The Republic of Serbia is placed in Balkan in the south eastern part of Europe. It borders Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Croatia. The region was part of the Roman Empire and later part of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empires.

The first unified Serbian state was formed in 812 A.D. However, due to heavy losses sustained by the conflict with the Ottoman Empire, the Serbian Empire disintegrated into many small states in the 15th Century. In 1521 the last Serbian state concentrated around Belgrade was conquered by the Ottomans.

In the following centuries the Austrian Empire and the Ottoman Empire fought over control of Serbia. In the beginning of the 19th Century several Serbian revolutions took place against the Ottoman rulers and in 1867 these efforts were crowned with an independent Serbia. In 1914, the assassination of an Austrian archduke by a Serbian led the Austrian-Hungarian Empire to declare war on Serbia, which caused its allies the Russian Empire to declare war and in effect starting World War I. Despite several initial victories, Serbia was invaded by the combined German and Austro-Hungarian forces, which were first evicted at the end of World War I.

During World War II, Serbia was a German-occupied puppet state. At the end of World War II, Serbia joined neighbouring Balkan states and formed Yugoslavia. However, with the end of the cold war, Yugoslavia broke apart, although Serbia attempted to prevent it by using military power against Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1991 to 1995. In 1998 and 1999, Serbia again conducted warfare against another former member of Yugoslavia, Kosovo. The Serbian actions in Kosovo prompted a NATO aerial bombardment which lasted for 78 days. From 2003 to 2006, Serbia and Montenegro was one state, but a referendum in Montenegro saw them part peacefully.

Inhabitants: 10,300,000
Area: 88,000 km2
Capital: Belgrade (1,500,000 inhabitants)
Languages: Serbian
Religion: Eastern Orthodoxy (84%), Roman Catholicism (6%), Islam (5%), Protestantism (1%), others (4%)
GBD per capita: $8,200
Government: Parliamentary republic
Climate: Continental climate in the north, with cold winters, and hot, humid summers and a more Adriatic climate in the south with hot, dry summers and relatively cold winters.