Serbophilia



Serbophilia (Србофилија, literally love for Serbia and Serbs) is the admiration, appreciation or emulation of non-Serbian person who expresses a strong interest, positive predisposition or appreciation for the Serbian people, Serbia, Republika Srpska, Serbian language, culture or history. Its opposite is Serbophobia.

World War I
During World War I, Serbophilia was present in western countries.

Breakup of Yugoslavia
Political scientist Sabrina P. Ramet writes that Serbophilia in France during the 1990s was "traditional", partly as a response to the closeness between Germany and Croatia. Business ties continued during the war and fostered a desire for economic normalization.

Serbophiles

 * Jacob Grimm — German philologist, jurist and mythologist. Learnt Serbian in order to read Serbian epic poetry.
 * Archibald Reiss — German-Swiss publicist, chemist, forensic scientist, a professor at the University of Lausanne.
 * Victor Hugo — French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. Hugo wrote the speech Pour la Serbie.
 * Alphonse de Lamartine — French author, poet, and statesman.
 * Helen of Anjou — French noblewoman who became queen consort of the Serbian Kingdom.
 * Mircea I and Vlad III Dracula
 * Several notable composers used motifs from Serbian folk music and composed works inspired by Serbian history or culture, such as:
 * Johannes Brahms— German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period.
 * Franz Liszt — Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, and organist of the Romantic era.
 * Arthur Rubinstein — Polish-American classical pianist.
 * Antonín Dvořák — Czech composer, one of the first to achieve worldwide recognition.
 * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Russian composer of the Romantic period (See Serbo-Russian March).
 * Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov — Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five (See Fantasy on Serbian Themes).
 * Franz Schubert — Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
 * Hans Huber — Swiss composer. Between 1894 and 1918, he composed five operas.
 * Rebecca West (1892–1983) — British travel writer. Was described by American media as having a pro-Serbian stance.
 * Flora Sandes — British Irish volunteer in World War I.
 * Ruth Mitchell — American volunteer in the Chetniks, World War II. Sister of Billy Mitchell.
 * Robert De Niro— American actor
 * John Challis— English actor best known for portraying Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the BBC Television sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003) and its sequel/spin-off The Green Green Grass (2005–2009)
 * Peter Handke — Austrian novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize winner. Supported Serbia in the Yugoslav Wars.
 * Eduard Limonov — Russian writer and poet.
 * Ángel Pulido — Spanish physician, publicist and politician, who stood out as prominent philosephardite during the Restoration
 * Essad Pasha Toptani — Ottoman Albanian politician.
 * Anna Dandolo— Venetian noblewoman who became Queen of Serbia.
 * Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic — Polish poet and historian of the Baroque era.
 * Adam Jerzy Czartoryski — Polish nobleman, statesman, diplomat and author.
 * Pavel Jozef Šafárik — Slovakian philologist, poet, literary historian, historian and ethnographer in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was one of the first scientific Slavistics.
 * Ján Kollár — Slovakian writer (mainly poet), archaeologist, scientist, politician, and main ideologist of Pan-Slavism.
 * Ľudovít Štúr — Slovakian revolutionary politician and writer.
 * Henry Bax-Ironside — British diplomat.
 * Eleftherios Venizelos — Greek statesman and a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement.
 * Dimitrios Karatasos — Greek armatolos who participated in the Greek War of Independence, and several other rebellions, seeking to liberate his native Greek Macedonia.
 * Herbert Vivian — British journalist and author of Servia: The Poor Man's Paradise and  The Servian Tragedy: With Some Impressions of Macedonia.
 * Alexander Kolchak — Imperial Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer.
 * Yu Hua — Chinese author.
 * František Zach — Czech soldier and military theorist.