Serbia

Serbia was a historic human nation located in the Balkan region of Southeastern Europe on Earth in the Sol System.

Serbia had once been an independent kingdom, but the area had been conquered by the Ottoman Empire from the 14th century. The Serbian Revolution in the early 19th century led to Serbia's eventual independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1867. Serbia then greatly enlarged its territory through engagement in the First and Second Balkan Wars.

Although tensions between the great powers had been growing for some time beforehand, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, by a Serb nationalist during a visit to Sarajevo in 1914 is considered to be the most immediate cause of the Great War. The political objective of the assassination was to break the southern Slav provinces off from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and establish a "greater Serbia". The Austro-Hungarian Empire soon declared war on Serbia. The Russian Empire, which had guaranteed Serbia's security, responded by declaring war on Austria-Hungary. Many other European great powers then declared war against each other, greatly and rapidly expanding the scope of the conflict.

Despite the role of Serb nationalists in starting the war, Serbia was never targeted in the orbital strikes which led to the destruction of much of Europe in 1916.

After the Great War the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed, with the south Slavic provinces of Austria-Hungary breaking off from the empire to form the Yugoslav Federation along with Serbia.

Serbia continued to exist as a state within the Yugoslav Federation. Yugoslavia eventually became a member state of the European Union, which went on to form the United Commonwealth. In 1988 the United Commonwealth was federalised, and Serbia is largely regarded to have ceased to exist as a political entity on this date.