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{{Short description|Ethnic Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
{{Infobox Ethnic group
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
|group = Serbs of<br />Bosnia and Herzegovina
|flag = <!-- WARNING: if you put any coat of arms here, it will be reverted with the article protected or a block enforced. Discuss it on the talk page. -->
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{{Infobox ethnic group
|population = 1,484,530 <br />37.9% (1996)
| group = Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina<br><small>{{Nobold|{{lang|sr-Cyrl|Срби Босне и Херцеговине}}<br/>{{lang|sr-Latn|Srbi Bosne i Hercegovine}}}}</small>
|popplace =
| flag = Flag of Republika Srpska.svg
|rels = ], secular
| flag_caption = Flag of ]
|related =
| image = {{multiple image|border=infobox|perrow=2/2/2/1|total_width=300
| image1 = KULTURNO UMJETNIČKO DRUŠTVO DOBOJ-DOBOJ 15.jpg
| alt1 = Serbian traditional clothing from Gl
| image2 = Serbian national costume from Trebinje, end of XIX c.jpg
| alt2 = Serbian traditional clothing from Herzegovinaamoč
| image3 = Ensemble "Kolo", Đurđevdan customs from Podgrmeč.jpg
| alt3 = Serbian traditional clothing from Bosanska Krajina
| image4 = Etnografski muzej Beograd Kolega2357 197.jpg
| alt4 = Serbian traditional clothing from ]
| image5 = Etnografski muzej Beograd Kolega2357 208.jpg
| alt5 = Serbian traditional clothing from Western Bosnia
| image6 = Strojice ispred crkve.jpg
| alt6 = Serbian traditional clothing from Semberija
| footer_align = center
| footer = ] from (clockwise from top):{{flatlist|
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* Western Bosnia
* ]
}}
}}
| population = '''1,086,733''' (2013)<ref name="2016 census">{{cite book|title=Sarajevo, juni 2016. CENZUS OF POPULATION, HOUSEHOLDS AND DWELLINGS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, 2013 FINAL RESULTS|publisher=BHAS|url=http://www.popis2013.ba/popis2013/doc/Popis2013prvoIzdanje.pdf|access-date=30 June 2016|archive-date=29 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929043918/http://www.popis2013.ba/popis2013/doc/Popis2013prvoIzdanje.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region1 = ]
| pop1 = 1,001,299 (92.13%)
| region2 = ]
| pop2 = 56,550 (5.20%)
| region3 = ]
| pop3 = 28,884 (34.58%)
| rels = ]
| languages = ]
}} }}
The '''Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina''' are people of ] ethnicity inhabiting the ] regions of ] and ], or, since the establishment of ] as a state in the 1990s, the Serbs who have its citizenship. The Serbs are one of the three ] of this state, predominantly residing in its ] named ]. They are frequently referred to as '''Bosnian Serbs''' in English, regardless of whether they are from Bosnia or Herzegovina.


{{Serbs}}
== Population ==
The '''Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina''' ({{lang-sr-Cyrl|Срби Босне и Херцеговине|Srbi Bosne i Hercegovine}}), often referred to as '''Bosnian Serbs''' ({{lang-sr-cyrl|босански Срби|bosanski Srbi}}) or '''Herzegovinian Serbs''' ({{lang-sr-cyrl|херцеговачких Срби|hercegovačkih Srbi}}), are native and one of the three ] of the country, predominantly residing in the ] of ]. Most declare themselves ] and speakers of the ].
The last 1996 ] population census registered 1,484,530 Serbs or 37.9% of the total population of ]. The modern estimate is that they form more likely about 37.1% (2000).<ref>https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html CIA Factbook Bosnia and Hercegovina - People</ref> The vast majority live on the territory of the Republika Srpska, and ] and ] cantons of the ]. Bosnian Serbs are the most territorially widespread ]. The majority of Bosnian Serbs are adherents of the ], while some are ]. The Bosnian Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina speak the ] in its ] and ] variant, similar to that of ] and ]. Their total population world wide is estimated to be over 2 million.


Serbs have a long and continuous history of inhabiting the present-day territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a long history of statehood in this territory. Slavs settled the Balkans in the 7th century and the Serbs were one of the main tribes who settled the peninsula including parts of modern-day Herzegovina. Parts of ] were ruled by the Serbian prince ] in the 10th century before his death in 960. The territories of ], including ] and ] were later consolidated into a Serbian Kingdom before its fall in 1101. In the second half of the 12th century, Bosnia and Herzegovina was ruled by the ]. ] ruled briefly as ] in 1459 and as ] between 1461 and 1463.
== History ==
=== Medieval ===
{{Main|History of Medieval Serbia|History of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
] settled the region of ] during the first half of the 7th century. They were led by the ] and given Bosnia as a land to settle in by ] ]. Historical records indicate there were two small Serb inhabited cities, ] and Desnik, in Bosnia. Bosnia was ruled by ] and in 753 formed a territorial union with the ] of ] known as ] (''Surbia'', the region called ''Zagorje'') ruled by ]s.


From the 15th century, Ottoman rule brought discrimination against the Orthodox population living in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the ] but also a Serb national consciousness by the 19th century. The 20th century was marked by persecution from Austro-Hungarian occupation (1878–1918), ], and eventual breakup of Yugoslavia leading to the ] in 1992. In the 1990s, many Serbs moved to Serbia proper and ].
According to the ], in 822, ], the ruler of ] went from his seat in ] to the ] somewhere in ] who controlled a great part of ] ("''Sorabi, quae natio magnam Dalmatiae partem obtinere dicitur''").<ref name=SE></ref>


Having lived in much of Bosnia-Herzegovina prior to the Bosnian War, the majority of the Serbs now live in ]. According to the report by the Bosnia and Herzegovina statistics office, on the ]&nbsp;there were 1,086,733 Serbs living in Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref name="2016 census"/> In the ], Serbs form the majority in ], ], ] and ]. At the federal level, Serbs are represented by members in the ] while on the state level, Republika Srpska has its own ]. The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina have made significant contributions to the ].
The western regions were incorporated into the ] and some Bosnians were later baptised into ] by Byzantine missionaries (later Saints) ] and ].


==History==
The Bosnian Chiefs abandoned the War-of-the-succession-torn ] and joined the ] of ] ] of the ] up to 931. By the end of the 948 Croatian struggles for the throne, he included all the territories to the river of ] to the west and ] to the north while western and northern Bosnia remained in the ]. The ] area became the heart of his state. The Hungarian Kingdom had pretensions to conquer Bosnia, so Časlav was forced to fend-off a Hungarian invasion in 955. Prince Časlav saved Bosnia, but was drowned by Hungarian forces in the river of ] in northern Bosnia in the year 960.
{{Main|History of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Middle Ages}}


===Kingdom of Serbia===
The Bosnian Serbian rule in eastern and central Bosnia crumbled after Časlav's fall. It would take Serbian King ] of ] and war against the Byzantines in 1082-1085 to restore it. There he installed a related courtier named Stefan as ], whose heirs continued to rule Bosnia.
{{further|Serbia in the Middle Ages|Bosnia (early medieval)}}
], ]]]
Slavs settled the Balkans in the 7th century.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=38}} In the second quarter of the 7th century, the Serbs were one of the main Slavic tribes who settled the peninsula and came to dominate the previous Slav settlers.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=37}} In the same manner as their Croat counterparts, the Serb elite respectively labeled those mass Slavic populations they ruled over as Serbs, thus absorbing large numbers of Slavs whose ancestry was in actuality traced back to the previous century.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=37}} Serb settlement was initially in modern-day southwestern Serbia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Halilovic-Pastuovic |first1=Maja |title=Bosnian Post-Refugee Transnationalism: After the Dayton Peace Agreement |date=2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-03039-564-3 |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68TnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916180946/https://books.google.com/books?id=68TnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |url-status=live }}</ref> The region of "Rascia" (]) was the center of Serb settlement and Serbian tribes are also thought to have occupied parts near the Adriatic coast, especially modern-day ] and ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kardaras |first1=Georgios |title=Byzantium and the Avars, 6th-9th Century AD: Political, Diplomatic and Cultural Relations |date=2018 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9-00438-226-8 |page=96 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1IN1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327094702/https://books.google.com/books?id=1IN1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 |url-status=live }}</ref> Prince ] (r. 830–850) united the Serbian tribes in the vicinity,{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=141}} and after a victory over the advancing Bulgars he went on to expand to the west, taking ], and ] (Herzegovina)).{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=110}} Afterwards, Prince ] (r. 892–917), defeated Duke Tišemir of Bosnia, annexing the valley of Bosna.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=148}}
Around this time is when Bosnia is first attested to as a separate territory, in '']'' (ca. 960), a political and geographical document written by Eastern Roman Emperor ].{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=10}} In a section dedicated to the territories of the ] his lands are described as including "Bosona, Katera and Desnik", demonstrating Bosnia's dependency on Serbs, although the areas comprised were smaller than modern-day Bosnia.{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=10}} Prince Časlav had enlarged Serbia, incorporating ] and parts of Bosnia,{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=209}} effectively ruling Bosnia in the 10th century until his death in 960.{{sfn|Živković et al.|2013|p=157}} Following his death, much of Bosnia would be subjected to Croatian rule,{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=10}} before the arrival of ] who subjugated the territory but eventually found himself deposed by the ].{{sfn|Živković et al.|2013|p=157}}


Over the course of the 11th century, Bosnia shifted between partial Croatian and partial Serbian governance.{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=10}} To the south of Bosnia proper lay the territories of ], which included ] and Zachlumia who were consolidated into a Serbian Kingdom ruled by local Serb princes. By the 1070s this would also include the region of Raška.{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=10}} Under ], Serbian territory expanded to take most of Bosnia but the Kingdom broke up following his death in 1101.{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=10}} For much of the 12th century Bosnia was in a tug of war between Hungary and the Byzantine empire; Hungary annexed it 1137 before losing it to the Byzantine empire in 1167, and retaking it in 1180.{{sfn|Donia|Fine|1994|p=15}} After 1180, ], ruler of Bosnia began to assert his independence and Hungarian control became nominal.{{sfn|Donia|Fine|1994|p=15}} Prior to this emerging independence, Bosnia thus found itself at times under Serbian rule, particularly during the middle of the 10th century and the end of the 11th. For most of the early medieval period Herzegovina was in practice, Serbian territory.{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=11}} Bosnia proper however was tied politically and religiously more towards Croatia.{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=11}} The historians ] and Robert J. Donia, in considering that before 1180 Bosnia briefly found itself in Serb or Croat units, concluded that neither neighbor had held the Bosnians long enough to acquire their loyalty or to impose any serious claim to Bosnia.{{sfn|Donia|Fine|1994|p=16}}
=== Austro-Hungarian Era ===

In 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina became a protectorate of ], which the Serbs strongly opposed. On June 28, 1914, Bosnian Serb ] made international headlines after assassinating Arch Duke ] in ]. This sparked World War I leading to ]'s defeat and the incorporation of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the ].
In the second half of the 12th century, Serbian unity and power grows exponentially with the formation of the ] led by ], Grand Prince (]) of Raška. Modern-day Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and central Serbia would come under his control.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vance |first1=Charles |last2=Paik |first2=Yongsun |title=Managing a Global Workforce: Challenges and Opportunities in International Human Resource Management |date=2006 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-76562-016-3 |page=379 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gGKtLTQlUcC&pg=PA379 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327094744/https://books.google.com/books?id=9gGKtLTQlUcC&pg=PA379 |url-status=live }}</ref> By the Middle Ages, ] had become entrenched in Herzegovina,{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=74}} and during the Nemanjić dynasty the ]'s influence grew in the region.{{sfn|Čuvalo|2010|p=174}} However, Orthodoxy lacked consequential progression into Bosnia until Ottoman conquest.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=74}}

]
]
The Kotromanić ({{Lang-sr-Cyrl|Котроманић}}, <small>]</small> Kotromanići/Котроманићи) ] and later ] would rule Bosnia from the second half of the 13th century until Ottoman conquest in 1463.{{sfn|Filipović|2019|p=1}} It began with ] in 1322, who managed to expand the realm of the Bosnian state with the acquisition of territories that included Herzegovina, enabling the formation of a single Bosnia and Herzegovina political entity for the first time.{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=17}} The Kotromanić intermarried with several ] and ]an royal houses which aided in their dynastic development.{{sfn|Filipović|2019|p=1}} Stephen II's nephew ], a descendant of the Serbian Nemanjić dynasty, succeeded him and established the ] in 1377,{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|pp=18-19}} crowning himself as "The King of Serbia/Serbs and Bosnia".{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=19}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trbovich |first1=Ana S. |title=A Legal Geography of Yugoslavia's Disintegration |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19533-343-5 |page=99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ojur7dVoxIcC&pg=PA99 |access-date=2022-01-15 |archive-date=2022-01-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115190456/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ojur7dVoxIcC&pg=PA99 |url-status=live }}</ref> The last sovereign, ], ruled briefly as ] in 1459 and as ] between 1461 and 1463,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morby |first1=John |title=Dynasties of the World |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19251-848-4 |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TFExDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT81 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916180949/https://books.google.com/books?id=TFExDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT81 |url-status=live }}</ref> before losing both countries and his life to the ].<ref name="Engal & Ayton">{{cite book |last1=Engal |first1=Pal |last2=Ayton |first2=Andrew |title=The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526 |date=2001 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85773-173-9 |page=530 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3RKJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT530 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916180946/https://books.google.com/books?id=3RKJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT530 |url-status=live }}</ref> Herzegovina fell in 1466.<ref name="Engal & Ayton" />

According to the historian Neven Isailovović, there was a general awareness in medieval Bosnia, at least amongst the nobles, that they shared a join state with Serbia and that they belong to the same ethnic group. That awareness diminished over time, due to differences in political and social development, but it was kept in Herzegovina and parts of Bosnia which were a part of Serbian state.{{sfn|Isailovović|2018|p=276}}

===Ottoman rule===
{{further|Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina|Eastern Orthodoxy in Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
], ], over the ]]]
] from ]'', painting by ]]]
]

The conquest of Bosnia by the Ottomans brought significant administrative, economic, social and cultural changes to the country.<ref name="Tucker">{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |title=World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection : The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection |date=2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-965-8 |page=278 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DBwTBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA278 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916181521/https://books.google.com/books?id=DBwTBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA278 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Ottomans however, allowed for the preservation of Bosnian identity and territorial integrity by merely making Bosnia an integral province of its Empire.<ref name="Tucker" /> Under the ], Christians were afforded a level of autonomy by the provision of local leaders who served the Ottoman state for religious, social, administrative and legal purposes.{{sfn|Friedman|2013|p=8}} The Ottomans allowed Christian communities to band together around these religious leaders and preserve their customs.{{sfn|Friedman|2013|p=8}} Consequently, this system also made a clear distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims, paving the way for Islamic supremacy and discrimination towards Christians.{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=57}} For instance, non-Muslims had to pay additional taxes and could not own any land or property or hold positions in the Ottoman state apparatus.{{sfn|Friedman|2013|p=8}} Thus, conversion to Islam was advantageous to Bosnians and the 15th and 16th centuries marked the beginning of the ].{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=56}} A major effect of this system was also the development of distinct national identities among the three Bosnian groups during the 19th century,{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=56}} resulting in the spread of Orthodoxy and its assimilation into a Serbian national consciousness for Orthodox people throughout the empire.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|pp=77-78}} Given the threat of the ], the Catholics of Bosnia faced strenuous religious oppression, although this same level of discrimination would also be applied to Orthodox believers with the rise of an ] in the 19th century.{{sfn|Keil|2016|pp=57-58}} The Ottomans introduced a sizeable Orthodox Christian population into Bosnia proper, including ] from the eastern Balkans.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=74}} The conversion of the adherents of the ] also aided the spread of Eastern Orthodoxy.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=74}} Later, areas abandoned by Catholics during the ] were settled with Muslims and Orthodox Christians.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=76}}

Construction of Orthodox monasteries and churches throughout Bosnia started in the northwest in 1515.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=74}} An Orthodox priest was present in Sarajevo already in 1489, and the city's first Orthodox church was constructed between 1520 and 1539. By 1532, Bosnian Orthodox Christians had their own metropolitan bishop, who took up official residence in Sarajevo in 1699.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=74}} By the end of the 18th century, the Metropolitan of Bosnia had authority over the Orthodox bishops of Mostar, Zvornik, Novi Pazar and Sarajevo.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=74}} A turning point in relations between the Orthodox Church and the Ottomans occurred when Orthodox clergy renounced loyalty to the sultans and started encouraging and aiding peasant rebellions, and seeking Christian allies in neighboring lands, which in turn resulted in the persecution of their clergy.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=75}} Major Serb uprisings to Turkish rule occurred during the ] (1593–1606) and ] (1683–1699). During the 1593-1606 war, Serbs in the ] along the border with ] and ], and chieftains of the Herzegovina clans rebelled, both assisting enemies of the Ottomans and working toward restoring the Serbian state. Clan chiefs in Herzegovina cooperated with Italian counts and the Spanish viceroy, who was established in ].{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|pp=140-142}}

As the rise of Western European development overshadowed the ] Ottoman system, the empire began a sharp decline that was evident in the 19th century.{{sfn|Andjelic|2004|p=9}} Bosnia was at this point a regressive state with large landowners, poor peasantry, and a lack of industry and modern transport.{{sfn|Andjelic|2004|p=9}} A number of anti-Ottoman rebellions occurred, as the dissatisfaction of land-owning Bosnian Muslims aligned itself with nationalistic movements of the non-Muslim population.{{sfn|Friedman|2013|p=9}} The various rebellions were largely directed at the Ottoman state and not a product of infighting between the various groups.{{sfn|Andjelic|2004|pp=8-9}} The Serbs of Bosnia allied themselves with the cause of Serbian statehood; Muslim rebellions sought to stop administrative reforms and peasant rebellions were due to agrarian strife.{{sfn|Andjelic|2004|pp=8-9}} After the reorganization of the Ottoman army and abolition of the ], Bosnian nobility revolted in 1831, led by ], who wanted to preserve existing privileges and stop any further social reforms.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Koller |first1=Markus |last2=Karpat |first2=Kemal H. |title=Ottoman Bosnia: A History in Peril |date=2004 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0-29920-714-4 |page=126}}</ref> The pivotal rebellion began in 1875 with an ] on the part of the Christian population,<ref name="Mikaberdize">{{cite book |last1=Mikaberidze |first1=Alexander |title=Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1 |date=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-336-1 |page=366 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WjQfo3a1eVMC&pg=PA366 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916181519/https://books.google.com/books?id=WjQfo3a1eVMC&pg=PA366 |url-status=live }}</ref> led by Bosnian Serbs.<ref name="Burg & Shoup">{{cite book |last1=Burg |first1=Steven L. |last2=Shoup |first2=Paul S. |title=The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention |date=1999 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |pages=34–35 |isbn=9780765631893 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-4eKmp_qu_QC&pg=PA34 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916181520/https://books.google.com/books?id=-4eKmp_qu_QC&pg=PA34 |url-status=live }}</ref> Initially a revolt against overtaxation by Bosnian Muslim landowners, it spread to a wider rebellion against the Ottoman rulers,<ref name="Mikaberdize" /> with Bosnian Serbs vying for unity with Serbia.<ref name="Burg & Shoup" /> The Ottoman authorities were unable to contain the rebellion and it soon spread to other regions of the empire, with the ] joining and the ] doing the same, resulting in the ].<ref name="Mikaberdize" /><ref name="Burg & Shoup" /> The Turks lost the war in 1878. After the ] was held in same year, mandate of Bosnia and Herzegovina was transferred to the ] Empire with nominal Ottoman sovereignty.<ref name="Mikaberdize" />

According to the historian ], around one quarter of rebel leaders (]s) of the ] were born in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina or had their roots in the region of Bosnia or Herzegovina.<ref name="Bataković2018">{{Cite book|title=Zlatna nit postojanja|last=Bataković|first=Dušan T.|publisher=Catena Mundi|year=2018|location=Belgrade|pages=142}}</ref> ] met with local Serb leaders from ] in 1803 in order to negotiate their part in the rebellion, with the ultimate goal being that the two armies meet in Sarajevo.<ref name="Bataković2018" />

===Austro-Hungarian occupation===
] and ] after the ] of 1878. Both Montenegro and Serbia, as well as the Bosnian Serbs, were dissatisfied with the decision of the Congress to allow Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia & Herzegovina which were majority Serbian inhabited.]]
Austro-Hungarian rule initially resulted in a fragmentation between the citizenry of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as technically they were subjects of the Ottomans while the land belonged to Austria-Hungary.<ref name="Dzankic">{{cite book |last1=Džankic |first1=Jelena |title=Citizenship in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro: Effects of Statehood and Identity Challenges |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-31716-579-8 |page=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWCrCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916182201/https://books.google.com/books?id=CWCrCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Austro-Hungarian administration advocated the ideal of a pluralist and multi-confessional Bosnian ]. Joint Imperial Minister of Finance and Vienna-based administrator of Bosnia ] thus endorsed ] in the form of ''Bošnjaštvo'' ("Bosniakhood") with the aim to inspire in Bosnia's people "a feeling that they belong to a great and powerful nation".{{sfn|Sugar|1963|p=201}}

The Austro-Hungarians viewed ] as "speaking the ] and divided into three religions with equal rights."{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=135}} On the one hand, these policies attempted to insulate Bosnia and Herzegovina from its ] neighbors (] ], ] ], and the ] ]) and to marginalize the already circulating ideas of Serbian and Croatian nationhood among Bosnia's Orthodox and Catholic communities, respectively.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|pp=130-135}} On the other hand, the Habsburg administrators precisely used the existing ideas of nationhood (especially Bosnian folklore and symbolism) in order to promote their own version of ''Bošnjak'' patriotism that aligned with loyalty to the Habsburg state. Habsburg policies are thus best described not as anti-national, but as cultivating their own style of pro-imperial nationalisms.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|pp=130-135}} These policies also heightened divisions along national and religious lines. Bosnian Serbs felt oppressed by the Austro-Hungarians who favored ], and in turn the Croat population, who were the only members of the three constituent groups with any loyalty to the empire.{{sfn|Bataković|1996|p=13}} After the death of Kallay, the policy was abandoned.

By 1905, nationalism was an integral factor of Bosnian politics, with national political parties corresponding to the three groups dominating elections.{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|pp=130-135}} Austro-Hungarian authorities banned textbooks printed in Serbia and a number of other Serbian-language books they deemed to carry nationalistic content.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Malešević |first1=Siniša |title=Grounded Nationalisms |date=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-10842-516-2 |page=207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rn2DDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA207 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916182157/https://books.google.com/books?id=Rn2DDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA207 |url-status=live }}</ref> A number of Bosnian Serb cultural and national organizations were formed in the early 20th century, one of which was the ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hupchick |first1=Dennis P. |title=The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism |date=2002 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-31229-913-2 |page=xxxii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQGIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12-IA3 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916182158/https://books.google.com/books?id=sQGIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12-IA3 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Austro-Hungarian empire would wind up annexing the territory in 1908.<ref name="Dzankic" />

The first parliamentary elections to elect members to the ] were ]. The population was classified according to their ethno-religious status and each group was given its share of seats in the parliament according to their population. As the majority, the Serb representation was won by the Serbian National Organization, who received 31 seats.{{sfn|Čuvalo|2010|p=78}}

On June 28, 1914, Bosnian Serb ] made international headlines after assassinating Archduke ] and his wife ] in ]. This sparked World War I leading to ]'s defeat and the incorporation of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the ].

====World War I====
During WWI, Serbs in Bosnia were often blamed for the outbreak of the war, the ] of ], and were subjected to persecution by the Austro-Hungarian authorities, including ] and looting of their businesses, by people who were instigated to ethnic violence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Christopher |title=Yugoslavia's Bloody Collapse: Causes, Course and Consequences |date=1997 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-81471-288-7 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mQVCgAAQBAJ |quote=In the aftermath of Franz Ferdinand's assassination, anti-Serb sentiment ran high throughout the Habsburg empire and in Croatia and in Bosnia-Herzegovina, it boiled over into anti-Serb pogroms. Though these pogroms were clearly incited by the Habsburg authorities.. |access-date=2021-01-17 |archive-date=2021-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121054058/https://books.google.com/books?id=6mQVCgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Early in the war, the Austro-Hungarian authorities unleashed a persecution of Bosnian Serbs, which included the internment of thousands in camps, court-martialing and death sentencing of intellectuals, massacres by the ], looting of property and forced expulsions.{{sfn|Nikolic-Ristanovic|2000|p=10}}

Bosnian and Herzegovinian Serbs served in Montenegrin and Serbian army en masse, as they felt loyalty to the overall pan-Serbian cause. Bosnian Serbs also served in Austrian Army, and were loyal to Austria-Hungary when it came to Italian Front,{{sfn|Nikolic-Ristanovic|2000|p=10}} but they often deserted and switched sides when they were sent to the Russian front, or to Serbian Front.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lampe |first1=John |title=Balkans into Southeastern Europe, 1914-2014: A Century of War and Transition |date=2014 |publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education |isbn=978-1-13705-777-8 |page=49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAMdBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916182152/https://books.google.com/books?id=tAMdBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 |url-status=live }}</ref> Many Serbs supported the advance of fellow Montenegrin Serb Army, when it entered into Herzegovina, and advanced close to Sarajevo in 1914, as the King of Montenegro, ] was very popular among Bosnian and Herzegovinian Serbs because of his pan-Serbian and Serbian nationalist views and help during Herzegovinian uprisings in the 19th century.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

===Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes===
]
After World War I, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the internationally unrecognized ] which existed between October and December 1918.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Lenard J. |last2=Dragović-Soso |first2=Jasna |title=State Collapse in South-Eastern Europe: New Perspectives on Yugoslavia's Disintegration |date=2008 |publisher=Purdue University Press |isbn=978-1-55753-460-6 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGy3dO_aDisC&pg=PA77 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916224133/https://books.google.com/books?id=aGy3dO_aDisC&pg=PA77 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Glencross |first1=Matthew |last2=Rowbotham |first2=Judith |title=Monarchies and the Great War |date=2018 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-31989-515-4 |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D3FyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916224132/https://books.google.com/books?id=D3FyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 |url-status=live }}</ref> In December 1918, this state united with the Kingdom of Serbia as ], which was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pleho |first1=Eldina |title=European Union: Issues of Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Objectives of Entering the European Union, Current Possibilities and Perspectives |date=2015 |publisher=Infinito Edizioni |isbn=978-8-86861-130-9 |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h30kEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT17 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916224134/https://books.google.com/books?id=h30kEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT17 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Serbian leadership of the state decided to acknowledge demands of Muslim representative ], and respect the pre-war territorial integrity of Bosnia & Herzegovina, therefore not changing internal district borders of Bosnia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.parlament.ba/Content/Read/180?title=Politi%C4%8DkopredstavljanjeBiHuKraljeviniSrba%2CHrvataiSlovenaca%2FKraljeviniJugoslaviji%281918.%E2%80%931941.%29&lang=hr|title=Političko predstavljanje BiH u Kraljevini Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca / Kraljevini Jugoslaviji (1918.–1941.)|website=Parlament.ba|access-date=2017-12-09|archive-date=2017-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210072009/https://www.parlament.ba/Content/Read/180?title=Politi%C4%8DkopredstavljanjeBiHuKraljeviniSrba%2CHrvataiSlovenaca%2FKraljeviniJugoslaviji%281918.%E2%80%931941.%29&lang=hr|url-status=live}}</ref>

Bosnian Serbs largely approved of a unification with Serbia as it appeared to be the realization of the common dream of being unified with all Serbs into one state.{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=65}} However, part of the Bosnian Serb population were unsatisfied given the fact that there was not a formal establishment between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=65}} Bosnian Muslims saw the new arrangement as a form of colonial rule and instead argued for a decentralized unitary state with autonomy rights for constituents.{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=65}} Bosnian Croats meanwhile supported the federalization of Yugoslavia into six units, one of which was to be Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=66}} The 1921 constitution affirmed the continued territorial existence of Bosnia as well as safeguarding protections for Muslims.{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=66}} This lasted until 1929 when ] declared a dictatorship on ].{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=66}} The Kingdom was renamed into Yugoslavia, divided into new territorial entities called ], largely based on natural borders. Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into four banovinas, with Serbs constituting a majority in three of them.{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=66}} King Alexander was killed in 1934, which led to the end of dictatorship.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Newman |first1=John Paul |title=Yugoslavia in the Shadow of War: Veterans and the Limits of State Building, 1903–1945 |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-10707-076-9 |page=224 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8nSCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA224 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916224131/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8nSCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA224 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1939, faced with killings, corruption scandals, violence and the failure of centralized policy, the Serbian leadership agreed a compromise with Croats. ] would later, in 1939, evolve into the final proposal for the partition of the joint state into three parts or three Banovinas, one Slovene Banovina, one Croatian and one Serbian, with each encompassing most of the ethnic space of each ethnic group.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} Most of the territory of contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina was to be part of the Banovina Serbia, since most of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was majority Serb-inhabited, and the Serbs constituted overall relative majority. On 26 August 1939, the president of the ], ] and ] made an agreement (''Cvetković-Maček agreement'') according to which a ] was created which included Sava and the ], along with a number of districts in southern Dalmatia, the Srem, and north-western Bosnia.<ref name="Troch">{{cite book |last1=Troch |first1=Pieter |title=Education and Yugoslav Nationhood in Education and Yugoslav Nationhood in Interwar Yugoslavia |date=2012 |publisher=Ghent University |isbn=978-9-07083-071-7 |page=82 |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/4267482/file/4336097.pdf |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916224134/https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/4267482/file/4336097.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Around 20% of the Croatian banovina was inhabited by Serbs,<ref name="Troch" /> numbering some 800,000.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Springer |first1=L. |title=Yugoslavia: A Concise History |date=2003 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-40399-720-3 |page=69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cWADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916231531/https://books.google.com/books?id=9cWADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 |url-status=live }}</ref> These concessions were unsatisfactory to some Croats, with Serbs also being dissatisfied and seeking a banovina of their own.{{sfn|Friedman|2013|p=}} Bosnian Muslims meanwhile were not consulted on the partition plan and given no alternatives.{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=65}}

Competing ideologies among Serbs and Croats and their influences on Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to a broader extent, a lack of agreement on inter-ethnic relations in the new Yugoslav state and its governance resulted in perpetual instability.{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=66}} Yugoslavia however would only collapse after the Nazi Germany invasion of the country in April 1941, which dismembered the country into three different zones of occupation.{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=66}}


===World War II=== ===World War II===
{{Main|World War II in Yugoslavia|Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia}}
During the ], Bosnian Serbs were put under the rule of the ] ] regime in the ]. Under ] rule Serbs along with Jews and ] people, were subjected to systematic ], known as the Serbian genocide, where hundreds of thousands of civilian serbs were murdered.<ref></ref>
]


Following the invasion of Yugoslavia, the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was incorporated into the ] (NDH),{{sfn|Keil|2016|p=66}} an Italian-German installed puppet state with the Croatian fascist ] regime and its leader ] put in power.<ref name="Byford">{{cite book |last1=Byford |first1=Jovan |title=Picturing Genocide in the Independent State of Croatia: Atrocity Images and the Contested Memory of the Second World War in the Balkans |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-350-01598-2 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XMLkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |access-date=2021-01-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327094729/https://books.google.com/books?id=XMLkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |url-status=live }}</ref> Under Ustaše rule, Serbs along with Jews and ] people were subjected to systematic ], with Serbs being the main target due to their large population.<ref name="Byford" />
Between 1945 and 1948, following ], approximately 70,000 ] migrated from the ] to ] after the Germans had left. Serbs were the larger of the two ] (later the second largest of three, when ], then known as ], gained constitutive status in 1968).


Serbs in villages in the countryside were hacked to death with various tools, thrown alive into pits and ravines or in some cases ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yeomans |first1=Rory |title=Visions of Annihilation: The Ustasha Regime and the Cultural Politics of Fascism, 1941-1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yxv4-iqVe2wC&pg=PA17 |date=2012 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |isbn=978-0822977933 |page=17 |access-date=2021-01-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327094636/https://books.google.com/books?id=Yxv4-iqVe2wC&pg=PA17 |url-status=live }}</ref> The scale of the violence meant that approximately every sixth Serb living in Bosnia and Herzegovina was the victim of a massacre and virtually every Serb had a family member that was killed in the war, mostly by the Ustaše. The experience had a profound impact in the collective memory of Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pavković |first1=Aleksandar |title=The Fragmentation of Yugoslavia: Nationalism in a Multinational State |date=1996 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-23037-567-3 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPaADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA43 |access-date=2021-09-22 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327094726/https://books.google.com/books?id=YPaADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA43 |url-status=live }}</ref> Others were sent to concentration camps.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Jeffrey Ian |title=Religion and Violence: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict from Antiquity to the Present |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-31746-109-8 |page=299 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MFfrBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA299 |access-date=2021-01-16 |archive-date=2021-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122131921/https://books.google.com/books?id=MFfrBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA299 |url-status=live }}</ref> The ], located near the town of Vitez, was one of the concentration camps established by Ustashe; it was founded in April 1941 for Serb and Jewish women and ].<ref>{{cite book|last=Avramov|first=Smilja|author-link=Smilja Avramov|title=Genocid u Jugoslaviji u svetlosti međunarodnog prava|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IwS5AAAAIAAJ|year=1992|publisher=Politika|isbn=9788676070664|page=371}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bauer|first=Yehuda|title=American Jewry and the Holocaust: The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1939-1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WOd3rLul-LcC&pg=PA280|year=1981|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=0-8143-1672-7|page=280}}</ref> According to the US Holocaust Museum, 320,000–340,000 Serbs were murdered under Ustasha rule.<ref>{{cite web|last=US Holocaust Museum|first=ushmm|title=Jasenovac|url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005449|publisher=US Holocaust Museum|access-date=2013-02-20|archive-date=2018-07-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713111937/https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005449|url-status=live}}</ref> An estimated 209,000 Serbs or 16.9% of its Bosnia population were killed on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogel |first1=Carole |title=The Breakup of Yugoslavia and the War in Bosnia |date=1998 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-3132-9918-6 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GPQKYuWisi0C&pg=PA48 |access-date=2021-09-22 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327094729/https://books.google.com/books?id=GPQKYuWisi0C&pg=PA48 |url-status=live }}</ref> In an interview on 4 November 2015, ], ], affirmed the persecutions of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia as genocide.<ref>{{cite web| title = Bio sam razočaran što Vučić ne prihvata sudske presude| url = http://ba.n1info.com/Vijesti/a68253/Bio-sam-razocaran-sto-Vucic-ne-prihvata-sudske-presude.html| publisher = ]| access-date = 2019-07-29| archive-date = 2020-07-31| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200731233219/http://ba.n1info.com/Vijesti/a68253/Bio-sam-razocaran-sto-Vucic-ne-prihvata-sudske-presude.html| url-status = live}}</ref>
* In the first population census conducted in the People's Republic of Bosnia in 1948, there were 1,136,116 Serbs for a total of ''44.3%'' of BiH's population

* In 1953, there were 1,264,372 Serbs in BiH, equaling ''44.4%'' of the total population.
A multi-ethnic resistance against the Axis emerged in the form of the ], led by ]. At the same time, a Serbian nationalist and royalist guerilla in the ] was formed, led by ] which was initially a resistance movement but became increasingly collaborationist.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jennings |first1=Christian |title=At War on the Gothic Line: Fighting in Italy, 1944-45 |date=2016 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-46687-173-1 |page=270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8zEoCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA270 |access-date=2021-09-22 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327094726/https://books.google.com/books?id=8zEoCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA270 |url-status=live }}</ref> Serb allegiance was split between the Partisans and Chetniks, although Serbs in eastern Bosnia aligned themselves more with the Partisans who experienced military success in the area.{{sfn|Donia|Fine|1994|p=151}}
* In the 1961 population census, there were 1,406,057 Serbs, accounting for ''42.9%'' of the total population of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

As in other parts of the NDH, the Ustaše policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina caused a rebellion among the Serb population.<ref name="Tomasevich">{{cite book |last1=Tomasevich |first1=Jozo |title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration |date=2001 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-80477-924-1 |pages=412, 506 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC&pg=PA412 |access-date=2021-09-22 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327095137/https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC&pg=PA412 |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 1941, Serbs in eastern Herzegovina staged an armed ] against the NDH authorities following massacres of Serbs, which was suppressed after two weeks. Persecution of Serbs resulted in the prevalence of resistance movements in Serb populated areas including parts of Bosnia.{{sfn|Nikolic-Ristanovic|2000|p=11}} Another rebellion, led by the Partisans, began on July 27, 1941.<ref name="Tomasevich" /> Some of these insurgents in turn committed atrocities against the Muslim and Croat population.<ref name="Shepherd&Pattinson" /> In the early stages of the war, Serbs formed around 90% of Partisan units that were active in the NDH.{{sfn|Nikolic-Ristanovic|2000|p=11}} Most of the anti-fascist combat and battles were fought in mainly Serb-inhabited areas of Bosnia & Herzegovina, such as the ], ], ] and ].{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} During the entire course of the WWII in Yugoslavia, according to the records of recipients of Partisan pensions, 64.1% of all Bosnian Partisans were Serbs.<ref name="anubih.ba-Hoare">{{cite web |author1=Marko Attila Hoare |author1-link=Marko Attila Hoare |title=The Great Serbian threat, ZAVNOBiH and Muslim Bosniak entry into the People's Liberation Movement |url=https://publications.anubih.ba/bitstream/handle/123456789/52/Zbornik%20ZAVNOBiH%20sve%2015-04-2019-4-115-130.pdf?sequence=7&isAllowed=y |website=anubih.ba |publisher=Posebna izdanja ANUBiH |access-date=21 December 2020 |pages=123 |language=en |archive-date=2021-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201071114/https://publications.anubih.ba/bitstream/handle/123456789/52/Zbornik%20ZAVNOBiH%20sve%2015-04-2019-4-115-130.pdf?sequence=7&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Lenard J Cohen, Paul V Warwick (1983) ''Political Cohesion In A Fragile Mosaic: The Yugoslav Experience'' p. 64; Avalon Publishing, the University of Michigan; {{ISBN|0865319677}}</ref><ref>Marko Attila Hoare (2002). ''"Whose is the partisan movement? Serbs, Croats and the legacy of a shared resistance"'' p. 4; The Journal of Slavic Military Studies. Informa UK Limited '''15''' (4); {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529090258/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/38174088_Whose_is_the_Partisan_movement_Serbs_Croats_and_the_legacy_of_a_shared_resistance|date=2020-05-29}}</ref> The Partisans liberated Sarajevo on 6 April 1945 and Bosnia came under full control a few weeks later.{{sfn|Malcolm|1996|p=191}} The ] was established and the ] officially made Bosnia and Herzegovina one of six constituent republics in the ].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Kent |editor1-first=Allen |editor2-last=Lancour |editor2-first=Harold |editor3-last=Daily |editor3-first=Jay E. |title=Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science: Volume 33 |date=1982 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-82472-033-9 |page=420 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XPY96DdVt2UC&pg=PA420 |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207025241/https://books.google.com/books?id=XPY96DdVt2UC&pg=PA420 |url-status=live }}</ref>


===Bosnian War=== ===Bosnian War===
{{Main|Bosnian War}}
], the first president of ].]]
Following Slovenia and Croatia's declaration of independence in June 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina was faced with the dilemma of whether to stay in the Yugoslav federation or seek its own independence. Independence was favored by most Bosniaks and Croats but opposed by most Bosnian Serbs. On 15 October 1991, the parliament of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo passed a 'memorandum on sovereignty' causing a desertion of the parliament from Bosnian Serb representatives.<ref name="Eralp">{{cite book |last1=Eralp |first1=Doğa Ulaş |title=Politics of the European Union in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Between Conflict and Democracy |date=2012 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-4945-4 |pages=14–15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LTfkeFItiDMC&pg=PA15 |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207025241/https://books.google.com/books?id=LTfkeFItiDMC&pg=PA15 |url-status=live }}</ref> On 24 October 1991, the ] (SDS) formed the ] declaring that the Serb people wished to remain in Yugoslavia.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=74}} On 9 January 1992, the Bosnian Serbs proclaimed the "Republic of the Serbian People in Bosnia-Herzegovina". From 29 February-1 March 1992, a ]-backed ] was held in which 99.7 percent voted for independence. The turnout was only 63.4 percent, as it was boycotted by Bosnian Serbs.<ref name="Eralp" /> Following Bosnia's declaration of independence, violent skirmishes eventually broke out into full-scale war by 6 April 1992.
]
After the government of the ] declared independence, which was not accepted by the federal Serb controlled government of ], the ] was formed in the western ] region of Bosnia and Herzegovina with its capital in ], which was not recognised by the central government. SAO Bosnian Frontier made attempts to unite with the ] in ]. The Serb political leadership martialled its own force assisted by the ] and declared independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina in late 1992. During this period there was notable support for the idea of a ] being made reality, both within Bosnia and in Serbia proper. This ideology advocated the joining of Serb-populated regions into a contiguous territory. BiH's ] and Bosnian Croat dominated government did not recognize the new ], whose president was ] seated in ].{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} The Serb side accepted the proposed ethnic cantonization of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the ]), as did the Bosniak and Bosnian Croat sides in ] in 1992, in the hope that war would not break out. The Bosniak political leadership under President ] of ] subsequently revoked the agreement refusing to decentralize the newly created country based on ethnic lines. The ] began.


The war ended after ] of Bosnian Serb positions, which led to peace talks and the signing of the ] in December 1995. The agreements established the Bosnian Serb Republic (]) as an entity within ].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Ramet |editor1-first=Sabrina P. |title=Central and Southeast European Politics since 1989 |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-13948-750-4 |page=314 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oFXdiS25N78C&pg=PA314 |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207025243/https://books.google.com/books?id=oFXdiS25N78C&pg=PA314 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Throughout most of the war the ]s fought against both the ]s and the ]s. During Bosniak-Croat hostilities the Serbs co-operated largely with the Croats. There were exceptions to this however, as Serb forces were also allied with the pro-] ] of the ] under ]. Serb forces also carried out ] operations against non-Serbs living within their territory, the most formidable was the ] in July 1995. However, many Serbs also were targets of atrocities during the war. During most of the war, the ] comprised around ''70%'' of Bosnia and Herzegovina's soil. During the entire length of war the ] maintained the ], allegedly in order to tie down the Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) forces and resources in what was the capital of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian state. ] maintained close ties with the ] and received volunteers and supplies from the ] during the war. The Serb Republic received a large number of Serb refugees from other ] hotzones, particularly non-Serb held areas in ], ] and ]. In 1993, the ] peace treaty was suggested that would give ''52%'' of BiH to the Serb side. It was refused by the Bosniak side as too large of a concession.


== Demographics ==
In 1994, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia imposed sanctions after the ] refused the ]. In 1995, ] eliminated the Republic of the Serb Frontier. The ] continued the offensive into the Serb Republic under General ] (currently on trial for war crimes at the ]). Some 250,000 Serbs fled to the ] and Serbia from Croatia, as the Serb side continued a full retreat of Serbs from the ] to the ]. The Croatian Army, supported by the forces of the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina came within 20&nbsp;km of the de facto Bosnian Serb capital, ]. The war was halted with the ] which recognized ], comprising 49% of the soil of BiH, as one of the two territorial entities of the ]. The Serb side suffered a total 30,700 victims - 16,700 civilians and 14,000 military personnel, according to the Demographic Unit at the ]. Although exact numbers are disputed, it is generally agreed that the Bosnian War claimed the lives of about 100,000 people - Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks. ''See: ]''


According to the 2013 census, there were 1,086,733 Serbs living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or 30,78% of the total population. The vast majority of them, 1,001,299 lived in Republika Srpska or 92,13% of the total Serb population. In Republika Srpska itself, the Serbs form an absolute majority of 81,51% of the total population. On the other hand, there were 56,550 Serbs in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or 5,20% of the total Serb population. The Serbs made 2,55 percent of the population of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, there was 28,884 living in the Brčko District or 2,66% of the total Serb population. They made 34,58 percent of the total population of the Brčko District.{{sfn|Ethnicity/National Affiliation, Religion and Mother Tongue|2019|p=27}}
The demographics of Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as Republika Srpska were tremendously affected by the war. Current estimates indicate that some 400,000 Serbs no longer live in the Federation of BiH. By the same token, it is estimated that some 450,000 ] (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats that used to live in Republika Srpska no longer live there. Many Bosnian Serbs emigrated abroad to Canada, the United States, Australia, western Europe, Serbia and Montenegro.


== Culture == === Demographic history ===

]
]
{| border="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" rules="all" style="width:60%; clear:all; margin:3px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-width:1px; border-collapse:collapse; font-size:100%; empty-cells:show;"
|-
| colspan="14" style="text-align:center; background:#778899; color:white;"|'''Ethnic totals and percentages'''
|- style="background:#ffebcd;"
!Year/Population
!Serbs
!&nbsp;%
!Total BiH Population
|-
|1879 || 496,485|| 42.88%|| 1,158,440
|-
|1885 || 571,250|| 42.76%|| 1,336,091
|-
|1895 || 673,246|| 42.94%|| 1,568,092
|-
|1910 || 825,418|| 43.49%|| 1,898,044
|-
|1921 || 829,290|| 43.87%|| 1,890,440
|-
|1931 || 1,028,139|| 44.25%|| 2,323,555
|-
|1948 || 1,136,116|| 44.29%|| 2,565,277
|-
|1953 || 1,261,405|| 44.40%|| 2,847,459
|-
|1961 || 1,406,057|| 42.89%|| 3,277,935
|-
|1971 ||1,393,148|| 37.19%|| 3,746,111
|-
|1981 || 1,320,644{{Cref2|a}}|| 32,02 %|| 4,124,008
|-
|1991 || 1,369,258{{Cref2|b}}|| 31.21%|| 4,364,649
|-
|2013 || 1,086,733|| 30.78%|| 3,551,159
|-
| colspan="10" style="text-align:center; background:#dcdcdc;"|{{small|Official Population Census Results - note: some Serbs declared themselves as Yugoslavs in some censuses}}
|}

====Medieval Bosnia and Ottoman Empire====
Heading 32 of De Administrando Imperio of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, is called "On the Serbs and the lands in which they live". It speaks of the territories inhabited by Serbs in which he mentions Bosnia, specifically two inhabited cities, Kotor and Desnik, both of which are in an unidentified geographic position.<ref>&nbsp;De Administrando Imperio by&nbsp;], edited by Gy. Moravcsik and translated by R. J. H. Jenkins, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, Washington D. C., 1993</ref><ref name=":5">{{cite web|url=http://cafehome.tripod.com/serbdom-eng.htm|title=Serbs, Bosnia and national identity|website=cafehome.tripod.com|access-date=2017-12-09|archive-date=2017-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210123552/http://cafehome.tripod.com/serbdom-eng.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Austria-Hungary and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)=====
Austria-Hungary pursued a demographic policy of reducing the Serbian population and trying to erase their identity, converting it to a "Bosnian nationhood", therefore, Austrian population census only had religious affiliation as a main determinism of identity. In the last Austrian census of 1910, there were 825,418 Orthodox Serbs, which constituted 43.49% of the total population. The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1917, states: "According to the&nbsp;census&nbsp;of 22 April 1895,&nbsp;Bosnia has 1,361,868 inhabitants and&nbsp;Herzegovina 229,168, giving a total population of 1,591,036. The number of&nbsp;persons&nbsp;to the square mile is small (about 80), less than that in any of the other&nbsp;Austrian&nbsp;crown provinces excepting&nbsp;Salzburg&nbsp;(about 70). This average does not vary much in the six districts (five in&nbsp;Bosnia, one in&nbsp;Herzegovina). The number of&nbsp;persons&nbsp;to the square mile in these districts is as follows: Doljna&nbsp;Tuzla, 106;&nbsp;Banjaluka, 96;&nbsp;Bihac, 91;&nbsp;Serajevo, 73,&nbsp;Mostar(Herzegovina), 65,&nbsp;Travnik, 62. There are 5,388 settlements, of which only 11 have more than 5,000 inhabitants, while 4,689 contain less 500&nbsp;persons. Excluding some 30,000 Albanians living in the south-east, the Jews who emigrated in earlier times from Spain, a few Osmanli Turks, the merchants, officials. and Austrian troops, the rest of the population (about 98 per cent) belong to the southern Slavonic people, the Serbs. Although one in race, the people form in religious beliefs three sharply separated divhe Mohammedans, about 550,000 persons (35 per cent), Greek Schismatics, about 674,000 persons (43 per cent), and Catholics, about 334,000 persons (21.3 per cent). The last mentioned are chiefly peasants."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02694a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Bosnia and Herzegovina|website=Newadvent.org|access-date=2017-12-09|archive-date=2017-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620141648/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02694a.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

======World War II======
Serbs suffered a drastic ] during WWII due to their persecution. The official brutal policies of the ], involving expulsion, murder and forced conversion to Catholicism of Orthodox Serbs,<ref name=":4">{{cite web|title=Independent State of Croatia|url=http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205930.pdf|publisher=Yad Vashem World Holocaust and Research Documentation Center|access-date=2013-03-20|archive-date=2022-10-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002054054/https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205930.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> contributed that Serbs never recover within Bosnia & Herzegovina. By the plans of ] and the Independent State of Croatia 110,000 ] were relocated and transported to ]. Just in the period of May to August 1941 over 200,000 Serbs were expelled to ].<ref name="Shepherd&Pattinson">{{cite book |last1=Shepherd |first1=B. |last2=Pattinson |first2=J. |title=War in a Twilight World: Partisan and Anti-Partisan Warfare in Eastern Europe, 1939-45 |date=2010 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-23029-048-8 |page=210 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TseLDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA210 |access-date=2021-09-22 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327094747/https://books.google.com/books?id=TseLDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA210 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the heat of war Serbia had 200,000–400,000 Serbian refugees from Ustaša-held Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref name="Ilić">{{cite book |last1=Ilić |first1=Jovan |title=The Serbian Question in the Balkans |date=1995 |publisher=University of Belgrade |isbn=978-8-68265-701-9 |page=277}}</ref> By the end of war 137,000 Serbs had permanently left the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref name="Ilić" /> The Federal Bureau of Statistics in Belgrade composed a figure of 179,173 persons killed in the war in ] during the ]: 129,114 ] (''72.1%''); 29,539 ] (''16.5%''); 7,850 Croats (''4.4%''); ''others'' (''7%'').

=====Communist Yugoslavia=====
The first Yugoslav census recorded a decreasing number of Serbs; from the first census in 1948 to the last one from 1991, the percentage of Serbs decreased from 44.3% to 31.2%,{{sfn|Velikonja|2003|p=225}} even though the total number increased. According to the 1953 census, Serbs were in the majority in 74% of the territory of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Their total number in 1953 was 1,261,405, that is 44.3% of total Bosnian population.<ref name="Bougarel">{{cite book |last1=Bougarel |first1=Xavier |title=Islam and Nationhood in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Surviving Empires |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-35000-360-6 |pages=76, 82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=auA3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |access-date=2021-01-17 |archive-date=2021-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122134655/https://books.google.com/books?id=auA3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the 1961 census, Serbs made up 42.9% of total population, and their number was 1,406,057.<ref name="Bougarel" /> After that, districts were divided into smaller municipalities.

According to the 1971 census, Serbs were 37.2% of total population, and their number was 1,393,148.<ref name="Bieber">{{cite book |last1=Bieber |first1=Florian |title=Post-War Bosnia: Ethnicity, Inequality and Public Sector Governance |date=2005 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-23050-137-9 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7R9_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |access-date=2021-01-17 |archive-date=2021-01-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124015930/https://books.google.com/books?id=7R9_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the 1981 census, Serbs made up 32.02% of total population, and their number was 1,320,644.<ref name="Bieber" /> After 1981, their percentage continued to reduce. From 1971 to 1991, the percentage of Serbs fell due to emigration into Montenegro, Serbia, and Western Europe. According to the 1991 census, Serbs were 31.21% of the total population, and their number was 1,369,258.<ref name="Bieber" />

====== Bosnia and Herzegovina War ======

The total number of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina continued to reduce, especially after the Bosnian War broke out in 1992. Soon, an exodus of Bosnian Serbs occurred when a large number of Serbs were expelled from central Bosnia, Ozren, Sarajevo, Western Herzegovina and Krajina. According to the 1996 census, made by UNHCR and unrecognized by Sarajevo, there was 3,919,953 inhabitants, of which 1,484,530 (37.9%) were Serbs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ramet |first1=Sabrina P. |last2=Valenta |first2=Marko |title=Ethnic Minorities and Politics in Post-Socialist Southeastern Europe |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-10715-912-9 |page=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W8nxDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 |access-date=2021-01-17 |archive-date=2021-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122155557/https://books.google.com/books?id=W8nxDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the percentage of Serbs slightly changed, although, their total number reduced.

==Politics==
===State level===
], the official residence of the ], Sarajevo]]
The ] has two chambers, the ] and the ]. The House of Representatives has 42 members who are elected directly by voters, of which 28 are from the Federation and 14 from ], the Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |last1=Nardelli |first1=Alberto |last2=Dzidic |first2=Denis |last3=Jukic |first3=Elvira |title=Bosnia and Herzegovina: the world's most complicated system of government? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/oct/08/bosnia-herzegovina-elections-the-worlds-most-complicated-system-of-government |work=The Guardian |date=8 October 2014 |access-date=5 October 2021 |archive-date=4 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004160809/https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/oct/08/bosnia-herzegovina-elections-the-worlds-most-complicated-system-of-government |url-status=live }}</ref> The House of Peoples has 15 members, five Bosniaks, five Croats and five Serbs who are each elected for a four-year term.<ref name="europa">{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=Imogen |title=Central and South-Eastern Europe 2004 |date=2003 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-85743-186-5 |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5J_gAU8c9NIC&pg=PA126 |access-date=2021-10-05 |archive-date=2021-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005193637/https://books.google.com/books?id=5J_gAU8c9NIC&pg=PA126 |url-status=live }}</ref> Bosniak and Croat members of the House of Peoples are elected by the ], while the five Serb members are elected by the ].<ref name="europa" />

The ] has three members, one Bosniak, one Croat and one Serb who are tasked with foreign, diplomatic and military affairs, as well as the budget of state-level institutions.<ref name="guardian" /> The Bosniak and the Croat are elected in the ], while the Serb is elected in the Republika Srpska. Additionally, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina is nominated by the Presidency and confirmed by the House of Representatives.<ref name="guardian" /> This post switches between Croat, Bosniak and Serb representation every eight months.<ref name="europa" />

The current president of the Republika Srpska is ]. The current Serb member of the Presidency is ] of the ].

===Federal level===
Like the Federation, Repubika Srpska has its own ]. It consists of 83 members.<ref name="guardian" /> Republika Srpska has jurisdiction over its own healthcare, education, agriculture, culture, veteran issues, labour, police and internal affairs.<ref name="guardian" /> The ] notes that the entity has its own president as well as the ability to perform its own "constitutional, legislative, executive and judicial functions". This includes a police force, supreme court and lower courts, customs service (under the state-level customs service), and a postal service.<ref name="constitution">{{cite web |title=The Constitution of Republika Srpska |url=https://www.legislationline.org/download/id/8199/file/BiH_Constitution_Republic_Srpska_am2011_en.pdf |website=legislationonline.org |access-date=2021-10-05 |archive-date=2021-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429214529/https://www.legislationline.org/download/id/8199/file/BiH_Constitution_Republic_Srpska_am2011_en.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hornstein Tomic |first1=Caroline |last2=Pichler |first2=Robert |last3=Scholl-Schneider |first3=Sarah |title=Remigration to Post-Socialist Europe: Hopes and Realities of Return |date=2018 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-64391-025-7 |page=373 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dq19DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA373 |access-date=2021-10-05 |archive-date=2021-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005205005/https://books.google.com/books?id=dq19DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA373 |url-status=live }}</ref> Republika Srpska also has a Prime Minister and sixteen ministries.<ref name="guardian" /> It also has its symbols, including coat of arms, flag (a variant of the ] without the coat of arms displayed) and entity anthem.
], the official residence of the ], Banja Luka]]

Although the constitution names ] as the capital of Republika Srpska,<ref name="constitution" /> the northwestern city of ] is the headquarters of most of the institutions of government, including the parliament, and is therefore the ''de facto'' capital. After the war, Republika Srpska retained its army, but in August 2005, the parliament consented to transfer control of the ] to a state-level ministry and abolish the entity's defense ministry and army by 1 January 2006. These reforms were required by ] as a precondition of Bosnia and Herzegovina's admission to the ] programme. Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the programme in December 2006.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_82584.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311063625/http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_82584.htm | archive-date=2012-03-11 | title=NATO - Topic: Signatures of Partnership for Peace Framework Document (country, name & date)}}</ref>

===Political parties===
There are several Serbian political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Republika Srpska. The ] (SNSD) has been the dominant party in Republika Srpska since 2006, when it scored its first electoral success.<ref name="polsystem">{{cite book |last1=Banović |first1=Damir |last2=Gavrić |first2=Saša |last3=Barreiro Mariño |first3=Mariña |title=The Political System of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Institutions – Actors – Processes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbr8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 |date=2020 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-03054-387-7 |pages=85–86 |access-date=2022-01-15 |archive-date=2022-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116012134/https://books.google.com/books?id=fbr8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 |url-status=live }}</ref> Its reformist and socialist ideology has largely shifted and it has increasingly towed a nationalist and secessionist line. The ] (SDS) is the leading opposition party. Founded in 1990 by Radovan Karadžić, it was formerly the strongest political party in the entity before internal strife led to its fragmentation.<ref name="polsystem" /> Other notable but smaller parties include the ] (PDP) and ] (NDP).

==Culture==
{{Main|Serbian culture}} {{Main|Serbian culture}}
{{See|Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina}} {{Further|Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}


The cultural and educational society ''']''' was founded in Sarajevo in 1902. It quickly became the most important organization gathering ethnic Serb citizens. In 1903 '''], a ]''' Cultural Society was founded. The ''']''' is active since 1996.
The Serbs in ] use regional names among each other, such as the wider: ] (''Krajišniks''), ]ns, ], ]


===Folk attire=== ===Architecture and art===
] on Yugoslav stamp]]
{{Main|Serbian dress}}
Bosnia and Herzegovina is rich in ], especially when it comes to numerous Serbian churches and monasteries. The modern ] which started in the second half of the 19th century is present in sacral and civil architecture. Bosnian topography thus becomes linked with the Serbian state and Orthodox Serb principles.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Carlton |editor1-first=Richard |editor2-last=Bešo |editor2-first=Smajo |title=Heritage Under Pressure – Threats and Solution: Studies of Agency and Soft Power in the Historic Environment |date=2019 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=978-1-78925-247-7 |pages=244–258 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mF3JDwAAQBAJ |chapter=Perspectives on cultural heritage loss and reconstruction 20 years after the end of conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127010814/https://books.google.com/books?id=mF3JDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Churches and monasteries are decorated with frescoes and iconostasis, art expressions which go back to Orthodox churches and monasteries built in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rakić |first1=Svetlana |title=Serbian Icons from Bosnia-Herzegovina: Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century |date=2000 |publisher=A. Pankovich Publishers |isbn=978-0-96721-012-4 |page=105}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Frucht |first1=Robert C. |title=Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture, Volume 1 |date=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-800-6 |page=669 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVBB1a0rC70C&pg=PA669 |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207031635/https://books.google.com/books?id=lVBB1a0rC70C&pg=PA669 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Museum of ] is among the top five in the world in its rich treasury of icons and other objects dating from different centuries.<ref>{{cite web |title=Muzej Stare pravoslavne crkve u Sarajevu rangiran među prvih pet u svetu |url=http://www.magacinportal.org/2016/08/08/muzej-stare-pravoslavne-crkve-u-sarajevu-rangiran-medju-prvih-pet-u-svetu/ |website=magacinportal.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809213506/http://www.magacinportal.org/2016/08/08/muzej-stare-pravoslavne-crkve-u-sarajevu-rangiran-medju-prvih-pet-u-svetu/ |archive-date=9 August 2016 |date=8 August 2016}}</ref>

Bosnian Serbs have made a significant contribution to modern Serbian painting. Notable painters include ], considered to be the first abstract painter in Yugoslavia,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Miloš Bajić |magazine=Yugoslav Review |page=47 |date=1971}}</ref> ], a prominent expressionist who drew upon the Bosnian landscape,<ref>{{cite web |title=Jovan Bijelić Short Biography |url=http://www.arte.rs/en/umetnici/jovan_bijelic-51/ |website=arte.rs |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207031628/http://www.arte.rs/en/umetnici/jovan_bijelic-51/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wünsche |first1=Isabel |title=The Routledge Companion to Expressionism in a Transnational Context |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-35177-799-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TpFoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT717 |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207031634/https://books.google.com/books?id=TpFoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT717 |url-status=live }}</ref> ], ], ], ], ], and others.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Bloom |editor1-first=Jonathan |editor2-last=Blair |editor2-first=Sheila |title=Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19530-991-1 |page=302 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=un4WcfEASZwC&pg=PA302 |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127030920/https://books.google.com/books?id=un4WcfEASZwC&pg=PA302 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1907, Pero ], ] and ] exhibited their works in one of the two exhibitions that year that marked the beginnings of the modern painting tradition in Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lipa |first1=Aida |title=The Austro-Hungarian Period in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Cultural Politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the creation of the Western type of art |url=http://www.kakanien-revisited.at/beitr/fallstudie/ALipa1.pdf |website=Kakanien Revisited |pages=10–11 |date=26 May 2006 |access-date=7 February 2023 |archive-date=18 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618072006/http://www.kakanien-revisited.at/beitr/fallstudie/ALipa1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Among the prominent sculptors is ].

<gallery>
Manastir svetog Nikole - Ozren.jpg|Ozren Monastery
Old Orthodox Church of St. Archangel Mikhail and Gabriel (6042671142).jpg|Interior of Old Orthodox Church in Sarajevo
Свод цркве Христа спаситеља.JPG|Inside of Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Banja Luka
Banski Dvori 2019.jpg|]
</gallery>

===Language and literature===
]]]
The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina speak the ] of ],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Greenberg |first1=Robert D. |title=Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and Its Disintegration |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19151-455-5 |page=78 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lNjHgr3QioC&pg=PA78 |access-date=2021-10-26 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327095152/https://books.google.com/books?id=_lNjHgr3QioC&pg=PA78 |url-status=live }}</ref> characterized by the ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Ronelle |title=Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, a Grammar: With Sociolinguistic Commentary |date=2006 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0-29921-193-6 |page=18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6HTdZ5rxJ-cC&pg=PR18 |access-date=2021-10-26 |archive-date=2021-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026205325/https://books.google.com/books?id=6HTdZ5rxJ-cC&pg=PR18 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Traces of Serbian language on this territory are very old as in old inscriptions such as ]'s tombstone, the oldest known ]. One of the most important Serbian manuscripts ], was written for the Serbian Grand Prince ]. Serbian language is rich with several medieval gospels written in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are decorated with miniatures. The Serb medieval experience flourished in Medieval Bosnia through the development of Serb religious literature and refinement of the language.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vukcevich |first1=Ivo |title=Rex Germanorum, Populos Sclavorum: An Inquiry Into the Origin & Early History of the Serbs/Slavs of Sarmatia, Germania & Illyria : with Maps, Illustrations, Tombstone Inscriptions, Indo-Iranian/Serb-Slav Glossary, and Extended Bibliography (over 2000 Entries) |date=2001 |publisher=University Center Press |isbn=978-0-97093-196-2 |page=132}}</ref>
]
In the early 16th century ] founded the ]. It was one of the earliest printing houses among the Serbs,<ref>{{Cite book| last1=Biggins| first1=Michael| last2=Crayne| first2=Janet| year=2000| title=Publishing in Yugoslavia's Successor States| chapter=Historical Overview of Serbian Publishing| publisher=Haworth Information Press| place=New York| isbn=978-0-78901-046-9| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0g1CIRHeO4YC| pages=85–86}}</ref> and the first in the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Kajmaković| first=Zdravko| author-link=Zdravko Kajmaković| editor1=Alija Isaković| editor-link=Alija Isaković| editor2=Milosav Popadić| year=1982| title=Pisana riječ u Bosni i Hercegovini: od najstarijih vremena do 1918. godine| trans-title=The Written Word in Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Earliest Times up to 1918| chapter=Ćirilica kod Srba i Muslimana u osmansko doba| publisher=Oslobođenje; Banja Luka: Glas| place=Sarajevo| language=sr| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2RiAAAAMAAJ| pages=155–158| access-date=2023-02-07| archive-date=2023-03-27| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327095204/https://books.google.com/books?id=K2RiAAAAMAAJ| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last1=Benac| first1=Alojz| last2=Lovrenović| first2=Ivan| year=1980| title=Bosnia and Herzegovina| publisher=Svjetlost| place=Sarajevo| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HXVpAAAAMAAJ|page=145}}</ref> ] printed there is counted among the better accomplishments of early Serb printers.

Beginning in the nineteenth century, ''Bosanska vila'' from Sarajevo and '']'' from Mostar, were important literary magazines at the forefront of political and cultural issues.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kolaković |first1=Aleksandra |editor1-last=Biagini |editor1-first=Antonello |title=Empires and Nations from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century: Volume 1 |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-44386-193-9 |page=235 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IM0xBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA235}}</ref>{{sfn|Čuvalo|2010|p=144}}

Bosnian Serbs gave significant contribution to the ]. Famous singers of the epic poetry are ] and ].

The works of Serbian writers from Bosnia and Herzegovina are of great importance to the entire Serbian literature. Notable authors include ], ], ], ], and ].{{sfn|Čuvalo|2010|p=144}}


===Music=== ===Music===
] singing to gusle]]
{{Main|Serbian music}}
Traditional instruments such as ], ], ], and ] are utilized by the Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina for musical performances. The first Serbian singing societies in Bosnia and Herzegovina were set up in Foča (1885), Tuzla (1886), Prijedor (1887), and in Mostar and Sarajevo in 1888 along with other cities across the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.riznicasrpska.net/muzika/index.php?topic=668.0|title=Muzički život Srba u Bosni i Hercegovini (1881—1914)|website=Riznicasrpska.net|access-date=9 October 2017|archive-date=8 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008130055/http://www.riznicasrpska.net/muzika/index.php?topic=668.0|url-status=live}}</ref> The first concert in Bosnia and Herzegovina was held in Banja Luka in 1881.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.glassrpske.com/drustvo/feljton/O-kulturnom-i-drustvenom-zivotu-stare-Banje-Luke-5/lat/7535.html|title=O kulturnom i društvenom životu stare Banje Luke (5)|website=Glassrpske.com|access-date=4 January 2018|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107061318/https://www.glassrpske.com/drustvo/feljton/O-kulturnom-i-drustvenom-zivotu-stare-Banje-Luke-5/lat/7535.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
] sings to the ] (drawing from 1823). Serbian epic poems were often sung to the accompaniment of this traditional bowed string instrument.]]


Serbian music is rich in folk songs of Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many songs are performed in traditional way of singing called ojkanje. Serbian singers and composers such as ], Jovica Petković, ] and others gave significant contribution to special type of songs called ]. Aleksa Šantić's poem ] became one of the most known sevdalinkas. Notable performers of folk music include ], ], ], and ].
=== Herzegovinan clans ===
]]]
{{Main|Serb clans}}
Bosnian and Heregovian Serbs largely participated in the Yugoslav pop-rock scene that was active from the end of the World War II until the break up of the country. Serbian musicians are or were members, and often leaders of popular bands such as ], ], ], ], ], ProArte, ], ], and ]. ] is one of the biggest Yugoslav and Serbian music stars. ] and ] have had significant careers as singer-songwriters.
Some of ''Bosnia and Herzegovina'''s ], mostly living in ] are organised in ]s. The ] are:


Post Yugoslav popular music singers include ], ], ], ] and ]. Bosnian Serb ] composed the national anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Samson |first1=Jim |title=Music in the Balkans |date=2013 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9-00425-038-3 |page=641 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJ60SHL4R-0C&pg=PA641 |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207031626/https://books.google.com/books?id=yJ60SHL4R-0C&pg=PA641 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Grahovo
* Maleševci
* Ljubibratići
* Rudine
** Bijele Nikšićke Rudine
** Oputne Rudine
** Bilećke Rudine
** Banjani
* Lukovo
* Nikšićka Župa
* Gornje Polje
* Drobnjak
** Uskoci
** Jezera
** Korito
* Šaranci
* Piva
** Planina
** Župa
* Krivošije
* Golija
* Gacko
* Zupci


===Theatre and cinema===
== References ==
]
{{reflist}}
The first theatre show in Bosnia and Herzegovina was organized by Serb Stevo Petranović in Tešanj in 1865 while the first shows in Sarajevo were organized in the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sarajevo.travel/en/text/the-legacy-of-the-despic-family/114|title=The Legacy of the Despić Family|website=Sarajevo.travel|access-date=9 October 2017|archive-date=12 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912234600/http://sarajevo.travel/en/text/the-legacy-of-the-despic-family/114|url-status=live}}</ref> The first feature film in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ''Major Bauk'' was directed by Nikola Popović by the script of Branko Ćopić.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Jakisa |editor1-first=Miranda |editor2-last=Gilic |editor2-first=Nikica |title=Partisans in Yugoslavia: Literature, Film and Visual Culture |date=2015 |publisher=Transcript Verlag |isbn=978-3-83942-522-0 |page=294 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XytCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA294 |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207031629/https://books.google.com/books?id=_XytCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA294 |url-status=live }}</ref>


Significant directors include ], double winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, ], ], and ]. Prominent screenwriters include ], and ]. Actors that have achieved success in Yugoslav and Serbian cinematography include ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ].
{{Ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina}}


===Folklore===
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serbs Of Bosnia And Herzegovina}}
Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave significant contribution to the folklore of Serbian people, including folk costume, music, traditional singing and instruments, epic poetry, crafts, and dances. The dresses of Bosnia are divided into two groups; the Dinaric and Pannonian styles. In Eastern Herzegovina, the folk costumes are closely related to those of ]. Cultural and artistic societies across the country practice folklore tradition.

<gallery>
Folk attire of Herzegovina and Bosnia in 1875.jpg|Dresses from East Herzegovina (left) and urban Bosnia (right) 1875.
Zmijanje embroidery in BL store 2.jpg|], UNESCO World Cultural heritage
KULTURNO UMJETNIČKO DRUŠTVO DOBOJ-DOBOJ 18.jpg|] (]) from ]
4The Serbian National Folk Dance Ensemble Kolo.jpg|] (]) from ]
</gallery>

=== Education ===

The first educational institutions in Bosnia were religious sites, with priests serving as teachers in monasteries in the case of Bosnian Serbs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Owen-Jackson |first1=Gwyneth |title=Political and Social Influences on the Education of Children: Research from Bosnia and Herzegovina |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-31757-014-1 |pages=41–42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CrXhCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |access-date=2023-02-07 |archive-date=2023-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207031628/https://books.google.com/books?id=CrXhCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1878, the first year of Austro-Hungarian occupation, there were 56 Orthodox schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina, most of whom were founded toward the end of Ottoman rule. The number grew to 107 by 1910 but by World War I, they were banished by Austro-Hungarian authorities and never revived.{{sfn|Čuvalo|2010|p=73}} The first girls' school was established in Sarajevo by ] in 1858.{{sfn|Čuvalo|2010|p=74}}
The educational system of Bosnia and Herzegovina during communism was based on a mixture of nationalities and the suppression of Serb identity, as Tito focused on building the social dimension of the country. With the foundation of ] during the Bosnian War, Bosnian Serb school curriculums underwent changes to adapt more towards Serbia. Following the end of the war and establishment of Republika Srpska through the Dayton Accords, jurisdiction over education in Republika Srpska was given to the RS Government, while in the Federation, jurisdiction over education was given to the cantons. The ] split into two, with the Bosniak division located in Western Sarajevo, and the Serbian one renamed ], with Serbian as its official language. The ] became part of Republika Srpska. Municipalities with Serb majority or significant minority, schools with Serbian language as official one also exist.

===Religion===
{{multiple image
| footer = '''Left:''' ] in Sarajevo<br />'''Right:''' ] in Banja Luka
| width1 = 140
| image1 = Sarajevo Orthodox 01.jpg
| width2 = 125
| image2 = Саборна црква Христа спаситеља 005.jpg
}}

The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians, belonging to the ]. According to the ] ], Orthodox Christians make up 30.7% of the country's population.<ref>{{cite web |title=World Factbook: Bosnia and Herzegovina |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/bosnia-and-herzegovina/ |website=cia.gov |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |access-date=29 November 2021 |archive-date=24 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124195757/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/bosnia-and-herzegovina/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Bosnia is organized into five subdivisions consisting of one metropolitanate and four eparchies. In 1220, ] founded the medieval ] which stretched into Bosnia.{{sfn|Čuvalo|2010|p=176}} After the restoration of the ] in 1557, it became the Eparchy of Dabar and Bosnia, eventually gaining the status of ].{{sfn|Čuvalo|2010|p=176}} In 1611, the Orthodox ] of Hum was split into two regions before consolidating into the ] the following century. Around 1532, an Orthodox episcopate was established in ] and transferred to ] in 1852, becoming the ]. The ] was formed in 1900 and the ] originally formed in 1925 but abolished in 1934 was re-instated in 1990.{{sfn|Čuvalo|2010|p=176}}

The Orthodox Theological Faculty of ] and the Orthodox Seminary of St. Peter of Dabar-Bosnia are the two Orthodox institutions of higher learning in Bosnia and Herzegovina and they are both located in ].<ref name="bih case">{{cite report |last1=Fetahagić |first1=Sead S. |last2=Savija-Valha |first2=Nebojsa |title=Between Cooperation a Antagonism – The Dynamics Between Religion and Politics in Sensitive Political Contexts, Case: Bosnia and Herzegovina |page=70 |date=2015 |doi=10.13140/RG.2.1.5126.6962 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301675472 |publisher=Nansen Dialogue Centre Sarajevo and Scanteam Oslo}}</ref> They both have historical continuity with the Sarajevo-Reljevo Theological Seminary that was founded in 1882, as the first Serbian high school in Bosnia.<ref name="bih case" /><ref>{{cite web |title=University of East Sarajevo |url=https://kultor.org/organization/university-of-east-sarajevo/ |website=kultor.org |publisher=Rethinking the Culture of Tolerance 2016 |access-date=2021-12-06 |archive-date=2021-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206214953/https://kultor.org/organization/university-of-east-sarajevo/ |url-status=live }}</ref> There are many Serbian churches and ] across the Bosnia and Herzegovina hailing from different periods. Each subdivision has its cathedral church and bishop's palace.

===Sport===
Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina have contributed significantly to Yugoslav and Serbian sport.

The first Serbian Sokol societies on the present territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina were founded in the late 19th century by intellectuals. Stevan Žakula, a ], is remembered as a prominent worker in opening and maintaining sokol and gymnastic clubs. Žakula was the initiator of the establishment of Serbian gymnastics society "Obilić" in Mostar and Sports and gymnastic society "Serbian soko" in Tuzla. Sokol societies were also established in another cities across the Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |title=Savez Soko Srbije |url=http://www.savezsokosrbije.rs/index.php/sr/istorijat |website=www.savezsokosrbije.rs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301071128/http://www.savezsokosrbije.rs/index.php/sr/istorijat |archive-date=1 March 2016}}</ref>

Football is the most popular sport among the Bosnian Serbs. The oldest Serb dominated Club in Bosnia and Herzegovina is ], founded in 1908. One of the most popular is ], winner of the ] (1988) and ] (1992).<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hughson |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Skillen |editor2-first=Fiona |title=Football in Southeastern Europe: From Ethnic Homogenization to Reconciliation |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317749295 |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CpO9CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA17}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Travaglini |first1=Marco |title=Bosnia, l’Europa di mezzo: Viaggio tra guerra e pace, tra Oriente e Occidente |date=2015 |publisher=Infinito Edizioni |isbn=9788868611255 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=in0kEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT162 |language=Italian}}</ref>

Serbian clubs participate in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and ] which is run by ]. Notable players that represented Yugoslavia, Serbia and Bosnia include ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ] among many others. Zvjezdan Misimović served as captain of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team from 2007 to 2012 while ] led ] to the ] trophy in 1991.

The second most popular sport among Bosnian Serbs is basketball. Bosnian-born ], is often referred to as, ''The Father of Yugoslav Basketball''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blevins |first1=Dave |title=The Sports Hall of Fame Encyclopedia: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Soccer |date=2011 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9781461673705 |page=717 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a7CnkH2HIsQC&pg=PA717}}</ref> He was voted two times European Coach of the Year winning three Euroleagues and two times FIBA Intercontinental Cup. Second of ''four fathers'' of Yugoslav basketball is ], former general secretatary of FIBA and IOC member.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stein |first1=Marc |title=Boris Stankovic, Who Paved Way for N.B.A.’s ‘Dream Team,’ Dies at 94 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/sports/basketball/boris-stankovic-dead.html |work=The New York Times |date=23 March 2020}}</ref> ] currently plays in regional ].

The handball club ] is the most successful Serbian handball club in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It won ] in 1976 and was runner up in 1975. In 2010, ] was voted the best female handball player ever by the ].<ref>{{cite web |title=Svetlana Kitic voted best female player ever |url=https://archive.ihf.info/MediaCenter/News/NewsDetails/tabid/130/Default.aspx?ID=393 |website=archive.ihf.info |publisher=International Handball Federation}}</ref>

The most famous Serbian volleyball family, Grbić family, hails from ] in Eastern Herzegovina. Father Miloš was the captain of the team that won first Yugoslav medal at European championship while sons ] and ] became Olympic champions with Serbian team. Other players that represented Serbia with success are ], ], ], ], ] and ].

Besides team sports, Bosnian Serbs achieved success and in individual sports such as ] and ] in boxing, ], ] and ] in judo, ] in canoeing, ] and ] in swimming, and ] in shooting.

==Notable people==
{{further|List of Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
{{image array|perrow=13|width=65|height=75| border-width = 1
| image1 = Makarije Sokolovic2.JPG| caption1 = ]
| image2 = Saint Basil of Ostrog.jpg| caption2 = ]
| image3 = Sokullupasa.jpg| caption3 = ]
| image4 = Sava Vladislavic Raguzinski.jpeg| caption4 = ]
| image5 = Filip Višnjić Знаменити Срби XIX. века.jpg| caption5 = ]
| image6 = Sima Milutinovic Sarajlija.jpg| caption6 = ]
| image7 = Petar Popović Pecija.jpg| caption7 = ]
| image8 = Mico Ljubibratic 1875 HumL.png| caption8 = ]
| image9 = DimitrijeMitrinovic.jpg| caption9 = ]
| image10 = Aleksa Santic (cropped).JPG| caption10 = ]
| image11 = Petar Kocic.jpg| caption11 = ]
| image12 = G Princip (cropped).jpg| caption12 = ]
| image13 = Vladimir Ćorović.jpg| caption13 = ]
| image14 = Митрополит Петр (Зимонич).jpg| caption14 = ]
| image15 = Ducic.jpg| caption15 = ]
| image16 = | caption16 = ]
| image17 = S.Kragujevic, Branko Copic.JPG| caption17 = ]
| image18 = Karl Malden - autographed.jpg | caption18 = ]
| image19 = Emir Kusturica Bruxelles05.jpg| caption19 = ]
| image20 = ZdravkoColic (cropped).JPG| caption20 = ]
| image21 = Zoran Đinđić, Davos.jpg| caption21 = ]
| image22 = Visit of Milorad Dodik to the EC (cropped).jpg| caption22 = ]
| image23 = Nataša Ninković.JPG| caption23 = ]
| image24 = Savo-milosevic-2009-ds.jpg| caption24 = ]
| image25 = Vladimir Radmanovic.jpg| caption25 = ]
| image26 = Subotic170727.jpg| caption26 = ]
| image27 = Ognjen Kuzmić 32 Real Madrid Baloncesto Euroleague 20171012.jpg| caption27 = ]
| image28 = 2016-12-14 Tijana Boskovic by Sandro Halank (cropped).jpg| caption28 = ]
}}

==Annotations==
{{Cnote2 Begin}}
{{Cnote2|a|Other sources list a figure of 1,320,738.{{sfn|Čuvalo|2010|p=197}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mikelic |first1=Velijko |title=Housing and Property Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia, and Montenegro |date=2005 |publisher=United Nations Centre for Human Settlements |isbn=978-9-21131-784-8 |page=29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T4A661CGIhkC&pg=PT38 |access-date=2021-10-26 |archive-date=2021-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026205034/https://books.google.com/books?id=T4A661CGIhkC&pg=PT38 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
{{Cnote2|b|Other sources list a figure of 1,366,104.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McGarry |first1=John |last2=Keating |first2=Michael |title=European Integration and the Nationalities Question |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-13414-550-8 |page=178 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QBaaPOdO72sC&pg=PA178 |access-date=2021-10-26 |archive-date=2021-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026205034/https://books.google.com/books?id=QBaaPOdO72sC&pg=PA178 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Toal |first1=Gerard |last2=Dahlman |first2=Carl T. |title=Bosnia Remade: Ethnic Cleansing and Its Reversal |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19973-036-0 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1TrvGxJeasC&pg=PA4 |access-date=2021-10-26 |archive-date=2021-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026205036/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1TrvGxJeasC&pg=PA4 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
{{Cnote2 End}}
==See also==
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Bibliography==
;Books
{{refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bataković |first1=Dušan T. |title=The Serbs of Bosnia & Herzegovina: History and Politics |date=1996 |publisher=Dialogue |isbn=978-2-91152-710-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3xpAAAAMAAJ |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327095235/https://books.google.com/books?id=k3xpAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Carmichael |first1=Cathie |title=A Concise History of Bosnia |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-10701-615-6 |edition=Illustrated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMfSCQAAQBAJ }}
* {{Cite book|last=Ćirković|first=Sima|author-link=Sima Ćirković|year=2004|title=The Serbs|location=Malden|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Wc-DWRzoeIC|isbn=9781405142915}}
* {{cite book |last1=Čuvalo |first1=Ante |title=The A to Z of Bosnia and Herzegovina |date=2010 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-81087-647-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nfk4nP_fp04C }}
* {{cite book |last1=Donia |first1=Robert J. |last2=Fine |first2=John Jr. |title=Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed |date=1994 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-23110-161-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stOIQ5GXIDgC |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327095143/https://books.google.com/books?id=stOIQ5GXIDgC |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2019 |title=Ethnicity/National Affiliation, Religion and Mother Tongue |url=https://popis.gov.ba/popis2013/doc/Knjiga2/K2_H_E.pdf |location=Sarajevo |publisher=Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina |ref={{harvid|Ethnicity/National Affiliation, Religion and Mother Tongue|2019}} |access-date=2022-10-22 |archive-date=2020-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725184732/https://popis.gov.ba/popis2013/doc/Knjiga2/K2_H_E.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book|last=Fine|first=John Van Antwerp Jr.|title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=1991|orig-year=1983|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C|isbn=978-0-47208-149-3|access-date=2021-01-16|archive-date=2023-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115194435/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Francine |title=Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Polity on the Brink |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-13452-754-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbFYAQAAQBAJ |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327095144/https://books.google.com/books?id=zbFYAQAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Keil |first1=Soeren |title=Multinational Federalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-31709-343-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6igHDAAAQBAJ |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916184230/https://books.google.com/books?id=6igHDAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Andjelic |first1=Neven |title=Bosnia-Herzegovina: The End of a Legacy |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-13575-714-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-eQAgAAQBAJ |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916184227/https://books.google.com/books?id=m-eQAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Sugar |first1=Peter F. |title=Industrialization of Bosnia-Hercegovina, 1878-1918. |date=1963 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-29573-814-7 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Malcolm |first1=Noel |title=Bosnia: A Short History |date=1996 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-81475-561-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_A8DAAAQBAJ |access-date=2021-01-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327095233/https://books.google.com/books?id=h_A8DAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Nikolic-Ristanovic |first1=Vesna |title=Women, Violence and War: Wartime Victimization of Refugees in the Balkans |date=2000 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-9-63911-660-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_RSi4WL0RP8C |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327095158/https://books.google.com/books?id=_RSi4WL0RP8C |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Vlasto |first1=A.P. |title=The Entry of the Slavs Into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs |date=1970 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-52107-459-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpVOAAAAIAAJ |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2023-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120164740/https://books.google.com/books?id=fpVOAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Velikonja |first1=Mittja |title=Religious Separation and Political Intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina |date=2003 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=978-1-60344-724-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rqjLgtYDKQ0C |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327095158/https://books.google.com/books?id=rqjLgtYDKQ0C |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Živković |first1=Tibor |last2=Crnčević |first2=Dejan |last3=Bulić |first3=Dejan |last4=Petrović |first4=Vladeta |last5=Cvijanović |first5=Irena |last6=Radovanović |first6=Bojana |title=The World of the Slavs : Studies of the East, West and South Slavs: Civitas, Oppidas, Villas and Archeological Evidence (7th to 11th Centuries AD) |date=2013 |publisher=Istorijski institut |isbn=978-8-67743-104-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pLJCCwAAQBAJ |ref={{harvid|Živković et al.|2013}} |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2023-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327095200/https://books.google.com/books?id=pLJCCwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}
{{refend}}

;Journals
{{refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Filipović |first1=Emir. O. |title=The Most Noble and Royal House of Kotromanić. Constructing Dynastic Identity in Medieval Bosnia |journal=Südost-Forschungen |date=2019 |volume=78 |issue=1 |pages=1–38 |doi=10.1515/sofo-2019-780104 |s2cid=229164853 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/sofo-2019-780104/pdf }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Isailovović |first1=Neven |title=Pomeni srpskog imena u srednjovjekovnim bosanskim ispravama |journal=Srpsko pisano nasljeđe i istorija srednjovjekovne Bosne i Huma |date=2018 |url=http://srbiubih.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Pomeni_srpskog_imena_u_srednjovekovnim_b.pdf |access-date=2021-09-16 |archive-date=2021-05-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519010322/http://srbiubih.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Pomeni_srpskog_imena_u_srednjovekovnim_b.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite journal|last=McCormick|first=Rob|title=The United States' Response to Genocide in the Independent State of Croatia, 1941–1945|journal=Genocide Studies and Prevention|year=2008|volume=3|issue=1|pages=75–98|url=http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1183&context=gsp|access-date=2018-03-06|archive-date=2021-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415164932/https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1183&context=gsp|url-status=live}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Papić|first=Mitar|title=Istorija srpskih škola u Bosni i Hercegovini|publisher=Veselin Masleša|year=1978}}
* Ćorović, Vladimir. Crna knjiga: patnje Srba Bosne i Hercegovine za vreme svetskog rata 1914–1918. Jugoslovenski dosije, 1989.
* {{cite book|last=Nilević|first=Boris|title=Srpska pravoslavna crkva u Bosni i Hercegovini do obnove Pećke patrijaršije 1557. godine.|publisher=Veselin Masleša|year=1990}}
* {{cite book|last=Mileusnić|first=Slobodan|title=Spiritual Genocide: A survey of destroyed, damaged and desecrated churches, monasteries and other church buildings during the war 1991-1995 (1997)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TaPAAAAMAAJ|year=1997|location=Belgrade|publisher=Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church}}
* {{Cite book|last=Radić|first=Radmila|chapter=Serbian Orthodox Church and the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina|title=Religion and the War in Bosnia|year=1998|location=Atlanta|publisher=Scholars Press|pages=160–182|isbn=9780788504280|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUNpAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite book|last=Pejanović|first=Mirko|title=Bosansko pitanje i Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JHziAAAAMAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Bosanska knjiga|isbn=9789958200632}}
* {{cite book|author=Dikica Stanisavljević|title=Svedočenja o stradanju Srba iz Bosne i Hrvatske|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xfumAAAACAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Vardenik|isbn=978-86-84487-04-1}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hoare |first1=Marko Attila |editor1-last=Gavrilović |editor1-first=Darko |title=Facing the Past, Searching for the Future: The History of Yugoslavia in the 20th Century |date=2010 |publisher=Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation, Centre for History, Democracy and Reconciliation and the Faculty for European Legal-Political Studies |pages=179–204 |url=https://greatersurbiton.wordpress.com/2020/09/10/ |chapter=The national identity of the Bosnian Serbs}}

==External links==
*{{Wikiquote-inline}}
*{{commons category-inline|Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
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{{Ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
{{Serbian diaspora}}
{{Portal bar|Bosnia and Herzegovina|Serbia}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serbs of Bosnia And Herzegovina}}
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Latest revision as of 07:41, 18 December 2024

Ethnic Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ethnic group
Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Срби Босне и Херцеговине
Srbi Bosne i Hercegovine
Flag of Republika Srpska
Serbian traditional clothing from GlSerbian traditional clothing from HerzegovinaamočSerbian traditional clothing from Bosanska KrajinaSerbian traditional clothing from GackoSerbian traditional clothing from Western BosniaSerbian traditional clothing from SemberijaSerbian traditional clothing from (clockwise from top):
Total population
1,086,733 (2013)
Regions with significant populations
Republika Srpska1,001,299 (92.13%)
Federation of BiH56,550 (5.20%)
Brčko District28,884 (34.58%)
Languages
Serbian
Religion
Serbian Orthodox Church
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The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbian Cyrillic: Срби Босне и Херцеговине, romanizedSrbi Bosne i Hercegovine), often referred to as Bosnian Serbs (Serbian Cyrillic: босански Срби, romanizedbosanski Srbi) or Herzegovinian Serbs (Serbian Cyrillic: херцеговачких Срби, romanizedhercegovačkih Srbi), are native and one of the three constituent nations of the country, predominantly residing in the political-territorial entity of Republika Srpska. Most declare themselves Orthodox Christians and speakers of the Serbian language.

Serbs have a long and continuous history of inhabiting the present-day territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a long history of statehood in this territory. Slavs settled the Balkans in the 7th century and the Serbs were one of the main tribes who settled the peninsula including parts of modern-day Herzegovina. Parts of Bosnia were ruled by the Serbian prince Časlav in the 10th century before his death in 960. The territories of Duklja, including Zeta and Zachlumia were later consolidated into a Serbian Kingdom before its fall in 1101. In the second half of the 12th century, Bosnia and Herzegovina was ruled by the Nemanjić dynasty. Stephen Tomašević ruled briefly as Despot of Serbia in 1459 and as King of Bosnia between 1461 and 1463.

From the 15th century, Ottoman rule brought discrimination against the Orthodox population living in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the millet system but also a Serb national consciousness by the 19th century. The 20th century was marked by persecution from Austro-Hungarian occupation (1878–1918), WWII genocide, and eventual breakup of Yugoslavia leading to the Bosnian War in 1992. In the 1990s, many Serbs moved to Serbia proper and Montenegro.

Having lived in much of Bosnia-Herzegovina prior to the Bosnian War, the majority of the Serbs now live in Republika Srpska. According to the report by the Bosnia and Herzegovina statistics office, on the census of 2013 there were 1,086,733 Serbs living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbs form the majority in Drvar, Glamoč, Bosansko Grahovo and Bosanski Petrovac. At the federal level, Serbs are represented by members in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina while on the state level, Republika Srpska has its own people's assembly. The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina have made significant contributions to the culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

History

Main articles: History of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Middle Ages

Kingdom of Serbia

Further information: Serbia in the Middle Ages and Bosnia (early medieval)
Časlav, Prince of the Serbs

Slavs settled the Balkans in the 7th century. In the second quarter of the 7th century, the Serbs were one of the main Slavic tribes who settled the peninsula and came to dominate the previous Slav settlers. In the same manner as their Croat counterparts, the Serb elite respectively labeled those mass Slavic populations they ruled over as Serbs, thus absorbing large numbers of Slavs whose ancestry was in actuality traced back to the previous century. Serb settlement was initially in modern-day southwestern Serbia. The region of "Rascia" (Raška) was the center of Serb settlement and Serbian tribes are also thought to have occupied parts near the Adriatic coast, especially modern-day Herzegovina and Montenegro. Prince Vlastimir (r. 830–850) united the Serbian tribes in the vicinity, and after a victory over the advancing Bulgars he went on to expand to the west, taking Bosnia, and Zahumlje (Herzegovina)). Afterwards, Prince Petar (r. 892–917), defeated Duke Tišemir of Bosnia, annexing the valley of Bosna. Around this time is when Bosnia is first attested to as a separate territory, in De Administrando Imperio (ca. 960), a political and geographical document written by Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. In a section dedicated to the territories of the Serbian prince his lands are described as including "Bosona, Katera and Desnik", demonstrating Bosnia's dependency on Serbs, although the areas comprised were smaller than modern-day Bosnia. Prince Časlav had enlarged Serbia, incorporating Travunija and parts of Bosnia, effectively ruling Bosnia in the 10th century until his death in 960. Following his death, much of Bosnia would be subjected to Croatian rule, before the arrival of Samuel of Bulgaria who subjugated the territory but eventually found himself deposed by the Byzantine empire.

Over the course of the 11th century, Bosnia shifted between partial Croatian and partial Serbian governance. To the south of Bosnia proper lay the territories of Duklja, which included Zeta and Zachlumia who were consolidated into a Serbian Kingdom ruled by local Serb princes. By the 1070s this would also include the region of Raška. Under Constantin Bodin, Serbian territory expanded to take most of Bosnia but the Kingdom broke up following his death in 1101. For much of the 12th century Bosnia was in a tug of war between Hungary and the Byzantine empire; Hungary annexed it 1137 before losing it to the Byzantine empire in 1167, and retaking it in 1180. After 1180, Ban Kulin, ruler of Bosnia began to assert his independence and Hungarian control became nominal. Prior to this emerging independence, Bosnia thus found itself at times under Serbian rule, particularly during the middle of the 10th century and the end of the 11th. For most of the early medieval period Herzegovina was in practice, Serbian territory. Bosnia proper however was tied politically and religiously more towards Croatia. The historians John Fine Jr. and Robert J. Donia, in considering that before 1180 Bosnia briefly found itself in Serb or Croat units, concluded that neither neighbor had held the Bosnians long enough to acquire their loyalty or to impose any serious claim to Bosnia.

In the second half of the 12th century, Serbian unity and power grows exponentially with the formation of the Nemanjić dynasty led by Stefan Nemanja, Grand Prince (župan) of Raška. Modern-day Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and central Serbia would come under his control. By the Middle Ages, Eastern Orthodox Christianity had become entrenched in Herzegovina, and during the Nemanjić dynasty the Serbian Orthodox Church's influence grew in the region. However, Orthodoxy lacked consequential progression into Bosnia until Ottoman conquest.

Chronological gradual expansion of the medieval state of Bosnia.
Balkans in 1350 according to German historian Gustav Droysen from the 19th century. Serbian Empire at its height, including the region of Bosnia.

The Kotromanić (Serbian Cyrillic: Котроманић, pl. Kotromanići/Котроманићи) noble and later royal dynasties would rule Bosnia from the second half of the 13th century until Ottoman conquest in 1463. It began with Stephen II, Ban of Bosnia in 1322, who managed to expand the realm of the Bosnian state with the acquisition of territories that included Herzegovina, enabling the formation of a single Bosnia and Herzegovina political entity for the first time. The Kotromanić intermarried with several southeastern and central European royal houses which aided in their dynastic development. Stephen II's nephew Tvrtko I, a descendant of the Serbian Nemanjić dynasty, succeeded him and established the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1377, crowning himself as "The King of Serbia/Serbs and Bosnia". The last sovereign, Stephen Tomašević, ruled briefly as Despot of Serbia in 1459 and as King of Bosnia between 1461 and 1463, before losing both countries and his life to the Ottoman Turks. Herzegovina fell in 1466.

According to the historian Neven Isailovović, there was a general awareness in medieval Bosnia, at least amongst the nobles, that they shared a join state with Serbia and that they belong to the same ethnic group. That awareness diminished over time, due to differences in political and social development, but it was kept in Herzegovina and parts of Bosnia which were a part of Serbian state.

Ottoman rule

Further information: Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina and Eastern Orthodoxy in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge, UNESCO World Heritage Site, over the Drina
Refugees from Herzegovina, painting by Uroš Predić
Leaders and Heroes of the Uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina, illustration in the Serb calendar Orao (1876)

The conquest of Bosnia by the Ottomans brought significant administrative, economic, social and cultural changes to the country. The Ottomans however, allowed for the preservation of Bosnian identity and territorial integrity by merely making Bosnia an integral province of its Empire. Under the millet system, Christians were afforded a level of autonomy by the provision of local leaders who served the Ottoman state for religious, social, administrative and legal purposes. The Ottomans allowed Christian communities to band together around these religious leaders and preserve their customs. Consequently, this system also made a clear distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims, paving the way for Islamic supremacy and discrimination towards Christians. For instance, non-Muslims had to pay additional taxes and could not own any land or property or hold positions in the Ottoman state apparatus. Thus, conversion to Islam was advantageous to Bosnians and the 15th and 16th centuries marked the beginning of the Islamization period. A major effect of this system was also the development of distinct national identities among the three Bosnian groups during the 19th century, resulting in the spread of Orthodoxy and its assimilation into a Serbian national consciousness for Orthodox people throughout the empire. Given the threat of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Catholics of Bosnia faced strenuous religious oppression, although this same level of discrimination would also be applied to Orthodox believers with the rise of an independent Serbian state in the 19th century. The Ottomans introduced a sizeable Orthodox Christian population into Bosnia proper, including Vlachs from the eastern Balkans. The conversion of the adherents of the Bosnian Church also aided the spread of Eastern Orthodoxy. Later, areas abandoned by Catholics during the Ottoman–Habsburg wars were settled with Muslims and Orthodox Christians.

Construction of Orthodox monasteries and churches throughout Bosnia started in the northwest in 1515. An Orthodox priest was present in Sarajevo already in 1489, and the city's first Orthodox church was constructed between 1520 and 1539. By 1532, Bosnian Orthodox Christians had their own metropolitan bishop, who took up official residence in Sarajevo in 1699. By the end of the 18th century, the Metropolitan of Bosnia had authority over the Orthodox bishops of Mostar, Zvornik, Novi Pazar and Sarajevo. A turning point in relations between the Orthodox Church and the Ottomans occurred when Orthodox clergy renounced loyalty to the sultans and started encouraging and aiding peasant rebellions, and seeking Christian allies in neighboring lands, which in turn resulted in the persecution of their clergy. Major Serb uprisings to Turkish rule occurred during the Long Turkish War (1593–1606) and Great Turkish War (1683–1699). During the 1593-1606 war, Serbs in the Banat along the border with Transylvania and Wallachia, and chieftains of the Herzegovina clans rebelled, both assisting enemies of the Ottomans and working toward restoring the Serbian state. Clan chiefs in Herzegovina cooperated with Italian counts and the Spanish viceroy, who was established in Naples.

As the rise of Western European development overshadowed the feudal Ottoman system, the empire began a sharp decline that was evident in the 19th century. Bosnia was at this point a regressive state with large landowners, poor peasantry, and a lack of industry and modern transport. A number of anti-Ottoman rebellions occurred, as the dissatisfaction of land-owning Bosnian Muslims aligned itself with nationalistic movements of the non-Muslim population. The various rebellions were largely directed at the Ottoman state and not a product of infighting between the various groups. The Serbs of Bosnia allied themselves with the cause of Serbian statehood; Muslim rebellions sought to stop administrative reforms and peasant rebellions were due to agrarian strife. After the reorganization of the Ottoman army and abolition of the Janissaries, Bosnian nobility revolted in 1831, led by Husein Gradaščević, who wanted to preserve existing privileges and stop any further social reforms. The pivotal rebellion began in 1875 with an uprising in Herzegovina on the part of the Christian population, led by Bosnian Serbs. Initially a revolt against overtaxation by Bosnian Muslim landowners, it spread to a wider rebellion against the Ottoman rulers, with Bosnian Serbs vying for unity with Serbia. The Ottoman authorities were unable to contain the rebellion and it soon spread to other regions of the empire, with the Principality of Serbia joining and the Russian Empire doing the same, resulting in the Russo-Turkish War. The Turks lost the war in 1878. After the Congress of Berlin was held in same year, mandate of Bosnia and Herzegovina was transferred to the Austro-Hungarian Empire with nominal Ottoman sovereignty.

According to the historian Dušan T. Bataković, around one quarter of rebel leaders (voivodes) of the Serbian Revolution were born in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina or had their roots in the region of Bosnia or Herzegovina. Mateja Nenadović met with local Serb leaders from Sarajevo in 1803 in order to negotiate their part in the rebellion, with the ultimate goal being that the two armies meet in Sarajevo.

Austro-Hungarian occupation

Occupied Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbian Principalities of Montenegro and Serbia after the Berlin Congress of 1878. Both Montenegro and Serbia, as well as the Bosnian Serbs, were dissatisfied with the decision of the Congress to allow Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia & Herzegovina which were majority Serbian inhabited.

Austro-Hungarian rule initially resulted in a fragmentation between the citizenry of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as technically they were subjects of the Ottomans while the land belonged to Austria-Hungary. The Austro-Hungarian administration advocated the ideal of a pluralist and multi-confessional Bosnian nation. Joint Imperial Minister of Finance and Vienna-based administrator of Bosnia Béni Kállay thus endorsed Bosnian nationalism in the form of Bošnjaštvo ("Bosniakhood") with the aim to inspire in Bosnia's people "a feeling that they belong to a great and powerful nation".

The Austro-Hungarians viewed Bosnians as "speaking the Bosnian language and divided into three religions with equal rights." On the one hand, these policies attempted to insulate Bosnia and Herzegovina from its irredentist neighbors (Eastern Orthodox Serbia, Catholic Croatia, and the Muslim Ottoman Empire) and to marginalize the already circulating ideas of Serbian and Croatian nationhood among Bosnia's Orthodox and Catholic communities, respectively. On the other hand, the Habsburg administrators precisely used the existing ideas of nationhood (especially Bosnian folklore and symbolism) in order to promote their own version of Bošnjak patriotism that aligned with loyalty to the Habsburg state. Habsburg policies are thus best described not as anti-national, but as cultivating their own style of pro-imperial nationalisms. These policies also heightened divisions along national and religious lines. Bosnian Serbs felt oppressed by the Austro-Hungarians who favored Roman Catholicism, and in turn the Croat population, who were the only members of the three constituent groups with any loyalty to the empire. After the death of Kallay, the policy was abandoned.

By 1905, nationalism was an integral factor of Bosnian politics, with national political parties corresponding to the three groups dominating elections. Austro-Hungarian authorities banned textbooks printed in Serbia and a number of other Serbian-language books they deemed to carry nationalistic content. A number of Bosnian Serb cultural and national organizations were formed in the early 20th century, one of which was the Prosvjeta. The Austro-Hungarian empire would wind up annexing the territory in 1908.

The first parliamentary elections to elect members to the Diet of Bosnia were held in 1910. The population was classified according to their ethno-religious status and each group was given its share of seats in the parliament according to their population. As the majority, the Serb representation was won by the Serbian National Organization, who received 31 seats.

On June 28, 1914, Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip made international headlines after assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo. This sparked World War I leading to Austria-Hungary's defeat and the incorporation of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

World War I

During WWI, Serbs in Bosnia were often blamed for the outbreak of the war, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and were subjected to persecution by the Austro-Hungarian authorities, including internment and looting of their businesses, by people who were instigated to ethnic violence. Early in the war, the Austro-Hungarian authorities unleashed a persecution of Bosnian Serbs, which included the internment of thousands in camps, court-martialing and death sentencing of intellectuals, massacres by the Schutzkorps, looting of property and forced expulsions.

Bosnian and Herzegovinian Serbs served in Montenegrin and Serbian army en masse, as they felt loyalty to the overall pan-Serbian cause. Bosnian Serbs also served in Austrian Army, and were loyal to Austria-Hungary when it came to Italian Front, but they often deserted and switched sides when they were sent to the Russian front, or to Serbian Front. Many Serbs supported the advance of fellow Montenegrin Serb Army, when it entered into Herzegovina, and advanced close to Sarajevo in 1914, as the King of Montenegro, King Nicholas I Petrovich-Njegos was very popular among Bosnian and Herzegovinian Serbs because of his pan-Serbian and Serbian nationalist views and help during Herzegovinian uprisings in the 19th century.

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

Map showing the proposals for creation of Banovina of Serbia, Banovina of Croatia and Slovene Banovina (in 1939–1941). Most of Bosnia was to be a part of Serbia, since the Serbs were the relative majority of the Bosnian population and the absolute majority on most of the territory.

After World War I, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the internationally unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which existed between October and December 1918. In December 1918, this state united with the Kingdom of Serbia as Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. The Serbian leadership of the state decided to acknowledge demands of Muslim representative Mehmed Spaho, and respect the pre-war territorial integrity of Bosnia & Herzegovina, therefore not changing internal district borders of Bosnia.

Bosnian Serbs largely approved of a unification with Serbia as it appeared to be the realization of the common dream of being unified with all Serbs into one state. However, part of the Bosnian Serb population were unsatisfied given the fact that there was not a formal establishment between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Bosnian Muslims saw the new arrangement as a form of colonial rule and instead argued for a decentralized unitary state with autonomy rights for constituents. Bosnian Croats meanwhile supported the federalization of Yugoslavia into six units, one of which was to be Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 1921 constitution affirmed the continued territorial existence of Bosnia as well as safeguarding protections for Muslims. This lasted until 1929 when King Alexander declared a dictatorship on 6 January. The Kingdom was renamed into Yugoslavia, divided into new territorial entities called Banovinas, largely based on natural borders. Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into four banovinas, with Serbs constituting a majority in three of them. King Alexander was killed in 1934, which led to the end of dictatorship.

In 1939, faced with killings, corruption scandals, violence and the failure of centralized policy, the Serbian leadership agreed a compromise with Croats. Banovinas would later, in 1939, evolve into the final proposal for the partition of the joint state into three parts or three Banovinas, one Slovene Banovina, one Croatian and one Serbian, with each encompassing most of the ethnic space of each ethnic group. Most of the territory of contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina was to be part of the Banovina Serbia, since most of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was majority Serb-inhabited, and the Serbs constituted overall relative majority. On 26 August 1939, the president of the Croatian Peasant Party, Vladko Maček and Dragiša Cvetković made an agreement (Cvetković-Maček agreement) according to which a Banovina of Croatia was created which included Sava and the Littoral Banovina, along with a number of districts in southern Dalmatia, the Srem, and north-western Bosnia. Around 20% of the Croatian banovina was inhabited by Serbs, numbering some 800,000. These concessions were unsatisfactory to some Croats, with Serbs also being dissatisfied and seeking a banovina of their own. Bosnian Muslims meanwhile were not consulted on the partition plan and given no alternatives.

Competing ideologies among Serbs and Croats and their influences on Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to a broader extent, a lack of agreement on inter-ethnic relations in the new Yugoslav state and its governance resulted in perpetual instability. Yugoslavia however would only collapse after the Nazi Germany invasion of the country in April 1941, which dismembered the country into three different zones of occupation.

World War II

Main articles: World War II in Yugoslavia and Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia
Rebellion against Axis powers occupying Yugoslavia in 1941. Rebellion broke out mostly in Serb-inhabited areas, especially in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Following the invasion of Yugoslavia, the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was incorporated into the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), an Italian-German installed puppet state with the Croatian fascist Ustaše regime and its leader Ante Pavelić put in power. Under Ustaše rule, Serbs along with Jews and Roma people were subjected to systematic genocide, with Serbs being the main target due to their large population.

Serbs in villages in the countryside were hacked to death with various tools, thrown alive into pits and ravines or in some cases locked in churches that were afterwards set on fire. The scale of the violence meant that approximately every sixth Serb living in Bosnia and Herzegovina was the victim of a massacre and virtually every Serb had a family member that was killed in the war, mostly by the Ustaše. The experience had a profound impact in the collective memory of Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia. Others were sent to concentration camps. The Kruščica concentration camp, located near the town of Vitez, was one of the concentration camps established by Ustashe; it was founded in April 1941 for Serb and Jewish women and children. According to the US Holocaust Museum, 320,000–340,000 Serbs were murdered under Ustasha rule. An estimated 209,000 Serbs or 16.9% of its Bosnia population were killed on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war. In an interview on 4 November 2015, Bakir Izetbegović, Bosniak Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, affirmed the persecutions of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia as genocide.

A multi-ethnic resistance against the Axis emerged in the form of the Yugoslav Partisans, led by Josip Broz Tito. At the same time, a Serbian nationalist and royalist guerilla in the Chetniks was formed, led by Draža Mihailović which was initially a resistance movement but became increasingly collaborationist. Serb allegiance was split between the Partisans and Chetniks, although Serbs in eastern Bosnia aligned themselves more with the Partisans who experienced military success in the area.

As in other parts of the NDH, the Ustaše policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina caused a rebellion among the Serb population. In June 1941, Serbs in eastern Herzegovina staged an armed rebellion against the NDH authorities following massacres of Serbs, which was suppressed after two weeks. Persecution of Serbs resulted in the prevalence of resistance movements in Serb populated areas including parts of Bosnia. Another rebellion, led by the Partisans, began on July 27, 1941. Some of these insurgents in turn committed atrocities against the Muslim and Croat population. In the early stages of the war, Serbs formed around 90% of Partisan units that were active in the NDH. Most of the anti-fascist combat and battles were fought in mainly Serb-inhabited areas of Bosnia & Herzegovina, such as the Battle of Neretva, Battle of Sutjeska, Drvar Operation and Kozara Battle. During the entire course of the WWII in Yugoslavia, according to the records of recipients of Partisan pensions, 64.1% of all Bosnian Partisans were Serbs. The Partisans liberated Sarajevo on 6 April 1945 and Bosnia came under full control a few weeks later. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was established and the constitution of 1946 officially made Bosnia and Herzegovina one of six constituent republics in the new Yugoslav state.

Bosnian War

Main article: Bosnian War

Following Slovenia and Croatia's declaration of independence in June 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina was faced with the dilemma of whether to stay in the Yugoslav federation or seek its own independence. Independence was favored by most Bosniaks and Croats but opposed by most Bosnian Serbs. On 15 October 1991, the parliament of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo passed a 'memorandum on sovereignty' causing a desertion of the parliament from Bosnian Serb representatives. On 24 October 1991, the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) formed the Assembly of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina declaring that the Serb people wished to remain in Yugoslavia. On 9 January 1992, the Bosnian Serbs proclaimed the "Republic of the Serbian People in Bosnia-Herzegovina". From 29 February-1 March 1992, a European Community-backed Bosnian referendum was held in which 99.7 percent voted for independence. The turnout was only 63.4 percent, as it was boycotted by Bosnian Serbs. Following Bosnia's declaration of independence, violent skirmishes eventually broke out into full-scale war by 6 April 1992.

The war ended after NATO Bombardment of Bosnian Serb positions, which led to peace talks and the signing of the Dayton Accords in December 1995. The agreements established the Bosnian Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) as an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Demographics

According to the 2013 census, there were 1,086,733 Serbs living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or 30,78% of the total population. The vast majority of them, 1,001,299 lived in Republika Srpska or 92,13% of the total Serb population. In Republika Srpska itself, the Serbs form an absolute majority of 81,51% of the total population. On the other hand, there were 56,550 Serbs in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or 5,20% of the total Serb population. The Serbs made 2,55 percent of the population of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, there was 28,884 living in the Brčko District or 2,66% of the total Serb population. They made 34,58 percent of the total population of the Brčko District.

Demographic history

Distribution of ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1961
Distribution of ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2013
Ethnic totals and percentages
Year/Population Serbs  % Total BiH Population
1879 496,485 42.88% 1,158,440
1885 571,250 42.76% 1,336,091
1895 673,246 42.94% 1,568,092
1910 825,418 43.49% 1,898,044
1921 829,290 43.87% 1,890,440
1931 1,028,139 44.25% 2,323,555
1948 1,136,116 44.29% 2,565,277
1953 1,261,405 44.40% 2,847,459
1961 1,406,057 42.89% 3,277,935
1971 1,393,148 37.19% 3,746,111
1981 1,320,644 32,02 % 4,124,008
1991 1,369,258 31.21% 4,364,649
2013 1,086,733 30.78% 3,551,159
Official Population Census Results - note: some Serbs declared themselves as Yugoslavs in some censuses

Medieval Bosnia and Ottoman Empire

Heading 32 of De Administrando Imperio of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, is called "On the Serbs and the lands in which they live". It speaks of the territories inhabited by Serbs in which he mentions Bosnia, specifically two inhabited cities, Kotor and Desnik, both of which are in an unidentified geographic position.

Austria-Hungary and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)

Austria-Hungary pursued a demographic policy of reducing the Serbian population and trying to erase their identity, converting it to a "Bosnian nationhood", therefore, Austrian population census only had religious affiliation as a main determinism of identity. In the last Austrian census of 1910, there were 825,418 Orthodox Serbs, which constituted 43.49% of the total population. The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1917, states: "According to the census of 22 April 1895, Bosnia has 1,361,868 inhabitants and Herzegovina 229,168, giving a total population of 1,591,036. The number of persons to the square mile is small (about 80), less than that in any of the other Austrian crown provinces excepting Salzburg (about 70). This average does not vary much in the six districts (five in Bosnia, one in Herzegovina). The number of persons to the square mile in these districts is as follows: Doljna Tuzla, 106; Banjaluka, 96; Bihac, 91; Serajevo, 73, Mostar(Herzegovina), 65, Travnik, 62. There are 5,388 settlements, of which only 11 have more than 5,000 inhabitants, while 4,689 contain less 500 persons. Excluding some 30,000 Albanians living in the south-east, the Jews who emigrated in earlier times from Spain, a few Osmanli Turks, the merchants, officials. and Austrian troops, the rest of the population (about 98 per cent) belong to the southern Slavonic people, the Serbs. Although one in race, the people form in religious beliefs three sharply separated divhe Mohammedans, about 550,000 persons (35 per cent), Greek Schismatics, about 674,000 persons (43 per cent), and Catholics, about 334,000 persons (21.3 per cent). The last mentioned are chiefly peasants."

World War II

Serbs suffered a drastic demographic shift during WWII due to their persecution. The official brutal policies of the Independent State of Croatia, involving expulsion, murder and forced conversion to Catholicism of Orthodox Serbs, contributed that Serbs never recover within Bosnia & Herzegovina. By the plans of Nazi Germany and the Independent State of Croatia 110,000 Serbs were relocated and transported to German-occupied Serbia. Just in the period of May to August 1941 over 200,000 Serbs were expelled to Serbia. In the heat of war Serbia had 200,000–400,000 Serbian refugees from Ustaša-held Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the end of war 137,000 Serbs had permanently left the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Federal Bureau of Statistics in Belgrade composed a figure of 179,173 persons killed in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Second World War: 129,114 Serbs (72.1%); 29,539 Muslims (16.5%); 7,850 Croats (4.4%); others (7%).

Communist Yugoslavia

The first Yugoslav census recorded a decreasing number of Serbs; from the first census in 1948 to the last one from 1991, the percentage of Serbs decreased from 44.3% to 31.2%, even though the total number increased. According to the 1953 census, Serbs were in the majority in 74% of the territory of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Their total number in 1953 was 1,261,405, that is 44.3% of total Bosnian population. According to the 1961 census, Serbs made up 42.9% of total population, and their number was 1,406,057. After that, districts were divided into smaller municipalities.

According to the 1971 census, Serbs were 37.2% of total population, and their number was 1,393,148. According to the 1981 census, Serbs made up 32.02% of total population, and their number was 1,320,644. After 1981, their percentage continued to reduce. From 1971 to 1991, the percentage of Serbs fell due to emigration into Montenegro, Serbia, and Western Europe. According to the 1991 census, Serbs were 31.21% of the total population, and their number was 1,369,258.

Bosnia and Herzegovina War

The total number of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina continued to reduce, especially after the Bosnian War broke out in 1992. Soon, an exodus of Bosnian Serbs occurred when a large number of Serbs were expelled from central Bosnia, Ozren, Sarajevo, Western Herzegovina and Krajina. According to the 1996 census, made by UNHCR and unrecognized by Sarajevo, there was 3,919,953 inhabitants, of which 1,484,530 (37.9%) were Serbs. In the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the percentage of Serbs slightly changed, although, their total number reduced.

Politics

State level

Presidency Building, the official residence of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo

The Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina has two chambers, the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples. The House of Representatives has 42 members who are elected directly by voters, of which 28 are from the Federation and 14 from Republika Srpska, the Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The House of Peoples has 15 members, five Bosniaks, five Croats and five Serbs who are each elected for a four-year term. Bosniak and Croat members of the House of Peoples are elected by the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the five Serb members are elected by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska.

The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina has three members, one Bosniak, one Croat and one Serb who are tasked with foreign, diplomatic and military affairs, as well as the budget of state-level institutions. The Bosniak and the Croat are elected in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the Serb is elected in the Republika Srpska. Additionally, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina is nominated by the Presidency and confirmed by the House of Representatives. This post switches between Croat, Bosniak and Serb representation every eight months.

The current president of the Republika Srpska is Milorad Dodik. The current Serb member of the Presidency is Željka Cvijanović of the SNSD.

Federal level

Like the Federation, Repubika Srpska has its own people's assembly. It consists of 83 members. Republika Srpska has jurisdiction over its own healthcare, education, agriculture, culture, veteran issues, labour, police and internal affairs. The Constitution of Republika Srpska notes that the entity has its own president as well as the ability to perform its own "constitutional, legislative, executive and judicial functions". This includes a police force, supreme court and lower courts, customs service (under the state-level customs service), and a postal service. Republika Srpska also has a Prime Minister and sixteen ministries. It also has its symbols, including coat of arms, flag (a variant of the Serbian flag without the coat of arms displayed) and entity anthem.

Palace of the Republic, the official residence of the President of Republika Srpska, Banja Luka

Although the constitution names Sarajevo as the capital of Republika Srpska, the northwestern city of Banja Luka is the headquarters of most of the institutions of government, including the parliament, and is therefore the de facto capital. After the war, Republika Srpska retained its army, but in August 2005, the parliament consented to transfer control of the Army of Republika Srpska to a state-level ministry and abolish the entity's defense ministry and army by 1 January 2006. These reforms were required by NATO as a precondition of Bosnia and Herzegovina's admission to the Partnership for Peace programme. Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the programme in December 2006.

Political parties

There are several Serbian political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Republika Srpska. The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) has been the dominant party in Republika Srpska since 2006, when it scored its first electoral success. Its reformist and socialist ideology has largely shifted and it has increasingly towed a nationalist and secessionist line. The Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) is the leading opposition party. Founded in 1990 by Radovan Karadžić, it was formerly the strongest political party in the entity before internal strife led to its fragmentation. Other notable but smaller parties include the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) and National Democratic Movement (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (NDP).

Culture

Main article: Serbian culture Further information: Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The cultural and educational society Prosvjeta was founded in Sarajevo in 1902. It quickly became the most important organization gathering ethnic Serb citizens. In 1903 Gajret, a Serbian Muslim Cultural Society was founded. The Academy of Sciences and Arts of the Republika Srpska is active since 1996.

Architecture and art

Work of Jovan Bijelić on Yugoslav stamp

Bosnia and Herzegovina is rich in Serbian architecture, especially when it comes to numerous Serbian churches and monasteries. The modern Serbo-Byzantine architectural style which started in the second half of the 19th century is present in sacral and civil architecture. Bosnian topography thus becomes linked with the Serbian state and Orthodox Serb principles. Churches and monasteries are decorated with frescoes and iconostasis, art expressions which go back to Orthodox churches and monasteries built in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Museum of Old Orthodox Church in Sarajevo is among the top five in the world in its rich treasury of icons and other objects dating from different centuries.

Bosnian Serbs have made a significant contribution to modern Serbian painting. Notable painters include Miloš Bajić, considered to be the first abstract painter in Yugoslavia, Jovan Bijelić, a prominent expressionist who drew upon the Bosnian landscape, Vojo Dimitrijević, Nedeljko Gvozdenović, Kosta Hakman, Branko Šotra, Mica Todorović, and others. In 1907, Pero Popović, Branko Radulović and Todor Švrakić exhibited their works in one of the two exhibitions that year that marked the beginnings of the modern painting tradition in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Among the prominent sculptors is Sreten Stojanović.

  • Ozren Monastery Ozren Monastery
  • Interior of Old Orthodox Church in Sarajevo Interior of Old Orthodox Church in Sarajevo
  • Inside of Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Banja Luka Inside of Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Banja Luka
  • Banski Dvor Banski Dvor

Language and literature

Goražde Psalter

The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina speak the Eastern Herzegovinian dialect of Serbian language, characterized by the ijekavian pronunciation.

Traces of Serbian language on this territory are very old as in old inscriptions such as Grdeša's tombstone, the oldest known stećak. One of the most important Serbian manuscripts Miroslav Gospel, was written for the Serbian Grand Prince Miroslav of Hum. Serbian language is rich with several medieval gospels written in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are decorated with miniatures. The Serb medieval experience flourished in Medieval Bosnia through the development of Serb religious literature and refinement of the language.

Bosanska vila, literary magazine

In the early 16th century Božidar Goraždanin founded the Goražde printing house. It was one of the earliest printing houses among the Serbs, and the first in the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. Goražde Psalter printed there is counted among the better accomplishments of early Serb printers.

Beginning in the nineteenth century, Bosanska vila from Sarajevo and Zora from Mostar, were important literary magazines at the forefront of political and cultural issues.

Bosnian Serbs gave significant contribution to the Serbian epic poetry. Famous singers of the epic poetry are Filip Višnjić and Tešan Podrugović.

The works of Serbian writers from Bosnia and Herzegovina are of great importance to the entire Serbian literature. Notable authors include Aleksa Šantić, Jovan Dučić, Petar Kočić, Sima Milutinović Sarajlija, and Svetozar Ćorović.

Music

Filip Višnjić singing to gusle

Traditional instruments such as gusle, frula, gajde, and tamburica are utilized by the Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina for musical performances. The first Serbian singing societies in Bosnia and Herzegovina were set up in Foča (1885), Tuzla (1886), Prijedor (1887), and in Mostar and Sarajevo in 1888 along with other cities across the country. The first concert in Bosnia and Herzegovina was held in Banja Luka in 1881.

Serbian music is rich in folk songs of Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many songs are performed in traditional way of singing called ojkanje. Serbian singers and composers such as Rade Jovanović, Jovica Petković, Dragiša Nedović and others gave significant contribution to special type of songs called sevdalinka. Aleksa Šantić's poem Emina became one of the most known sevdalinkas. Notable performers of folk music include Vuka Šeherović, Nada Mamula, Nada Obrić, and Marinko Rokvić.

Zdravko Čolić

Bosnian and Heregovian Serbs largely participated in the Yugoslav pop-rock scene that was active from the end of the World War II until the break up of the country. Serbian musicians are or were members, and often leaders of popular bands such as Ambasadori, Bijelo Dugme, Bombaj Štampa, Indexi, Plavi orkestar, ProArte, Regina, Vatreni Poljubac, and Zabranjeno pušenje. Zdravko Čolić is one of the biggest Yugoslav and Serbian music stars. Jadranka Stojaković and Srđan Marjanović have had significant careers as singer-songwriters.

Post Yugoslav popular music singers include Željko Samardžić, Romana, Nedeljko Bajić Baja, Saša and Dejan Matić. Bosnian Serb Dušan Šestić composed the national anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Theatre and cinema

Republika Srpska National Theatre

The first theatre show in Bosnia and Herzegovina was organized by Serb Stevo Petranović in Tešanj in 1865 while the first shows in Sarajevo were organized in the house of Serb Despić family. The first feature film in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Major Bauk was directed by Nikola Popović by the script of Branko Ćopić.

Significant directors include Emir Kusturica, double winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Zdravko Šotra, Predrag Golubović, and Boro Drašković. Prominent screenwriters include Gordan Mihić, and Srđan Koljević. Actors that have achieved success in Yugoslav and Serbian cinematography include Predrag Tasovac, Branko Pleša, Marko Todorović, Tihomir Stanić, Nikola Pejaković, Nebojša Glogovac, Davor Dujmović, Nataša Ninković, and Danina Jeftić.

Folklore

Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave significant contribution to the folklore of Serbian people, including folk costume, music, traditional singing and instruments, epic poetry, crafts, and dances. The dresses of Bosnia are divided into two groups; the Dinaric and Pannonian styles. In Eastern Herzegovina, the folk costumes are closely related to those of Old Herzegovina. Cultural and artistic societies across the country practice folklore tradition.

Education

The first educational institutions in Bosnia were religious sites, with priests serving as teachers in monasteries in the case of Bosnian Serbs. In 1878, the first year of Austro-Hungarian occupation, there were 56 Orthodox schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina, most of whom were founded toward the end of Ottoman rule. The number grew to 107 by 1910 but by World War I, they were banished by Austro-Hungarian authorities and never revived. The first girls' school was established in Sarajevo by Staka Skenderova in 1858.

The educational system of Bosnia and Herzegovina during communism was based on a mixture of nationalities and the suppression of Serb identity, as Tito focused on building the social dimension of the country. With the foundation of Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War, Bosnian Serb school curriculums underwent changes to adapt more towards Serbia. Following the end of the war and establishment of Republika Srpska through the Dayton Accords, jurisdiction over education in Republika Srpska was given to the RS Government, while in the Federation, jurisdiction over education was given to the cantons. The University of Sarajevo split into two, with the Bosniak division located in Western Sarajevo, and the Serbian one renamed University of East Sarajevo, with Serbian as its official language. The University of Banja Luka became part of Republika Srpska. Municipalities with Serb majority or significant minority, schools with Serbian language as official one also exist.

Religion

Left: Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Sarajevo
Right: Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Banja Luka

The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians, belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church. According to the CIA World Factbook, Orthodox Christians make up 30.7% of the country's population.

The jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Bosnia is organized into five subdivisions consisting of one metropolitanate and four eparchies. In 1220, Archbishop Sava founded the medieval Eparchy of Dabar which stretched into Bosnia. After the restoration of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć in 1557, it became the Eparchy of Dabar and Bosnia, eventually gaining the status of metropolitanate. In 1611, the Orthodox eparchy of Hum was split into two regions before consolidating into the Eparchy of Zahumlje and Herzegovina the following century. Around 1532, an Orthodox episcopate was established in Zvornik and transferred to Tuzla in 1852, becoming the Tuzla-Zvornik episcopate. The Eparchy of Banja Luka was formed in 1900 and the Eparchy of Bihać and Petrovac originally formed in 1925 but abolished in 1934 was re-instated in 1990.

The Orthodox Theological Faculty of St. Basil of Ostrog and the Orthodox Seminary of St. Peter of Dabar-Bosnia are the two Orthodox institutions of higher learning in Bosnia and Herzegovina and they are both located in Foča. They both have historical continuity with the Sarajevo-Reljevo Theological Seminary that was founded in 1882, as the first Serbian high school in Bosnia. There are many Serbian churches and monasteries across the Bosnia and Herzegovina hailing from different periods. Each subdivision has its cathedral church and bishop's palace.

Sport

Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina have contributed significantly to Yugoslav and Serbian sport.

The first Serbian Sokol societies on the present territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina were founded in the late 19th century by intellectuals. Stevan Žakula, a Croatian Serb, is remembered as a prominent worker in opening and maintaining sokol and gymnastic clubs. Žakula was the initiator of the establishment of Serbian gymnastics society "Obilić" in Mostar and Sports and gymnastic society "Serbian soko" in Tuzla. Sokol societies were also established in another cities across the Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Football is the most popular sport among the Bosnian Serbs. The oldest Serb dominated Club in Bosnia and Herzegovina is Slavija Istočno Sarajevo, founded in 1908. One of the most popular is Borac Banja Luka, winner of the Yugoslav Cup (1988) and Mitropa Cup (1992).

Serbian clubs participate in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of the Republika Srpska which is run by Football Association of Republika Srpska. Notable players that represented Yugoslavia, Serbia and Bosnia include Branko Stanković, Milan Galić, Dušan Bajević, Boško Antić, Miloš Šestić, Savo Milošević, Mladen Krstajić, Neven Subotić, Zvjezdan Misimović, Luka Jović, Sergej Milinković-Savić, and Rade Krunić among many others. Zvjezdan Misimović served as captain of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team from 2007 to 2012 while Ljupko Petrović led Red Star Belgrade to the Champions League trophy in 1991.

The second most popular sport among Bosnian Serbs is basketball. Bosnian-born Aleksandar Nikolić, is often referred to as, The Father of Yugoslav Basketball. He was voted two times European Coach of the Year winning three Euroleagues and two times FIBA Intercontinental Cup. Second of four fathers of Yugoslav basketball is Borislav Stanković, former general secretatary of FIBA and IOC member. KK Igokea currently plays in regional ABA League.

The handball club Borac Banja Luka is the most successful Serbian handball club in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It won EHF Champions League in 1976 and was runner up in 1975. In 2010, Svetlana Kitić was voted the best female handball player ever by the International Handball Federation.

The most famous Serbian volleyball family, Grbić family, hails from Trebinje in Eastern Herzegovina. Father Miloš was the captain of the team that won first Yugoslav medal at European championship while sons Vanja and Nikola became Olympic champions with Serbian team. Other players that represented Serbia with success are Đorđe Đurić, Brankica Mihajlović, Tijana Bošković, Jelena Blagojević, Sanja and Saša Starović.

Besides team sports, Bosnian Serbs achieved success and in individual sports such as Slobodan and Tadija Kačar in boxing, Radomir Kovačević, Nemanja Majdov and Aleksandar Kukolj in judo, Milenko Zorić in canoeing, Velimir Stjepanović and Mihajlo Čeprkalo in swimming, and Andrea Arsović in shooting.

Notable people

Further information: List of Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Makarije SokolovićBasil of OstrogMehmed-paša SokolovićSava VladislavichFilip VišnjićSima Milutinović SarajlijaPetar Popović PecijaMićo LjubibratićDimitrije MitrinovićAleksa ŠantićPetar KočićGavrilo PrincipVladimir Ćorović
Petar ZimonjićJovan DučićBranko ĆopićKarl MaldenEmir KusturicaZdravko ČolićZoran ĐinđićMilorad DodikNataša NinkovićSavo MiloševićVladimir RadmanovićNeven SubotićOgnjen Kuzmić
Tijana Bošković

Annotations

  1. Other sources list a figure of 1,320,738.
  2. Other sources list a figure of 1,366,104.

See also

References

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