ABSTRACT
Victory in the Balkan Wars and the peace treaties after World War I allowed the political elite of Serbia to realize one of its deep-seating wishes, the reclamation of Kosovo and Macedonia from the Ottomans. In Serbian mental maps, this was so-called Old Serbia, since this region had been part of the medieval Serbian state and played an outstanding role as place of memory in the national historical consciousness. Following the proclamation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in 1918, the “new regions” were incorporated as an “historical province of South Serbia” encompassing Macedonia, Kosovo, Metohija, Sanjak, and eastern Montenegro. However, despite its huge symbolic meaning, “South Serbia” had no special legal standing.
