LAST EDITED ON 19-Mar-01 AT 08:17 PM (GMT)[p]Rabie,
You may well deserve an A in history but not, I am afraid, if you get tested on balkan history. Oh where to begin….
Slavs arrived in the Balkans around 500 years AD although there is increasing evidence to suggests that Serbs may well have arrived hundreds of years earlier (this is mostly due to an Australian archeologist Adrian Blake and his Serbian wife… er… Mrs Blake. Sorry, I’ve forgotten her name). Illyrians, of whom Albanians and, apparently, Croats are descendants are indigenous to the region and originally lived in modern day Albania and perhaps further up the Adriatic coast.
Comaring the battle of Kosovo polje to Galipoli, the battle of Britain and Gettysburg simply does it no justice. You see what actually happened (this is a quick and simple account) was; the Ottoman Empire was expanding towards a fractured fuedal Serbia, which stood little chance of defending itself succesfully. Car Lazar (pronounced Tsar Lazaar) collected together all the men willing to fight the Turks and went to Kosovo, they knew they would loose. the Turkish army was bigger, better equipped, moe experienced and better trained. Nonetheless, the Serbian army (who were effectivly defending the whole of Europe from Islam) with almost no external help met the Turks at Kosovo polje and charged proudly and stubbornly to their deaths in one last stand. Car Lazar was killed and both armies retreated. It was ~150 years latter that the Ottoman Empire finally conquered the whole of Serbia.
The seat of the Serbian Orthodox Patriach is in Kosovo (think Cantebury times ten) as well as hundreds of ancient monostaries and churches dating back to the afforementioned battle in the 14th century. Kosovo is the Serbian Orthodox Jerusalem (no exaggeration).
“90% of kosovov got “converted” to islam”
Pah! Prior to WWII over 50% of Kosovo was Orthodox Serb (before that the percentage increases further) but the under Tito (mainly during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s) many Albanians were allowed to cross from Albania and have beneficial employment oppertunities and even beneficial tax systems. This was done partly to obtain plenty of cheap labour and the weaken the Serbs, Tito was a Croat. the Albanian (not Kosovo Albanian) population swelled, Albania was/is a poor counrty even compared to Yug. The Albanian population was never 90%, this is just NATO propaganda, it reached perhaps 70/75% at most. Real kosovo Albanians were against the seperatist movement (mostly propogated by Albanian immigrants of the 1st and 2nd generation) and many fought alongside the Serbs. You might not beleive that but it is fact.
I’m sure I could go one but I simply don’t have the time.
One last thing:
Brad, Rabie and others,
Please, if you do anything do not, I repeat DO NOT use National Geographic as a source of information on the region. I can’t comment on this last article Rabie refered to as I stopped my subscription because of past misrepresentations and inaccuracies. A quick look at the letters section a couple of months after past articles on the region will tell you how grossly wrong this publication is almost every time it utters even a word on the subject (note, they publish a tiny, tiny fraction of the letters they receive and most are massivly edited anyway). I cannot stress this enough, do NOT read NG for info on the Balkans.
I hope I haven’t bored anyone, if you are trully interested please read what I have written.
PS JAG, feel free to correct or add anything you wish, I’m certain I have omitted a hell of a lot.
Man u got ure history wrong. Serbia was conquerd by the ottmans first of all. The battle for Europe was the battle of vienna lol were the croats were. How do u think the ottmans got into bosnia without getting thru serbia lol its a geographical fact lol. Serbia wasnt the defender of Europe cauz they got conqured lol. Croatia which was part of Austro-hungary at that time sacrificed their lives n royalty to defend the attack from the ottmans. Like Nikola Zirinski, the Frankopans ect look it up go ahead ull see. The battle of Siget 2500 croats againts 90 000 turks even though they lost the croats took out 30 000 turks with them lol N thats were Solomon the great general of the ottman forces died there. Wich was one of the turning points of the war. So read lol
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