Serbian Armed Forces

Serbia has a long military tradition dating to early medieval period. The Serbian Revolution of 1804 started with the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman occupation of Serbia. The victories in the battles of Ivankovac (1805), Mišar (August 1806), Deligrad (December 1806) and Belgrade (November–December 1806), led to the establishment of the Principality of Serbia in 1817. The subsequent Second Serbian Uprising of 1815–1817 led to full independence and recognition of the Kingdom of Serbia and weakened the Ottoman dominance in the Balkans. In November 1885 the Serbo-Bulgarian War occurred following Bulgarian unification and resulted in a Bulgarian victory. In 1912 the First Balkan War (1912–1913) erupted between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria). Balkan League victories in the Battle of Kumanovo (October 1912), the Battle of Prilep (November 1912), the Battle of Monastir (November 1912), the Battle of Adrianople (November 1912 to March 1913), and the Siege of Scutari (October 1912 to April 1913) resulted in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which lost most of its remaining Balkan territories per the Treaty of London (May 1913). Shortly after, the Second Balkan War (June to August, 1913) broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with the division of territory, declared war against its former allies, Serbia and Greece. Following a string of defeats, Bulgaria requested an armistice and signed the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest, formally ending the war.

Serbia's independence and growing influence threatened neighboring Austria-Hungary which led to the Bosnian crisis of 1908–09. Consequently, from 1901, all Serbian males between the ages of 21 to 46 became liable for general mobilization.[7] Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914, Austria-Hungary implicated Serbians and declared war on Serbia (July 1914), which marked the beginning of the First World War of 1914–1918. Serbian forces repelled three consecutive invasions by Austria in 1914, securing the first major victories of the war for the Allies, but were eventually overwhelmed by the combined forces of the Central Powers (October–November 1915) and forced to retreat through Albania (1915–1916) to the Greek island of Corfu (1915–1916).

Serbian military activity after World War I took place in the context of various Yugoslav armies until the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the restoration of the state of Serbia as a separate independent republic in 2006.

The Serbian Armed Forces are commanded by the General Staff corp of senior officers. The general staff is led by the Chief of the General Staff. The chief of the general staff is appointed by the President who is the Commander-in-Chief. The current Chief of the General Staff is General Milan Mojsilović.

The armed forces are formally a part of the Ministry of Defence. The current Minister of Defence is Nebojša Stefanović.[8]

Organization of Serbian Armed Forces

The armed forces consist of the following service branches:

As General Staff comprises various sections there are specific units that directly subordinate to the Staff such as,[9][10]

• Central Logistics Base
• Signal Brigade
• 224th Electronic Warfare Center
• Cobras — MP Special Operations Detachment
• Criminal Investigative Group
• Peacekeeping Operations Center
• 72nd Brigade for Special operations
• 63rd Parachute Brigade

The comprehensive list of equipment is given in Equipment of the Serbian Armed Forces. It includes most of equipment in use and plans for modernization.

Example of high-stepping in a military parade in Belgrade.

The Serbian military was the first to pioneer the high-step as a military step. It is similar to the goose step, with the difference being that the knee is bent at the top of the arc. It originates from the Royal Yugoslav Army and at the time was called the male step. The Yugoslav People's Army abandoned it after World War II, being in use for over two decades before being replaced by high-stepping in the 1975 Victory Day Parade, to assert himself as independent from Soviet influence in the eyes of the Non-Aligned Movement. High-stepping is still used today in Serbia, and is also utilized by the militaries of North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Serbian Armed Forces actively take part in several multinational peacekeeping missions.[3]

Country	Mission	Number of personnel
Cyprus	UNFICYP	1 staff officer, 2 observers, 6 non-commissioned officers and 37 infantry
Central African Republic	MINUSCA	3 staff officers, 2 observers, 68 medical infantry
Central African Republic	EUTM RCA	7 medical infantry
DR Congo	MONUC	2 staff officers, 2 doctors and 4 technicians
Lebanon	UNIFIL	8 staff officers, 5 national support element and 164 infantry
Liberia	UNMIL	1 officer as military observers
Mali	EUTM Mali	3 medical infantry
Middle East	UNTSO	2 officers
Somalia	EUTM Somalia	Medical Corps team including 1 staff officer, 1 doctor and 3 medical technicians
Somalia	EUNAVFOR	4 OHQ staff officers, 1 OHQ non-commissioned officer, 2 FHQ staff officers and 12 members of AVPD

• Military history of Serbia
• Military of Serbia Civil Services
• Military ranks of Serbia
• Military Security Agency (VBA)
• Military Intelligence Agency (VOA)
• Joint Operations Command (JOC)
• Peacekeeping Operations Center (PKOC)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Military of Serbia.

• Official website
• Ministry of Defence
• Official recruitment site