Serbia
1389 - Serbia was defeated at Battle of Kosovo and became part of the Ottoman Empire.
1878 - Serbia became independent.
1912 - 1st Balkan War
1913 - 2nd Balkan War
1914 - Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia
1915 - In October, Serbia was invaded by Germany and Austria and Bulgaria. The Serb army escaped over the mountains to Montenegro and Albania and was evacuated by French ships to Corfu. By the end of the war, Serbia lost 850,000, or one-quarter of its population.
1918 - Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes formed after World War I.
1929 - Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
1945 - Serbia became one of republics in new Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito, with Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro,
1980 - Tito died.
1987 - Senior Serbian Communist Party official Slobodan Milosevic told Serbs in Kosovo that the majority Albanian community would never be allowed to beat them. The speech was seen as a rallying cry for Serb nationalism.
1989 - Slobodan Milosevic became President of Serbia.
1991 - Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia broke away from Yugoslavia.
1992 - Montenegro and Serbia formed Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. UN imposed sanctions on Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1995 - Dayton accords brought end to Bosnian war. Sanctions lifted.
1997 - Milosevic became Yugoslav president.
1998 - Kosovo Liberation Army rebeled against Serbian rule. Serb forces launched brutal crackdown. Hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians fled.
1999 - Defiance by Milosevic over Kosovo caused NATO air strikes against Serbian targets. Milosevic agreed to withdraw forces from Kosovo. Kosovo became UN protectorate but remained de jure part of Serbia.
2000 - Milosevic accused of rigging presidential election win against Vojislav Kostunica. Mass street demonstrations, protesters stormed parliament. Milosevic quit. Kostunica sworn in as president. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia joined UN. Reformist alliance won Serbian legislative elections by a landslide. Zoran Djindjic became Serbian prime minister.
2001 April - Milosevic arrested in Belgrade and charged with misuse of state funds and abuse of office. In June, Serbian PM Djindjic overruled Constitutional Court and authorized extradition of Milosevic to Hague war crimes tribunal. Political rift opened up between Djindjic and Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, a supporter of a Belgrade trial for Milosevic. In August, Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia pulled out of Serbian government as the split with Djindjic deepened. In November, Ibrahim Rugova became president of Kosovo following success for his moderate Democratic League in the first such election ever held in the region.
2002 - In February, the trial of Slobodan Milosevic on charges of genocide and war crimes began in The Hague. In March, Serbian authorities issued arrest warrants for Serbian President Milan Milutinovic and three other top Milosevic aides as international financial pressure for cooperation with Hague war crimes tribunal was stepped up. One of the aides, former Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic, commited suicide. Yugoslav, Montenegrin and Serbian leaders sign EU mediated accord to set up new Union of Serbia and Montenegro in place of Yugoslavia. In June, all 45 deputies belonging to Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia walk out of Serbian parliament in continuing rift with Serbian PM Djindjic.
2003 - In January, Milan Milutinovic surrendered to the Hague tribunal where he pled not guilty to charges of crimes against humanity. In February, Yugoslav parliament consigned Yugoslavia to history by approving constitutional charter for Union of Serbia and Montenegro. In March, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated in Belgrade.
2004 - In March, Vojislav Kostunica, became prime minister of Serbia in centre-right coalition government which relied on support of Socialist Party. Serbia's first major war crimes trial opened in Belgrade when six Serbs appeared in court charged with killing about 200 civilians in the Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991. Worst clashes between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo since 1999 after violence erupts in divided town of Mitrovica. NATO sent reinforcements. In June, Democratic Party leader Boris Tadic elected Serbian president, defeating nationalist Tomislav Nikolic in run-off. Tadic pledged to steer Serbia towards the EU.
2005 - In February, Prime Minister Kostunica rejected suggestion from Montenegrin leaders that Union of Serbia and Montenegro be ended early. In October, Union of Serbia and Montenegro began talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, regarded as a preliminary step on the long road to membership.
2006 - In March, Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his cell in The Hague where his trial by the international war crimes tribunal was continuing. He was buried in his home town of Pozarevac. In May, EU called off talks on closer ties because of Belgrade's failure to arrest war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic. In May, Montenegro voted in a referendum to separate from Serbia; 55.5% of votes were cast in favour of independence, just 0.5% above the threshhold required. In June, Montenegro declared independence. Serbia responded by declaring itself independent sovereign successor state to Union of Serbia and Montenegro.
Growing Balkanization of Serbia and Russia and Romania
Sources:
revised 10/1/06 by Steven Schoenherr | Maps
