Serbophilia ( sr, , , ''literally love for Serbia and Serbs'') is the admiration, appreciation or emulation of non-Serbian person who expresses a strong interest, positive predisposition or appreciation for the
Serbian people
The term Serbians in English is a polysemic word, with two distinctive meanings, derived from morphological differences:
* Morphology 1: Serb- ian- s, derived from the noun ''Serb'' and used interchangeably to refer to ethnic Serbs, thus having ...
,
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
,
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Feder ...
,
Serbian language
Serbian (, ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and Kos ...
,
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
or
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
. Its opposite is
Serbophobia.
History
20th century
World War I
During
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 ...
, Serbophilia was present in
western countries
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. .
Breakup of Yugoslavia
Political scientist
Sabrina P. Ramet writes that Serbophilia in France during the 1990s was "traditional", partly as a response to the closeness between Germany and Croatia. Business ties continued during the war and fostered a desire for economic normalization.
Serbophiles
*
Jacob Grimm
Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of th ...
German philologist,
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
and
mythologist
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...
. Learnt Serbian in order to read
Serbian epic poetry
Serbian epic poetry ( sr, Српске епске народне песме, Srpske epske narodne pesme) is a form of epic poetry created by Serbs originating in today's Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. The ...
.
*
Archibald Reiss
Rodolphe Archibald Reiss (8 July 1875 – 7 August 1929) was a German–Swiss criminology-pioneer, forensic scientist, professor and writer.
Early life and studies
The Reiss family was in agriculture and winemaking. Archibald was the eighth o ...
German-Swiss
publicist
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists who ...
,
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
, forensic scientist, a professor at the
University of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne (UNIL; french: links=no, Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzer ...
.
*
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. Hugo wrote the speech ''
Pour la Serbie
"Pour la Serbie" (For Serbia) is the title of a speech written by Victor Hugo, on 29 August 1876, castigating massacres perpetrated by the Turks in Serbia. It was first published as an open letter in the French newspaper Le Rappel, later inclu ...
''.
*
Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...
French author, poet, and statesman.
*
Helen of Anjou
Helen of Anjou ( sr, Јелена Анжујска / Jelena Anžujska, ; c. 1235 – 8 February 1314) was the queen consort of the Kingdom of Serbia (medieval), Serbian Kingdom, as the spouse of King Stefan Uroš I, who ruled from 1243 to 1276. T ...
French noblewoman who became queen consort of the Serbian Kingdom.
*
Mircea I and
Vlad III Dracula
Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ro, Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad Dracula (; ro, Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/311476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most im ...
*Several notable composers used motifs from Serbian folk music and composed works inspired by Serbian history or culture, such as:
**
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period.
**
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, and organist of the Romantic era.
**
Arthur Rubinstein Polish-American classical pianist.
**
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...
Czech composer, one of the first to achieve worldwide recognition.
**
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
Russian composer of the Romantic period (See
Serbo-Russian March).
**
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...
Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five (See
Fantasy on Serbian Themes).
**
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
**
Hans Huber Swiss composer. Between 1894 and 1918, he composed five operas.
*
Rebecca West
Dame Cicily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books ...
(1892–1983) British travel writer. Was described by American media as having a pro-Serbian stance.
*
Flora Sandes
Flora Sandes (, 22 January 1876 – 24 November 1956) was a British woman who served as a member of the Royal Serbian Army in World War I. She was the only British woman officially to serve as a soldier in that war. Initially a St. John Ambula ...
British Irish volunteer 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 ...
.
*
Ruth Mitchell American volunteer in the
Chetniks, World War II. Sister of
Billy Mitchell
William Lendrum Mitchell (December 29, 1879 – February 19, 1936) was a United States Army officer who is regarded as the father of the United States Air Force.
Mitchell served in France during World War I and, by the conflict's end, command ...
.
[Kurapovna, Marcia.''Shadows on the Mountain: The Allies, the Resistance, and the Rivalries that Doomed WWII Yugoslavia''. John Wiley & Sons, 2009, pp. 71–72.][Mirkovic, Alexander]
"Angels and Demons: Yugoslav Resistance in the American Press 1941–1945"
''World History Connected'', University of Illinois website, 2012.
*
Robert De Niro American actor
*
John Challis
John Spurley Challis (16 August 1942 – 19 September 2021) was an English actor. He had an extensive theatre and television career but is best known for portraying Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long-running BBC Television sitcom ''Only ...
English actor best known for portraying
Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
sitcom ''
Only Fools and Horses
''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until t ...
'' (1981–2003) and its sequel/spin-off ''
The Green Green Grass
''The Green Green Grass'' is a BBC television sitcom, created and initially written by John Sullivan, produced by Shazam Productions for the BBC. It is a sequel/spin-off of the long-running sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'' and stars John Chall ...
'' (2005–2009)
*
Peter Handke
Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored t ...
Austrian novelist and playwright,
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
winner. Supported Serbia in the
Yugoslav Wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...
.
*
Eduard Limonov
Eduard Veniaminovich Savenko ( rus, Эдуард Вениаминович Савенко, , ɨdʊˈart vʲɪnʲɪɐˈmʲinəvʲɪtɕ sɐˈvʲenkə, links=yes; 22 February 1943 – 17 March 2020), known by his pen name Eduard Limonov ( rus, Эд ...
Russian writer and poet.
*
Ángel Pulido Spanish physician, publicist and politician, who stood out as prominent philosephardite during the Restoration
*
Essad Pasha Toptani
Essad Pasha Toptani or Esad Pasha Toptani ( sq, Esad Pashë Toptani; 1863/4 or 1875 – 13 June 1920), mainly known as Essad Pasha, was an Ottoman army officer who served as the Albanian deputy in the Ottoman Parliament. He was a prominent po ...
Ottoman
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
n politician.
*
Anna Dandolo
Anna Dandolo ( sr, Ana Dandolo / Ана Дандоло; 1217–1258) was a Venetian noblewoman who became Queen of Serbia as the third wife of King Stefan the First-Crowned, founder of the Serbian kingdom. She was crowned with Stefan in 121 ...
Venetian noblewoman who became
Queen of Serbia.
*
Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic
Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic (August 20, 1597 – October 14, 1677) was a Polish poet and historian of the Baroque era, most famous for his pastoral poems ''Sielanki nowe ruskie'' (''New Ruthenian Pastorals''), first published in Kraków in 1663. ...
Polish poet and historian of the Baroque era.
*
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (; lt, Аdomas Jurgis Čartoriskis; 14 January 177015 July 1861), in English known as Adam George Czartoryski, was a Polish nobleman, statesman, diplomat and author.
The son of a wealthy prince, he began his political c ...
Polish nobleman, statesman, diplomat and author.
*
Pavel Jozef Šafárik
Pavel Jozef Šafárik ( sk, Pavol Jozef Šafárik; 13 May 1795 – 26 June 1861) was an ethnic Slovak philologist, poet, literary historian, historian and ethnographer in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was one of the first scientific Slavists.
Family ...
Slovakian philologist, poet, literary historian, historian and ethnographer in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was one of the first scientific Slavistics.
*
Ján Kollár
Ján Kollár ( hu, Kollár János; 29 July 1793 – 24 January 1852) was a Slovak writer (mainly poet), archaeologist, scientist, priest, politician, and main ideologist of Pan-Slavism.
Life
He studied at the Lutheran Lyceum in Pressburg ( ...
Slovakian writer (mainly poet), archaeologist, scientist, politician, and main ideologist of Pan-Slavism.
*
Ľudovít Štúr
Ľudovít Velislav Štúr (; hu, Stur Lajos; 28 October 1815 – 12 January 1856), known in his era as Ludevít Štúr, (pen names : B. Dunajský, Bedlivý Ludorob, Boleslav Záhorský, Brat Slovenska, Ein Slave, Ein ungarischer Slave, Karl Wi ...
Slovakian revolutionary politician and writer.
*
Henry Bax-Ironside
Sir Henry George Outram Bax-Ironside, (15 November 1859 – 16 April 1929) was a British diplomat, ambassador to Venezuela, Chile, Switzerland and Bulgaria.
Career
Henry George Outram Bax was the only son of John Henry Bax, of Houghton-le-Spri ...
British diplomat.
*
Eleftherios Venizelos Greek statesman and a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement.
*
Dimitrios Karatasos
Dimitrios Karatasos ( el, Δημήτριος Καρατάσος, 1798–1861), known as Yero-Tsamis ( el, Γέρo-Τσάμης) or Yero-Karatasos ( el, Γέρo-Καρατάσος), was a Greek chieftain who participated in the Greek War of Indepen ...
Greek armatolos who participated in the Greek War of Independence, and several other rebellions, seeking to liberate his native Greek Macedonia.
*
Herbert Vivian British journalist and author of ''Servia: The Poor Man's Paradise'' and '' The Servian Tragedy: With Some Impressions of Macedonia''.
*
Alexander Kolchak Imperial Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer.
*
Yu Hua
Yu Hua (; born April 3, 1960, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province) is a Chinese author. Shortly after his debut as a fiction writer in 1983, his first breakthrough came in 1987, when he released the short story '' On the Road at Age Eighteen''. Yu ...
Chinese author.
*
František Zach
František Zach (; sr, Франтишек Зах/František Zah; 1 May 1807 – 14 January 1892), known as Franjo Zah (Фрањо Зах), was a Czech-born soldier and military theorist, best known for his service to the Principality of Serbia, ...
Czech soldier and military theorist.
Gallery
File:Chain of Friendship cartoon.jpg, "A Threatening Situation", a comic published in the American newspaper the Brooklyn Eagle
:''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently''
The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...
in July 1914
File:Gallipoli4.jpg, Departure for Serbia
File:Kosovo day.jpg, WWI poster - ''Kosovo Day'', June 28, 1916, published in solidarity with the Serb allies
File:Save Serbia poster 1915.jpg, WWI poster - ''Save Serbia'' (1915)
File:Boardman Robinson WWI poster 1.jpg, American poster of the Serbian Relief Fund, organised by Mabel Grouitch
Mabel Grouitch (Maiden and married names, ''née'' Dunlop; August 13, 1872 or August 13, 1881 – August 13, 1956) was an American archeologist, philanthropist and voluntary nurse with the Red Cross in Serbia, during the two Balkan wars and Worl ...
, asking for donations to help Serbia on the brink of famine.
See also
*
Serbian nationalism
Serbian nationalism asserts that Serbs are a nation and promotes the cultural and political unity of Serbs. It is an ethnic nationalism, originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, und ...
*
Slavophilia
Slavophilia (russian: Славянофильство) was an intellectual movement originating from the 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed on the basis of values and institutions derived from Russia's early history. Slavoph ...
*
Greece–Serbia relations
Greece and Serbia enjoy close diplomatic relations, which have traditionally been friendly due to cultural, religious and historical ties between the two nations.
The majority of Serbs and Greeks practice the Eastern Orthodox faith and the two ...
References
Sources
*
Sells, David (1997). ''Serb 'Demons' Strike Back'' (Royal Institute of International Affairs) Vol. 53, No. 2
*
External links
*
{{Cultural appreciation
Admiration of foreign cultures
Serbian culture
Serbian nationalism