Great War Island is located at the mouth of the Sava river into the Danube, in the Danube's widening between the Kalemegdan fortress as the ending section of the Terazije ridge of northernmost part of Šumadija on the west and the low, easternmost section of the Syrmia plain, the modern Ušće neighborhood of New Belgrade, on the south.

[1] The island gained its militant name due to its history as an important strategic point either for the conquest or the defence of Belgrade.

Developed around several "pillars" (areas where sedimentation began), the island is a formation which changes and grows all the time (geo-dynamically active terrain).

[5] Because of the sedimentation, occasional drainage and removal of the silt from the northern tip of the island is necessary, as otherwise it would make a land connection to the bank of the Danube.

[10] By November 2017, the island has been populated with 5,850 seedlings of pedunculate oak, 1,000 of narrow-leafed ash, 1,755 of European white elm and 800 of black poplar.

There are five other nesting couples in the wider Belgrade area, and some 90 in the entire Serbia, but having them reproducing at only 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) from the downtown of a city of this size is an exceptional rarity.

[18] The largest European eagles, with the wingspan up to 2.4 metres (7.9 feet), are best observed from the neighboring Ušće and Dorćol districts, but they are being spotted circling above the Kalemegdan and the Republic Square, practically the center of Belgrade.

Naturalists suspected that soprano pipistrelle lives in Serbia, in the Obedska bara region, but this was the first time that the bat was actually seen and caught.

[23] In June 2019 due to the rise of the water level which flooded the entire island, wild boars scattered all over Belgrade, making media sensation.

Animals, including disoriented solitary piglets which is highly unusual behavior, were seen in Block 8 and in the neighborhoods of Ušće and Zemunski Kej.

Growing numbers of wild boars were reported in the wider Balkans area (rest of Serbia, Bulgaria) due to the favorable climate conditions in 2020 but more to the COVID-19 pandemic which restricted hunting.

Based on the historical data and descriptions of the river battles on the Danube, it is believed that it has been fully formed as an island in the second half of the 15th century.

Historian Kome chronicled the fall of Zemun to the Turks in 1521 and mentioned the island as the location where all of the imprisoned defenders of the city were interred, including their wives and children.

[2] The name officially appeared after 1717, when Prince Eugene of Savoy used the island as an attack point in his re-conquest of Belgrade from the Turks.

By the convention, Turkey obtained the section of the island overlooking the Belgrade, while Austria got the other part, in the direction of Zemun and Banat.

In liberating Belgrade in 1806 the rebel army headed by Karađorđe also used the island for military purposes, as the Serbian artillery with 500 soldiers was bombing the Kalemegdan fortress from there.

[3][4] Under the command of Miloje Petrović Trnavac [sr] and Vuk Ilić, Serbian artillery was out of Ottoman reach and left undisturbed cannonading the Lower Town of the fortress.

[2] The Belgrade's first general urban plan, adopted in 1924, included sports center on the island, and construction of the bridge to the mainland.

Another proposed project after World War II included construction of the bridge and the major sports-recreational center on the island.

[38] It was partially done because the design for the bridge, made of concrete and wood, didn't take into the account high water levels of the Danube.

Citizens protested while the experts rejected the reasons named by the authorities, adding that it would be a waste of money on an unnecessary project.

In an article "Cloud over the Great War Island", Aleksandar Milenković, member of the Academy of Architecture of Serbia, opposed the motion.

He expressed fear that having in mind the "synchronous ad hoc decisions of the administration", the reaction should be prompt as the seemingly benign idea is actually a strategically disastrous enterprise (concerning the protected wildlife on the island).

In March 2019, city urbanist Marko Stojčić said that the bridge will be placed across the Sava, as an extension of the Omladinskih Brigada Street, in the New Belgrade's Block 70-A, and that it will connect it with Ada Ciganlija.

[47] President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić said in August 2023 the "place for the [Old Sava] bridge has been already found", connecting Zemun and the Great War Island, and that he will "nominate" the idea to citizens.

Celebrating the June 29, the international Danube Day, an ecology camp made of pile dwellings for students of the Belgrade University was opened.

[50] In August 2007, digging of a 300-metre-long (980 ft) canal which reconnected Veliki Galijaš with the Danube also began to prevent the seasonal drying of the lake.

A 15-metre-long (49 ft) lookout is to be erected west of Veliki Galijaš so as the entire network of visitor centers on the unsinkable points around the lake and throughout the island for the studying of the bird life.

In July 2018 a "Belgreat Festival 2018" was suddenly announced, with participation of Felix da Housecat, Goldie and Cristian Varela, among others.

[56] After the negative public reaction, city officials stated this was just a possibility, an alternative, and that maybe only Ranney collectors will be built, without any further urbanization of the island.