended with the arrival of Soviet and US armies
1945-1946 Almost the entire German speaking people minority, about 3 million people, were expelled from Czechoslovakia to Germany and Austria
1946 The Communists became the biggest party in the Czechoslovak parliament
1948 A coup d'état by the Communist Party
1968 Prague Spring, Alexander Dubček the leader of the Communist Party tried to carry out reforms but this forcibly ended by Warsaw Pact member states 
1989 Czechoslovakia returned to a liberal democracy through the peaceful Velvet Revolution 
1993 On January 1st Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the independent Czechia and Slovakia
2004 Czechia and Slovakia join the European Union

Sources: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Republic
"Maailman maat - liput ja historia" by Kimmo Kiljunen

Slovakia, Cool Facts #171

<= 170. Slovenia                                                                                              172. Czech Republic => 

1. Geography of Slovakia 

Coat-of-arms
In the coat-of-arms of the Slovak flag, there are three hills representing three mountain mountain ranges: 

Tatra
Matra (is located in Hungary actually) 
Fatra 

Center of Europe
Slovakia is in the geographical midpoint of Europe according to one measurement. Note that there are many ways to calculate this and this is way many countries in Europe have claimed having the midpoint of Europe. 

Red dots are the claimants to the title Center of Europe

National parks 

Tatra National Park 

Pieniny National Park

Mála Fatra National Park

Lakes 

Štrbské pleso

Zbojnícke Ľadové pleso

Zelené pleso Kežmarské

Caves 

Domica cave

2. Czechs and Slovaks 

- Slavic tribes arrived in Slovakia's territory in the 400s- Czechs, Slovaks and Poles are all West Slavs
- Kashubians, Silesians and Sorbs are also West Slavs 
- West Slavs separated from the common Slavic group in the 600s 
- Between 900-1300s West Slavic languages diversified into their historically attested forms
- Czechs and Slovaks separated from each others as the Slovaks became under Hungarian influence and the Czechs under German cultural influence sphere

The map shows which language is the national language of the country, 1. light green = West Slavic 2. dark green = South Slavic 3. green = East Slavic 

3. Great Moravia

Establishment in 833
Great Moravia was established in 833 by Mojmir I, who had unified the Slavic tribes settled north of Danube.

Treacherous nephews
In 846 Mojmir I was deposed by his nephew Rastislav, who acquired the throne with the help of East Francia's first king Louis the German.
In 870 Rastislav himself was deposed by his nephew Svatopluk, who had allied himself with the Franks.

Greatest territorial extent
The Great Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent during Svatopluk's reign between 871-894.

End of the Empire
Around 896 semi-nomadic Magyar tribes invaded the Carpathian Basin and started occupying the territory gradually. Around 902-907 the Great Moravian Empire was dissolved.

Great Moravia during Svatopluk's reign

4. Kingdom of Hungary rule in Slovakia 1000-1918

Annexation in 1000
The Kingdom of Hungary annexed the territory comprising modern Slovakia in the year 1000. The Hungarian rule lasted until 1918, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed after the First World War and Slovakia joined Czechoslovakia.

Mongols and famine
In 1241 the Mongols invaded the territory and there was a subsequent famine, which both resulted in a significant decline in the population.

Bratislava the capital of Royal Hungary 1536-1845 
In 1536 Pressburg (Bratislava's German name) became the capital city of Royal Hungary. This was done, because of the Ottoman threat and already in 1541 the previous capital, Buda (current Budapest), was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman rule in Buda ended in 1686, but Pressburg was still the capital of Hungary. In 1848 Hungary's capital was moved to Pest (current Budapest) from Pressburg, which got its current name Bratislava in 1919.

Austria and Hungary

Slovakia was part of Hungary between 1000-1918, but Hungary itself was a few times controlled by Austrians.

1526-1804 Kingdom of Hungary (crown land of the Habsburg Monarchy)
1804-1867 Austrian Empire 
1867-1918 Austro-Hungarian Empire (dual monarchy of Austria and Hungary)

Slovakia and Hungary split 
The relationship between Slovaks and Hungarians got worse after the revolution of 1848-1849. Slovaks supported the Austrian Emperor during the revolution hoping for independence from the Hungarian part of the Dual Monarchy, but they failed in their aim. During the dual monarchy, that was established in 1867, Hungarians prohibited the usage of Slovak language and the local intellectuals persecuted. A lot of Slovaks emigrated out of the country, especially to USA. These "Magyarization" acts against the Slovaks culminated in the secession of Slovakia from Hungary after World War I.

Coronation of Maria Theresa in Pressburg 1741

Central Europe in 1683

5. Prague Spring 1968 

In 1968 the Slovak Alexander Dubček was chosen as the leader of the Communist Party. 

Dubček's reform attempts:
- strong attempt to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia
- partial decentralization of the economy
- democratization
- loosening restrictions on the media, speech and travel
- decision to split Czechoslovakia into a federation of Czechia and Slovakia

The Soviets didn't receive well the reforms carried out by Dubček and after failed negotiations Soviet Union sent half a million Warsaw Pact troops to occupy Czechoslovakia. All the reforms were cancelled except the split into a federation of Czechia and Slovakia.

A large wave of emigration swept the country after the Prague Spring and also spirited non-violent resistance throughout the country. In 1989 the pro-Soviet rule was ended in the Velvet Revolution, which drew upon the successes of the non-violent resistance twenty years earlier.

You can crush the flowers, but you can't stop the spring

Czechs confronting Soviet troops in Prague 1968

Timeline

Roman rule - Slovakia was a border region against the barbaric Germanic tribes
377 Huns occupied Pannonia after having left the Central Asian steppes in the 2nd and 3rd centuries
453 Attila died and after that the Hun tribe disappeared
568 The Avars, a Turko-Mongol tribal confederacy, conducted its invasion into the Middle Danube region occupying the lowlands of the Pannonian Plain
626 Avar power started a gradual decline, but its reign continued until 804
833 Great Moravia was established after Mojmir I unified Slavic tribes settled north of Danube
846 Mojmir's nephew Rastislav acquired the throne with the help East Francia's first king Louis the German, who deposed Mojmir
870 Rastislav was overthrown by his nephew Svatopluk, who had allied himself with the Franks
871-894 During Svatopluk's reign, the Great Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent
896 Around these times the semi-nomadic Magyar tribes invaded the Carpathian Basin and started occupying the territory gradually
902-907 Around these years the Great Moravian Empire broke-up
1000 The Kingdom of Hungary annexed the territory comprising modern Slovakia and their rule lasted until 1918, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed
1241 Decline in the population after the Mongol invasions and the subsequent famine
1536 Pressburg (current Bratislava) became the capital city of Royal Hungary
1541 Buda, the previous capital of Royal Hungary was conquered by the Ottoman Empire
1686 Ottoman rule in Buda ended
1848 The capital city of Hungary was moved from Bratislava to Buda 

1848-1849 Slovaks supported  the Austrian Emperor during the revolution, hoping for independence from the Hungarian part of the Dual Monarchy, but they failed in their aim
1861 Slovak National Congress demanded autonomy
1867 Dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary was established, Hungarians got full power in Slovakia where the usage of Slovak language was prohibited and the local intellectuals persecuted, resulting in Slovak emigration to especially USA
1918 Czechoslovakia was formed from Slovakia and the Czech regions of Bohemia, Moravia, Czech Silesia and Carpathian Ruthenia

1938 Munich Agreement led to the Nazi Germany occupation of Sudetenland
1938 Southern and eastern Slovakia was reclaimed by Hungary
1939 Slovakia seceded from Czechoslovakia and allied itself with Hitler's coalition
1944 Slovak National Uprising, an anti-Nazi resistance movement launched a fierce armed insurrection, which was followed by bloody German occupation and guerrilla war
1945 Soviet and Romanian forces liberated the territory of Slovakia in the end of April
1947 Josef Tiso, the president of the First Slovak between 1939-1945, was executed for collaboration with the Nazis
1948 After a coup Czechoslovakia came under communist rule
1968 Czechoslovakia was invaded by Warsaw pact forces, ending a period of liberalization under the leadership of Alexander Dubček 

1969 Czechoslovakia became a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic
1989 The end of communist rule after the peaceful Velvet Revolution
1992 December 31, Czechoslovakia was dissolved and Slovakia and Czech Republic became independent countries
2004 Slovakia became a Nato and European Union member
2009 Slovakia adopted euro as its national currency

Sources: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Dubček
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratislava
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Moravia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Hungary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia
"Maailman maat - liput ja historia" by Kimmo Kiljunen

Slovenia, Cool Facts #170

<= 169. Serbia                                                                                                              171. Slovakia => 

1. Prehistoric Findings in Slovenia

The present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times and there is even evidence of human settlement from around 250,000 years ago. A lot of archeological discoveries have been made in Slovenia.

List of discoveries: 
1920-1930s Potok cave: pierced bones, bone points and needle belonging to the Cro-Magnon people were found by archaeologist Srečko Bodar

1995 Divje Babe cave: A pierced cave bear bone, dating to 43100 ± 700, was found and it's possibly the oldest musical instrument discovered in the world. 

Divje Babe Flute

2002 Ljublana Marshes: remains of pile dwellings and the Ljubljana Marshes Wooden Wheel, possibly the oldest wooden wheel in the world were discovered. 

Ljubljana Marshes Wheel

2. Slovenia in World War II 

During World War II Slovenia was partitioned completely among the Axis Powers. The country was annexed to both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. In addition, the Prekmurje region in the east was annexed to Hungary and some villages in the Lower Sava Valley were annexed to the newly created Nazi puppet state of Independent State of Croatia.

In 1941 Slovenian National Liberation Front was organized and it formed the Slovene partisan units as part of the Yugoslav Partisans led by the Communist leader Josip Broz Tito. In 1945 the whole Yugoslavia was liberated by the partisan resistance. Soon after this the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was established and Slovenia joined it as a constituent republic.

Slovenia in World War II

3. Most Advanced and Prosperous Republic of Yugoslavia 

- Particularly in the 1950s Slovenia's economy developed quickly and was strongly industrialized
- In 1965-1966 Slovenia's domestic product was 2,5 time the average of Yugoslav republics 
- During being part of Yugoslavia many Slovenians felt they were being exploited, having to sustain an expensive and inefficient federal administration
- Slovenia is per capita the richest of the Slavic countries by nominal GDP 
- Slovenia is per capita the second richest of the Slavic countries by GDP (PPP) after Czechia 

4. Nature in Slovenia 

- Slovenia's highest peak is Triglav 2864m 
- The Alps, the Dinarides, the Pannonian Plain and the Mediterranean meat in Slovenia 
- Slovenia is the third most forested country in Europe after Finland and Sweden  
- Slovenia is in a quite seismic zone because of its position on the small Adriatic Plate 
- 36% of Slovenia's land area are protected Natura 2000 areas, which is the largest percentage among European Union countries 
- Biodiversity is very high in Slovenia, with 1% of the world's organisms on only 0,004% of the Earth's surface 

Scenery from the top of Mangart

Soča River

5. Sports in Slovenia 

- Slovenia is a natural sports venue, which is why so many Slovenians actively practice sports
- Because of its geography Slovenia has several endurance and extreme sportsmen, who have gained international reputation
- Gymnastics and fencing were the most popular sports in Slovenia before World War II
- Currently tennis and mountaineering are the most widespread sporting activities in Slovenia
- Slovenia has won 22 Olympic and 19 Paralympics medals since 1992
- Slovenia has been successful in sports like: handball, basketball, soccer, ice hockey, rowing, swimming, tennis, boxing and athletics

Slovenian athletes, Sochi Winter Olympics 2014

Timeline

394 Crucial Battle of the Frigidius was fought between the Eastern Emperor Theodosius I and Western Roman ruler Eugenius in Vipava Valley
568 Lombards, the last Germanic tribe departed westward and after this Slavic tribes migrated to the Alpine area
623-626 Around these years King Samo united the Alpine and Western Slavs against the Avars and Germanic peoples
658 After King Samo's death the ancestors of the Slovenes formed the duchy of Carantania in present-day Carinthia
700s In the mid-century Carantania became a vassal duchy under the rule of the Bavarians, who started spreading Christianity
800 Carantanians and Bavarians were incorporated into the Carolingian Empire
955 Slovene territory was divided into a many different border regions of the Holy Roman Empire after the victory of Otto I over the Magyars
1200s Carniola became Austria's Habsburg family's lands
1300s Most of present-day Slovenia was taken over by the Habsburgs
1515 Peasant revolt spread nearly across the whole Slovene area, when about 80,000 rebels demanded the reintroduction of the original feudal obligations, trade rights and a right to decide about the taxes
1572 Croatian-Slovene peasant revolt
1797 The Republic of Venice was dissolved by France and thus Venetian Slovenia passed to the Austrian Empire
1880-1910 Around 300,000 Slovenes emigrated mostly to the US and also Argentina, Germany, Egypt and Austria-Hungary
1848 Revolutions of Europe, during the year of revolutions in Europe, Slovenes wanted the establishment of a separate Slovene province in the Austrian Empire
1910s Entire areas of the Slovene littoral were destroyed during World War I
1918 In October Slovenia joined the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
1918 In December The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs merged with Serbia forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
1920 Slovene-speaking southern Carinthia was ceded to Austria, but the Kingdom of Yugoslavia got the Slovene-inhabited Prekmurje region, formerly part of Austria-Hungary
1929 The state was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
1941 Axis forces invaded Yugoslavia
1945 Yugoslavia was liberated by the partisan resistance and soon became the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which Slovenia joined as a constituent republic
1947 Slovene Littoral and the western half of Inner Carniola were annexed back to Slovenia after Italy had annexed them during World War I
1949-1953 Failure of forced collectivization led to a policy of gradual economic liberalisation afterwards
1956 Josip Broz Tito, together with other leaders, formed the Non-Aligned Movement
1980 Tito died and the political and economic situation in Yugoslavia became very strained after his death
1990 In December more than 88% of the electorate voted for a sovereign and independent Slovenia
1991 On June 25th Slovenia became independent and few days afterwards the Ten-Day War started between Slovenia and the Yugoslav People's Army ending in Slovenian victory
2004 Slovenia joined the European Union
2007 Slovenia started using the euro currency
2011 Protests on October 15th
2012-2013 Slovenian protests against the political elite members, accused of corruption

Sources: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia
"Maailman maat - liput ja historia" by Kimmo Kiljunen

Serbia, Cool Facts #169

<= 168. Croatia                                                                                                            170. Slovenia => 

1. Flag of Serbia 

There are many stories explaining why the Serbian flag has the opposite colors of the Russian flag. One story says that Serb nationalists visiting Russia in the early 1800s attended a Pan-Slavistic parade, but they didn't have a flag. In the end they turned the Russian flag upside down and got a flag. 

This tricolor flag was officially adopted in 1835 and used until 1918, when Serbia joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which later evolved into Yugoslavia. 

Coat-of-arms:
There are four C-letters in the coat-of-arms, which stands for "Samo sloga Srbina spasava", meaning that "Only Unity Saves the Serbs".

Serbian flag timeline

2. Medieval Serbia

From Principality to a Kingdom
The medieval Kingdom of Serbia was established in 1217 by Stefan the First-Crowned, when the Grand Principality of Serbia became a kingdom. The Grand Principality had been established in 1091.

Coronation of Stefan

Peak of the Serbian Kingdom
The kingdom reached its peak during the rule of Stefan Dušan, who took advantage of the Byzantine civil war (1341-1347). At the expense of Byzantium he doubled the size of the state by conquering territories to the south and east. 

Serbian Kingdom in 1355

From Kingdom to an Empire
In 1346 the Serbian Kingdom became the Serbian Empire, which was established by King Stefan Dušan "the Mighty". He expanded his state to cover half of the Balkans, which was more territory than either the Byzantine Empire or the Second Bulgarian Empire. On 16 April 1346, Stefan Dušan crowned himself the "Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks", a title signifying a claim to the succession of the Byzantine Empire. 

End of the Empire
The son of Stefan Dušan, Uroš the Weak, lost most of the the territory that his father had conquered. In 1371 the Serbian Empire effectively ended with the death of Stefan V and the break-up of the Serbian state. Later the area came under Ottoman rule, which lasted over 400 years. 

Serbian Empire

3. Great Serbian Migrations 

What ? 
The term refers to mainly two large Serb migrations from the Ottoman Empire to the Habsburg Monarchy.

Serbians crossing the river for Austrian territory

First Serbian Migration
In 1690 a lot of Serbs migrated from the Ottoman areas to the Habsburg Monarchy as Emperor Leopold I allowed the refugees gathered on the banks of the Sava and Danube in Belgrade to cross the rivers and settle in the Habsburg Monarchy. This happened during the Austro-Turkish war (1683-1699). One of the reasons for the migration was the bad relations between Christians and Muslims in European provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Muslim leaders started persecuting local Christians and Jews, which resulted into the migration of 1690.

Great Serbian migration in 1690 map

Second Serbian Migration
The second migration happened in 1739 after the fall of the Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia (1718-1739) to the Ottoman Empire. The Second Migration was smaller than the first one.

Serbian migration painting

4. Balkan Wars 1912-1913

What ?
Consisted of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan Peninsula. 

Balkan before the First Balkan War

First Balkan War 1912-1913: 
Four Balkan states (Montenegro, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria) defeated the Ottoman Empire. 

Second Balkan War 1913: Bulgaria wasn't satisfied with its shares of the spoils of the First Balkan War so it attacked its own former allies Serbia and Greece. Serbian and Greek armies counter-attacked and entered Bulgaria. The war provoked also Romania to attack Bulgaria, because these two countries had territorial disputes previously. The Ottoman Empire took also advantage of the situation to regain some lost territories from the First Balkan War. The war ended when Bulgaria asked for armistice. 

Treaty of Bucharest: Bulgaria had to cede portions of its First Balkan War gains to Serbia, Greece and Romania
Treaty of Constantinople: Bulgaria lost Edirne to the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire lost nearly all of its European territories during the Balkan wars. Only a small part remained in the European continent under Ottoman control. 

Balkans after the Second Balkan War, 1913

5. Different phases of Yugoslavia  

Saying of Yugoslavia: 

According to the old saying Yugoslavia was a country, which had:
6 republics
5 languages
4 ethnic groups
3 religions
2 writing systems and
1 political party 

Three phases of Yugoslavia during its history: 

Kingdom of Yugoslavia: Yugoslavia between the two World Wars I. 

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Socialist Yugoslavia after World War II until the disintegration of the federation in 1990s.

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: the remnant state between 1992-2006, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro after all the other republics had left the federation. The areas of Kosovo and Vojvodina were also part of this state. 

Socialism in YugoslaviaYugoslavia had their own socialistic model, which didn't have centralized planning and collectivization of farms like other Socialist countries. Yugoslavia's economy was more competitive than in other Socialist country and the living standards were also higher. Yugoslavia highlighted neutrality in its foreign policy and it was also the founder member of the Non-Aligned Movement. 

Map of Yugoslavia at the time of its dissolution

Timeline

167BC Roman Province of Illyricum was established
75BC Roman Province of Moesia Superior was established in the territory
106 Rome conquered Bačka and Banat after the Dacian wars
395 Serbia remained under the Eastern Roman Empire, when the Roman Empire was divided
500-600 Slavs migrated to the Balkan territory
822 Serbs inhabited the greater part of Dalmatia
870 Christianity was adopted as the state religion
1091 The Serbian Grand Principality was established by the Vukanović dynasty
1166 Stefan Nemanja assumed the throne, marking the beginning of a prospering Serbia
1217 The Serbian Kingdom was established by Stefan the First-Crowned
1331 Stefan Dušan became the Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks, he was one of the most powerful monarchs of the area and he conquered a large part of southeast Europe 
1371 The end of the Serbian Empire 
1389 The Battle of Kosovo Pole against the Ottomans meant that the country would be under Ottoman rule for the following 400 years 
1402-1459 Serbian Despotate, a successor of the Serbian Empire, was ruled by the magnate families Lazarevič and Brankovič 

1459 Serbian Despotate was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, which had conquered the entire central Serbia
1521 Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, which opened the way for Ottoman expansion into Central Europe
1557 The Serbian Patriarchate was re-established by the Ottoman Empire to provide limited continuation of Serbian traditions within the empire
1593-1606 Long Turkish War, an indecisive land war between the Ottoman Empire and Habsburg Monarchy
1718-1739 The Habsburg Empire occupied central Serbia establishing the Kingdom of Serbia, which was a province of the Habsburg Empire
1766 The Serbian Patriarchate was abolished again by the Ottoman Empire (first time in 1463)
1788-1792 Central Serbia is occupied by Habsburg Empire again
1804-1815 Serbian Revolution for independence from the Ottoman Empire
1817 Creation of the Principality of Serbia, as it gained semi-independence from the Ottoman Empire  (formally in 1829)
1835 The First Serbian constitution was adopted
1848 Revolution in Austria led to the establishment of the autonomous territory of Serbian Vojvodina

1867 Under pressure from the Great Powers, the last Turkish left the Principality, making the country de facto independent
1878 In the Treaty of Berlin, the de jure recognition of the independence of Serbia, Romania and Montenegro
1882 Serbia became a kingdom ruled by King Milan I
1903 May Coup, the royal couple was assassinated, thus the throne passing from the House of Obrenović to the Karađorđević family 

1912 The Balkan League defeated the Ottoman Empire and captured its European territories
1913 Second Balkan War after Bulgaria turned on its former allies, but was defeated
1914 Gavrilo Princip assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand after which Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which resulted Serbia's ally Russia to mobilize its troops and after that Austria-Hungary's ally Germany declared war on Russia
1918 Serbia and Montenegro united in November
1918 In December the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes under King Peter I of Serbia was proclaimed
1921 King Peter was succeeded by his son Alexander, who changed the name of the country to Yugoslavia in 1929 and whose dictatorship alienated the non-Serbs from the idea of unity
1929 The kingdom was renamed as Kingdom of Yugoslavia
1934 King Alexander was assassinated in Marseille by Croat nationalists, so his 11-year-old son Peter II succeeded him to the throne
1939 Autonomous banate of Croatia was established as a solution to the Croatian concerns
1941 In spite of Yugoslav attempts to remain neutral in the war, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis Powers
1943 Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was proclaimed by the Partisan resistance and in 1944 the king recognized it as the legitimate government
1945 The monarchy was abolished
1946 Yugoslavia was renamed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia
1951 Yugoslavia made an agreement with USA about military aid 

1980 President Josip Broz Tito died
1981 Unrests in Kosovo started and they were crushed with force 

1989 Slobodan Milošević became the president of Yugoslavia 

1991-1992 Breakup of Yugoslavia as Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo declared independence while Serbia and Montenegro remained together as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
1995 Serbs were expelled from the Krajina region in Croatia
1996 Large protests against the government, when the Socialist Party of Serbia refused to accept its defeat in municipal elections
1998-1999 Kosovo War, which ended when Nato forces bombed Belgrad and the Serbian army retreated from Kosovo 

2002 Yugoslavia was renamed Serbia and Montenegro
2006 Montenegro became independent after a referendum about the union with Serbia
2008 Kosovo declared independence, which Serbia condemned and has denied the statehood of Kosovo until this day (2017) 

Sources: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Serbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Balkan_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migrations_of_the_Serbs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Serbia_(medieval)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Balkan_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia
"Maailman maat - liput ja historia" by Kimmo Kiljunen