Post by pastir on Jan 18, 2008 18:25:43 GMT -5
Milan Obrenović 1954 - 1901. Ascended to the throne as a 14 year old after his uncle Prince Miloš was assasinated.
During his rule Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire in 1876 after a Serb rebellion in Bosnia broke out in 1875. (This was in the timeframe of The Great Eastern Crisis and the peak of pan-slavism.) In the war along the Serbian army also fought 3000 Russians half of which were officers and some 2000 strong Bulgarian Legion. The war went badly for Serbia and after a while the Turks were in good position to march straight into the heart of it. Serbia was saved by Russian ultimatum to the Turks that demanded the end of hostilities and a return to status quo of the Turks else Russia would join the war on the Serbian side.
Prince Milan repaid Russia in 1881 with a knife in the back. Upset with Russia he moved Serbia into Austro-Hungarian sphere of influence. Russian "crime" that upset him so? Russia liberating the Slavonic Orthodox nation of Bulgaria from under the Turkish yoke in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78 at a huge cost to herself! The agreement Serbia entered under Milan made Serbia into an Austro-Hungarian satellite. Under the terms of the agreement Serbia could enter no treaty with any 3rd country without the approval of Vienna. Serbia would only export its goods to Austria-Hungary. Would lead a friendly policy towards Austria-Hungary, would allow no anti-Austro-Hungarian "propaganda" within its borders and would cease all claims on the old Serbian region of Raška at the time under Austro-Hungarian occupation. His thirty silver pieces? Austro-Hungary would aid him in fighting his internal opponents and he would be recognised as a `King` instead of a `Prince`. His vanity would mean Serbia would for over twenty years remain firmly in the Austro-Hungarian sphere of influence.
Having surrendered Serbia`s independence to her enemies he set out to put on similar chains on her people. In 1883 he under the pretense of military reform and founding of a standing army declared private firearms ownership illegal (in an area as volatile as 19th century Balkans) and sent government officals to confiscate rifles from the people. The people (all veterans of the war with the Turks and army reservists) refused and ressisted the move sparking the Timok Rebellion that was first supported, then joined and in the end led by the People`s Radical Party at the time by far the most popular party which was in fierce opposition to the traitor king and the reactionary political order in the country. The rebellion was ultimatlely drowned in blood and its leaders murdered on the gallows.
In 1885 it would become clear just what he needed a standing army that would be loyal to his crown rather than a people`s army loyal to none but the Serb people. His Bulgarophobia reaching new heights he imagined Bulgaria, having just incorporated Eastern Rumelia which had previously been an autonomous province of Ottoman Empire, would now be in a better position to be the dominant Balkan state. After securing Austro-Hungarian diplomatic support and material aid he completley unprovoked invaded Bulgaria. The soldiers marching towards Bulgaria were kept in the dark as to the point of it all and were led to belive they are going to fight the Turks. Realising the true aim of the war they lost all fighting spirit and were resoundingly beaten by the Bulgarian army at the battle of Slivnica. After the battle hostilities were ended and the status quo was resumed after Austro-Hungarian diplomats stepped on the scene in aid of their satellite.
Milan would remain a hugely impopular king due to frequent adultery he engaged in and his austrophilic policies. This led to at least two assasination attempts and his abdication from the throne in 1889.
The scumbag himself:
____
So we have a King of Serbia that was guilty of betraying the Russians. Guilty of betraying Serbia and handing her into the hands of her enemies. Guilty of waging war on the serbian people and murder. And guilty of waging a war of conquest on Bulgaria and poisioning the relations between two brotherly balkan slavic orthodox nations, the Serbs and the Bulgarians. A King of Serbia that was brought immense harm to the cause of pan-slavism.
And after this we get people here proclaiming themselves "monarchists". Crowned heads were as mixed bag as the democratic politicans of today. Perhaps even worse. This scumbag makes Tadić look like a patriot in contrast. And most importantly they were always worse than the political leaders of the time (head above what we have now) and the public opinion behind those leaders.
Without the spoilers in the form of crowned heads 19th century pan-slavism would have had a real chance, because the political movements in favour of it alwas had the support of both the masses and the mayority support of the politicaly active classes, but the royals would always lean towards backward currents and factions that strongly ressisted mixing any sentiment of inter-slavic solidarity into their diplomacy and foreign policy. Milan Obrenovic is just the most extreme example of it.
I suggest the folks coming forth with their `monarchism` to instead of manifesting nostalgia for something they never experienced and speaking out of their ass to instead go and actually read a thing or two on what it meant and what it brought us.
During his rule Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire in 1876 after a Serb rebellion in Bosnia broke out in 1875. (This was in the timeframe of The Great Eastern Crisis and the peak of pan-slavism.) In the war along the Serbian army also fought 3000 Russians half of which were officers and some 2000 strong Bulgarian Legion. The war went badly for Serbia and after a while the Turks were in good position to march straight into the heart of it. Serbia was saved by Russian ultimatum to the Turks that demanded the end of hostilities and a return to status quo of the Turks else Russia would join the war on the Serbian side.
Prince Milan repaid Russia in 1881 with a knife in the back. Upset with Russia he moved Serbia into Austro-Hungarian sphere of influence. Russian "crime" that upset him so? Russia liberating the Slavonic Orthodox nation of Bulgaria from under the Turkish yoke in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78 at a huge cost to herself! The agreement Serbia entered under Milan made Serbia into an Austro-Hungarian satellite. Under the terms of the agreement Serbia could enter no treaty with any 3rd country without the approval of Vienna. Serbia would only export its goods to Austria-Hungary. Would lead a friendly policy towards Austria-Hungary, would allow no anti-Austro-Hungarian "propaganda" within its borders and would cease all claims on the old Serbian region of Raška at the time under Austro-Hungarian occupation. His thirty silver pieces? Austro-Hungary would aid him in fighting his internal opponents and he would be recognised as a `King` instead of a `Prince`. His vanity would mean Serbia would for over twenty years remain firmly in the Austro-Hungarian sphere of influence.
Having surrendered Serbia`s independence to her enemies he set out to put on similar chains on her people. In 1883 he under the pretense of military reform and founding of a standing army declared private firearms ownership illegal (in an area as volatile as 19th century Balkans) and sent government officals to confiscate rifles from the people. The people (all veterans of the war with the Turks and army reservists) refused and ressisted the move sparking the Timok Rebellion that was first supported, then joined and in the end led by the People`s Radical Party at the time by far the most popular party which was in fierce opposition to the traitor king and the reactionary political order in the country. The rebellion was ultimatlely drowned in blood and its leaders murdered on the gallows.
In 1885 it would become clear just what he needed a standing army that would be loyal to his crown rather than a people`s army loyal to none but the Serb people. His Bulgarophobia reaching new heights he imagined Bulgaria, having just incorporated Eastern Rumelia which had previously been an autonomous province of Ottoman Empire, would now be in a better position to be the dominant Balkan state. After securing Austro-Hungarian diplomatic support and material aid he completley unprovoked invaded Bulgaria. The soldiers marching towards Bulgaria were kept in the dark as to the point of it all and were led to belive they are going to fight the Turks. Realising the true aim of the war they lost all fighting spirit and were resoundingly beaten by the Bulgarian army at the battle of Slivnica. After the battle hostilities were ended and the status quo was resumed after Austro-Hungarian diplomats stepped on the scene in aid of their satellite.
Milan would remain a hugely impopular king due to frequent adultery he engaged in and his austrophilic policies. This led to at least two assasination attempts and his abdication from the throne in 1889.
The scumbag himself:
____
So we have a King of Serbia that was guilty of betraying the Russians. Guilty of betraying Serbia and handing her into the hands of her enemies. Guilty of waging war on the serbian people and murder. And guilty of waging a war of conquest on Bulgaria and poisioning the relations between two brotherly balkan slavic orthodox nations, the Serbs and the Bulgarians. A King of Serbia that was brought immense harm to the cause of pan-slavism.
And after this we get people here proclaiming themselves "monarchists". Crowned heads were as mixed bag as the democratic politicans of today. Perhaps even worse. This scumbag makes Tadić look like a patriot in contrast. And most importantly they were always worse than the political leaders of the time (head above what we have now) and the public opinion behind those leaders.
Without the spoilers in the form of crowned heads 19th century pan-slavism would have had a real chance, because the political movements in favour of it alwas had the support of both the masses and the mayority support of the politicaly active classes, but the royals would always lean towards backward currents and factions that strongly ressisted mixing any sentiment of inter-slavic solidarity into their diplomacy and foreign policy. Milan Obrenovic is just the most extreme example of it.
I suggest the folks coming forth with their `monarchism` to instead of manifesting nostalgia for something they never experienced and speaking out of their ass to instead go and actually read a thing or two on what it meant and what it brought us.
