![Andrija Radovic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Andrija_Radovic.jpg)
Andrija Radović ( sr-cyr, Андрија Радовић; 1872–1947) was a
Montenegrin and
Yugoslav politician and statesmen, former Prime Minister and leader of the
People's and then
Democratic Party, fighter for
parliamentary democracy
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
and chief proponent of
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
's
unification with
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
.
Youth
Andrija Radović was born to father
serdar Serdar may refer to
* Serdar (given name)
* Serdar (surname)
* SERDAR, a stabilized remote-controlled Ukrainian weapon station
* Serdar (city) in Turkmenistan, the capital of Serdar District
* Serdar (Ottoman rank), a military and noble rank of t ...
(count) Jagoš in the village of Martinići,
Danilovgrad
Danilovgrad ( cnr, Даниловград) is a town in central Montenegro. It has a population of 6,852 (2011 census). It is situated in the Danilovgrad Municipality which lies along the main route between Montenegro's two largest cities, Podgori ...
into the
Bjelopavlići
Bjelopavlići ( cyrl, Бјелопавлићи; sq, Palabardhi), ) is a historical tribe (pleme) of Albanian origin and a valley in the Brda region of Montenegro, around the city of Danilovgrad.
Geography
The ''Bjelopavlići'' valley (also kn ...
clan, in the still unrecognized
Principality of Montenegro
The Principality of Montenegro ( sr, Књажевина Црна Горa, Knjaževina Crna Gora) was a principality in Southeastern Europe that existed from 13 March 1852 to 28 August 1910. It was then proclaimed a kingdom by Nikola I, who then ...
on 28 January 1872. After finishing the elementary and secondary schools in Cetinje, he went to professionalize in the
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...
studying
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
at the Artillery-Engineering Academy from 1890 to 1894 as Nicholas' Pioneer. Upon returning, he got the job as the Military Engineer later raising to the position of Secretary of the Military Council and Court Marshal. At the end of the century, he was appointed by President of the State Council
Božo Petrović-Njegoš
Božo Petrović-Njegoš ( cyrl, Божо Петровић-Његош; 1846−1929) was a Montenegro, Montenegrin ''Voivode, vojvoda'' and politician.
After taking command of the Southern Army in the Montenegrin–Ottoman War (1876–78), Monteneg ...
as State Engineer, Director of Public Works and Head of Department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. His 1902 marriage with the Duke's daughter proved to be a decisive connection for his career, as he intimately befriended the dynasty and was frequently sent as its representer on numerous European courts, because of his multi-linguistic capabilities. He actively worked until the general governmental structure was reformed by drafting a Constitution for the Montenegrin Princedom in 1905. From 6 December 1905 to 11 November 1906 he was both Minister of Finance and Construction in the reformist Government of
Lazar Mijušković.
Democratic Activities
Andrija Radović ran in his Captainy on the 27 September 1906 parliamentary elections and was elected into the very first session of the Montenegrin National Assembly that was formed in the capital of
Cetinje on 31 October 1906. On 19 January 1907 he was sworn Prime Minister of the Princedom of Montenegro and took the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and acted as the Representative of both the Ministers of War and Finance. 1907 was a year of great turmoil for Radović. He worked actively in an attempt to limit Prince
Nicholas' autocracy and united all members of the Serbian National Assembly of the Princedom of Montenegro into the "Club of People's Representatives" (Клуб народних представника), which quickly transformed under the influence of neighboring parliamentary democracy in Serbia into the
People's Party (Народна странка/Narodna stranka), the first and sole Montenegrin political party. Andrija became one of its two leaders. The movement quickly became known as "The Clubists" (Клубаши).
Jubilej Narodne stranke
IN4S
Radović rapidly lead the NS into opposition with the Monarch, demanding freedom, democracy and more rights to the people and that the Parliament should be the supreme holder of national sovereignty, and the not the sovereign himself. Disgusted also by the worsening relations of Montenegro with the allied brotherly Kingdom of Serbia, Andrija Radovic went into opposition in the face of Nicholas and promoted national enlightenment of the Montenegrin people and the spread of Serbian culture, religion as well as literacy in Montenegro. He demanded that the long promised union with Serbia started to finally be enacted and worked to cooperate with the Serbs outside Montenegro, as well as other South Slavs
South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, ...
, in an attempt to achieve total national liberation and unification. It is because of the liberal actions is that Prince Nikola I Petrović-Njegoš
Nikola I Petrović-Njegoš ( sr-cyr, Никола I Петровић-Његош; – 1 March 1921) was the last monarch of Montenegro from 1860 to 1918, reigning as prince from 1860 to 1910 and as the country's first and only king from 1910 to 19 ...
sacked Andrija on 4 April 1907 and prosecuted him and his party, chasing them out of political life. Radović's party boycotted the unilaterally newly scheduled 31 October 1907 parliamentary election, as Nikola created his own True People's Party
The True People's Party ( sr, Права народна странка, Prava narodna stranka, abbr. ПНС/ PNS), also known as the Pravaši (''Rightists''), was a conservative and royalist political party in the Principality of Montenegro and the ...
, the so-called "Rightists", that supported his regime and managed to get elected with very little votes because they were the only candidates. In the so-called 1908 Cetinje Bomb Trail in which the clubbists were massively prosecuted by the authorities for alleged conspiracies against Prince Nikola, Radović was sentenced to 15 years of prison as a political detainee while Marko Daković (Nikola's nephew) was sentenced to death in absentia.
In 1913 King Nicholas succumbed to popular demand and pardoned Andrija and others. This enabled Radović to correct his mistake and run on the 25 October 1913 free parliamentary election. Andrija's party decisively defeated the Rightists in the election. He was appointed State Councilor and since the outbreak of World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he was in charge for supplying food and ammunition from the Allies for the Montenegrin Army. He was shown particularly successful in securing large amounts of ammo and guns from the neighboring Serbia already in late 1914. He also held the seat of Minister of Finance and Construction once more, this time from 20 December 1915 to 29 April 1916, in the national unity government of Milo Matanović.
Exile and unification
In early 1916 the Kingdom of Montenegro
The Kingdom of Montenegro ( sr, Краљевина Црна Горa, Kraljevina Crna Gora) was a monarchy in southeastern Europe, present-day Montenegro, during the tumultuous period of time on the Balkan Peninsula leading up to and during World ...
was being occupied by the Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
, so Andrija fled together with Nikola to friendly free Italy. On 12 May 1916 Nicholas convinced him to form a Government of the Kingdom of Montenegro in Exile, which settled in Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. From October '16 he was stationed in Neuilly-sur-Seine which was given to Nicholas by the French for the capital of Montenegro in Exile. 1917 was another year of great activities by Radovic. After the government carefully drafted the Memorandum of Unification of Serbia and Montenegro, he as Prime Minister handed it over to King Nikola. The previous negotiations about forming a Yugoslavian confederate realm in which Montenegro would be an autonomous Principality headed by Nicholas have led to the Montenegrin highest officials in exile working on the matter. However the King didn't sign it to make it official, demanding that the form and process of unification should only be decided after the end of World War I.
As a sign of protest, Andrija resigned on 17 January 1917 the Premiership job and on 4 March 1917 he created the "Montenegrin Committee for National Unification" in Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
with four other Montenegrin leaders, three Ministers and the High Judge. This Board worked in organizing the Montenegrin internees within Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
, most notable of whom was Sekula Drljević
Sekula Drljević (; 7 September 1884 – 10 November 1945) was a Montenegrin nationalist, Yugoslav jurist, politician, orator, and theoretician. During World War II, he was a collaborator with the Ustaše in the German puppet state of t ...
, and founded Volunteer Legions sending them to fight on the Balkan Front. The Montenegrin Committee put forward liberation of Montenegro from Austro-Hungarian occupation and unification of Montenegro and Serbia into one state, which would then be joined by other Yugoslavian territories, as its prime goals. Andrija was the Editor-in-Chief of the Committee's "Unification" magazine printed since April '17 in Geneva that propagated the idea of unification of Serbia and Montenegro with national liberation against the Central Powers' occupation as an integral part of such a movement. For his turning to opposition of Nicholas once more, his financing was cut and he had to search the Serbian government in Exile for support. The "Unification" was published from August '17 to 15 November 1918 in Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. The Yugoslav Committee
Yugoslav Committee ( sh-Latn, Jugoslavenski odbor, sr-Cyrl, Југословенски одбор) was a political interest group formed by South Slavs from Austria-Hungary during World War I aimed at joining the existing south Slavic nations in ...
and Serbian Royal Government signed the Corfu Declaration
The Corfu Declaration ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Krfska deklaracija, Крфска декларација) was an agreement between the prime minister of Serbia, Nikola Pašić, and the president of the Yugoslav Committee, Ante Trumbić, concluded on the ...
on 20 July 1917 that designed the future Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
; the Montenegrin Board under Andrija Radović gave its consent and adopted the resolution's declarations. Andrija Radović also published his thesis on a democratic election and in detail explained the process of unification in his "Unification of Montenegro and Serbia" work that summed the basic lines of the Montenegrin government's memorandum. In October '18 Andrija Radovic formed together with three prominent supporters of a union with Serbia a Central Executive Committee for Unification of Serbia and Montenegro, that acted from the recently liberated Berane
Berane ( cyrl, Беране) is one of the largest towns of northeastern Montenegro and a former administrative centre of the Ivangrad District. The town is located on the Lim river. From 1949 to 1992, it was named Ivangrad ( cyrl, Иванг ...
. On 25 October 1918 Andrija drafted the rules for election of a general Assembly and scheduled the election.
As a Deputy of Metropolitan bishop Gavrilo Dožić's White List within the on 19 November 1918 elected "Great National Assembly of the Serb People in Montenegro", he saw his work fulfilled on 26 November 1918 when unification of the Serbian people was proclaimed and King Nicholas I Petrović dethroned. He wrote a book about the situation in Montenegro and about its potential future inside Serbia, which was used as an informative source by the Allied Powers. The Italian-induced Green insurgents raised the Christmas Uprising on 7 January 1919; Radović supported and coordinated the Montenegrin Youth in fighting off the insurgents and subsequently crushing the remaining guerrilla resisters.
Chosen by the Great Serbian People's Assembly for representer of Montenegro, Andrija Radović went as the alongside Nikola Pašić
Nikola Pašić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Пашић, ; 18 December 1845 – 10 December 1926) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat who was a leading political figure for almost 40 years. He was the leader of the People's Radical ...
in the Delegation on the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to the 1919-1920 Paris Peace Conference. Radović convinced the victorious Great Powers of Nicholas' dreadful path and made them break off all links with the Montenegrin Government in Exile. As the expert of the Montenegrin Question and offering some sort of a final option to the demanded self-determination of the Montenegrin People which Nikola and his close men pleaded for and worried about the bloody events induced by The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to:
Current political parties
*Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens''
*Greens of Andorra
* Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina
*Greens of Burkina
* Greens (Greece)
* Greens of Montenegro
*Greens of Serbia
*Gree ...
, he affirmed an agreement to wait for the Constitutional Assembly general election. In the case of majority's turnout and the victory of pro-unification forces, the created status will have to be accepted by everyone. He proposed the annexation of Skadar and explained its question, which brought him in great conflict with Nikola Pasić who demanded respect of the international territorial integrity of Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
.
In '18 the Podgorica Assembly
The Great National Assembly of the Serb People in Montenegro ( sr, Велика народна скупштина српског народа у Црној Гори, Velika narodna skupština srpskog naroda u Crnoj Gori), commonly known as the Po ...
on its last session nominated Andrija as one of the Montenegrin members in the Kingdom's Collective Presidency. He was also elected into the Central Montenegrin Committee for Unification, a provisional executive administrating body for Montenegro in the process of unification. Though seated in Podgorica
Podgorica (Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; lit. 'under the hill') is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd (Cyrillic: Титоград, ) between 1946 and 1992—in the period that Montenegro form ...
, Radović managed to move it to Cetinje demanding respect for Montenegro's historical legacy.
In August 1919 the Greens decided to attack Radović's property in Martinići, furious because of his acts. A detachment of Green rebels traveled four days from their outland hideout to the area of Podgorica and on 6 August 1919 broke into his family's home. They kidnapped Andrija's mother and sister and assaulted his father, who resisted with his personal gun and ended up quickly killed in the shooting. The Greens then left the building and burned the entire Radović household with the corps in it and then razed the remainder of the property. The house contained all of Andrija's precious things and the historical achievements of his family. He never heard from his mother and only sibling again. Andrija condemned the event and demanded that the perpetrators get punished, but that never occurred. He also called for seizure of violence and reconciliation of the two conflicted political currents in Montenegro.
Andrija Radović founded together with other prominent Montenegrin intellectuals the Democratic Party in Montenegro, inspired by the pro-reformist democratic views of the Kingdom's construction of DS. On the 28 November 1920 Constitutional Assembly election, he was elected in Montenegro into the parliament as DS's candidate. The election had international mediators and with more than a 67% turnout in Montenegro and victory of the unionist political options in Montenegro, Radović's unification acts were confirmed and the question was sealed, with the Greens' call for boycott suffering a decisive defeat. Radović's DS managed to continually locally win in the northern areas of former Montenegro.
Since 1921 he was member of the Directorate of Monopolies. Reelected into the parliament on the 11 September 1927 parliamentary election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
on DS's list, he was elected a member of the Yugoslavian National Bank. In 1928 appointed Vice-Governor of the Belgrade-based National Bank, he completely abandoned politics partially disappointed by the poor functioning of democracy in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Permanently moving to Belgrade, he spent the rest of his life there, including the World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
1941-1944 Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
* Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
occupation
Occupation commonly refers to:
*Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment
*Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces
*Military occupation, th ...
. He reached an old age and died in 1947.
Works
*''Unification of Montenegro and Serbia'', Geneva (1917)
*''Le Montenegro, son passe et son avenir'' (Montenegro, its Past and Future), Paris (1918)
*''Question de Scutari'' (The Question of Skadar), Paris (1919)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radovic, Andrija
1872 births
1947 deaths
People from Danilovgrad
People of the Principality of Montenegro
Bjelopavlići
Prime Ministers of Montenegro
Finance ministers of Montenegro
People's Party (Montenegro, 1990) politicians
Democratic Party (Yugoslavia) politicians
Serbs of Montenegro
Defence ministers of Montenegro