The Serbian people have continually assumed that in every century they would again find it necessary to defend their rights to their land, self-determination, and freedom of worship. History in the Balkans continuously repeats itself. After the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, historical data reveals that in 1690, 185,000 Serbs were forced from Kosovo and, again, an equal number were exiled in 1737. After the Congress of Berlin, in 1872, 150,000 Serbs were expelled from Kosovo. This ongoing trend took on tragic proportions following the war in Crete between Turkey and Greece in 1897. Diplomatic efforts to stem the tide of atrocities against Serbs were useless, but documentation remains to testify to the crimes committed against the Serbian population. Serbs, but Montenegrins, Bulgarians, and Greeks to liberate their people from centuries of uninterrupted aggression fought not only the Balkan war of 1912. The situation is little changed today. Truly, history repeats itself.
