Đorđe S. Simić (28 February 1843, in Belgrade – 11 October 1921, in

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...

), was a Serbian politician and diplomat. He was twice Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia.

Biography

Đorđe S. Simić was the son of Stojan Simić and the nephew of

Aleksa Simić Aleksa Simić (Boljevci, March 18, 1800 – Belgrade, March 17, 1872) was a Serbian politician serving as Prime Minister of Serbia, Prime Minister on three terms and Government Minister on multiple terms. Biography Simić was a part of the ''U ...

, both Serbian politicians. Upon graduation in Belgrade, he studied the state sciences in Berlin,

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and Paris. He was hired as a civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and was head of its political department from 1867 to 1882. From 1882 to 1884 was Consul-General in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

, from 1887 to 1890 Serbian Minister to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and from 1890 to 1894 Serbian Minister in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Đorđe S. Simić was the Prime Minister of Serbia for the first time from 12 January to 21 March 1894. The government quickly came to a crisis and fall due to the King Aleksandar I, demanding the Simić cabinet to fight the

People's Radical Party The People's Radical Party ( sr, Народна радикална странка, Narodna radikalna stranka, abbr. НРС or NRS) was the dominant ruling party of Kingdom of Serbia and later Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from the l ...

, which Simić and several other ministers refused to accept. Simić was again the Serbian envoy in Vienna from 1894 to 1896. He was the Prime Minister for the second time (and also Minister of Foreign Affairs) from 17 December 1896 to 11 October 1897. This government was composed of neutral politicians and radicals. In foreign policy, Simić's second cabinet achieved only partial results in Macedonia; Serbia obtained the right to establish schools in the Serbian language, and a Serbian bishop was temporarily installed in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and List of cities in North Macedonia by population, largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Sk ...

. In internal politics, the government improved finances and armament of the Serbian Army after the threats to the regional security provoked by the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. in 1900, Simić was appointed as the Serbian Minister in Rome, then he was Senator and President of the State Council in 1901, permanent Extraordinary Minister Plenipotentiary (ambassador) to

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from 1903 to 1906, and again in Vienna from 1906 to 1912. One of the founders of

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

in Serbia, Simić was its longtime president. Simić was married, in 1867, to Princess Jelena of Serbia (18 October 1846 – 26 July 1867), daughter of Alexander, Prince of Serbia.

Work

Đorđe S. Simić translated in 1883 the capital work of

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Franco-Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, he backed t ...

-- ''Principes de Politique Applicable a Tous Les Gouvernements'' -- on the principles of the political and ministerial responsibilities, considered a

reference work A reference work is a work, such as a paper, book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually ''referred'' to ...

by the elite of the Radical deputies.

Bibliography

*Ana Stolić, ''Đorđe Simić. Poslednji srpski diplomata XIX veka'', Istorijski Institut, Beograd 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simic, Dorde 1843 births 1921 deaths Politicians from Belgrade People's Radical Party politicians Prime Ministers of Serbia Finance ministers of Serbia Foreign ministers of Serbia Diplomats from Belgrade

Biography

Work

Bibliography

See also

References