British – Serbian relations are foreign relations between the United Kingdom and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1837. The UK has an embassy and consulate in BelgradeOur embassy
/ref> and Serbia has an embassy in London. The Serbian ambassador to the United Kingdom is Dr Dejan Popovic and the British ambassador to Serbia is

Sian MacLeod Sian Christina MacLeod (born 31 May 1962) is a British diplomat who was formerly head of the UK delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna. She is now the British Ambassador to Serbia. Career MacLeo ...

. Trade between the two countries in 2004 amounted to US$245.8 million. In the first ten months of 2005 exports of Serbia and Montenegro to Great Britain accounted for US$68.2 million (110.6 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2004) and the imports from the UK were US$104.2 million (85 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2004). The

2001 UK Census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

recorded 31,244 people born in the former state of Serbia and Montenegro, which are now the independent states of

and

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

, while

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

's independence from Serbia is still disputed.

History

During Gascoyne-Cecil's first tenure as Prime Minister from 1885-1886, his cabinet held negative views of Kingdom of Serbia and instead supported the

Kingdom of Bulgaria The Tsardom of Bulgaria ( bg, Царство България, translit=Tsarstvo Balgariya), also referred to as the Third Bulgarian Tsardom ( bg, Трето Българско Царство, translit=Treto Balgarsko Tsarstvo, links=no), someti ...

. A ''Times'' correspondent claimed that Serbia was the biggest threat to peace in the Balkans. This view was refuted by archeologist

Arthur Evans Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. He is most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. Based on ...

, who stated that Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija were facing terror from the hand of local Albanian population, with murders being a daily occurrence. The Kingdom of Serbia and the UK were allies in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. British influence in Serbia became more relevant only after WWI. Around 350 Serb pupils and students received an education in the United Kingdom during this period and afterwards, under the supervision of university professor

Pavle Popović Pavle Popović ( sr-cyr, Павле Поповић; 16 April 1868 – 4 June 1939) was a Serbian literary critic and historian, a professor and rector at the University of Belgrade. He is the brother of Bogdan Popović, also a well-known and equa ...

, who was a visiting professor at King's College. The Serbian Relief Fund and Serbian Minister's Fund were formed for the purpose of providing financial and other aid to Serb students in UK, and a hostel for Serb students was opened. In the 1920s, Serbs went to Britain to study banking, finances and economics, while in the 1930s

mining engineering Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

was the main field of study. In the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

, the UK was perceived as a friendly country and an ally. Serb elites, based mostly in Belgrade, like Slobodan Jovanovic and Bogdan Bogdanovic considered that Serbs and the British shared a joint love of liberty and fierce patriotism, and they advocated looking upon

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in order to further develop democracy in the country. As early as the 1920s, London made its way to Serbia, mostly through banks. In 1920, the British Trade Corporation was founded in Belgrade. Although this bank only operated until 1928, its work led to serious improvements in the local industry, primarily mining. In the same period, relations between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

were established. Several big donations of books by British to Serbian libraries took place in the 1920s. British citizens were the main foreign sponsors of scientific research in the interwar period. Archaeological excavations in

Vinča Vinča ( sr-cyr, Винча, ) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is part of the municipality of Grocka. Vinča-Belo Brdo, an important archaeological site that gives its name to the Neolithic Vinča culture, is located in the villa ...

were funded by sir Charles Hyde. Bishop

Nikolaj Velimirović Nikolaj Velimirović (Serbian Cyrillic: Николај Велимировић; – ) was bishop of the eparchies of Ohrid and Žiča (1920–1956) in the Serbian Orthodox Church. An influential theological writer and a highly gifted orat ...

played an important role in furthering the relations between the two countries. He was held in high regard in London, and Velimirović was the first Orthodox clergyman to preach at

St. Paul’s Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

. He established firm relations between the Serbian Orthodox Church with the

. An English Language and Literature Department was formed in Belgrade in 1929. Cultural and other exchanges became popular in the interwar period. A number of societies of Yugoslav-British friendship were functioning in Belgrade in 1930s, with full support from the Yugoslav government. Several important local cultural figures were part of the friendship society, such as

Isidora Sekulić Isidora Sekulić ( sr-cyr, Исидора Секулић, 16 February 1877 – 5 April 1958) was a Serbian writer, novelist, essayist, polyglot and art critic. She was "the first woman academic in the history of Serbia". Biography Sekulić was b ...

, Raša Plaović, and

Viktor Novak Viktor Novak (4 February 1889 – 1 January 1977) was a Yugoslav Croat historian, professor at the University of Belgrade and full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), and a corresponding member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sci ...

. As of 1935, the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

was taught in schools in Serbia, but to a smaller degree compared to French and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, due to lack of teachers and political reasons. A total of 75 students with Yugoslav citizenship were enrolled at British faculties in the Interwar period, of which six got their PhD in the country, mostly in the subject of English literature. Following the Yugoslav coup d'état, the

entered

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

on the Allied side.

Resident diplomatic missions

* Serbia has an embassy in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. * the United Kingdom has an embassy in Belgrade. File:Serbian Embassy, London.jpg, Embassy of Serbia in London File:British Embassy Belgrade.jpg, Embassy of the United Kingdom in Belgrade

References

Sources and further reading

* Antić, Čedomir D. "Crisis and Armament: Economic Relations Between Great Britain and Serbia 1910–1912." ''Balcanica'' 36 (2005): 151-16
online
* Bataković, Dušan T. "Serbia and Greece in the First World War: an overview." ''Balkan Studies'' 45.1 (2004): 59-8
online
* Antić, Čedomir. ''Ralph Paget: a diplomat in Serbia'' (Institute for Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2006
online free
* Boyd, James. "Representing the Western Balkans, Post-war Understandings: A discourse analysis of contemporary representations of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia in UK press media." (2018
online
* * Gavrilović, Michael. "The Early Diplomatic Relations of Great Britain and Serbia." ''Slavonic Review'' (1922): 1#1 86-10
online
** Gavrilović, Michael. "The Early Diplomatic Relations of Great Britain and Serbia.(II)." ''Slavonic Review'' (1922): 333-35
online
** Gavrilović, Michael. "The Early Diplomatic Relations of Great Britain and Serbia.(III)." ''Slavonic Review'' (1923): 552-56
online
* Glaurdić, Josip. ''The hour of Europe: Western powers and the breakup of Yugoslavia'' (Yale UP, 2011). * Hodge, Carole. ''Britain and the Balkans: 1991 until the Present'' (Routledge, 2006). * McCourt, David. "Embracing humanitarian intervention: Atlanticism and the UK interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo." ''British Journal of Politics and International Relations'' 15.2 (2013): 246-26
online
* Markovich, Slobodan G., ed. ''British-Serbian Relations from the 18th to the 21st Centuries'' (Faculty of Political Science of the University of Belgrade ndZepter Book World, 2018
online link
* Pavlowitch, Stevan K. ''Anglo-Russian rivalry in Serbia 1837-1839'' (1961) * Simms, Brendan. ''Unfinest hour: Britain and the destruction of Bosnia'' (Penguin UK, 2002).

External links

British Foreign and Commonwealth Office about relations with Serbia

British embassy in Belgrade

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060707104630/http://www.serbianembassy.org.uk/ Serbian embassy in London {{DEFAULTSORT:Serbia-United Kingdom relations Bilateral relations of the United Kingdom

1837 establishments in Europe

History

Resident diplomatic missions

See also

References

Sources and further reading

External links