Balkan Wars
During the Balkan Wars of 1912, most of Kosovo was taken from the Ottoman Empire by the Kingdom of Serbiahile the region of Metohija (known as the Dukagjini Valley to ethnic-Albanians) was taken by the Kingdom of Montenegro. Throughout the centuries, populations of ethnic Serbs and Albanians tended to shift following territorial handovers. As a result of the multi-ethnic composition of Kosovo, the new administrations provoked a mixed response from the local population. Whilst Albanians (with a slim majority of just over 50%) did not welcome Serbian rule, the non-Albanian population (mainly Bulgarian, Serb and Bosniak) considered this a liberation.
Kosovo remained Ottoman territory until it was conquered by Serbian forces in 1912. Serbs would say "liberated"; but even their own estimates put the Orthodox Serb population at less than 25%. The majority population was Albanian, and did not welcome Serb rule, so "conquered" seems the right word. But legally, Kosovo was not incorporated into the Serbian kingdom in 1912; it remained occupied territory until some time after 1918. Then, finally, it was incorporated, not into a Serbian state, but into a Yugoslav one. And with one big interruption (the second world war) it remained part of some sort of Yugoslav state until June 2006.
In 1918, Serbia became a part of the newly-formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later named Yugoslavia.
Read more about this topic: 20th-century History Of Kosovo
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