title: History of Serbia

text: Serbs settled the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries, with the most prominent settlement being the First Serbian Principality of the Vlastimirovići dynasty ruling over modern-day Montenegro, Bosnia, Dalmatia, Serbia and northern Albania. It evolved into a Grand Principality by the 11th century, and in 1217 the Kingdom and national church (Serbian Orthodox Church) were established, under the Nemanjići dynasty. In 1345 the Serbian Empire was established, spanning most of the Balkan peninsula. In 1540 Serbia became a part of the Ottoman Empire.


title: History of Serbia

text: A significant number of Serbs migrated north, to the Kingdom of Hungary forming what will later become Serbian Vojvodina. Serbian revolution against Ottoman rule in 1817 marked the birth of the Principality of Serbia, which achieved "de facto" independence in 1867 and gained full recognition by the Great Powers in the Berlin Congress of 1878. As a victor in the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, Serbia regained Vardar Macedonia, Kosovo and Metohija, and Raška ("Old Serbia"). In late 1918, with the defeat of Austro-Hungarian empire, Serbia was expanded to include regions of the former Serbian Vojvodina. Serbia was united with other Austro-Hungarian provinces into a pan-Slavic State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs; the Kingdom of Serbia joined the union on 1 December 1918, and the country was named the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.


title: History of Serbia

text: Serbia achieved its current borders at the end of World War II, when it became a federal unit within the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (proclaimed in November 1945). After the dissolution of Yugoslavia in a series of wars in the 1990s, Serbia once again became an independent state on 5 June 2006, following the breakup of a short-lived union with Montenegro.


title: History of Serbia

text: The Paleo-Balkan tribes formed in the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. The northernmost Ancient Macedonian city was in south Serbia (Kale-Krševica). The Celtic Scordisci tribe conquered most of Serbia in 279 BC, building many forts throughout the region. The Roman Empire conquered the region in the span of 2nd century BC – 1st century AD. The Romans continued the expansion of Singidunum (modern capital Belgrade), Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica) and Naissus (Niš), among other centres, and a few notable remnants of monuments survive, such as Via Militaris, Trajan's Bridge, Diana, Felix Romuliana (UNESCO), etc. Northern parts were included in Moesia Superior, Dacia Remesiana and Dacia Mediterranea.


title: History of Serbia

text: The Neolithic Starčevo and Vinča cultures existed in or near Belgrade and dominated the Balkans (as well as parts of Central Europe and Asia Minor) about 8,500 years ago. Some scholars believe that the prehistoric Vinča signs represent one of the earliest known forms of writing systems (dating to 6000–4000 BC).


title: History of Serbia

text: Serbia's strategic location between two continents has subjected it to invasions by many foreign armies. The Thracians dominated Serbia before the Illyrian migration in the southwest. Greeks colonized the south in the 4th century BC, the northernmost point of the empire of Alexander the Great being the town of Kale.


title: History of Serbia

text: The Romans conquered parts of Serbia in the 2nd century BC, in 167 BC when conquering the West, establishing the province of Illyricum and the rest of Central Serbia in 75 BC, establishing the province of Moesia. Srem was conquered by 9 BC and Bačka and Banat in 106 AD after the Trajan's Dacian Wars.


title: History of Serbia

text: Contemporary Serbia comprises the classical regions of Moesia, Pannonia, parts of Dalmatia, Dacia and Macedonia. The northern Serbian city of Sirmium ("Sremska Mitrovica") was among the top 4 cities of the late Roman Empire, serving as its capital during the Tetrarchy. The chief towns of Upper Moesia were: Singidunum (Belgrade), Viminacium (sometimes called municipium Aelium; modern Kostolac), Remesiana (Bela Palanka)


title: History of Serbia

text: Seventeen Roman Emperors were born in present-day Serbia. Belgrade is believed to have been torn by 140 wars since Roman times.


title: History of Serbia

text: By the early 6th century South Slavs, present throughout the Byzantine Empire in large numbers, merged with the native population (Celts, Dacians, Illyrians, Scythians, Thracians) and assimilated them, forming the base of the ethnogenesis of modern Serbs.


title: History of Serbia

text: The Serbs in the Byzantine world lived in the so-called "Slav lands", lands initially out of Byzantine control and independent. The Vlastimirović dynasty established the Serbian Principality in the 7th century. In 822, Frankish annalists recorded that Serbs were inhabiting the greater part of Dalmatia. Christianization of Serbs, initiated in the 7th century, was a gradual process, finalized by the middle of the 9th century. In the mid-10th century, Serbian state stretched between the shores of the Adriatic Sea, the Neretva, the Sava, the Morava, and Skadar. Ethnic identity of local populations remains a matter of historiographical disputes.


title: History of Serbia

text: In 924, the Serbs ambushed and defeated a small Bulgarian army, provoking a major retaliatory campaign that ended with Bulgaria's annexation of Serbia at the end of that year. Threatened by an alliance between the Byzantines and the Serbian state of Duklja, in 997 the Bulgarian tsar Samuel defeated and captured its Prince Jovan Vladimir and took control of the Serb lands again. The state disintegrated after the death of the last known Vlastimirid ruler; the Byzantines annexed the region and held it for a century, until 1040 when the Serbs under the leadership of what would become the Vojislavljević dynasty revolted in Duklja, a maritime region. In 1091, the Vukanović dynasty established the Serbian Grand Principality, based in Raška ().


title: History of Serbia

text: In 1166, Stefan Nemanja assumed the throne, marking the beginning of a prospering Serbia, henceforth under the rule of the Nemanjić dynasty. Nemanja's son Rastko ( "Saint Sava"), gained autocephaly for the Serbian Church in 1219 and authored the oldest known constitution, and at the same time Stefan the First-Crowned established the Serbian Kingdom in 1217. Medieval Serbia reached its peak during the reign of Stefan Dušan (1331–1355), who took advantage of the Byzantine civil war and doubled the size of the state by conquering territories to the south and east at the expense of Byzantium, reaching as far as the Peloponnese, also being crowned Emperor of Serbs and Greeks in 1346.


title: History of Serbia

text: The Battle of Kosovo against the rising Ottoman Empire in 1389 marks a turning point and is considered as a beginning of the fall of the medieval Serbian state. The magnate families Lazarević and Branković ruled the suzerain Serbian Despotate afterwards (in the 15th and 16th centuries). After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 and the Siege of Belgrade, the Serbian Despotate fell in 1459 following the siege of the provisional capital of Smederevo. By 1455, central Serbia was completely conquered by the Ottoman Empire. After repelling Ottoman attacks for over 70 years, Belgrade finally fell in 1521, opening the way for Ottoman expansion into Central Europe. Délvidék (today Vojvodina), which was inhabited by Serbs and Hungarians, resisted Ottoman rule until well into the 16th century.


title: History of Serbia

text: During the Early Modern period, from the Ottoman conquest of Serbia in the second half of 15th century, up to the beginning of the Serbian Revolution in 1804, several Habsburg–Ottoman wars were fought on the territory of modern Serbia. The era includes successive periods of Ottoman and Habsburg rule in various parts of Serbia.


title: History of Serbia

text: Medieval Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Zeta lasted until 1463, 1483, and 1496 respectively. A Serbian principality was restored a few years after the fall of the Serbian Despotate by the Branković dynasty in what is now Vojvodina. It was ruled by exiled Serbian despots and nobles, existing until 1540 as a Hungarian vassal, when it fell to the Ottomans. The residence of the despots was Kupinik (modern Kupinovo). The Despots were: Vuk Grgurević-Branković (1471–1485), Đorđe Branković (1486–1496), Jovan Branković (1496–1502), Ivaniš Berislavić (1504–1514), Stjepan Berislavić (1520–1535), Radič Božić (1527–1528, Zapolya faction's pretender), and Pavle Bakić (1537). Stevan Berislavić moved in 1522 to Slavonia, since Kupinik was seized by the Ottoman forces.


title: History of Serbia

text: Many Serbs were recruited during the devshirme system, a form of slavery in the Ottoman Empire, in which boys from Balkan Christian families were forcibly converted to Islam and trained for infantry units of the Ottoman army known as the Janissaries.


title: History of Serbia

text: From the 14th century onward an increasing number of Serbs began migrating to the north to the region today known as Vojvodina, which was under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary in that time. The Hungarian kings encouraged the immigration of Serbs to the kingdom, and hired many of them as soldiers and border guards. During the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and Hungary, this Serb population performed an attempt of the restoration of the Serbian state. In the Battle of Mohács on 29 August 1526, Ottoman Empire defeated the Hungarian army. Soon after the battle, the leader of Serbian mercenaries in Hungary, Jovan Nenad, established his rule in what is now Vojvodina. He created an ephemeral independent state, with Subotica as its capital. King John of Hungary defeated Jovan Nenad in 1527.


title: History of Serbia

text: European powers, and Austria in particular, fought many wars against the Ottoman Empire, sometimes with assistance from Serbs. During the Austrian–Ottoman War (1593–1606), in 1594, some Serbs participated in an uprising in Banat—the Pannonian part of the Ottoman Empire, and Sultan Murad III retaliated by burning the relics of St. Sava. Austria established troops in Herzegovina but when peace was signed by Ottoman Empire and Austria, Austria abandoned to Ottoman vengeance. This sequence of events became customary for the centuries that followed.


title: History of Serbia

text: During the Great War (1683–90) between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League—created with the sponsorship of the Pope and including Austria, Poland and Venice—these three powers as means of divide and conquer strategy, incited including Serbs to rebel against the Ottoman authorities and soon uprisings and terrorism spread throughout the western Balkans: from Montenegro and the Dalmatian Coast to the Danube basin and Old Serbia (Macedonia, Raška, Kosovo and Metohija). However, when the Austrians started to pull out of the Ottoman region, they invited Austrian-loyal people to come north with them into Hungarian territories. Having to choose between Ottoman reprisal or living in Hungary, some Serbs abandoned their homesteads and headed north led by patriarch Arsenije Čarnojević.


title: History of Serbia

text: Another important episode in the history of the region took place in 1716–18, when the territories ranging from Dalmatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina to Belgrade and the Danube basin became the battleground for a new Austria-Ottoman war launched by Prince Eugene of Savoy. Some Serbs sided once again with Austria. After a peace treaty was signed in Požarevac, the Ottomans lost all its possessions in the Danube basin, as well as today's northern Serbia and northern Bosnia, parts of Dalmatia and the Peloponnesus. Hacı Mustafa Pasha was the military governor of Belgrade from 1793 to 1801. Unlike most senior Ottoman appointees he was not a member of the wealthy and militarily powerful ayan class of local notables. Instead he was a career bureaucrat who feuded with the ayan. Sultan Selim III (r. 1789–1807) wanted to recentralize provincial governance but this experiment turned out badly because of the alliance between the ayan and the corrupt janissaries.


title: History of Serbia

text: The last Austrian-Ottoman war was in 1788–91, when the Austrians urged the Christians in Bosnia and Serbia to rebel. No wars were fought afterwards until the 20th century that marked the fall of both Austrian and Ottoman empires, staged together by the European powers just after World War I.


title: History of Serbia

text: David MacKenzie explores the Serbian folk tradition of epic martial poetry dating from the 14th century that commemorates a Serbian defeat at the Battle of Kosovo (1389). It stimulated widespread resistance to Ottoman rule and promoted the emergence of a Serbian national consciousness between 1804 and 1815. Heroism, not accuracy, was the message.


title: History of Serbia

text: Serbia gained its autonomy from the Ottoman Empire in two uprisings in 1804 (led by Đorđe Petrović – Karađorđe) and 1815 (led by Miloš Obrenović), although Turkish troops continued to garrison the capital, Belgrade, until 1867. In 1817 the Principality of Serbia was granted de facto independence from the Ottoman Empire. High officials in the Austro-Hungarian Empire lobbied for Ottoman approval of the liberal 1869 constitution for Serbia, which depended on the Porte for final approval. Vienna's strategy was that a liberal political system in Serbia would divert its impulse to foment nationalist unrest within its neighbors, and also delay its efforts to gain territory at the expense of the Ottoman Empire.


title: History of Serbia

text: The Serbs launched not only a national revolution but a social one as well. In the process of national unity, Serbia underwent a degree of modernization. The successes included freedom from foreign rule, acquisition of land by the peasants, Belgrade becoming the political and cultural center, and the diffusion of adoption of modern European norms and economic institutions. Less success was reflected in the long delays and disappointments, continued deep poverty, and a growing chasm between the modernizing urban elite and the traditionalistic peasantry.


title: History of Serbia

text: The Autonomous Principality became an internationally recognized independent country following the Russo-Turkish War in 1878. Serbia remained a principality or "kneževina" ("knjaževina"), until 1882 when it became a Kingdom, during which the internal politics revolved largely around dynastic rivalry between the Obrenović and Karađorđević families.


title: History of Serbia

text: This period was marked by the alternation of two dynasties descending from Đorđe Petrović—Karađorđe, leader of the First Serbian Uprising and Miloš Obrenović, leader of the Second Serbian Uprising. Further development of Serbia was characterized by general progress in economy, culture and arts, primarily due to a wise state policy of sending young people to European capitals to get an education. They all brought back a new spirit and a new system of values. One of the external manifestations of the transformation that the former Turkish province was going through was the proclamation of the Province of Serbia in 1882.


title: History of Serbia

text: During the Revolutions of 1848, the Serbs in the Austrian Empire proclaimed Serbian autonomous province known as Serbian Vojvodina. By a decision of the Austrian emperor, in November 1849, this province was transformed into the Austrian crown land known as the Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat (Dukedom of Serbia and Tamiš Banat). Against the will of the Serbs, the province was abolished in 1860, but the Serbs from the region gained another opportunity to achieve their political demands in 1918. Today, this region is known as Vojvodina.


title: History of Serbia

text: In 1885, Serbia protested against the unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia and attacked Bulgaria. This is also known as Serbo-Bulgarian War. Despite better weapons and skilled commanders, Serbia lost the war.


title: History of Serbia

text: In the second half of 19th century, Serbia gained statehood as the Kingdom of Serbia. It thus became part of the constellation of European states and the first political parties were founded, thus giving new momentum to political life. The May Coup in 1903, bringing Karađorđe's grandson to the throne with the title of King Peter I, opened the way for parliamentary democracy in Serbia. Having received a European education, this liberal king translated "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill and gave his country a democratic constitution. It initiated a period of parliamentary government and political freedom interrupted by the outbreak of the liberation wars.


title: History of Serbia

text: Serbia had multiple national goals. The large number of Serbs living in Bosnia looked to Serbia as the focus of their nationalism, but they were ruled by the Germans of the Austrian Empire. Austria's annexation of Bosnia in 1908 deeply alienated the Serbian peoples. Plotters swore revenge, which they achieved in 1914 by assassination of the Austrian heir. Serbian intellectuals dreamed of a South Slavic state—which in the 1920s became Yugoslavia.


title: History of Serbia

text: Serbia was landlocked, and strongly felt the need for access to the Mediterranean, preferably through the Adriatic Sea. Austria worked hard to block Serbian access to the sea, for example by helping with the creation of Albania in 1912. Montenegro, Serbia's only real ally, did have a small port, but Austrian territory intervened, blocking access until Serbia acquired Novi Pazar and part of Macedonia from Turkey in 1913. To the south, Bulgaria blocked Serbian access to the Aegean Sea.


title: History of Serbia

text: Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria formed the Balkan League and went to war with the Ottomans in 1912–13. They won decisively and expelled that Empire from almost all of the Balkans. The main remaining foe was Austria, which strongly rejected Pan-Slavism and Serbian nationalism and was ready to make war to end those threats. Ethnic nationalism would doom the multicultural Austro-Hungarian Empire. Expansion of Serbia would block Austrian and German aspirations for direct rail connections to Constantinople and the Middle East. Serbia relied primarily on Russia for Great Power support but Russia was very hesitant at first to support Pan-Slavism, and counselled caution. However, in 1914 it reversed positions and promised military support to Serbia.


title: History of Serbia

text: Despite its small size and population of 4.6 million, Serbia had the most effective manpower mobilization of the war, and had a highly professional officer corps. It called 350,000 men to arms, of whom 185,000 were in combat units. However the casualties and expenditure of munitions in the Balkan Wars left Serbia depleted and dependent on France for supplies. Austria invaded twice in 1914 and was turned back.


title: History of Serbia

text: The 28 June 1914 assassination of Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, by Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia and one of seven assassins, served as a pretext for the Austrian declaration of war on Serbia on 28 July 1914, marking the beginning of World War I, despite Serbia's acceptance three days earlier of nearly all of Austria-Hungary's demands. The Austro-Hungarian army invaded Serbia capturing the capital Belgrade on 2 December 1914, however the Serbian Army successfully defended the country, won several victories, and on 15 December 1914 recaptured Belgrade.


title: History of Serbia

text: In late 1915, however, German generals were given control and invaded Serbia with Austrian and Bulgarian forces. The Serbian army retreated across the Albanian mountain ranges to the Adriatic Sea by January 1916. Only 70,000 made it through to be evacuated to Greece by Italian, French and British naval forces.


title: History of Serbia

text: Serbia became an occupied land. Disease was rampant but the Austrians were pragmatic and paid well for food supplies, so conditions were not harsh. Instead Austria tried to depoliticize Serbia, to minimize violence, and to integrate the country into the Empire. Nevertheless, the harshness of the military occupation and the Austrian military atrocities committed in Serbia worked against these political aims and Serbian nationalism remained defiant and many young men slipped out to help rebuild the Serbian army in exile.


title: History of Serbia

text: The Entente promised the territories of Srem, Bačka, Baranja, eastern Slavonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and eastern Dalmatia to Serbia as a reward after the war. Having recuperated on Corfu the Serbian Army returned to combat on the Thessaloniki front together with other Entente forces. Serbia suffered 1,264,000 casualties—28% of its population of 4.6 million, which also represented 58% of its male population—a loss from which it never fully recovered. Serbia suffered the biggest casualty rate in World War I.


title: History of Serbia

text: A successful Allied offensive in September 1918 secured first Bulgaria's surrender and then the liberation of the occupied Serbian territories (November 1918). On 25 November, the Assembly of Serbs, Bunjevci, and other nations of Vojvodina in Novi Sad voted to join the region to Serbia. Also, on 29 November the National Assembly of Montenegro voted for union with Serbia, and two days later an assembly of leaders of Austria–Hungary's southern Slav regions voted to join the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.


title: History of Serbia

text: With the end of World War I and the collapse of both the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires the conditions were met for proclaiming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in December 1918. The Yugoslav ideal had long been cultivated by the intellectual circles of the three nations that gave the name to the country, but the international constellation of political forces and interests did not permit its implementation until then. However, after the war, idealist intellectuals gave way to politicians, and the most influential Croatian politicians opposed the new state right from the start.


title: History of Serbia

text: In the early 1920s the Yugoslav government of Serbian prime minister Nikola Pašić used police pressure over voters and ethnic minorities, confiscation of opposition pamphlets and other measures of election rigging to keep the opposition, and mainly the Croatian Peasant Party and its allies in minority in Yugoslav parliament. Pašić believed that Yugoslavia should be as centralized as possible, creating in place of distinct regional governments and identities a Greater Serbian national concept of concentrated power in the hands of Belgrade.


title: History of Serbia

text: However, what pushed the Kingdom into crisis was when a Serb representative opened fire on the opposition benches in the Parliament, killing two outright and mortally wounding the leader of the Croatian Peasants Party, Stjepan Radić in 1928.


title: History of Serbia

text: Taking advantage of the resulting crisis, King Alexander I banned national political parties in 1929, assumed executive power, and renamed the country Yugoslavia. He hoped to curb separatist tendencies and mitigate nationalist passions. However, the balance of power changed in international relations: in Italy and Germany, Fascists and Nazis rose to power, and Joseph Stalin became the absolute ruler in the Soviet Union. None of these three states favored the policy pursued by Alexander I. The first two wanted to revise the international treaties signed after World War I, and the Soviets were determined to regain their positions in Europe and pursue a more active international policy. Yugoslavia was an obstacle for these plans, and King Aleksandar I was the pillar of the Yugoslav policy.


title: History of Serbia

text: During an official visit to France in 1934, the king was assassinated in Marseille by a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – an extreme nationalist organization in Bulgaria that had plans to annex territories along the eastern and southern Yugoslav border—with the cooperation of the Ustaše – a Croatian fascist separatist organization. The international political scene in the late 1930s was marked by growing intolerance between the principal figures, by the aggressive attitude of the totalitarian regimes. Croatian leader Vladko Maček and his party managed to extort the creation of the Croatian banovina (administrative province) in 1939. The agreement specified that Croatia was to remain part of Yugoslavia, but it was hurriedly building an independent political identity in international relations.


title: History of Serbia

text: In the run up to World War II, Prince Regent Paul signed a treaty with Hitler (as did Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary). However, a popular uprising amongst the people rejected this agreement and Prince Regent Paul was sent to exile. King Peter II assumed full royal duty.


title: History of Serbia

text: Thus the beginning of the 1940s, Yugoslavia found itself surrounded by hostile countries. Except for Greece, all other neighboring countries had signed agreements with either Germany or Italy. Adolf Hitler was strongly pressuring Yugoslavia to join the Axis powers. The government was even prepared to reach a compromise with him, but the spirit in the country was completely different. Public demonstrations against Nazism prompted a brutal reaction.


title: History of Serbia

text: On 6 April 1941 Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria invaded Yugoslavia, and the Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade for 3 days killing 17,000 people. Belgrade was captured by German forces on 13 April 1941, and four days later on 17 April 1941 the Royal Yugoslavian Army surrendered unconditionally. Acting upon advice and with a heavy heart, King Peter II left the country to seek Allied support. He was greeted as the hero who dared oppose Hitler. The Royal Yugoslav Government, the only legal body of Yugoslavia, continued to work in London. The occupying Axis powers then divided Yugoslavia up. The western parts of the country together with Bosnia and Herzegovina were turned into a Nazi puppet state called the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and ruled by the Ustashe. Most of the territory of modern Serbia was occupied by the German army and was governed by the German Military Administration in Serbia. The governed territory was called Serbia or the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia, and, besides German military administrators, it was also governed by the Serbian puppet governments first under Milan Aćimović and then under Serbian army general Milan Nedić. The northern territories were annexed by Hungary, and eastern and southern territories by Bulgaria. Kosovo and Metohija were mostly annexed by Albania which was under the sponsorship of fascist Italy. Montenegro also lost territories to Albania and was then occupied by Italian troops. Slovenia was divided between Germany and Italy, which also seized the islands in the Adriatic.


title: History of Serbia

text: In Serbia, the German occupation authorities organized several concentration camps for Jews, members of the communist Partisan resistance movement, and Chetniks royalist resistance movement.


title: History of Serbia

text: The biggest concentration camps were Banjica and Sajmište near Belgrade, where, according to the most conservative estimates, around 40,000 Jews were killed. In all those camps, some 90 percent of the Serbian Jewish population perished. In the Bačka region annexed by Hungary, numerous Serbs and Jews were killed in 1942 raid by the Hungarian authorities. The persecutions against ethnic Serb population also occurred in the region of Syrmia, which was controlled by the Independent State of Croatia and in the region of Banat, which was under direct German control.


title: History of Serbia

text: The ruthless attitude of the German occupation forces and the genocidal policy of the Croatian Ustaša regime, aimed at Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-Ustaša Croats, created a strong anti-fascist resistance in the NDH. Many Croats and other nationalities stood up against the genocide and the Nazis. Many joined the Partisan forces created by the Communist Party (National Liberation Army headed by Josip Broz Tito) in the liberation and the revolutionary war against Nazis and all the others who were against communism.


title: History of Serbia

text: During this war and after it, the Partisans killed many civilians who did not support their Communist ideals. The Communists shot people without trials, or following politically and ideologically motivated courts, such as in the case of Draža Mihailović, leader of the Chetniks. The Agricultural Reform conducted after the war meant that peasants had to give away most of their wheat, grain, and cattle to the state, or face serious imprisonment. Land and property were confiscated on a massive scale. Many people also lost civil rights and their names were smeared. Also, a censorship was enforced on all levels of the society and media, and a cult of Tito was created in the media.


title: History of Serbia

text: On 20 October 1944 the Soviet Red Army liberated Belgrade and by the end of 1944 all Serbia was free from German control. Yugoslavia was among the countries that had the greatest losses in the war: 1,700,000 (10.8% of the population) people were killed and national damages were estimated at US$9.1 billion according to the prices of that period.


title: History of Serbia

text: After the war, Josip Broz Tito became the first president of the new—socialist—Yugoslavia which he ruled through the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. Once a predominantly agricultural country, Yugoslavia was transformed into a mid-range industrial country, and acquired an international political reputation by supporting the decolonization process and by assuming a leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement. Socialist Yugoslavia was established as a federal state comprising six republics, from north to south: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia and two autonomous regions within Serbia – Vojvodina and Kosovo.


title: History of Serbia

text: The basic motto of Tito's Yugoslavia was "brotherhood and unity", workers' self-management, state-owned property with minimal privately owned property. In the beginning, the country copied the Soviet model, but after the 1948 split with the Soviet Union, it turned more towards the West. Eventually, it created its own brand of socialism, with aspects of a market economy, and milked both the East and the West for significant financial loans.


title: History of Serbia

text: The 1974 constitution produced a significantly less centralized federation, increasing the of Yugoslavia's republics as well as the autonomous provinces of Serbia.


title: History of Serbia

text: When Tito died on 4 May 1980, he was succeeded by a presidency that rotated annually between the six Republics and two Autonomous regions. This led to a fatal weakening of central power and ties between the republics. During the 1980s the republics pursued significantly different economic policies, with separatist- oriented Slovenia and Croatia allowing significant market-based reforms, while Serbia kept to its existing program of state ownership. This, too, was a cause of tension between north and south, as Slovenia in particular experienced a period of strong growth. Prior to the war, inflation skyrocketed. Then, under Prime Minister Ante Markovic, things began to improve. Economic reforms had opened up the country, the living standard was at its peak, capitalism seemed to have entered the country and nobody thought that just a year later the first gunshots would be fired.


title: History of Serbia

text: Within a year of Tito's death the first cracks began to show when in the spring of 1981 when on 11 March, 26 March, and 31 March to 2 April an escalating series of increasingly large protests spread from the campus of the University of Pristina to the streets of several cities in Kosovo demanding the upgrading of the Autonomous Region to the status of full Republic – these protests were violently suppressed by the Police with many deaths, and a state of emergency was declared. Serbian concerns about the treatment of Serb minorities in other republics and particularly in Kosovo were exacerbated by the SANU Memorandum, drawn up by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and published in Sep 1986 by"Večernje novosti", which claimed that Serbs were suffering a genocide at the hands of the Kosovo Albanian majority. Slobodan Milošević leader of the League of Communists of Serbia since May 1986, became the champion of the Serbian Nationalists when on 24 Apr 1987 he visited Kosovo Polje and, after local Serbs had clashed with the police declared, 'No one has the right to beat you'.


title: History of Serbia

text: Slobodan Milošević became the most powerful politician in Serbia on 25 Sep 1987 when he defeated and humiliated his former mentor Serbian President Ivan Stambolic, during the televised 8th Session of the League of Communists of Serbia. Milosevic governed Serbia from his position as Chairman of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia until 8 May 1989 when he assumed the Presidency of Serbia. Milosevic supporters gained control of three other constituent parts of Yugoslavia in what became known as the Anti-bureaucratic revolution, Vojvodina on 6 Oct 1988, Kosovo on 17 Nov 1988, and Montenegro on 11 Jan 1989. On 25 Nov 1988 the Yugoslav National Assembly granted Serbia the right to change its constitution. In March 1989 this was done, removing autonomy from Vojvodina and Kosovo, which caused great unrest in Kosovo On 28 June 1989 Slobodan Milošević made what became known as the Gazimestan Speech which was the centrepiece of a day-long event, attended by an estimated one million Serbs, to mark the 600th anniversary of the Serbian defeat at the Battle of Kosovo by the Ottoman Empire. In this speech Milošević's reference to the possibility of "armed battles" in the future of Serbia's national development was seen by many as presaging the collapse of Yugoslavia and the bloodshed of the Yugoslav Wars.


title: History of Serbia

text: On 23 Jan 1990 at its 14th Congress the Communist League of Yugoslavia voted to remove its monopoly on political power, but the same day effectively ceased to exist as a national party when the League of Communists of Slovenia walked out after Slobodan Milošević blocked all their reformist proposals. On 27 July 1990 Milošević merged the League of Communists of Serbia with several smaller communist front parties to form the Socialist Party of Serbia. A new Constitution was drawn up and came into force on 28 Sep 1990 transforming the one-party Socialist Republic of Serbia into a multi-party Republic of Serbia The first multi-party elections were held on 9 and 23 December 1990 and in what became the pattern for the next several elections the Socialist Party of Serbia won, as Milošević maintained firm control over the state media and opposition parties had little access. On 9 March 1991, a mass rally on the streets of Belgrade turned into a riot with vicious clashes between the protesters and police. It was organized by Vuk Drašković's Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). Two people died in the ensuing violence.


title: History of Serbia

text: The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia broke up in 1991/1992 in a series of wars following the independence declarations of Slovenia and Croatia on 25 Jun 1991, and Bosnia and Herzegovina on 5 Mar 1992. Macedonia left the federation peacefully on 25 Sep 1991. The Yugoslav People's Army(JNA) tried and failed to prevent the secession of Slovenia in the Ten Day War 26 Jun – 6 Jul 1991 and completely withdrew by 26 Oct 1991. The JNA attempted and failed to prevent the secession of Croatia during the first phase of the Croatian War of Independence from 27 Jun 1991 until the truce of Jan 1992, but did successfully enable the Croatian Serb minority to establish the Republic of Serb Krajina which looked to Serbia for support. The biggest battle of this war was the Siege of Vukovar. Following the start of the Bosnian War on 1 April 1992 the JNA officially withdrew all its forces from Croatia and Bosnia in May 1992 and was formally dissolved on 20 May 1992 – its remnant forces being taken over by the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.


title: History of Serbia

text: The two remaining republics of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, formed on 28 April 1992 a new federation named Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.


title: History of Serbia

text: Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" (FRY) was established in 1992 as a federation. In 2003, it was reconstituted as a political union called the "State Union of Serbia and Montenegro" (SCG).


title: History of Serbia

text: After June 1999, Kosovo was made a United Nations protectorate, under the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) based in Priština. From early 2001, UNMIK has been working with representatives of the Serbian and union governments to reestablish stable relations in the region. A new assembly of the province was elected in November 2001, which formed a government and chose a president in February 2002. In spring 2002, UNMIK announced its plan to repatriate ethnic Serb internally displaced persons (IDPs).


title: History of Serbia

text: Although threatened by Milošević throughout the last years of his rule, Montenegro's democratization efforts have continued. In January 1998, Milo Đukanović became Montenegro's president, following bitterly contested elections in November 1997, which were declared free and fair by international monitors. His coalition followed up with parliamentary elections in May. Having weathered Milošević's campaign to undermine his government, Đukanović has struggled to balance the pro-independence stance of his coalition with the changed domestic and international environment of the post-5 October Balkans. In December 2002, Đukanović resigned as president and was appointed Prime Minister. The new President of Montenegro is Filip Vujanović.


title: History of Serbia

text: Before 5 October, even as opposition grew, Milošević continued to dominate the organs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) Government. And although his political party, the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) (in electoral cartel with Mirjana Markovic' Yugoslav United Left), did not enjoy a majority in either the federal or Serbian parliaments, it dominated the governing coalitions and held all the key administrative posts. An essential element of Milošević's grasp on power was his control of the Serbian police, a heavily armed force of some 100,000 that was responsible for internal security and which committed serious human rights abuses. Routine federal elections in September 2000 resulted in Kostunica receiving less than a majority, requiring a second round. Immediately, street protests and rallies filled cities across the country as Serbs rallied around Vojislav Koštunica, the recently formed Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS, a broad coalition of anti-Milošević parties) candidate for FRY president. There had been widespread fear that the second round would be cancelled on the basis of foreign interference in the elections. Cries of fraud and calls for Milošević's removal echoed across city squares from Subotica to Niš.


title: History of Serbia

text: On 5 October 2000, Slobodan Milošević was forced to concede defeat after days of mass protests all across Serbia.


title: History of Serbia

text: The new FRY President Vojislav Koštunica was soon joined at the top of the domestic Serbian political scene by the Democratic Party's (DS) Zoran Đinđić, who was elected Prime Minister of Serbia at the head of the DOS ticket in December's republican elections. After an initial honeymoon period in the wake of 5 October, DSS and the rest of DOS, led by Đinđić and his DS, found themselves increasingly at odds over the nature and pace of the governments' reform programs. Although initial reform efforts were highly successful, especially in the economic and fiscal sectors, by the middle of 2002, the nationalist Koštunica and the pragmatic Đinđić were openly at odds. Koštunica's party, having informally withdrawn from all DOS decision-making bodies, was agitating for early elections to the Serbian Parliament in an effort to force Đinđić from the scene. After the initial euphoria of replacing Milošević's autocratic regime, the Serbian population, in reaction to this political maneuvering, was sliding into apathy and disillusionment with its leading politicians by mid-2002. This political stalemate continued for much of 2002, and reform initiatives stalled.


title: History of Serbia

text: In February 2003, the Constitutional Charter was finally ratified by both republics, and the FRY Parliament and the name of the country was changed from Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to Serbia and Montenegro. Under the new Constitutional Charter, most federal functions and authorities devolved to the republic level. The office of President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, held by Vojislav Koštunica, ceased to exist once Svetozar Marović was elected President of Serbia and Montenegro.


title: History of Serbia

text: On 12 March 2003, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić was assassinated. The newly formed union government of Serbia and Montenegro reacted swiftly by calling a state of emergency and undertaking an unprecedented crackdown on organized crime which led to the arrest of more than 4,000 people.


title: History of Serbia

text: Serbia had been in a state of political crisis since the overthrow of the post-communist ruler, Slobodan Milošević, in 2001. The reformers, led by former Yugoslav President Vojislav Koštunica, have been unable to gain control of the Serbian presidency because three successive presidential elections have failed to produce the required 50% turnout. The assassination in March 2003 of the reforming Prime Minister, Zoran Đinđić was a major setback.


title: History of Serbia

text: Despite the great increase in support for the Radicals, the four pro-reform parties (Koštunica's Democratic Party of Serbia, late Prime Minister Đinđić's Democratic Party, now led by Boris Tadić, and the G17 Plus group of liberal economists led by Miroljub Labus, plus the SPO-NS) won 49.8% of the vote, compared with 34.8% for the two anti-western parties, the Radicals of Vojislav Šešelj and the Socialists of Milošević, and won 146 seats to 104.


title: History of Serbia

text: At the 2004 Presidential election Boris Tadić, candidate of the Democratic Party won over Tomislav Nikolić, of the Serbian Radical Party, sealing the future reform and EU-integration path of Serbia.


title: History of Serbia

text: Since 1996, Montenegro began to sever economic ties with Serbia as it formed a new economic policy and adopted the Deutsche Mark as its currency. Subsequent governments of Montenegro carried out pro-independence policies, and political tensions with Serbia simmered despite political changes in Belgrade. Also, separatist Albanian paramilitaries began a steady escalation of violence in 1998. The question whether the Federal Yugoslav state would continue to exist became a very serious issue to the government.


title: History of Serbia

text: Following Montenegro's vote for full independence in the referendum of 21 May 2006 (55.4% yes, 44.6% no), Montenegro declared independence on 3 June 2006. This was followed on 5 June 2006 by Serbia's declaration of independence, marking the final dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and the re-emergence of Serbia as an independent state for the first time since 1918.


title: History of Serbia

text: A referendum was held on 28 and 29 October 2006 on a proposed draft of the new Constitution of Serbia, which was approved. The constitution is Serbia's first as an independent state since the Kingdom of Serbia's 1903 constitution.


title: History of Serbia

text: The 2007 elections confirmed the pro-reform and pro-European stance of the Serbian Parliament, in which Boris Tadic's party doubled his representation.


title: History of Serbia

text: The Serbian government passed through weeks of severe crisis after the unilateral declaration of independence of its southern province of Kosovo on 17 February 2008, which was gradually recognized by the United States and numerous European Union countries.


title: History of Serbia

text: The crisis was fuelled by the demand by Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) to the Democratic Party (Serbia) (DS), which held governmental majority, of a restructuring of the governmental contract including an annex according to which Serbia can continue European integration exclusively with Kosovo as its integral part, as stated in the 2006 Constitution. The DS and G17+ refused, and Koštunica had to resign on 8 March 2008, while also asking the President to dismiss the parliament and schedule pre-term parliamentary elections.


title: History of Serbia

text: These pre-term parliamentary elections were held on 11 May 2008, barely a year after the previous parliamentary election. The results showed a net increase of votes for Tadic's ZES coalition, passing from 87 to 102 seats. After long and difficult negotiations, a new pro-European government was formed on 7 July 2008 by 128 out of 250 parliamentary votes of ZES, SPS-PUPS-JS and 6 out of 7 minorities representatives. The new prime minister was Mirko Cvetković, candidate of the Democratic Party.


title: History of Serbia

text: In May 2012, nationalist Tomislav Nikolic was elected as President of Serbia after defeating liberal incumbent Boris Tadic in the presidential election. In July 2012, Serbian Socialist Party leader Ivica Dacic became prime minister of Serbia after parliamentary elections. His government was a coalition of President Tomislav Nikolic's nationalist Progressive Party, the Socialist Party and other groups.


title: History of Serbia

text: Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won in the 2014 election and the leader of SNS Aleksandar Vučić became prime minister. Three years later he moved to the presidency. Ana Brnabic has been prime minister since 2017, but president Vučić has kept a firm hold on executive power.


title: History of Serbia

text: Since his election as President of Serbia in 2017, Aleksandar Vučić has worked on establishing good relations with European, Russian and Chinese partners.


title: History of Serbia

text: In June 2020, Serbia's ruling Progressive Party (SNS) won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections. Main opposition groups boycotted the vote. According to the opposition the conditions were not free and fair. In April 2022, President Aleksandar Vučić was re-elected. Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won the snap parliamentary election, which was held simultaneously with the presidential election.


title: History of Serbia

text: On 17 February 2008 self-proclaimed representatives of Kosovo Albanians, acting outside the UNMIK's PISG framework (not representing the Assembly of Kosovo or any other of these institutions), issued a declaration of independence establishing the Republic of Kosovo to mixed international reactions.


title: History of Serbia

text: In 2013, the two sides began to normalise relations in accordance with the Brussels Agreement, but the process stalled in November 2018 after Kosovo imposed a 100 percent tax on importing Serbian goods. On 1 April 2020, Kosovo withdrew the tax.


title: History of Serbia

text: Despite its setbacks in the political field, on 7 December 2009 the EU unfroze the trade agreement with Serbia and the Schengen countries dropped the visa requirement for Serbian citizens on 19 December 2009.


title: History of Serbia

text: A Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) was signed in 2008 and entered into force on 1 September 2013.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The First Order is a fictional military movement and rump state in the "Star Wars" franchise, introduced in the 2015 film "". Formed following the fall of the Galactic Empire after the events of "Return of the Jedi" (1983), the First Order seeks to destroy the New Republic and rule the galaxy as an autocratic military dictatorship. It is the central antagonistic faction of the sequel trilogy. Aside from the films, the First Order appears in various related "Star Wars" media.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: In "The Force Awakens", the First Order is commanded by Supreme Leader Snoke and is fought by the Resistance. Snoke's apprentice, Kylo Ren, is the master of the Knights of Ren, a group of elite warriors who work with the First Order. In the 2017 sequel "", Ren kills Snoke and becomes the new Supreme Leader. In the 2019 film "", the First Order allies with the Sith Eternal, a cult led by the Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine, who is revealed to have been secretly controlling the First Order via his puppet ruler, Snoke, prior to the latter being usurped by Ren.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: According to "" (2015) and the novel "" trilogy by Chuck Wendig, after the Galactic Empire was defeated in "Return of the Jedi" at the climactic Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, thousands of worlds rose up to join the Rebel Alliance and destroy the disorganized Empire, which fell victim to warlordism. The Alliance formally reorganized itself as the New Republic, and retook the Core Worlds, including the galactic capital Coruscant. One year after Endor, the remaining Imperial fleet made a final, massive attempt at a counter-offensive which came to a climax at the planet Jakku, the biggest battle in the war since Endor. The Imperial counter-offensive was decisively defeated. The remaining Imperial forces were pushed back to a handful of sectors on the fringe of the Outer Rim, containing only a small fraction of the galaxy's population and industrial base. These sectors were a heavily fortified final redoubt, and the New Republic deemed that they posed too small a threat to justify the high cost in life that liberating them would require. The New Republic forced the Empire to settle for the Galactic Concordance, a humiliating armistice agreement which imposed strict disarmament plans and punishing reparations on the remaining Imperials. The "Aftermath" trilogy establishes Imperial Admiral Rae Sloane, introduced as a captain in John Jackson Miller's 2014 novel "", as well as Commandant Brendol Hux as the de facto founders of the First Order, with Sloane, after achieving the rank of Grand Admiral, coining the term "First Order" as she establishes the reborn empire that will eventually take that name. She is additionally inferred as a future mentor figure for General Hux, who appears as a child in "Empire's End".


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: Over time, elements of the Imperial Remnant reorganized themselves, becoming a firmly entrenched and isolationist hermit kingdom, which spent the next three decades instigating a "cold war" against the New Republic, gradually rebuilding its military strength and secretly re-arming in violation of its armistice agreements. The vestigial Empire secretly expanded from its original few sectors (in the galactic north), aggressively pushing into the Unknown Regions (the unexplored swaths of territory in the galactic west) to seize new undeveloped worlds in order to supplement their resource base, as well as build new shipyards and industrial infrastructure far from the eyes of the New Republic.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The 2016 novel "" explained how this faction officially reorganized into the "First Order", and that this final transition only occurred about six years before "The Force Awakens". By that time, the New Republic Senate had become divided into two parties: the Populists led by Leia Organa, who wanted to decentralize authority, and the Centrists, who wanted power to remain concentrated in a strong central government. Many of the Centrists were former Imperials who admired the old Empire for bringing order to the galaxy, and who feared that without strong central control the New Republic would become as weak and ineffectual as the Old Republic. Ultimately, many Centrist worlds seceded from the New Republic to reunite with the holdout Imperial remnants on the fringe of the galaxy, and formally combined into a new government called "the First Order". First Order conspirators publicly revealed that Leia was in fact the daughter of Darth Vader, severely harming her political standing among the remaining Populists.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The vast majority of the New Republic's worlds remained intact, but with the exodus of the Centrists its Senate became dominated by the remaining Populists, who favored decentralization and demilitarization, not confrontation. Even after these events, most in the remaining Senate were happy to see the Centrists go, feeling that the new First Order still controlled far too few sectors of the galaxy to ever pose a serious threat to galactic peace. In their view, it was easier to just let the Centrist worlds peacefully leave of their own volition and rejoin the Imperial worlds rather than fight a war to keep them by force.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The new "First Order" came to be ruled by the mysterious Force-wielder known as Supreme Leader Snoke, who was secretly created by the resurrected Emperor Palpatine to control the First Order after purging its previous leadership. Through Snoke, Palpatine seduced Leia's own son Ben Solo to the dark side of the Force, who renamed himself "Kylo Ren". On his turn to the dark side, Ben/Kylo slaughtered most of his uncle Luke Skywalker's other Jedi apprentices (with the rest joining him) and destroyed his new academy. Blaming himself, Luke fled into self-imposed exile to search for the ancient first Jedi Temple. Kylo Ren, meanwhile, took on a position as Snoke's right hand within the First Order's military.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: With her political standing severely weakened, and the New Republic Senate gridlocked and unwilling to recognize the First Order's military buildup, Leia Organa decides to withdraw and form her own small private army, known as the Resistance, to fight the First Order within its own borders. She is joined by other members of the former Rebel Alliance such as Admiral Ackbar. Publicly the New Republic continues to disavow direct association with the Resistance to maintain plausible deniability, and though the majority of the Senate does not want to intervene against the First Order, several Senators privately channel funds and resources to the Resistance. This state of affairs continued on for the next six years until the events of "The Force Awakens". Comic book writer Charles Soule, creator of the 2015 Marvel Comics series "", explained that immediately prior to the events of "The Force Awakens", "The New Republic and the First Order are in a position of detente, and while there have been a few small skirmishes between the Resistance and the First Order, it's very much a sort of cold war."


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The First Order's handful of sectors simply do not possess the galaxy-wide resources the old Empire used to be able to draw upon, and in addition the armistice treaties with the New Republic put strict limitations on how many ships it could physically build. Therefore, unlike the old Galactic Empire's swarm tactics, the First Order's military has had to adapt to a more "quality over quantity" philosophy, making efficient use of what few resources it has. Culturally, the Galactic Empire's Sith-influenced philosophies have been incorporated and streamlined. Its military is built upon "survival of the fittest"; if one soldier cannot fulfill their duty and dies serving the First Order, then so be it. The Order can only become stronger by culling the weak from their ranks.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: A major plot point in "The Last Jedi" is that the First Order has developed new "hyperspace tracking" technology, allowing them to continue to chase enemy vessels through hyperspace from one jump to the next (until one or the other runs out of fuel). This technology was first mentioned in passing in "Rogue One" as another research project the Empire was starting to develop almost forty years before. However, it appears that such technology existed at the time of "A New Hope", as Darth Vader was able to track the "Tantive IV" from Scarif to Tatooine even through hyperspace.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The First Order lacked the resources to build and crew thousands of Star Destroyers. While its fleet is a fraction of the size of the Imperial fleet at its height, on a one-for-one basis its new ships are much more powerful. In addition, they boast thirty years' worth of advances in military technologies compared to the old Empire. As a result, the First Order now deploys starships such as the new "Resurgent"-class Star Destroyer, nearly twice as large as the old "Imperial"-class Star Destroyer which it replaced as the mainstay of the First Order fleet. With a naval doctrine that accepted the renewed importance of starfighters within their overall strategy, the "Resurgent"-class adopted the carrier-centric designs of the Galactic Republic's "Venator"-class Star Destroyer.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The First Order's TIE fighters, designated TIE/fo, are more advanced than the old Empire's TIE/ln model, and show greater concern for unit stamina and survivability. The First Order's Special Forces use a more heavily armed two-man TIE/sf variant. Visually, their color scheme is reversed from the old Imperial design: the Empire's TIE fighters have black solar panels on a light grey metal body frame, while the First Order TIE fighters have white solar panels on a dark metal frame.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: "The Last Jedi" also introduces a new starfighter element to the First Order fleet, the TIE silencer superiority fighter. Much as TIE interceptors were the next generation fighter starting to phase out the original Imperial TIE fighters, TIE silencers are a next-generation fighter given only to the most elite units. Visually they somewhat resemble a cross between a TIE interceptor and Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1 prototype, being wider and more elongated, while boasting heavier weapons and shields to be able to face X-wings head-on. Their technical designation is "TIE/vn" (because in earlier drafts, the ship was called "TIE vendetta"). Kylo Ren pilots his own personal TIE silencer in "The Last Jedi", which he uses to assault the Resistance ship, the MC85 Star Cruiser "Raddus".


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: In "The Rise of Skywalker", another new TIE is introduced, the TIE whisper. This fighter is similar to the TIE silencer but has a spherical hull more in line with typical TIE lines. Kylo Ren uses the TIE whisper as his personal craft in "The Rise of Skywalker", using two ships in his pursuit of both Palpatine and Rey; both ships used are destroyed by Rey.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: For space to surface delivery, the First Order is also seen deploying several standard troop transports. Elite units and high value command personnel such as Kylo Ren use the "Upsilon"-class command shuttle, a stylistic evolution of the old Imperial "Lambda"-class T-4a shuttle (but without the third fin on top, and now sporting large wings that retract upon themselves on landing).


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: "The Last Jedi" introduces several more ships of the First Order. "Mandator IV"-class Siege Dreadnoughts are larger but rarer than "Resurgent"-class Star Destroyers, used as orbital bombardment platforms which can functionally wipe out entire planets' population centers (albeit through conventional weapons, just short of being considered superweapons). Dwarfing even these other vessels are Supreme Leader Snoke's personal flagship and mobile capital, the "Mega"-class Star Dreadnought "Supremacy": a wing-shaped vessel wider than it is long, the size of a small country. The "Supremacy" measures 60 kilometers at its greatest width—equal to about 18 "Resurgent"-class Star Destroyers lined up end to end.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The First Order employs a quality-over-quantity philosophy with its soldiers and personnel. Unable to conscript quadrillions of soldiers to fill its stormtrooper ranks yet unwilling to invest huge resources in breeding a rapidly produced clone army, First Order stormtroopers are kidnapped from their home worlds and trained from birth, raised their entire lives for no other purpose. First Order soldiers and crews have constantly trained for combat in war games and simulations, making them much more effective one-on-one than the endless waves of stormtrooper conscripts fielded by the old Empire. First Order stormtroopers are regularly put through mental indoctrination and propaganda programs, to make sure that they remain fanatically loyal and never hesitate or question orders. Soldiers are not even given individual names for themselves but merely serial numbers, such as "FN-2187".


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: First Order stormtroopers are formally deployed in squads of ten, with the tenth spot reserved for a heavy weapons specialist as the needs of the mission require: usually a heavy gunner, but sometimes also flamethrower troops, or riot troops equipped with energy batons (which are incidentally capable of blocking a lightsaber). The design of the armor of regular and heavy gunner stormtroopers bears significant resemblances to the design used by the Galactic Empire, such as the helmet visor, nasal filters, and overall shape. However, the filter was extended, among other practical features. According to First Order officer Captain Phasma, not even a Wookiee could crush the said armor. Some stormtroopers held high ranks—a significant improvement from the one-rank system of the Empire. These were indicated by the color of shoulder pauldrons: white for squad leaders, black for sergeants, and red for officers. In the rare instance of a stormtrooper earning the rank of captain, they often earned a blaster proof cape. Occasionally, they modify their outfit even further—Captain Phasma made blaster proof chrome copies of all her equipment and greatly improved vision modes of her helmet's visor. Captain Cardinal, the bodyguard of a First Order founding father, received almost all-red armor from his superior as a sign of trust. Introduced in "The Rise of Skywalker", a new variant of troopers was introduced in the form of jet troopers, equipped with G125 projectile launchers and jet packs.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The First Order also fields its own evolution of the old AT-series of armored transports, the AT-M6, used as a heavy siege weapon. Dwarfing the older AT-AT, the AT-M6 has numerous design improvements including heavy serrated cable-cutters mounted on its legs—to avoid being tripped up again like AT-ATs were at the Battle of Hoth. These cutters are positioned in such a way that the AT-M6 walks on its "knuckles" instead of the pads of its feet, which—combined with a heavy siege cannon which gives it a hunched-over appearance—gives the AT-M6 an almost gorilla-like profile compared to the more elephant-like AT-AT.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: In the film, the First Order is led by a mysterious figure named Snoke, who has assumed the title of Supreme Leader. Like the Empire before them, the Order commands a vast force of stormtroopers. The First Order uses regular and Special Forces versions of the Empire's venerable TIE fighter. Its primary base of operations is Starkiller Base, a mobile ice planet which converted into a superweapon capable of destroying entire star systems across the galaxy by firing through hyperspace. The base commander of Starkiller is General Hux, a ruthless young officer dedicated to the First Order.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: Snoke is a powerful figure in the dark side of the Force and has corrupted Ben, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa who had been an apprentice to his uncle, the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Masked and using the name Kylo Ren, he is one of Snoke's enforcers, much like his grandfather Darth Vader had been the enforcer of Emperor Palpatine during the days of the Empire decades earlier. Kylo is the master of the Knights of Ren, a mysterious group of elite warriors who work with the First Order. Kylo and Hux are rivals for Snoke's approval, and the third member of the "commanding triumvirate" of the First Order is the formidable Captain Phasma, the commander of the stormtroopers.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: Kylo is searching for Luke, who vanished some years earlier. Snoke believes that as long as Luke lives, a new generation of Jedi Knights can rise again. The First Order launches a preemptive strike on Hosnian Prime, the New Republic's current capital world (as well as Hosnian Prime's Sun and the other planets in the 'Hosnian system' (Hosnian Prime's solar system), as well as the New Republic starships there), by demonstrating the Starkiller's firepower. This devastating first strike takes the New Republic completely by surprise, not only killing most of its leadership in the Galactic Senate but wiping out a substantial portion of the New Republic's core military fleets. This paves the way for a resulting Blitzkrieg of the rest of the galaxy by the First Order, using the disproportionately powerful military it has rebuilt over the past three decades.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: Kylo fails to retrieve the map fragment that would lead him to Luke, and the Resistance manages to destroy Starkiller Base moments before it is able to fire on the Resistance base on D'Qar, though Kylo and General Hux are able to escape the explosion, as well as Captain Phasma offscreen.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: At the start of "The Last Jedi", the First Order's fleet attacks the Resistance base on the planet D'Qar. Poe Dameron rashly leads an assault against a "Mandator IV"-class Siege Dreadnought – one of only a handful of heavy orbital bombardment platforms in the First Order fleet – and manages to destroy it, but at the cost of the entire bomber wing of the Resistance. Kylo Ren leads an assault in his TIE silencer, destroying several Resistance fighters. First Order TIEs destroy the Resistance carrier ship, wiping out the Resistance leadership. General Leia survives but is incapacitated. Vice Admiral Holdo assumes control of the Resistance fleet while Leia recovers.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The First Order tracks the small Resistance fleet via a hyperspace jump using new "hyperspace tracking" technology. Running low on fuel, the remaining Resistance fleet is pursued by the First Order. This devolves into a siege-like battle of attrition, as one by one the smaller Resistance ships run out of fuel and are destroyed by the pursuing First Order fleet. Finn and a Resistance mechanic, Rose, embark on a mission to disable the First Order's tracking device in the "Mega"-class Star Dreadnought "Supremacy".


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: Meanwhile, Kylo Ren kills Snoke, replacing him as Supreme Leader of the First Order. Poe Dameron stages a mutiny against Holdo, believing her inept and without a plan. Holdo reveals, however, that she didn't trust Poe with her plan due to his reckless assault on the dreadnought. The plan is for the Resistance to flee in cloaked shuttles to an old Rebel Alliance base on the planet Crait, while Holdo remains on the Resistance command ship, the MC85 Star Cruiser "Raddus". The First Order discover the ruse, however, destroying most of the shuttlecraft. Finn and Rose locate the tracking device but are captured by Captain Phasma. Holdo sacrifices herself by directing the "Raddus" to lightspeed jump directly into the Mega-Destroyer, destroying much of the First Order fleet in the process. Finn manages to kill Captain Phasma and escape with Rose to Crait.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: The First Order blast the door of the Rebel base with miniaturized Death Star technology. Leia sends out transmissions to allies "in the Outer Rim" requesting for aid, but they inexplicably do not appear. Just as the First Order breaches the base, Luke Skywalker appears to challenge them. A full barrage by their artillery has no effect on Luke, so Kylo Ren descends to duel him in person. Ren realizes that Luke is a Force projection; while Ren is distracted, the surviving Resistance escape the planet.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: "" takes place a year after "The Last Jedi". The First Order is now led by Supreme Leader Kylo Ren after Snoke's death. Allegiant General Pryde, who served Palpatine in the Empire, has now joined General Hux at the top of the military hierarchy. Kylo Ren discovers a physically impaired Palpatine in exile on the Sith world Exegol. Palpatine reveals he created Snoke as a puppet to control the First Order and has built the Sith Eternal's fleet of "Xyston"-class Star Destroyers, the Final Order. In a bid to form a new Sith Empire, Palpatine promises Kylo control over the fleet on the condition that he find and kill Rey, who is revealed to be Palpatine's granddaughter.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: Kylo begins to scour the galaxy for Rey. The Resistance acquires information on Palpatine's location and embarks on a quest to find Exegol. Hux is revealed to have been a spy inside the First Order, due to his contempt for Kylo Ren. He is found out by Pryde and executed for treason. Rey confronts Kylo Ren on Kef Bir at the wreckage of the second Death Star. She impales Kylo after he is distracted by Leia calling out to him through the Force. Rey heals Kylo and flees. Afterward, Kylo sees a vision of his father, Han Solo, through a memory. This causes Kylo to abandon the dark side and reclaim his identity as Ben Solo. Palpatine orders Pryde to send a Sith Star Destroyer to obliterate Kijimi as a show of force and tells him to come to Exegol, effectively making Pryde de facto leader of the First Order and a commanding officer of the Sith fleet.


title: First Order (Star Wars)

text: After encouragement from the spirit of Luke Skywalker, Rey uses his old T-65B X-wing, "Red Five", to travel to Exegol and leads the Resistance there too. Finn and Poe engage the Sith Eternal forces while Rey confronts Palpatine. Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca arrive with reinforcements from across the galaxy, and they destroy the remaining Sith forces. With help from Ben and the spirits of past Jedi, Rey finally destroys Palpatine. The galaxy rises up against the First Order, ultimately destroying it.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Tyrannosauridae (or tyrannosaurids, meaning "tyrant lizards") is a family of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that comprises two subfamilies containing up to thirteen genera, including the eponymous "Tyrannosaurus". The exact number of genera is controversial, with some experts recognizing as few as three. All of these animals lived near the end of the Cretaceous Period and their fossils have been found only in North America and Asia.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Although descended from smaller ancestors, tyrannosaurids were almost always the largest predators in their respective ecosystems, putting them at the apex of the food chain. The largest species was "Tyrannosaurus rex", one of the largest and most massive known land predators, which measured over in length and according to most modern estimates to in weight. Tyrannosaurids were bipedal carnivores with massive skulls filled with large teeth. Despite their large size, their legs were long and proportioned for fast movement. In contrast, their arms were very small, bearing only two functional digits.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Unlike most other groups of dinosaurs, very complete remains have been discovered for most known tyrannosaurids. This has allowed a variety of research into their biology. Scientific studies have focused on their ontogeny, biomechanics and ecology, among other subjects.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: The first remains of tyrannosaurids were uncovered during expeditions led by the Geological Survey of Canada, which located numerous scattered teeth. These distinctive dinosaur teeth were given the name "Deinodon" ("terrible tooth") by Joseph Leidy in 1856. The first good specimens of a tyrannosaurid were found in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, and consisted of nearly complete skulls with partial skeletons. These remains were first studied by Edward Drinker Cope in 1876, who considered them a species of the eastern tyrannosauroid "Dryptosaurus". In 1905, Henry Fairfield Osborn recognized that the Alberta remains differed considerably from "Dryptosaurus", and coined a new name for them: "Albertosaurus sarcophagus" ("flesh-eating Alberta lizard"). Cope described more tyrannosaur material in 1892, in the form of isolated vertebrae, and gave this animal the name "Manospondylus gigas". This discovery was mostly overlooked for over a century, and caused controversy in the early 2000s when it was discovered that this material actually belonged to, and had name priority over, "Tyrannosaurus rex".


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: In his 1905 paper naming "Albertosaurus", Osborn described two additional tyrannosaur specimens that had been collected in Montana and Wyoming during a 1902 expedition of the American Museum of Natural History, led by Barnum Brown. Initially, Osborn considered these to be distinct species. The first, he named "Dynamosaurus imperiosus" ("emperor power lizard"), and the second, "Tyrannosaurus rex" ("king tyrant lizard"). A year later, Osborn recognized that these two specimens actually came from the same species. Despite the fact that "Dynamosaurus" had been found first, the name "Tyrannosaurus" had appeared one page earlier in his original article describing both specimens. Therefore, according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), the name "Tyrannosaurus" was used.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Barnum Brown went on to collect several more tyrannosaurid specimens from Alberta, including the first to preserve the shortened, two-fingered forelimbs characteristic of the group (which Lawrence Lambe named "Gorgosaurus libratus", "balanced fierce lizard", in 1914). A second significant find attributed to "Gorgosaurus" was made in 1942, in the form of a well-preserved, though unusually small, complete skull. The specimen waited until after the end of World War II to be studied by Charles W. Gilmore, who named it "Gorgosaurus lancesnis". This skull was re-studied by Robert T. Bakker, Phil Currie, and Michael Williams in 1988, and assigned to the new genus "Nanotyrannus". It was also in 1946 that paleontologists from the Soviet Union began expeditions into Mongolia, and uncovered the first tyrannosaur remains from Asia. Evgeny Maleev described new Mongolian species of "Tyrannosaurus" and "Gorgosaurus" in 1955, and one new genus: "Tarbosaurus" ("terrifying lizard"). Subsequent studies, however, showed that all of Maleev's tyrannosaur species were actually one species of "Tarbosaurus" at different stages of growth. A second species of Mongolian tyrannosaurid was found later, described by Sergei Kurzanov in 1976, and given the name "Alioramus remotus" ("remote different branch"), though its status as a true tyrannosaurid and not a more primitive tyrannosaur is still controversial.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: The tyrannosaurids were all large animals, with all species capable of weighing at least 1 metric ton. A single specimen of "Alioramus" of an individual estimated at between long has been discovered, although it is considered by some experts to be a juvenile. "Albertosaurus", "Gorgosaurus" and "Daspletosaurus" all measured between long, while "Tarbosaurus" reached lengths of from snout to tail. The massive "Tyrannosaurus" reached in the largest specimen, RSM P2523.8.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Tyrannosaurid skull anatomy is well understood, as complete skulls are known for all genera but "Alioramus", which is known only from partial skull remains. "Tyrannosaurus", "Tarbosaurus", and "Daspletosaurus" had skulls that exceeded in length. Adult tyrannosaurids had tall, massive skulls, with many bones fused and reinforced for strength. At the same time, hollow chambers within many skull bones and large openings (fenestrae) between those bones helped to reduce skull weight. Many features of tyrannosaurid skulls were also found in their immediate ancestors, including tall premaxillae and fused nasal bones.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Tyrannosaurid skulls had many unique characteristics, including fused parietal bones with a prominent sagittal crest, which ran longitudinally along the sagittal suture and separated the two supratemporal fenestrae on the skull roof. Behind these fenestrae, tyrannosaurids had a characteristically tall nuchal crest, which also arose from the parietals but ran along a transverse plane rather than longitudinally. The nuchal crest was especially well-developed in "Tyrannosaurus", "Tarbosaurus" and "Alioramus". "Albertosaurus", "Daspletosaurus" and "Gorgosaurus" had tall crests in front of the eyes on the lacrimal bones, while "Tarbosaurus" and "Tyrannosaurus" had extremely thickened postorbital bones forming crescent-shaped crests behind the eyes. "Alioramus" had a row of six bony crests on top of its snout, arising from the nasal bones; lower crests have been reported on some specimens of "Daspletosaurus" and "Tarbosaurus", as well as the more basal tyrannosauroid "Appalachiosaurus". The snout and other parts of the skull also sported numerous foramina. According to the 2017 study which described "D. horneri", scaly integument as well as tactile sensitivity was correlated with the multiple rows of neurovascular foramina seen in crocodilians and tyrannosaurids.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Tyrannosaurids, like their tyrannosauroid ancestors, were heterodonts, with premaxillary teeth "D"-shaped in cross section and smaller than the rest. Unlike earlier tyrannosauroids and most other theropods, the maxillary and mandibular teeth of mature tyrannosaurids are not blade-like but extremely thickened and often circular in cross-section, with some species having reduced serrations. Tooth counts tend to be consistent within species, and larger species tend to have lower tooth counts than smaller ones. For example, "Alioramus" had 76 to 78 teeth in its jaws, while "Tyrannosaurus" had between 54 and 60.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: William Abler observed in 2001 that "Albertosaurus" tooth serrations resemble a crack in the tooth ending in a round void called an ampulla. Tyrannosaurid teeth were used as holdfasts for pulling meat off a body, so when a tyrannosaur would have pulled back on a piece of meat, the tension could cause a purely crack-like serration to spread through the tooth. However, the presence of the ampulla would have distributed these forces over a larger surface area, and lessened the risk of damage to the tooth under strain. The presence of incisions ending in voids has parallels in human engineering. Guitar makers use incisions ending in voids to, as Abler describes, "impart alternating regions of flexibility and rigidity" to the wood they work with. The use of a drill to create an "ampulla" of sorts and prevent the propagation of cracks through material is also used to protect airplane surfaces. Abler demonstrated that a plexiglass bar with incisions called "kerfs" and drilled holes was more than 25% stronger than one with only regularly placed incisions. Unlike tyrannosaurs and other theropods, ancient predators like phytosaurs and "Dimetrodon" had no adaptations to prevent the crack-like serrations of their teeth from spreading when subjected to the forces of feeding.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: The skull was perched at the end of a thick, "S"-shaped neck, and a long, heavy tail acted as a counterweight to balance out the head and torso, with the center of mass over the hips. Tyrannosaurids are known for their proportionately very small two-fingered forelimbs, although remnants of a vestigial third digit are sometimes found. "Tarbosaurus" had the shortest forelimbs compared to its body size, while "Daspletosaurus" had the longest.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Tyrannosaurids walked exclusively on their hindlimbs, so their leg bones were massive. In contrast to the forelimbs, the hindlimbs were longer compared to body size than almost any other theropods. Juveniles and even some smaller adults, like more basal tyrannosauroids, had longer tibiae than femora, a characteristic of cursorial (fast-running) dinosaurs like ornithomimids. Larger adults had leg proportions characteristic of slower-moving animals, but not to the extent seen in other large theropods like abelisaurids or carnosaurs. The third metatarsals of tyrannosaurids were pinched between the second and fourth metatarsals, forming a structure known as the arctometatarsus.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: It is unclear when the arctometatarsus first evolved; it was not present in the earliest tyrannosauroids like "Dilong", but was found in the later "Appalachiosaurus". This structure also characterized troodontids, ornithomimids and caenagnathids, but its absence in the earliest tyrannosauroids indicates that it was acquired by convergent evolution.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: The name Deinodontidae was coined by Edward Drinker Cope in 1866 for this family, and continued to be used in place of the newer name Tyrannosauridae through the 1960s. The type genus of the Deinodontidae is "Deinodon", which was named after isolated teeth from Montana. However, in a 1970 review of North American tyrannosaurs, Dale Russell concluded that "Deinodon" was not a valid taxon, and used the name Tyrannosauridae in place of Deinodontidae, stating that this was in accordance with ICZN rules. Therefore, Tyrannosauridae is preferred by modern experts.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: "Tyrannosaurus" was named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1905, along with the family Tyrannosauridae. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek words "τυραννος" (') ('tyrant') and (') ('lizard'). The very common suffix "-idae" is normally appended to zoological family names and is derived from the Greek suffix "-ιδαι" "-", which indicates a plural noun.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Tyrannosauridae is a family in rank-based Linnaean taxonomy, within the superfamily Tyrannosauroidea and the suborder Theropoda.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Tyrannosauridae is uncontroversially divided into two subfamilies. Albertosaurinae comprises the North American genera "Albertosaurus" and "Gorgosaurus", while Tyrannosaurinae includes "Daspletosaurus", "Teratophoneus", "Bistahieversor", "Tarbosaurus", "Nanuqsaurus", "Zhuchengtyrannus", and "Tyrannosaurus" itself. Some authors include the species "Gorgosaurus libratus" in the genus "Albertosaurus" and "Tarbosaurus bataar" in the genus "Tyrannosaurus", while others prefer to retain "Gorgosaurus" and "Tarbosaurus" as separate genera. Albertosaurines are characterized by more slender builds, lower skulls, and proportionately longer tibiae than tyrannosaurines. In tyrannosaurines, the sagittal crest on the parietals continues forward onto the frontals. In 2014, Lü Junchang "et al." described the Alioramini as a tribe within the Tyrannosauridae containing the genera "Alioramus" and "Qianzhousaurus". Their phylogenetic analysis indicated that the tribe was located at the base of the Tyrannosaurinae. Some authors, such as George Olshevsky and Tracy Ford, have created other subdivisions or tribes for various combinations of tyrannosaurids within the subfamilies. However, these have not been phylogenetically defined, and usually consisted of genera that are now considered synonymous with other genera or species.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Additional subfamilies have been named for more fragmentary genera, including Aublysodontinae and Deinodontinae. However, the genera "Aublysodon" and "Deinodon" are usually considered "nomina dubia", so they and their eponymous subfamilies are usually excluded from taxonomies of tyrannosaurids. An additional tyrannosaurid, "Raptorex", was initially described as a more primitive tyrannosauroid, but likely represents a juvenile tyrannosaurine similar to "Tarbosaurus". However, as it is known only from a juvenile specimen, it is also currently considered a "nomen dubium".


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: With the advent of phylogenetic taxonomy in vertebrate paleontology, Tyrannosauridae has been given several explicit definitions. The original was produced by Paul Sereno in 1998, and included all tyrannosauroids closer to Tyrannosaurus than to either "Alectrosaurus", "Aublysodon" or "Nanotyrannus". However, "Nanotyrannus" is often considered to be a juvenile "Tyrannosaurus rex", while "Aublysodon" is usually regarded as a "nomen dubium" unsuitable for use in the definition of a clade. Definitions since then have been based on more well-established genera.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: In 2001, Thomas R. Holtz Jr. published a cladistic analysis of the Tyrannosauridae. He concluded that there were two subfamilies: the more primitive Aublysodontinae, characterized by unserrated premaxillary teeth; and the Tyrannosaurinae. The Aublysodontinae included "Aublysodon", the "Kirtland "Aublysodon"", and "Alectrosaurus". Holtz also found that "Siamotyrannus" exhibited some of the synapomorphies of the tyrannosauridae, but lay "outside the <nowiki>[</nowiki>family<nowiki>]</nowiki> proper."


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Later in the same paper, he proposed that Tyrannosauridae be defined as "all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of "Tyrannosaurus" and "Aublysodon"". He also criticized definitions previously proposed by other workers, like one proposed by Paul Sereno, that the Tyrannosauridae was "all taxa closer to "Tyrannosaurus" than to "Alectrosaurus", "Aublysodon", and "Nanotyrannus"". Holtz observed that since "Nanotyrannus" was probably a misidentified "T. rex" juvenile, Sereno's proposed definition would have the family Tyrannosauridae as a subtaxon of the genus "Tyrannosaurus". Further, his proposed definition of the subfamily Tyrannosaurinae would also be limited to "Tyrannosaurus".


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: A 2003 attempt by Christopher Brochu included "Albertosaurus", "Alectrosaurus", "Alioramus", "Daspletosaurus", "Gorgosaurus", "Tarbosaurus" and "Tyrannosaurus" in the definition. Holtz redefined the clade in 2004 to use all of the above as specifiers except for "Alioramus" and "Alectrosaurus", which his analysis could not place with certainty. However, in the same paper, Holtz also provided a completely different definition, including all theropods more closely related to "Tyrannosaurus" than to "Eotyrannus". The most recent definition is that of Sereno in 2005, which defined Tyrannosauridae as the least inclusive clade containing "Albertosaurus", "Gorgosaurus" and "Tyrannosaurus".


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Cladistic analyses of tyrannosaurid phylogeny often find "Tarbosaurus" and "Tyrannosaurus" to be sister taxa, with "Daspletosaurus" more basal than either. A close relationship between "Tarbosaurus" and "Tyrannosaurus" is supported by numerous skull features, including the pattern of sutures between certain bones, the presence of a crescent-shaped crest on the postorbital bone behind each eye, and a very deep maxilla with a noticeable downward curve on the lower edge, among others. An alternative hypothesis was presented in a 2003 study by Phil Currie and colleagues, which found weak support for "Daspletosaurus" as a basal member of a clade also including "Tarbosaurus" and "Alioramus", both from Asia, based on the absence of a bony prong connecting the nasal and lacrimal bones. "Alioramus" was found to be the closest relative of "Tarbosaurus" in this study, based on a similar pattern of stress distribution in the skull.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: A related study also noted a locking mechanism in the lower jaw shared between the two genera. In a separate paper, Currie noted the possibility that "Alioramus" might represent a juvenile "Tarbosaurus", but stated that the much higher tooth count and more prominent nasal crests in "Alioramus" suggest it is a distinct genus. Similarly, Currie uses the high tooth count of "Nanotyrannus" to suggest that it may be a distinct genus, rather than a juvenile "Tyrannosaurus" as most other experts believe. However, the discovery and description of "Qianzhousaurus" reveals that "Alioramus" is not a close relation to "Tarbosaurus", instead belonging to a newly described tribe of tyrannosaurids; the Alioramini. "Qianzhousaurus" further reveals that similar long-snouted tyrannosaurids were widely distributed throughout Asia and would have shared the same environment while avoiding competition with larger and more robust tyrannosaurines by hunting different prey.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Paleontologist Gregory Erickson and colleagues have studied the growth and life history of tyrannosaurids. Analysis of bone histology can determine the age of a specimen when it died. Growth rates can be examined when the age of various individuals are plotted against their size on a graph. Erickson has shown that after a long time as juveniles, tyrannosaurs underwent tremendous growth spurts for about four years midway through their lives. After the rapid growth phase ended with sexual maturity, growth slowed down considerably in adult animals. A tyrannosaurid growth curve is S-shaped, with the maximum growth rate of individuals around 14 years of age.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: The smallest known "Tyrannosaurus rex" individual (LACM 28471, the "Jordan theropod") is estimated to have weighed only at only 2 years old, while the largest, such as FMNH PR2081 ("Sue"), most likely weighed about , estimated to have been 28 years old, an age which may have been close to the maximum for the species. "T. rex" juveniles remained under until approximately 14 years of age, when body size began to increase dramatically. During this rapid growth phase, a young "T. rex" would gain an average of a year for the next four years. This slowed after 16 years, and at 18 years of age, the curve plateaus again, indicating that growth slowed dramatically. For example, only separated the 28-year-old "Sue" from a 22-year-old Canadian specimen (RTMP 81.12.1). This sudden change in growth rate may indicate physical maturity, a hypothesis that is supported by the discovery of medullary tissue in the femur of an 18-year-old "T. rex" from Montana (MOR 1125, also known as "B-rex"). Medullary tissue is found only in female birds during ovulation, indicating that "B-rex" was of reproductive age.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Other tyrannosaurids exhibit extremely similar growth curves, although with lower growth rates corresponding to their lower adult sizes. Compared to albertosaurines, "Daspletosaurus" showed a faster growth rate during the rapid growth period due to its higher adult weight. The maximum growth rate in "Daspletosaurus" was per year, based on a mass estimate of in adults. Other authors have suggested higher adult weights for "Daspletosaurus"; this would change the magnitude of the growth rate, but not the overall pattern. The youngest known "Albertosaurus" is a two-year-old discovered in the Dry Island bonebed, which would have weighed about and measured slightly more than in length. The specimen from the same quarry is the oldest and largest known, at 28 years of age. The fastest growth rate is estimated to occur around 12–16 years of age, reaching per year, based on a adult, which is about a fifth of the rate for "T.-rex". For "Gorgosaurus", the calculated maximum growth rate is about during the rapid growth phase, which is comparable to that of "Albertosaurus".


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: The discovery of an embryonic tyrannosaur of an as-yet-unknown genus suggests that tyrannosaurids developed their distinctive skeletal features while developing in the egg. Furthermore, the size of the specimen, a dentary from the lower jaw found in the Two Medicine Formation of Montana in 1983 and a foot claw found in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in 2018 and described in 2020, suggests that neonate tyrannosaurids were born with skulls the size of a mouse or similarly sized rodents and may have been roughly the size of a small dog at birth. The jaw specimen is believed to have come from an animal roughly while the claw is believed to belong to a specimen measuring around . While eggshells have not been found in association with either specimen, the location where these neonate tyrannosaurids were uncovered suggests these animals were using the same nest sites as other species they lived with and preyed upon. The lack of eggshells associated with these specimens has also opened up speculation to the possibility that tyrannosaurids laid soft-shelled eggs as the genera "Mussaurus" and "Protoceratops" are believed to have done.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Fossil footprints from the Wapiti Formation suggest that as tyrannosaurids grew, the feet became wider with thicker toes to support their weight. The broader feet suggest that adult tyrannosaurids were slower-moving than their offspring.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: The end of the rapid growth phase suggests the onset of sexual maturity in "Albertosaurus", although growth continued at a slower rate throughout the animals' lives. Sexual maturation while still actively growing appears to be a shared trait among small and large dinosaurs as well as in large mammals, such as humans and elephants. This pattern of relatively early sexual maturation differs strikingly from the pattern in birds, which delay their sexual maturity until after they have finished growing.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: By tabulating the number of specimens of each age group, Erickson and his colleagues were able to draw conclusions about life history in tyranosauridae populations. Their analysis showed that while juveniles were rare in the fossil record, subadults in the rapid growth phase and adults were far more common. Over half of the known "T. rex" specimens appear to have died within six years of reaching sexual maturity, a pattern that is also seen in other tyrannosaurs and in some large, long-lived birds and mammals today. These species are characterized by high infant mortality rates, followed by relatively low mortality among juveniles. Mortality increases again following sexual maturity, partly due to the stresses of reproduction. While this could be due to preservation or collection biases, Erickson hypothesized that the difference was due to low mortality among juveniles over a certain size, which is also seen in some modern large mammals, like elephants. This low mortality may have resulted from a lack of predation, since tyrannosaurs surpassed all contemporaneous predators in size by the age of two. Paleontologists have not found enough "Daspletosaurus" remains for a similar analysis, but Erickson notes that the same general trend seems to apply.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: The tyrannosaurids spent as much as half its life in the juvenile phase before ballooning up to near-maximum size in only a few years. This, along with the complete lack of predators intermediate in size between huge adult tyrannosaurids and other small theropods, suggests these niches may have been filled by juvenile tyrannosaurids. This is seen in modern Komodo dragons, where hatchlings start off as tree-dwelling insectivores and slowly mature into massive apex predators capable of taking down large vertebrates. For example, "Albertosaurus" have been found in aggregations that some have suggested to represent mixed-age packs.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Locomotion abilities are best studied for "Tyrannosaurus", and there are two main issues concerning this: how well it could turn; and what its maximum straight-line speed was likely to have been. "Tyrannosaurus" may have been slow to turn, possibly taking one to two seconds to turn only 45° – an amount that humans, being vertically oriented and tail-less, can spin in a fraction of a second. The cause of the difficulty is rotational inertia, since much of "Tyrannosaurus"s mass was some distance from its center of gravity, like a human carrying a heavy timber.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Scientists have produced a wide range of maximum speed estimates, mostly around , but a few as low as , and a few as high as . Researchers have to rely on various estimating techniques because, while there are many tracks of very large theropods walking, so far none have been found of very large theropods running—and this absence "may" indicate that they did not run.


title: Tyrannosauridae

text: Jack Horner and Don Lessem argued in 1993 that "Tyrannosaurus" was slow and probably could not run (no airborne phase in mid-stride). However, Holtz (1998) concluded that tyrannosaurids and their close relatives were the fastest large theropods. Christiansen (1998) estimated that the leg bones of "Tyrannosaurus" were not significantly stronger than those of elephants, which are relatively limited in their top speed and never actually run (there is no airborne phase), and hence proposed that the dinosaur's maximum speed would have been about , which is about the speed of a human sprinter. Farlow and colleagues (1995) have argued that a 6- to 8-ton "Tyrannosaurus" would have been critically or even fatally injured if it had fallen while moving quickly, since its torso would have slammed into the ground at a deceleration of 6 "g" (six times the acceleration due to gravity, or about 60 metres/s) and its tiny arms could not have reduced the impact. However, giraffes have been known to gallop at , despite the risk that they might break a leg or worse, which can be fatal even in a "safe" environment such as a zoo. Thus it is quite possible that "Tyrannosaurus" also moved fast when necessary and had to accept such risks; this scenario has been studied for "Allosaurus" too. Most recent research on "Tyrannosaurus" locomotion does not narrow down speeds further than a range from , i.e. from walking or slow running to moderate-speed running. A computer model study in 2007 estimated running speeds, based on data taken directly from fossils, and claimed that "T. rex" had a top running speed of . (Probably a juvenile individual.)