Brief History of Belgrade

My group was assigned to plan for the city of Belgrade, Serbia, so I decided to provide a condensed history of the city so all could be familiar with its origins!  If you would like to view a 5 minute youtube video with a visual guide to the city's history, view this link:

Disclaimer: the voice on the video is automated and incredible annoying! 

One key takeaway from my readings is that Belgrade is an incredibly old city, one of the oldest permanent human settlements in the world!  The area was first settled during the Neolithic era around 8000 years ago!  The region around Belgrade was heavily valued because of the intersection of two large rivers (Sava and Danube) and the intersection of the Panonian valley and nearby mountain chains.  This geographic desirability has made Belgrade highly attractive to many nations across the centuries.  

The oldest known reference to the city itself came from the Greek writer Hesiodus in the 6th century BC.  In the 3rd century BC, the city was given the name "Singidunum" and served as a stronghold for the Celts.  Since this time, the city has seen much conflict and much bloodshed.    

Due to the strategic location of the Balkans between the Orient and the Occident, many great powers have competed for power and fought battles over Belgrade.  In the recorded history of the city, it has been completely razed more than 40 times and has changed rulers more than 60 times.  These two numbers were very easy to glance over without second thought, but try putting those numbers into context.  Imagine a city closer to home, say Atlanta.  Try to imagine the city of Atlanta being completely demolished and rebuilt over 40 times and swapping ownership between 60 different countries.  It is hardly fathomable!  In Belgrade's history, it has been owned and occupied by the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Huns, Samartians, Slavs, Goths, Bulgarians, Russians, Turks, Germans, and Austrians (to name a few).  

Through all of the turmoil in being conquered, the city was never given the opportunity to truly prosper.  However, the city started to grow at a fast rate after the Turks left Belgrade in 1867.  Population continued to grow quickly until the city was demolished in WWI and WWII.  Since then, the population has grown to around 1.7M citizens and represents more than 1/4 of the population of Serbia.  

I am very excited to visit the city to better understand its tumultuous past.  Moving forward, I want to continu to study the history of conflicts in the medieval period to better understand why this city changed ownership so frequently!

Frederick Grimm