Vidovdan

June 28, 2008 9:20 AM

Today is June 28th, June 15th on the Julian Calendar, and it holds a great historical significance to Serbia.

619 years ago today, the Battle of Kosovo was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Tsardom of Serbia, which ended as a victory for the Ottomans after an epic stand to the end, resulting in the deaths of both the Serbian king and the Ottoman Sultan.

94 years ago today, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Black Hand organisation, ultimately triggering the First World War.

5 years later, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in Paris, marking an end to the Great War (The Six Months That Changed The World video lecture by John V. Denson).

In 1921, King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (what was then the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) signed the Constitution for the country.

In 1948, the Cominform condemned the Yugoslav Communist leaders in a "Resolution on the State of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia), formally splitting the Yugoslav partisans and the Soviet Union under Stalin.

In 1989, Slobodan Milosevic delivered a speech in Kosovo, against a backdrop of tensions between an exploding Albanian population and the existing Serbian population, paradoxically advocating unity and brotherhood between the peoples of Kosovo and simultaneously fanning nationalist rhetoric, breaking from Tito's anti-nationalistic line.

In 2001, Milosevic was deported to the International Criminal Courts of Justice in The Hague to stand trial for a slew of charges weighed against him, finally dying before any ruling could be served.

And finally, in 2006, Montenegro became the 192nd member of the United Nations.

All of these events, on June 28th, Saint Vitus' Day.

posted by adricv (27 comments total)

Oh hey.
Wikipedia.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 9:29 AM on June 28, 2008

...
posted by adricv at 9:42 AM on June 28, 2008

...
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 9:43 AM on June 28, 2008

Nothing like a little Serbian nationalism to start your Saturday off right.
posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth at 10:13 AM on June 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Let me be proactive and cover June 29th today (since tomorrow is a Sunday and my religion forbids accessing wikipedia on a holy day), the best part of which is that in 2002 somebody shoved something up George W's ass (and THIS is why we need the img tag back!):

* 512 - A solar eclipse is recorded by a monastic chronicler in Ireland.
* 1149 - Raymond of Antioch is defeated and killed at the Battle of Inab by Nur ad-Din.
* 1194 - Sverre is crowned King of Norway.
* 1534 - Jacques Cartier makes the European discovery of Prince Edward Island.
* 1613 - The Globe Theatre in London, England burns to the ground.
* 1644 - Charles I of England defeats a Parliamentarian detachment at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge, the last battle won by an English King on English soil.
* 1659 - The Russians, led by prince Trubetskoy are defeated by the Ukrainian armies of Ivan Vyhovsky in the Battle of Konotop.
* 1749 - New Governor, Charles de la Ralière Des Herbiers, arrives at Isle Royale (Cape Breton Island).
* 1786 - Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.
* 1850 - Coal is discovered on Vancouver Island.
* 1850 - Autocephaly Officially Granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to The Church of Greece.
* 1864 - Ninety-nine people are killed in Canada's worst railway disaster near St-Hilaire, Quebec.
* 1874 - Greek politician Charilaos Trikoupis publishes a manifesto in the Athens daily Kairoi entitled "Who's to Blame?" in which he lays out his complaints against King George. He is elected Prime Minister of Greece the next year.
* 1880 - France annexes Tahiti.
* 1888 - First (known) recording of classical music made, Handel's Israel in Egypt on wax cylinder.
* 1891 - Street railway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, commences operation.
* 1895 - Doukhobors burn their weapons as a protest against conscription by the Tsarist Russian government.
* 1914 - Jina Guseva attempts to assassinate Grigori Rasputin at his home town in Siberia.
* 1916 - Sir Roger Casement, Irish Nationalist and British diplomat is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising.
* 1922 - France grants 1 km² at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes."
* 1925 - Canada House opens in London, England.
* 1926 - Arthur Meighen returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.
* 1927 - First test of Wallace Turnbull's Controllable pitch propeller.
* 1937 - Joseph-Armand Bombardier of Canada receives patent for sprocket and track traction system used in snow vehicles.
* 1945 - Carpathian Ruthenia was annexed by Soviet Union.
* 1956 - The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.
* 1972 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules the death penalty could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment".
* 1974 - Isabel Perón is sworn in as the first female President of Argentina. Her husband President Juan Peron had delegated responsibility due to weak health and died two days later.
* 1976 - The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom.
* 1995 - Space Shuttle program: STS-71 Mission (Atlantis docks with the Russian space station Mir for the first time.)
* 1995 - The Sampoong Department Store collapses in the Seocho-gu district of Seoul, South Korea, killing 501 and injuring 937.
* 2002 - Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel.
* 2002 - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, serves as Acting President for two and a half hours, while President George W. Bush undergoes a colonoscopy procedure.
* 2006 - Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law.
* 2007 - Two car bombs are found in the heart of London at Picadilly Circus.
* 2007 - Apple Inc. released the iPhone for the United States market.
posted by HuronBob at 10:14 AM on June 28, 2008

You know who else is Serbian? Niko Bellic.
posted by box at 10:14 AM on June 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

that's history for you - one long st vitus dance after another
posted by pyramid termite at 10:29 AM on June 28, 2008

Shades of the German Schicksalstag, or the "Day of Fate."
posted by jedicus at 10:36 AM on June 28, 2008

Nuclear 1914
posted by hortense at 10:43 AM on June 28, 2008

I wonder if other cultures have similar dates where lots of important historical events occurred throughout the years.

PostIronyIsNotaMyth: Like the expression, "Serbian nationalism is in the eye of the beholder".
posted by adricv at 10:44 AM on June 28, 2008

I wonder if other cultures have similar dates where lots of important historical events occurred throughout the years.

That is a good point. Maybe we could make link to a bunch of Wikipedia pages on those days too.

My point, sans snark, is that this post could have been a lot better if you had fleshed it out with more sources instead of just linking to Wiki pages. Because that's pretty meh. That's also the point HuronBob is making, I believe.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 10:52 AM on June 28, 2008

Kind of like July 4 in the U.S.

1776--Declaration of Independence
1778--Kaskaskia captured by General Clark
1803--Louisiana Purchase announced
1826--Jefferson and Adams die on the same day
1863--Fall of Vicksburg

sometime in the near future--Aliens attacking Earth are defeated by U.S. President and Jeff Goldblum.
posted by Ironmouth at 10:53 AM on June 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

You know who else is Serbian? Niko Bellic.

Does the game ever actually say? I still haven't completed it, but all I've seen is that he speaks Serbian and fought in the Yugoslav wars. He could be Serbo-Croatian, Kosovar, etc.
posted by DecemberBoy at 10:55 AM on June 28, 2008

I may be mistaken, but I believe that Vlad calls him 'Serb' at some point.
posted by box at 11:01 AM on June 28, 2008

DecemberBoy: I listened to an interview with the voice actor, and he said he used a Serbian dialect. So I'm not sure if he's *officially* Serbian, but his accent is.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 11:02 AM on June 28, 2008

"..."

Sorry, but this post is basically a bunch of Wikipedia links relating to a not-very-interesting coincidence. Don't take it to heart; it's your first post, you'll do better. But this is not a good post.
posted by languagehat at 11:08 AM on June 28, 2008

What the hat said. I'm not very eloquent today (or ever?).
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 11:09 AM on June 28, 2008

You know who else came to power as a result of World War 1?!?!?!?

Lenin
posted by Avenger at 11:21 AM on June 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

It's also my 11th wedding anniversary. Now THATS of historical importance!!!
posted by aacheson at 11:21 AM on June 28, 2008

"That's also the point HuronBob is making, I believe."

wait, I'm supposed to make a point?

damn...now I get it... I apologize for all my posts for the past few years!
posted by HuronBob at 11:32 AM on June 28, 2008

I've understood (probably from here or from here) that Battle of Kosovo was not a definitive or important event for Serbs until 19th century and nationalistic awakenings, when it became important to put a wedge between moslims (Ottomans) and christians (Serbs). Then this event was dug out and made into a big thing -- 'even as we've lived together for hundreds of years, let's not forget that we fought, bravely, and we were defeated by them and we've been essentially victims since that'. Slobodan Milosevic successfully continued playing that tune and it still seems to go loudly in that kosovo.net, behind Battle of Kosovo -link.
posted by Free word order! at 12:31 PM on June 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'm not very eloquent today (or ever?)

You are occasionally, but you comment too much; take a look at your posting history and ask yourself how much each comment really contributes to the site (some of them obviously do). By all means, you're not alone in thinking that your opinion is interesting to a broader crowd, but you've stood out lately.
posted by Archers of Loaf at 12:39 PM on June 28, 2008

1 2 - - There are seven links on this FPP, and four of them are wikipedia links. This means there are four wiki pages supporting good material from three other sources: one part of a documentary, one a transcription of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (consolidated version), and a really thorough page that fleshes out the "talking points" of this FPP. I'd agree that if it were just wikipedia pages, it'd be somewhat limp; but in spite of my tl;dr tendencies, this looks interesting to me as a history lesson about an area that I don't know much about but would like to. Thanks for posting.
posted by not_on_display at 4:41 PM on June 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

... in the early 1970s, in northern California, I was born.


Epic, I know. And I'm not even Serbian.

/happy birthday to me!
posted by ZakDaddy at 8:34 PM on June 28, 2008

I had a gal and her name was Daisy
Shen she sang the cat went crazy
With deliriums
St. Vituses
And all kinds
Of cataleptics
posted by danb at 9:19 PM on June 28, 2008

Interesting photo essay scroll down
posted by hortense at 11:21 PM on June 28, 2008

619 years ago today, the Battle of Kosovo was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Tsardom of Serbia, which ended as a victory for the Ottomans after an epic stand to the end, resulting in the deaths of both the Serbian king and the Ottoman Sultan.


well you know its 300 odd years since the battle of prestonpans - a date which holds no significance for scottish people whatsoever - other than i might march into
the farmfoods
down the road and annexe it.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:05 AM on June 29, 2008