THE STORY OF SERVIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16121, 8 January 1916, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE STORY OF SERVIA.

HER STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. The ancient Servian kingdom reached the zenith of its power under the redoubtable Stefan Dusan, who reigned from 1331 to 1355. Before his day the history of Servia was the history of the gradual j growth of strong nationality through age-1 long struggles for independence — now I against Byzantium, now against Bulgaria, and now against Hungary. Power grew with the union of the Servian tribes under a succession of brilliant leaders, until at the close of the twelfth century Servia was a state of considerable importance in Eastern Europe, and was strong enough to flout Byzantium and to attack Bulgaria. When, in 1330, the Servian king met the allied forces of the Byzantines" ' the Bulgars, the Humans, the" Tartars,' ' and the Bessarabians at the field of Vel- ' buzd and overwhelmed them in a com-' mon defeat, Servia became sta ; e paramount in Balkania. The Golden Age of Servia. The Machiavellian statesmanship and ' almost Napoleonic strategy of Stefan, Dusan raised Servia to first rank among j the kingdoms of Europe. Great fortresses ! and castles arose on the hilltops, in the defiles, and on islands in the lakes, and the Servian army included mercenaries from Germany, from Italy, and even I from Tar-distant France. Stefan, "Tsar and supreme ruler of Servia and Greece, of Bulgaria and Albania," not only extended the Servian power by force of arms, but founded churches and monasteries, encouraged literature, spread education, and drew up a code of laws which became famous throughout Eastern Europe. Commercial treaties were signed with Venice, Bagusa, and Byzantium; agriculture was fostered by the State; goid, silver, and other mines were opened up, and the Servian Empire was one of the most prosperous in Europe. It was, perhaps, the "' olden Age" of Servia. The Fall ol Servia. Stefan died on the march, when his !' armies were moving yet once more against Byzantium. His son's weakness, immortalised in his nickname of Nejaki (a nobody, a "nithing"), led to the revolts which heralded the decline of Servia's power. Out of the civil war which followed there emerged a strong man, Lazar Grbljanovic, who for a time governed what remained of the old Servian kingdom after the revolt of her conquered provinces. When the Turks swept across Balkania with all the irresistible force of Islam, the Servian army ranged itself on the side of Byzantium. The defeat of 1371, " the Servian death," was followed in 1389 by the great fight of Kossovo, on the feast of St. Yeit. At Sossovo the Servians were completely routed, Lazar was taken and beheaded, his country passed under the sway of the Turks and paid tribute to Sultan Amurath at Adrianople (1389). Under the Turkish Yoke. Like other conquered lands. Servia waj divided amongst the Turkish leaders, who were masters of the soil and " held the power of life and death" over the Servians in return for military service to the Sultan. Three times a year came Turkish tax-gatherers to collect the moneys wrung from an impoverished people by every imaginable process of extortion. From time to time levies were made upon the youth of the land to swell the army of Islam. Christians were subjected to unspeakable enormities at the hands of their Moslem masters. With the approaching decay of Islam dominion and the crushing defeats of the Turks by Charles of Lorraine, came a ray of hope for the nations groaning under the oppression of Constantinople. Kara George, aided by Russia, succeeded in securing temporary. independence for his country at the Peace of Bucharest, 1812, after eight years of terrific struggle. : Nest year the Turks again attacked Servia, and after terrible fighting entered Belgrade. Kara George had been forced to flee across the Danube into Hungary, only to be imprisoned at Graz. Modern Servia. Much of Servia is a chaos of denselyforested highlands, cleft by deep gorges, and still haunted by the wolf, the bear, and the wild boar. The great trench of the Mora and its tributaries . widens oat here and there to broad fertile "flats," where ereat crops of maize and wheat are raised, and where the vine and the plum-tree yield abundantly. In the forests of oak and beech large herds of swine are reared; on the meadow flats of the river cattle and horses, and on the open moorland great flocks of sheep. The ancient rock-masses of the highlands are rich in ores, some of which, it is said, were worked in the days of the Romans. Gold and silver, copper, iron and lead, and other metals, as well as coal, await the capitalist aid the metallurgist.

That great line of communication which passes up the Morava Valley from Belgrade and the Danube goes from Niah eastward to Sofia and Constantinople, and southward via Uskub to the Vardar Valley and Salonika. It is this latter rail-way which has been the great artery along which brave little Servia has received munitions and supplies, and along which allied troops will pour to her relief against the Austro-Bulgar-Germanic onslaught. In places the line and the roadway which it follows have been cut out of solid rock at the bottom of a gorge over 2000 ft deep. The whole country is favourable to the Serb defence, and altogether against any sudden and rapid advance of a victorious invader.

Belgrade ("White Castle"), the capital—now in the hands of the AustroGerman forcesstands on a plateau spur at the meeting of Save and Danube. Of its situation, Professor Lyde wrote in 1913: "It is now an excellent site for a great rail and river junction," but " the worst possble site for a capital." Again: 'For a capital it } as only two drawbacks being strategically liable to surprise and politically exposed to intrigue."