Vidovdan

Events

• 1389: the Ottoman army fought the Serbian army in the Battle of Kosovo on the Kosovo field. Both Sultan Murad and Prince Lazar were slain in battle. The Kosovo Myth became important in forming Serbian identity.
• 1876: Serbian declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire.
• 1914: the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian crown prince, Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip; triggers the First World War. It was a coincidence that the archduke visited Sarajevo on that day, but the assassination falling on Vidovdan added nationalist symbolism to the event.
• 1916: Radomir Vešović and other notable Montenegrin officers planned an uprising in Montenegro, against the Austro-Hungarian occupying forces.
• 1919: the Treaty of Versailles is signed ending World War I.
• 1921: the Serbian King Alexander I proclaims the new Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, known thereafter as the Vidovdan Constitution.
• 1948: the Cominform publishes, on the initiative of its Soviet delegates Zhdanov, Malenkov and Suslov, in a "Resolution on the State of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia" their condemnation of the Yugoslavian communist leaders – this event is seen as the turning point that marks the final split between Stalin's Soviet Union and Tito's Yugoslavia. The date was carefully chosen by the Soviets as it was an important anniversary.
• 1989: on the 600th anniversary of the battle of Kosovo, Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević delivers the Gazimestan speech on the site of the historic battle.
• 1990: an amendment is brought to the Constitution of Croatia changing the status of Serbs from constituent people of the Croatian nation to national minority.
• 2001: Slobodan Milošević is deported to the ICTY to stand trial.
• 2006: Montenegro is announced as the 192nd member state of the United Nations.
• 2008: the inaugural meeting of the Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija takes place.
• 2018: the formal reopening of the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade, after 15 years of renovation.

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