ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the role of memories for the entry into international society, and sketches Serbia's medieval history within the Byzantine system of states in order to set the historical context. It discusses how the key medieval memories were implicated in Serbia's stance towards the European society of states during the 19th century. The chapter then analyses to the Yugoslav period and beyond, suggesting that the medieval memories still complicate Serbia's struggle for recognition and position in international society. The first "Serbian" polity was founded in the Raška region at the border between what presently constitutes Serbia and Montenegro in the 9th century. The French Revolution and the ensuing Napoleonic wars in Europe created both the ideological fuel and the susceptible geopolitical environment for national "awakening" of Christians living under the rule of the Ottomans. In the wake of the First World War, Serbia's intellectuals were divided between the ideals of Greater Serbia and Yugoslavism.
