Serbophilia

Serbophilia () is the admiration, appreciation and/or emulation of a non-Serbian person who expresses a strong interest, positive predisposition or appreciation for the Serbs, Serbia, Republika Srpska, Serbian language, culture or history. Its opposite is Serbophobia.

History

20th century

World War I

During World War I, Serbophilia was present in western countries.

Breakup of Yugoslavia

Political scientist Sabrina P. Ramet writes that Serbophilia in France during the 1990s was "traditional", partly as a response to the closeness between Germany and Croatia. Business ties continued during the war and fostered a desire for economic normalization.

Serbophiles

• Jacob Grimm — German philologist, jurist and mythologist. Learnt Serbian in order to read Serbian epic poetry.
• Archibald Reiss — German-Swiss publicist, chemist, forensic scientist, a professor at the University of Lausanne.
• Victor Hugo — French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. Hugo wrote the speech Pour la Serbie.
• Alphonse de Lamartine — French author, poet, and statesman.
• Helen of Anjou — French noblewoman who became queen consort of the Serbian Kingdom.
• Mircea I and Vlad III Dracula
• Several notable composers used motifs from Serbian folk music and composed works inspired by Serbian history or culture, such as:
• Johannes Brahms— German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period.
• Franz Liszt — Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, and organist of the Romantic era.
• Arthur Rubinstein — Polish-American classical pianist.
• Antonín Dvořák — Czech composer, one of the first to achieve worldwide recognition.
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Russian composer of the Romantic period (See Serbo-Russian March).
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov — Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five (See Fantasy on Serbian Themes).
• Franz Schubert — Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
• Hans Huber — Swiss composer. Between 1894 and 1918, he composed five operas.
• Rebecca West (1892–1983) — British travel writer. Was described by American media as having a pro-Serbian stance.
• Flora Sandes — British Irish volunteer in World War I.
• Ruth Mitchell — American volunteer in the Chetniks, World War II. Sister of Billy Mitchell.
• Richard Grenell — American diplomat, public official, and Trump administration official.
• Robert De Niro — American actor
• Johnny Depp — American actor and musician
• John Challis — English actor best known for portraying Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the BBC Television sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003) and its sequel/spin-off The Green Green Grass (2005–2009)
• Peter Handke — Austrian novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize winner. Supported Serbia in the Yugoslav Wars.
• Eduard Limonov — Russian writer and poet.
• Ángel Pulido — Spanish physician, publicist and politician, who stood out as prominent philosephardite during the Restoration
• Essad Pasha Toptani — Ottoman Albanian politician.
• Anna Dandolo— Venetian noblewoman who became Queen of Serbia.
• Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic — Polish poet and historian of the Baroque era.
• Adam Jerzy Czartoryski — Polish nobleman, statesman, diplomat and author.
• Pavel Jozef Å afárik — Slovak philologist, poet, literary historian, historian and ethnographer in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was one of the first scientific Slavistics.
• Ján Kollár — Slovak writer (mainly poet), archaeologist, scientist, politician, and main ideologist of Pan-Slavism.
• Ľudovít Å túr — Slovak revolutionary politician and writer.
• Henry Bax-Ironside — British diplomat.
• Eleftherios Venizelos — Greek statesman and a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement.
• Dimitrios Karatasos — Greek armatolos who participated in the Greek War of Independence, and several other rebellions, seeking to liberate his native Greek Macedonia.
• Herbert Vivian — British journalist and author of Servia: The Poor Man's Paradise and The Servian Tragedy: With Some Impressions of Macedonia.
• Alexander Kolchak — Imperial Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer.
• Yu Hua — Chinese author.
• FrantiÅ¡ek Zach — Czech soldier and military theorist.
• Viktor Orbán - Prime Minister of Hungary.

Gallery

See also

• Serbian nationalism
• Slavophilia
• Greece–Serbia relations

References

Sources

• Sells, David (1997). Serb 'Demons' Strike Back (Royal Institute of International Affairs) Vol. 53, No. 2

External links