Belgrade
Probably one of the most interesting facts about Belgrade is that it exists at all. In its long history, it has been devastated more than twenty times. The reasons people continued living there is that it ocupies a vital strategic position at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, and lies on the cross roads between east and west. The Celts were the first to settle there, and later the Romans built a city there. The Huns, the Goths and the Avars all possessed it. Finally, it was settled by the Slavs and remained, with interuptions, one of the chief cities of Serbian state, until Turks took it away from the Hungarians in 1521. Numerous battles were fought for it, in and around it. It is not surprising that very few antiquites survive, though it would be much more but for the violent German bombardment in 1941. The NATO bombardment in the spring 1999 had destroyed almost all of the very few authentic buildings, but the city wall, built in 16th century as a protection from Turks, still remains (although in ruins) as one of the major characteristics of Belgrade. Furthermore, Serbia has been through five wars during the last decade, and Belgrade is a true image of a third world capital with the government in a trasition from
Belgrade is self-governed by its citizens. It performs municipal activities as shown below: The City Assembly consists of 110 councillors that were all elected on the latest, after-revolutionar local elections, for a 4-year term in the office. It's major tasks are: enacting the City Statute and determing its changes, the urban development plan, passing City budget and annual balance sheet, founding public services, electing and discharging of the President and vice-president of the Assembly, Excecutive Board, etc. The Excecutive Board puts in action regulations and other enactments of the City Assembly. The City Administration directly implements the City regulations about financing, city planning, public utility and housing affairs, transportation and traffic, public health, eniromental protection, sport, education, culture, etc.. City municipalities are legal entities which perform certain self-government activities, and they are classified as 10 inner-city, and 6 suburban municipalities. (6) Slavonic in origin, Serbs settled around Belgrade during the sixth century AD. This region was dominated by Byzantine empires until the thirteen century. As Byzantium declined, Serbs dominated the Balkans until Turks stopped them. After its crushing defeat at the Battle of Kosovo (The Field of Blackbirds) in 1389, Serbia became an Ottoman vasal state. During the Russo-Turko War and Balkan wars Serbia gained its complete independence. With the end of the WWI, Serbia was setting federation with Croatia and Slovenia, and 1921 the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed with the Serbian King Alexander I. With the conclusion of the WWII, Yugoslav state was formed and was consisted of six republics: Serbia as the most dominant republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro, and two autonomous regions of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Its first president, Marshal Tito, kept the country together for almost a half of century, playing in between communist Russia and captalist America during the Cold War. (4)When in 1898 Milosevic became the president, he revoked the special rights and privilegies of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Slovenia followed by Croatia, and later Macedonia, wanted to excede from the federation. YPA (Yugoslav People's Army) failed to prevent independence of Slovenia in 1991 but in Croatia and Bosnia it intervened in support of ethic Serbian minorities who were opposed to independence. The horrible war broke out, and it became a synonim for ethical cleansing. In 1993 Milosevic was reelected despite the exclusion from UN and sanctions against Belgrade (5). In 1999 the war broke out between Yugoslav security forces and Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo, and as penalty to Belgrade, NATO airstrikes began in April, and was ended by a ceasefire treaty three months later that brought the entry into the province of a international peacekeeping force, whic is, by the date, still there. Belgrade, with its two million residents, is located in Serbia , at the place where the Sava joins the Danube. It is one of the oldest cities in Europe, and besides Athens, the greatest urban whole of the Balkans. The oldest archeological artefacts in Belgrade date back to the fifth millenium BC. It is the capital of Serbia
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2197
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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