Kingdom of Montenegro

This article is about the early 20th-century Montenegrin state. For the WWII state sometimes called the Kingdom of Montenegro, see Italian governorate of Montenegro.
Kingdom of Montenegro
Краљевина Црнa Горa
Kraljevina Crna Gora
1910–1918
Flag Royal Coat of arms
Anthem
Ubavoj nam Crnoj Gori
Убавој нам Црној Гори
"To Our Beautiful Montenegro"
The Kingdom of Montenegro in 1914.
Capital Cetinje (1910–1916)
Capital-in-exile Bordeaux,
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Languages Serbian
Religion Eastern Orthodox (official) [1]

Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism

Government Constitutional monarchy
King
 •  1910–1918 Nicholas I
Prime Minister
 • 1910–1912 Lazar Tomanović (first)
 • 1917–1918 Evgenije Popović (last)
Legislature Parliament
Historical era World War I
 •  Proclamation 28 August 1910
 • Balkan Wars 1912–1913
 • Treaty of London 30 May 1913
 • Balkans Campaign 1914–1918
 • Corfu Declaration 20 July 1917
 •  Unification with Serbia 28 November 1918
 • Creation of Yugoslavia 1 December 1918
Area
 •  1910 9,475 km² (3,658 sq mi)
 •  1912 14,442 km² (5,576 sq mi)
 •  1917 620,000 km² (239,383 sq mi)
Population
 •  1911 est. 220,000 
 •  1914 est. 423,000 
Currency Montenegrin Perper
Preceded by 		Succeeded by
Principality of Montenegro
Kingdom of Serbia
Today part of  Montenegro

Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbia Kosovo

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The Kingdom of Montenegro (Serbian: Краљевина Црнa Горa / Kraljevina Crna Gora), was a monarchy in southeastern Europe, present day Montenegro, during the tumultuous years on the Balkan Peninsula leading up to and during World War I. Legally it was a constitutional monarchy, but absolutist in practice. On 28 November 1918, following the end of World War I, with its government still in exile, Montenegro was occupied by its former ally Kingdom of Serbia and illegally annexed by it, only to be merged into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes three days later, on 1 December 1918.

History

Prince Nicholas of Montenegro proclaimed the Kingdom of Montenegro in Cetinje on 28 August 1910. King Nicholas I (as he became) had ruled the country as Prince since 1860, and had initiated several modernizing reforms at the beginning of the 20th century, such as introducing a constitution and a new currency, the Montenegrin perper.

Montenegro joined the First Balkan War in 1912, hoping to win a share in the last Ottoman-controlled areas of Rumelia. Montenegro did make further territorial gains by splitting Sandžak with Serbia on 30 May 1913. But the Montenegrins had to abandon the newly captured city of İşkodra (Skadar in Serbian, subsequently Shkodër) to the new state of Albania in May 1913, at the insistence of the Great Powers, despite the Montenegrins having invested 10,000 lives into the capture of the town (April 1913) from the Ottoman-Albanian forces of Esad Pasha.

When the Second Balkan War broke out in June 1913, Serbia fought against Bulgaria, and King Nicholas sided with Serbia. Once again Montenegro found itself tossed into war, in which it won substantial additional territory.

During World War I (1914-1918) Montenegro allied itself with the Triple Entente, in line with King Nicholas' pro-Serbian policy. Accordingly, Austria-Hungary occupied Montenegro from 15 January 1916 to October 1918.

On 20 July 1917, the signing of the Corfu Declaration foreshadowed the unification of Montenegro with Serbia. On 28 November 1918, Montenegrin unification with Serbia was proclaimed. Nicholas I had staunchly supported unification with Serbia to form a great Serbian state for all Serbs, but had disputed with the kings of Serbia as to who would rule the new kingdom. The Podgorica Assembly dethroned King Nicholas on 26 November 1918; he died in exile.

During World War II, the occupying forces in Yugoslavia considered turning the Italian governorate of Montenegro into a puppet kingdom, but nothing came of these plans.

Rulers

King of Montenegro (1910–1918)

Pretenders (1918–present)

Prime Ministers (1910–1916)

Prime Ministers in-exile (1916–1922)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Constitution of the Principality of Montenegro, 1905, Article 40, "Paragraph 1: State religion in Montenegro is Eastern-Orthodox. Paragraph 2: Montenegrin Church is Autocephalous. It is independent from any other Church, but maintains dogmatic unity with Eastern-Orthodox Ecumenical Church. Paragraph 3: All other recognized religions are free in Montenegro.

Further reading

Coordinates: 42°38′00″N 19°32′00″E / 42.6333°N 19.5333°E / 42.6333; 19.5333

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