Jovan Cvetković ( sr-cyr, Јован Цветковић; 1860–1915), known as Jovan Dolgač (Јован Долгач), was a Serbian Chetnik commander in Macedonia, who also participated in the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

and

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 ...

in the Chetnik detachments of the Serbian Army. In Bulgaria he is considered a Bulgarian

renegade Renegade or The Renegade may refer to: Aircraft *Lake Renegade, an American amphibious aircraft design *Murphy Renegade, a Canadian ultralight biplane design *Southern Aeronautical Renegade, an American racing aircraft design Games *'' Comman ...

who switched sides, i.e. (sic) ''

Serboman Serbomans (Serbo-Croatian and mk, србомани, srbomani; bg, сърбомани, sarbomani; ro, sârbomani) is a Bulgarian pejorative term used by Bulgarian nationalists for inhabitants in the region of Macedonia that claimed Serbian ethnic ...

''.

Life

Dolgač was born in the village of

Košino Koshino ( mk, Кошино) is a village in the municipality of Dolneni, North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in South ...

on the Babuna mountain. As a youngster, he smuggled weapons together with his brother Zmejko. The brothers subsequently joined the

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр� ...

(IMRO), in order to fight against the Turks and Albanian

kachak Kachaks ( sq, kaçak, sr, качаци / ''kačaci'') is a term used for the Albanian bandits active in the late 19th and early 20th century in northern Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia, and later as a term for the militias of Albanian ...

s. Dolgač stayed with the IMRO until 1904, disappointed with the Bulgarian attacks within the organization against Serb villages around

Prilep Prilep ( mk, Прилеп ) is the fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 and is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko. Name The name of Prilep appear ...

. Together with

Gligor Sokolović Gligor Sokolović ( sr-cyr, Глигор Соколовић; 17 or 5 January 1870 or 1872 – 30 July 1910]) was one of the supreme commanders (''Great Voivode'') of the Serbian Chetnik Organization, Serbian Chetnik Movement, that fought the Ot ...

he joined the

Serbian Chetnik Organization Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation) ...

and became a commander (''vojvoda'') of a band active in Prilep. He killed his own brother Zmejko when he refused to join the Serbian Organization. He participated in the battles of Mukos (1905), Krapa (1906), which were in the region of the Chief Staff of Western Povardarje. He participated in the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

where he distinguished himself in the battles of Kumanovo and the fighting on Mukos. In the work of

Grigorije Božović Grigorije Božović ( Pridvorica, Ottoman Empire, now in Kosovo, 15 November 1880 - Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 4 January 1945), was a writer, professor of the Prizren seminary, one of the leaders of the Serbian movement in Macedonia, prima ...

, "Striko Dolgač" (Uncle Dolgač) was displayed as being a type of old Christian

hajduk A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, p ...

, who refused to believe that a Serb Muslim in his band could be a Serb and not a Turk; he became the embodiment of the Balkan understanding of religion as a divider of nations. Because of an attack on a Turkish wedding in 1913, he was arrested by the Serbian authorities but was eventually freed in order to fight in the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 16 ( O.S.) / 29 (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies r ...

. In 1915, at an old age, he was appointed the village chief. He was murdered the same year by the IMRO.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolgac, Jovan 1860 births 1915 deaths People from Dolneni Municipality 20th-century Serbian people Serbian rebels Serbian military leaders Serbs of North Macedonia Assassinated revolutionaries Assassinated Serbian people