Belgrade is the city that constantly watches over the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. Its rich history illuminates it, being the most important transport hub of Southeast Europe and of the Balkan Peninsula. The capital of the Republic of Serbia and its economic, cultural and political center is located at an altitude of 75-150 meters. Its name is mentioned in the Roman historiography. Through the ages it was constantly changing rulers, but never its spirit that can still be testified in the oldest parts of the city - such as the fortress of Kalemegdan, Skadarlija (the old bohemian center), street Knez Mihailova (Belgrade’s promenade) and other numerous cultural - historical monuments.
In the place of Belgrade there was a settlement even in prehistoric times, around 7.000 BC. The Celts conquered it from the Thracians in the 3rd century BC and built a fortress that was called Singidunum. The first historical mention of the town was in 279 BC and it is said that it was founded by the Celtic tribe - Scordisci. In the Roman times, it was an important strategic base, more precisely, in 86, it became the headquarters of the Fourth Roman Legion Flavia Felix. When in 395, The Roman Empire split in two parts; Singidunum became part of the Eastern Roman Empire. Strategically located at the northwestern frontier, it was exposed to a variety of cultural influences and it was magnet for various conquerors. Between 441 and 827, it was attacked for several times and successively destroyed by the Huns, Sarmatians, Goths, Avars, Slavs, Byzantines and Bulgarians. So, ultimately, the Slavs settled in the Balkans in the 6th and 7th and received Christianity in the 9th century.
The name Bjelgrad (“White City”) is mentioned for the first time in 878, which suggests that it was already largely inhabited by the Slavs although at that time it was ruled by the Bulgarians. Pope John VIII wrote a letter to the Bulgarian Prince Boris I Michael, informing him about the dismissal of Belgrade’s Bishop because of debauchery. However, from 896 until 1232, Belgrade was a battleground between rivals - Hungary and Byzantine - and during this period, its rulers changed eight times. Once, the Bulgarians managed to recapture it, it was robbed twice by the Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem.
In the second half of the 13th century, more exactly in 1284, king Dragutin, a Hungarian son in law and vassal, was sent to Belgrade as a gift, which led to the first fall of the city under the Serbian rule. The king took this city for his capital and after he died it returned to hands of the Hungarians. However, Emperor Dusan led the battle for it with the Hungarians, who managed to it take over again after his death. Although in the 15th century (in 1403) they gave it to Despot Stefan Lazarevic as a personal fiefdom. The Despot renewed it and made it the capital of Serbia. After his death in 1427, the city became a part of Hungary again.
In 1440, Sultan Murad II laid siege of Belgrade with 100,000 Turkish soldiers and 200 ships, but the city managed to defend after a fierce fight. In 1459, Sultan Mehmed II besieged Belgrade with 150,000 troops. However, the Turks retreated when their Sultan was wounded. After that, in 1459, the Turks turned to the conquest of Smederevo, which was the Serbian capital back then. They succeeded to conquer it, which represents the beginning of the five centuries long Turkish domination in Serbia. In the end, sultan Suleiman the Magnificent conquered Belgrade with 300,000 soldiers in 1521, and deported the entire population to Istanbul.
During the period from 1688 until 1791, Austria and Turkey occupied Belgrade for six times. After the Turkish defeat at Vienna that took place in 1682, the Austrians were besieging and conquering Belgrade three times. They ruled it periodically (1688-1690, 1718-1738 and 1788-1791). In 1804, Đorđe Petrović - Karađorđe led a successful uprising against the Turks. Serbian rebels held Belgrade during the period from 1806 until 1813. More specifically, in 1807, the Serbs led by Karađorđe, liberated Belgrade that was named the capital of Serbia. Karađorđe was later declared as a hereditary ruler and established the Karađorđević dynasty. Unfortunately, the uprising was crushed in 1813, so the Turks occupied Belgrade again. After the Second Serbian Uprising led by Miloš Obrenović, Serbia was offered to have partial autonomy. At that time, Belgrade remained the seat of the Turkish Governor. However, at the same time began the new and constant resettlement of the Serbs, who provided majority of the population in the third decade of the 19th century. In 1830, Turkey finally acknowledged the autonomy of Serbia. Later, Miloš Obrenović was recognized as hereditary prince and he founded the Obrenović dynasty. In 1842, Belgrade was considered the capital of the Principality of Serbia, but its fortress remained in Turkish hands, which led to frequent conflicts between the Turkish garrison and the Serbian population (e.g. the Turkish garrison bombed the town in 1862). These conflicts culminated the same year, after the assassination of a Serbian boy, which triggered the final, horrible conflict between Serbian and Turkish soldiers that ended in an international treaty. Turkish control over Belgrade was ultimately over. The Turks had definitely withdrawn from Belgrade in 1867 and the Turkish commander handed over the keys to the Belgrade fortress to Prince Mihailo Obrenović, son and heir of Prince Miloš Obrenović. Since then, the political history of Belgrade is inseparably connected to the history of Serbia.
Belgrade suffered a lot during the Austrian and German bombing in 1914 and 1915 and it was occupied twice by Austria - once in December, from 01st to 15th 1914, and the other time from October 1915 till November 1918, when it was liberated by Serbian army. The unification of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was declared back then and Belgrade became capital of the new Kingdom.
The Germans’ attack of Yugoslavia began with a plundering bombing of Belgrade on April 06th 1941. This bombing, between April 06th and 07th, killed 2271 people and destroyed 682 buildings including the building of the National Library. After the occupation in April 1941, Belgrade became the center of German occupation authorities in Serbia and, until 1943, in the whole Balkans. The city developed a network of connection and points of the Liberation Movement (NOP), through which many citizens went to the units of the Liberation Army (NOV). In the spring and early fall in 1944, the Allies bombed Belgrade eleven times, inflicting heavy losses in population and economic potentials. The Belgrade Operation, which began on September 28th ended the same year on October 20th, by joint forces of the National Liberation Army units and the Red Army. Belgrade was liberated on October 20th 1944, along with Zemun two days later.
On March 07th 1945, Marshal Josip Broz Tito formed a provisional government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia immediately recognized by the three major Allied powers. Belgrade crossed to the left bank of the Sava in 1947, which was the beginning of the new urban part now known as New Belgrade (Novi Beograd).
At the National Assembly was held “The First Conference of Non-aligned countries" in 1961, and in 1963, a new constitution was proclaimed in Belgrade and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia became the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which disintegrated in 1991.
On March 24th 1999 at 08:38 PM, the first missiles of the NATO airstrikes fell on Belgrade, more specifically on Batajnica. That was the beginning of bombing, which lasted for 78 days. In the 20th century, this was the fourth bombing of Belgrade, which caused a great damage as well as the previous ones.
In 2006, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro have split appart. Serbia finally became an independent state with Belgrade as its capital. That same year, Belgrade was named City of the Future of Southern Europe by the "Financial Times" in the UK.
Belgrade was declared a town - hero in 1974.
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