You are the one who claimed that Serbia didn’t exist before 1912. As pointed out above, it existed since the Serbs moved into the Roman province of Upper Moesia, which included the territory now called Kosovo in the seventh century and established a state that had a central government and borders. That was before there was a state called Albania. The Albanian tribes were part of the Illyrian people at the time and did not occupy what is now Kosovo.
What is now Albania was a part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and Greece. It was a group of ethnic tribes that warred among themselves rather than a state such as Serbia or Bulgaria. It wasn’t until 1246 that Albania became a state called the Albanian Kingdom, a country that only lasted until 1336, and never included present day Kosovo.
You may not know it, but the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, no longer exist. Serbia occupies territory that once was part of the Roman Empire, and was occupied by the Ottoman Empire and by Osmanli, but since those countries no longer exists and Serbia is still there, the land is Serbian. You can’t claim they are occupying Roman Empire or Ottoman Empire or Osmanli territory. You would have to say that Albania is occupying their territory too since they were part of those long gone countries too.
Just because Serbia was occupied by Ottoman Turks and later by Osmanli does not mean it stopped existing. The Serbs fought these occupations and became free again in 1878 a situation recognized by the countries of the world and formalized by the Treaty of Berlin.
Like Norway, Serbia did not cease to exist just because it was occupied by a foreign power. Like the Norwegians, the Serbs resisted the occupation and won back their independence.
There was never a treaty recognized by the majority of countries I the world that recognized Norway as part of the Third Reich.
Some countries that are occupied do indeed cease to exist. Serbia never did. Countries like Courland, Livonia, Navarra, Navarra, Burgundy, Savoy, Lusatia, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Silesia, Bohemia, Wallachia, Podolia, Bavaria, to name a few.
It is no more justifiable to bomb France and force them to recognize an independent Burgundy, or bomb the hell out of Germany and make them recognize an independent, Bavaria, or for France to bomb the U.S. and make us recognize an independent state made up of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, than for the U.S. to bomb the hell out of Serbia, invade them and make them give up Kosovo.
If some country tried that here, you might think it a fine thing to do. I’d be more militant than the Serbs are.
Obviously you have me confused with someone else!
I did ask the question of Christopher Lincoln, to the effect, that just because Norway was occupied did it fail to exist? In other words, occupation does not destroy the existance of a nation.
Please reread #940, I copied you because I believe we agree/