📰 Belgrade · page 2

The development of Belgrade architecture after 1815 can be divided into four periods.84 In the first phase, which lasted from 1815 to 1835, the dominant architectural style was still of a Balkan character, with substantial Ottoman influence.85 At the same time, an interest in joining the European mainstream allowed Central and Western European architecture to flourish.86 Between 1835 and 1850, the amount of neoclassicist and baroque buildings south of the Austrian border rose considerably, exemplified by Cathedral of Saint Archangel Michael (Serbian: Saborna crkva), completed in 1840.87 Between 1850 and 1875, new architecture was characterised by a turn towards the newly popular Romanticism, along with older European architectural styles.88 Typical of Central European cities in the last quarter of the 19th century, the fourth phase was characterised by an eclecticist style based on the Renaissance and Baroque periods.[64]89

In 1841, Prince Mihailo Obrenović moved the capital of the Principality of Serbia from Kragujevac to Belgrade.[65][66]90 During his first reign (1815–1839), Prince Miloš Obrenović pursued expansion of the city's population through the addition of new settlements, aiming and succeeding to make Belgrade the centre of the Principality's administrative, military and cultural institutions.91 His project of creating a new market space (the Abadžijska čaršija), however, was less successful; trade continued to be conducted in the centuries-old Donja čaršija and Gornja čaršija.92 Still, new construction projects were typical for the Christian quarters as the older Muslim quarters declined; from Serbia's autonomy until 1863, the number of Belgrade quarters even decreased, mainly as a consequence of the gradual disappearance of the city's Muslim population.93 An Ottoman city map from 1863 counts only 9 Muslim quarters (mahalas).94 The names of only five such neighbourhoods are known today: Ali-pašina, Reis-efendijina, Jahja-pašina, Bajram-begova, and Laz Hadži-Mahmudova.[67]95 Following the Čukur Fountain incident, Belgrade was bombed by the Ottomans.[68]96

On 18 April 1867, the Ottoman government ordered the Ottoman garrison, which had been since 1826 the last representation of Ottoman suzerainty in Serbia, withdrawn from Kalemegdan.97 The forlorn Porte's only stipulation was that the Ottoman flag continue to fly over the fortress alongside the Serbian one.98 Serbia's de facto independence dates from this event.[69]99 In the following years, urban planner Emilijan Josimović had a significant influence on Belgrade.100 He conceptualised a regulation plan for the city in 1867, in which he proposed the replacement of the town's crooked streets with a grid plan.101 Of great importance also was the construction of independent Serbian political and cultural institutions, as well as the city's now-plentiful parks.102 Pointing to Josimović's work, Serbian scholars have noted an important break with Ottoman traditions.103 At the time of independence, Belgrade had a mainly Ottoman look, and Josimović stated he wanted to rebuild Belgrade so that "the capital does not retain the form that barbarism gave it".[70]104 Josimović designed Belgrade to resemble Vienna, right down to building grand boulevards inspired by the Ringstrasse.[70]105 All that remains of Ottoman Belgrade today are two mosques, the citadel, and a fountain with Arabic inscriptions.[70]106 However, Istanbul—the capital city of the state to which Belgrade and Serbia de jure still belonged—underwent similar changes.[71]107

In May 1868, knez Mihailo was assassinated with his cousin Anka Konstantinović while riding in a carriage in his country residence.[72]108

With the Principality's full independence in 1878 and its transformation into the Kingdom of Serbia in 1882, Belgrade once again became a key city in the Balkans, and developed rapidly.[61][73]109 Nevertheless, conditions in Serbia remained those of an overwhelmingly agrarian country, even with the opening of a railway to Niš, Serbia's second city.110 In 1900, the capital had only 70,000 inhabitants[74] (at the time Serbia numbered 2.5 million).111 Still, by 1905, the population had grown to more than 80,000 and, by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, it had surpassed the 100,000 citizens, disregarding Zemun, which still belonged to Austria-Hungary.112

The first-ever projection of motion pictures in the Balkans and Central Europe was held in Belgrade in June 1896 by André Carr, a representative of the Lumière brothers.113 He shot the first motion pictures of Belgrade in the next year; however, they have not been preserved.[75]114 The first permanent cinema was opened in 1909 in Belgrade.[76]115

World War I: Austro–German invasion

The First World War began on 28 July 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.116 Most of the subsequent Balkan offensives occurred near Belgrade.117 Austro-Hungarian monitors shelled Belgrade on 29 July 1914, and it was taken by the Austro-Hungarian Army under General Oskar Potiorek on 1 December.118 On 16 December, it was re-taken by Serbian troops under Marshal Radomir Putnik.119 After a prolonged battle which destroyed much of the city, starting on 6 October 1915, Belgrade fell to German and Austro-Hungarian troops commanded by Field Marshal August von Mackensen on 9 October of the same year.120 The city was liberated by Serbian and French troops on 1 November 1918, under the command of Marshal Louis Franchet d'Espèrey of France and Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia.121 Belgrade, devastated as a front-line city, lost the title of largest city in the Kingdom to Subotica for some time.[77]122

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

After the war, Belgrade became the capital of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.123 The Kingdom was split into banovinas and Belgrade, together with Zemun and Pančevo, formed a separate administrative unit.[78]124 During this period, the city experienced fast growth and significant modernisation.125 Belgrade's population grew to 239,000 by 1931 (with the inclusion of Zemun), and to 320,000 by 1940.126 The population growth rate between 1921 and 1948 averaged 4.08% a year.[79]127

In 1927, Belgrade's first airport opened, and in 1929, its first radio station began broadcasting.128 The Pančevo Bridge, which crosses the Danube, was opened in 1935,[80] while King Alexander Bridge over the Sava was opened in 1934.129 On 3 September 1939 the first Belgrade Grand Prix, the last Grand Prix motor racing race before the outbreak of World War II, was held around the Belgrade Fortress and was followed by 80,000 spectators.[81]130 The winner was Tazio Nuvolari.[82]131

World War II

On 25 March 1941, the government of regent Crown Prince Paul signed the Tripartite Pact, joining the Axis powers in an effort to stay out of the Second World War and keep Yugoslavia neutral during the conflict.132 This was immediately followed by mass protests in Belgrade and a military coup d'état led by Air Force commander General Dušan Simović, who proclaimed King Peter II to be of age to rule the realm.133 As a result, the city was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe on 6 April 1941, killing up to 2,274 people.[83][84][85]134 Yugoslavia was then invaded by German, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces.135 Belgrade was captured by subterfuge, with six German soldiers led by their officer Fritz Klingenberg feigning threatening size, forcing the city to capitulate.136

[86] Belgrade was more directly occupied by the German Army in the same month and became the seat of the puppet Nedić regime, headed by its namesake general.[87]137 Some of today's parts of Belgrade were incorporated in the Independent State of Croatia in occupied Yugoslavia, another puppet state, where Ustashe regime carried out the Genocide of Serbs.[88]138

During the summer and autumn of 1941, in reprisal for guerrilla attacks, the Germans carried out several massacres of Belgrade citizens; in particular, members of the Jewish community were subject to mass shootings at the order of General Franz Böhme, the German Military Governor of Serbia.139 Böhme rigorously enforced the rule that for every German killed, 100 Serbs or Jews would be shot.[89]140 Belgrade became the first city in Europe to be declared by the Nazi occupation forces to be judenfrei.[90]141 The resistance movement in Belgrade was led by Major Žarko Todorović from 1941 until his arrest in 1943.[91]142

Just like Rotterdam, which was devastated twice by both German and Allied bombing, Belgrade was bombed once more during World War II, this time by the Allies on 16 April 1944, killing at least 1,100 people.143 This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.[92]144 Most of the city remained under German occupation until 20 October 1944, when it was liberated by the Red Army and the Communist Yugoslav Partisans.145

On 29 November 1945, Marshal Josip Broz Tito proclaimed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in Belgrade (later renamed to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 7 April 1963).[93]146

Socialist Yugoslavia

When the war ended, the city was left with 11,500 demolished housing units.[94]147 During the post-war period, Belgrade grew rapidly as the capital of the renewed Yugoslavia, developing as a major industrial centre.[73]148

In 1948, construction of New Belgrade started.149 In the late 1940s and 1950s, the new regime made a point of rebuilding Belgrade in a modernistic style inspired by Le Corbusier to show that Yugoslavia was in the forefront of progress.[95]150 In 1958, Belgrade's first television station began broadcasting.151 In 1961, Belgrade hosted the first and founding conference of the Non-Aligned Movement under Tito's chairmanship.[96]152 In 1962, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport was built.153 In the 1960s, a number of prestige buildings were put up such as the parliament building, the Ušće Towers which served as the headquarters for the Central Committee of the League of Communists, and the Hotel Jugoslavija.[95]154 An American journalist from the Washington Post newspaper wrote in 1967: "Belgrade is a lively, frivolous, noisy, jam-packed city compared with the one I remember from twenty years ago".[95]155 In 1964, Tito embarked upon the policy of "market socialism" that allowed capitalism to co-exist with communism.156 As a result, Western visitors to Belgrade in the late 1960s were astonished to see that the main streets were dominated by gigantic and garish billboards promoting Western brands such as Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, Siemens and Pan Am, giving Belgrade a very Western feel.[95]157 Likewise, the Belgradians in the 1960s were described as dressed very much in fashionable Western styles with visitors noting that many women had an obsession with having their hair bleached blonde.[95]158 The German historian Marie-Jannine Calic wrote that in the 1960s Belgrade "a vibrant hustle and bustle prevailed in the streets, squares, and numerous cafes."[95]159 She also noted that the core of Belgrade had a very modern look, but that "along the mighty boulevards huddled pathetic little stores selling cloth, metal goods and dishware next to the dingy workshops of shoemakers, silversmiths and candle makers".[97]160 On the periphery of Belgrade, there was a semi-rural feel as chickens and cows wandered about the streets while the people lived in dire poverty, making their living as peddlers, wandering musicians, rag pickers, panhandlers, shoe shiners, scissor grinders, casual laborers and other marginal occupations.[97]161 In 1968, major student protests led to several street clashes between students and the police.[98]162

By 1969, the population of Belgrade passed the one million mark for the first time.[99]163 The population increase was largely due to people moving from rural areas to Belgrade as it was estimated in 1969 that two of three Belgradians had been born in the countryside.[99]164 The population increase in the 1960s imposed serious social strains as more people were moving to Belgrade faster than the pace of housing construction, leading a housing crisis.[97]165 The 1961 Yugoslav census showed that an average of 2.5 people lived per one room in Belgrade compared to the average of 1.6 people per room in the rest of Yugoslavia.[97]166 In 1965, it was estimated that there was a shortage of 50,000 housing units in Belgrade, which led to many people to make illegal makeshift homes in shops, basements, laundry rooms and even elevator shafts while on the periphery of Belgrade people built wooden huts and cottages.[97]167 The mayor of Belgrade, Branko Pešić, told a journalist in 1965: "In the last seven or eight years, 20,000 to 30,000 people have come to Belgrade each year.168 That equals an entire small town...169 And all of these people find shelter somewhere, hole up someplace.170 Some get an apartment, but that is the smallest percentage of them.171 A great number are forced...to house in basement, in unhygienic apartments and barracks.172 And whoever has not yet seen this should definitely see what this looks like...173 Something like this doesn't even exist in Africa".[97]174

In 1972, Belgrade faced a smallpox outbreak, the last major outbreak of smallpox in Europe since World War II.[100]175 Between October 1977 and March 1978, the city hosted the first major gathering of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe with the aim of implementing the Helsinki Accords from, while in 1980 Belgrade hosted the UNESCO General Conference.[101]176 Josip Broz Tito died in May 1980 and his funeral in Belgrade was attended by high officials and state delegations from 128 of the 154 members of the United Nations from all over the world, based on which it became one of the largest funerals in history.[102]177

Breakup of Yugoslavia

On 9 March 1991, massive demonstrations led by Vuk Drašković were held in the city against Slobodan Milošević.[103]178 According to various media outlets, there were between 100,000 and 150,000 people on the streets.[104]179 Two people were killed, 203 were injured and 108 were arrested during the protests, and later that day tanks were deployed onto the streets to restore order.[105]180 Many anti-war protests were held in Belgrade, with the largest protests being dedicated to solidarity with the victims from the besieged Sarajevo.[106][107]181 Further anti-government protests were held in Belgrade from November 1996 to February 1997 against the same government after alleged electoral fraud in local elections.[108]182 These protests brought Zoran Đinđić to power, the first mayor of Belgrade since World War II who did not belong to the League of Communists of Yugoslavia or its later offshoot, the Socialist Party of Serbia.[109]183

In 1999, during the Kosovo War, the NATO bombing campaign targeted a number of buildings in Belgrade.184 Among the sites bombed were some ministry buildings, the RTS building, hospitals, Hotel Jugoslavija, the Central Committee building, Avala Tower, and the Chinese embassy.[110]185 Between 500[111] and 2,000 civilians[112] were killed in Serbia and Montenegro as a result of the NATO bombings, of which 27 were killed in Belgrade.[113]186 After the Yugoslav Wars, Serbia became home to the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in Europe, with more than a third of these refugees having settled in Belgrade.[114][115][116][117]187