La Serbie et la France. Une alliance atypique: les relations politiques, économiques et culturelles 1870–1940

La Serbie et la France. Une alliance atypique: les relations politiques, économiques et culturelles 1870–1940 is the latest publication of the Institute for Balkan Studies. Under the editorship of Dušan T. Bataković and contributed by twenty-five Serbian and French historians and historians of art and literature, the collection sheds light on all major aspects of Serbo-French relations in the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th century.  
This atypical alliance between the Principality, later Kingdom, of Serbia and France, the main source of political doctrines and revolutionary movements in 19th-century Europe, was never made formal, nor were its terms ever defined, but its genuineness overcame all trials and tribulations and was crowned in the Great War, when the two armies fought side by side. The alliance remained atypical even during the First World War; it rested on an identity of values rather than on political and territorial concessions at the expense of neighbours.

The largest part of the edited collection comprises the papers presented at the scholarly conference held 7 and 8 December 2007 in Belgrade, which was organized by the Institute for Balkan Studies and in collaboration with Professor Jean-Paul Bled, University Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV). Its significance was confirmed by the attendance of His Excellency Mr. Jean-François Terral, Ambassador of France to Serbia. Apart from the conference papers, however, the volume includes new contributions in order to provide a more comprehensive look at certain periods and at some issues vital for understanding the nature of this alliance, such as the First World War, covering a wide range of topics, from political and military collaboration to cultural ties to a fresh perspective on the assassination of King Alexander and Louis Barthou in 1934.  

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