Kosovo Myth and Serbian National Identity: How Defeat Became a Nation's Blueprint
Kosovo as a Defeat That Could Be Repeated The Battle of Kosovo in 1389 mattered less because it ended Serbian sovereignty in one blow than because it offered a date that could be remembered, retold, and ritualized. The Ottoman advance into Serbian lands was gradual, uneven, and full of local bargains. That slow process is historically accurate, but it is hard to turn into identity. A single battle, by contrast, can be carried by memory for centuries. ...