Editing Kosovo (section)

==== Rise of nationalism ====

[[File:Qendra historike e Prizrenitaa.jpg|thumb|right|The city of [[Prizren]] was the cultural and intellectual centre of Kosovo during the Ottoman period in the Middle Ages and is now the historic capital of Kosovo.]]

In the 19th century, there was an [[Rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire|awakening]] of [[ethnic nationalism]] throughout the Balkans. The underlying ethnic tensions became part of a broader struggle of Christian Serbs against Muslim Albanians.<ref name="prospect-magazine.co.uk"/> The ethnic [[National Renaissance of Albania|Albanian nationalism]] movement was centred in Kosovo. In 1878 the [[League of Prizren]] ({{lang|sq|Lidhja e Prizrenit}}) was formed, a political organisation that sought to unify all the Albanians of the Ottoman Empire in a common struggle for autonomy and greater cultural rights,<ref>''Kosovo: What Everyone Needs to Know'' by Tim Judah, Publisher [[Oxford University Press]], US, 2008 {{ISBN|0-19-537673-0|978-0-19-537673-9}} p. 36</ref> although they generally desired the continuation of the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="Cirkovic. p. 244">Cirkovic. p. 244.</ref> The League was dis-established in 1881 but enabled the awakening of a [[nation|national identity]] among Albanians,<ref>George Gawlrych, ''The Crescent and the Eagle,'' (Palgrave/Macmillan, London, 2006), {{ISBN|1-84511-287-3}}</ref> whose ambitions competed with those of the Serbs, the [[Kingdom of Serbia]] wishing to incorporate this land that had formerly been within its empire.

The modern Albanian-Serbian conflict has its roots in the [[Expulsion of the Albanians 1877–1878|expulsion of the Albanians in 1877–1878]] from areas that became incorporated into the [[Principality of Serbia]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Frantz|first=Eva Anne |title= Violence and its Impact on Loyalty and Identity Formation in Late Ottoman Kosovo: Muslims and Christians in a Period of Reform and Transformation |journal= Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs |volume=29 |issue=4 |year=2009 |pages=460–461 |doi=10.1080/13602000903411366|s2cid=143499467}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Müller|first=Dietmar|title=Orientalism and Nation: Jews and Muslims as Alterity in Southeastern Europe in the Age of Nation-States, 1878–1941|journal=East Central Europe|volume=36|issue=1|year=2009|page=70|doi=10.1163/187633009x411485}}</ref> During and after the [[Serbian–Ottoman War (1876–78)|Serbian–Ottoman War of 1876–78]], between 30,000 and 70,000 Muslims, mostly Albanians, were expelled by the [[Armed forces of the Principality of Serbia|Serb army]] from the [[Sanjak of Niš]] and fled to the [[Kosovo Vilayet]].<ref>Pllana, Emin (1985). "Les raisons de la manière de l'exode des refugies albanais du territoire du sandjak de Nish a Kosove (1878–1878) [The reasons for the manner of the exodus of Albanian refugees from the territory of the Sanjak of Niš to Kosovo (1878–1878)] ". ''Studia Albanica''. '''1''': 189–190.</ref><ref>Rizaj, Skënder (1981). "Nënte Dokumente angleze mbi Lidhjen Shqiptare të Prizrenit (1878–1880) [Nine English documents about the League of Prizren (1878–1880)]". ''Gjurmine Albanologjike (Seria e Shkencave Historike)''. '''10''': 198.</ref><ref>Şimşir, Bilal N, (1968). ''Rumeli'den Türk göçleri. Emigrations turques des Balkans [Turkish emigrations from the Balkans]''. Vol I. Belgeler-Documents. p. 737.</ref><ref name=Batakovic1992>{{cite book|last=Bataković|first=Dušan|title=The Kosovo Chronicles|year=1992|publisher=Plato|url=http://www.rastko.rs/kosovo/istorija/kosovo_chronicles/kc_part2b.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226174611/http://www.rastko.rs/kosovo/istorija/kosovo_chronicles/kc_part2b.html|archive-date=26 December 2016}}</ref><ref name=Elsie2010>{{cite book|last=Elsie|first=Robert|title=Historical Dictionary of Kosovo|year=2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-333-66612-8|page=xxxii}}</ref><ref>Stefanović, Djordje (2005). "Seeing the Albanians through Serbian eyes: The Inventors of the Tradition of Intolerance and their Critics, 1804–1939." ''European History Quarterly''. '''35'''. (3): 470.</ref> According to Austrian data, by the 1890s Kosovo was 70% Muslim (nearly entirely of Albanian descent) and less than 30% non-Muslim (primarily Serbs).<ref name="Cohen" /> In May 1901, Albanians pillaged and partially burned the cities of [[Novi Pazar]], [[Sjenica]] and Pristina, and [[Violence against Serbs during the late Ottoman era|killed many Serbs]] near Pristina and in Kolašin (now North Kosovo).<ref name=King-Mason-30>{{cite book|author1=Iain King|author2=Whit Mason|title=Peace at Any Price: How the World Failed Kosovo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9m3Hp2OevdUC&pg=PA30|year=2006|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-4539-2|page=30|access-date=7 October 2018|archive-date=9 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109150705/https://books.google.com/books?id=9m3Hp2OevdUC&pg=PA30|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Skendi |first1=Stavro |title=The Albanian National Awakening |date=2015 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-4776-1 |page=201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8QPWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA201 |access-date=28 July 2021 |archive-date=28 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728220204/https://books.google.com/books?id=8QPWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA201 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Serbia1913.png|thumb|left| Division of [[Kosovo vilayet]] between the [[Kingdom of Serbia]] (''yellow'') and the [[Kingdom of Montenegro]] (''green'') following the [[Balkan Wars]] 1913.]]
In the spring of 1912, Albanians under the lead of [[Hasan Prishtina]] [[Albanian revolt of 1912|revolted]] against the Ottoman Empire. The rebels were joined by a wave of Albanians in the [[Ottoman army]] ranks, who deserted the army, refusing to fight their own kin. The rebels defeated the Ottomans and the latter were forced to accept all fourteen demands of the rebels, which foresaw an effective autonomy for the Albanians living in the Empire.{{sfn|Malcolm|1998|p=246-248}} However, this autonomy never materialised, and the revolt created serious weaknesses in the Ottoman ranks, luring [[Kingdom of Montenegro|Montenegro]], [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]], [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], and [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]] into declaring war on the Ottoman Empire and starting the [[First Balkan War]].

After the Ottomans' defeat in the [[First Balkan War]], the [[Treaty of London (1913)|1913 Treaty of London]] was signed with Metohija ceded to the [[Kingdom of Montenegro]] and eastern Kosovo ceded to the [[Kingdom of Serbia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos145.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970501052336/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos145.htm|archive-date=1 May 1997 |title=Treaty of London, 1913 |publisher=Mtholyoke.edu |access-date=6 November 2011}}</ref> During the [[Balkan Wars]], over 100,000 Albanians left Kosovo and about 50,000 were killed in the [[Massacres of Albanians in the Balkan Wars|massacres]] that accompanied the war.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Malcolm|first=Noel|date=1999|title=Kosovo – A Short History|journal=Verfassung in Recht und Übersee|volume=32|issue=3|pages=422–423|doi=10.5771/0506-7286-1999-3-422|issn=0506-7286|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Aggression Against Yugoslavia Correspondence |date=2000 |publisher=Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade |isbn=978-86-80763-91-0 |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cEEmAQAAIAAJ&q=freundlich |access-date=29 April 2020 |language=en |archive-date=30 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930144245/https://books.google.com/books?id=cEEmAQAAIAAJ&q=freundlich |url-status=live }}</ref> Soon, there were concerted [[Yugoslav colonization of Kosovo|Serbian colonisation efforts]] in Kosovo during various periods between Serbia's 1912 takeover of the province and [[World War&nbsp;II]], causing the population of Serbs in Kosovo to grow by about 58,000 in this period.{{sfn|Malcolm|1998|p=279}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pavlović|first=Aleksandar|title=Prostorni raspored Srba i Crnogoraca kolonizovanih na Kosovo i Metohiju u periodu između 1918. i 1941. godine|url=http://scindeks-clanci.nb.rs/data/pdf/0353-9008/2008/0353-90080824231P.pdf|journal=Baština|volume=24|year=2008|page=235|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826204541/http://scindeks-clanci.nb.rs/data/pdf/0353-9008/2008/0353-90080824231P.pdf|archive-date=26 August 2011}}</ref>

Serbian authorities promoted creating new Serb settlements in Kosovo as well as the assimilation of Albanians into Serbian society, causing a mass exodus of Albanians from Kosovo.<ref name = "Schabnel 2001 20">Schabnel, Albrecht; Thakur, Ramesh (eds). Kosovo and the Challenge of Humanitarian Intervention: Selective Indignation, [[Collective action]], and International Citizenship. New York: The United Nations University, 2001. p. 20.</ref> The figures of Albanians forcefully expelled from Kosovo range between 60,000 and 239,807, while Malcolm mentions 100,000–120,000. In combination with the politics of extermination and expulsion, there was also a process of assimilation through religious conversion of Albanian Muslims and Albanian Catholics into the Serbian Orthodox religion which took place as early as 1912. These politics seem to have been inspired by the nationalist ideologies of [[Ilija Garašanin]] and [[Jovan Cvijić]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=I. Mehmeti |first1=Leandrit |last2=Radeljic |first2=Branislav |title=Kosovo and Serbia: Contested Options and Shared Consequences |date=24 March 2017 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh |pages=63–64 |isbn=978-0-8229-4469-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWMqDwAAQBAJ |access-date=8 December 2021 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307171432/https://books.google.com/books?id=IWMqDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the winter of 1915–16, during [[World War I]], Kosovo saw the retreat of the Serbian army as Kosovo was occupied by [[Bulgaria]] and [[Austria-Hungary]]. In 1918, the [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]] pushed the [[Central Powers]] out of Kosovo.
 	
[[File:Germans in Kosovska Mitrovica.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|German soldiers set fire to a Serbian village near [[Mitrovica, Kosovo|Mitrovica]], circa 1941]]

A new administration system since 26 April 1922 split Kosovo among three districts ([[oblast]]) of the Kingdom: Kosovo, Raška and Zeta. In 1929, the country was transformed into the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] and the territories of Kosovo were reorganised among the [[Zeta Banovina|Banate of Zeta]], the [[Morava Banovina|Banate of Morava]] and the [[Banate of Vardar]]. In order to change the [[Demographics of Kosovo|ethnic composition of Kosovo]], between 1912 and 1941 a [[Colonisation of Kosovo|large-scale Serbian colonisation of Kosovo]] was undertaken by the Belgrade government. Kosovar Albanians' right to receive education in their own language [[Persecution of Albanians in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia|was denied]] alongside other non-Slavic or unrecognised Slavic nations of Yugoslavia, as the kingdom only recognised the Slavic Croat, Serb, and Slovene nations as constituent nations of Yugoslavia. Other Slavs had to identify as one of the three official Slavic nations and non-Slav nations deemed as minorities.<ref name = "Schabnel 2001 20"/>

Albanians and other [[Muslims]] were forced to emigrate, mainly with the land reform which struck Albanian landowners in 1919, but also with direct violent measures.<ref name="daskalovski">Daskalovski, Židas. Claims to Kosovo: Nationalism and [[Self-determination]]. In: Florian Bieber & Zidas Daskalovski (eds.), ''Understanding the War in Kosovo''. L.: Frank Cass, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7146-5391-8}}. pp. 13–30.</ref>{{sfn|Malcolm|1998|p=}} In 1935 and 1938, two agreements between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Turkey were signed on the expatriation of 240,000 Albanians to Turkey, but the expatriation did not occur due to the outbreak of [[World War II]].<ref>Ramet, Sabrina P. The Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Ends: Kosovo in Serbian Perception. In Mary Buckley & Sally N. Cummings (eds.), ''Kosovo: Perceptions of War and Its Aftermath''. L.&nbsp;– N.Y.: Continuum Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-8264-5670-7}}. pp. 30–46.</ref>

After the [[Axis invasion of Yugoslavia]] in 1941, most of Kosovo was assigned to Italian-controlled Albania, and the rest was controlled by Germany and Bulgaria. A three-dimensional conflict ensued, involving inter-ethnic, ideological, and international affiliations.{{sfn|Malcolm|1998|p=312}} Albanian collaborators persecuted Serb and Montenegrin settlers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bieber |first1=Florian |last2=Daskalovski |first2=Zidas |title=Understanding the War in Kosovo |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-76155-4 |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6OiQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |access-date=19 November 2021 |archive-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119180548/https://books.google.com/books?id=6OiQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |url-status=live}}</ref> Estimates differ, but most authors estimate that between 3,000 and 10,000 Serbs and Montenegrins [[Massacres of Kosovo Serbs in WWII|died in Kosovo during the Second World War]]. Another 30,000 to 40,000, or as high as 100,000, Serbs and Montenegrins, mainly settlers, were deported to Serbia in order to [[Albanianise]] Kosovo.{{sfn|Malcolm|1998|p=312}}<ref name="Ramet2006" /> A decree from Yugoslav leader [[Josip Broz Tito]], followed by a new law in August 1945 disallowed the return of colonists who had taken land from Albanian peasants.{{sfn|Malcolm|1998|p=317-318}} During the war years, some Serbs and Montenegrins were sent to concentration camps in Pristina and Mitrovica.<ref name="Ramet2006">{{cite book |last1=Ramet |first1=Sabrina P. |title=The Three Yugoslavias: State-building and Legitimation, 1918–2005 |date=2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-34656-8 |pages=114, 141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTw3lEqi2-oC&pg=PA114 |access-date=19 November 2021 |archive-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119180549/https://books.google.com/books?id=FTw3lEqi2-oC&pg=PA114 |url-status=live}}</ref> Nonetheless, these conflicts were relatively low-level compared with other areas of Yugoslavia during the war years. Two Serb historians also estimate that 12,000 Albanians died.{{sfn|Malcolm|1998|p=312}} An official investigation conducted by the Yugoslav government in 1964 recorded nearly 8,000 war-related fatalities in Kosovo between 1941 and 1945, 5,489 of them Serb or Montenegrin and 2,177 Albanian.<ref>{{cite book|last = Frank|first = Chaim|editor1-last = Petersen|editor1-first = Hans-Christian|editor2-last = Salzborn|editor2-first = Samuel|year = 2010|title = Antisemitism in Eastern Europe: History and Present in Comparison|publisher = Peter Lang|location = [[Bern]]|isbn=978-3-631-59828-3|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=k6sqlTGHpsAC|pages = 97–98|url-status=live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151016003257/https://books.google.com/books?id=k6sqlTGHpsAC|archive-date = 16 October 2015|df = dmy-all}}</ref> Some sources note that up to 72,000 individuals were encouraged to settle or resettle into Kosovo from Albania by the short-lived Italian administration.<ref>{{Citation|last=Vickers|first=Miranda|title=Between Serb and Albanian: a history of Kosovo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S41pAAAAMAAJ&q=%22encouraged+an+extensive%22|year=1998|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1-85065-278-6|quote=The Italian occupation force encouraged an extensive settlement programme involving up to 72,000 Albanians from Albania in Kosovo|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304215008/https://books.google.rs/books?id=S41pAAAAMAAJ&q=%22encouraged+an+extensive%22|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="Ramet2006" /> As the regime collapsed, this was never materialised with historians and contemporary references emphasising that a large-scale migration of Albanians from Albania to Kosovo is not recorded in Axis documents.{{sfn|Malcolm|1998|pp=312–313}}
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