Vojin Popović, known as Vojvoda Vuk (; 9 December 1881 – 29 November 1916) was a Serbian ''voivode'' (military commander), who fought for the Macedonian Serb

Chetniks The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...

(i.e. komiti) in the

Struggle for Macedonia The Macedonian Struggle was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts that were mainly fought between Greek and Bulgarian subjects who lived in Ottoman Macedonia between 1893 and 1912. From 1904 to 1908 the conflict was p ...

, and then the Serbian national army in the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Life

Vojin was born on 9 December 1881 at

Sjenica Sjenica ( sr-cyr, Сјеница, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia, on the vast Sjenica- Pešter plateau and geographically located in the central part of Sandžak. The population of the municip ...

, Kosovo Vilayet,

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

(present-day southwestern

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

). Shortly after his birth, the family moved to

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the List of cities in Serbia, fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Se ...

, where Vojin attended school. He chose a career in the military. On 3 November 1901, he became ''second lieutenant''. He was among the first ''cheta'' (bands, 'čete') heading for ''

Old Serbia Old Serbia () is a Serbian historiographical term that is used to describe the territory that according to the dominant school of Serbian historiography in the late 19th century formed the core of the Serbian Empire in 1346–71. The term does ...

'', i.e. Makedonia (1905). He was killed after being shot through the heart on top of the Staravinski vis near Gruništa,

Novaci Municipality Novaci () is a municipality in the southern part of North Macedonia. '' Novaci'' is also the name of the village where the municipal seat is found. Novaci Municipality is a part of the Pelagonia Statistical Region. Located in the municipality is ...

in skirmishes after the

Battle of Kaymakchalan The Battle of Kaymakchalan was fought between Serbian and Bulgarian troops on the Macedonian front during World War I. The battle was fought between 12 and 30 September 1916, when the Serbian army managed to capture the peak of Prophet Elijah w ...

on 29 November 1916 during the height of World War I. There is a Monument to Vojvoda Vuk in Belgrade.

Legacy

* There is a Monument to Vojvoda Vuk in a Belgrade park called ''Proleće.''

References

* Anonymous, "One eyewitness of the Vojvoda Vuk`s death speaks about his last minutes", Politika, 25 October 1936. * Anonymous, „The monument to Vojvoda Vuk – Vojin Popović was unveiled in Belgrade“, Belgrade municipal newspapers, no. 10, October 1936, 780–781 * Danilo Šarenac, Tradition of the irregular troops: the monument to Vojvoda Vuk in Belgrade, in: The Collection Premises of the Memory, 2, Department for the History of Art at the Faculty of Philosophy, the University of Belgrade, Belgrade 2013, 49–65

Sources

* 1881 births 1916 deaths People from Sjenica People from Kosovo vilayet Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Serbia Serbian military personnel of the Balkan Wars Serbian military personnel of World War I Serbian military personnel killed in World War I 19th-century Serbian people 20th-century Serbian people {{Serbia-hist-stub

Life

Legacy

See also

References

Sources