Kingdom of Montenegro

Montenegro, 1910–1918. Draft, not yet reviewed

During the tumultuous period on the Balkan Peninsula leading up to and during World War I, the Kingdom of Montenegro was a monarchy in southeastern Europe, present-day Montenegro. Prince Nikola of Montenegro proclaimed the Kingdom of Montenegro in Cetinje on 28 August 1910, elevating the country from the rank of a principality. Montenegro joined the First Balkan War in 1912, hoping to win a share in the last Ottoman-controlled areas of Rumelia. On 28 November 1918, following the end of World War I, with the Montenegrin government still in exile, the Podgorica Assembly proclaimed unification with the Kingdom of Serbia, which itself was merged into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes three days later, on 1 December 1918.

Seat of power: Cetinje

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• The constitution, adopted in 1905, provided a basic framework for governance and recognized some civil rights, such as freedom of religion and the press.
• King Nikola I had ruled the country as prince since 1860, and had initiated several modernising reforms at the beginning of the 20th century, such as introducing a constitution and a new currency, the Montenegrin perper.
• When World War I broke out in 1914, Montenegro joined the Allied Powers, but by 1916 it had been overrun by Austro-Hungarian forces. King Nikola and his government went into exile, and the monarchy never returned to power.
• Many Montenegrins saw the unification as illegitimate, leading to the Christmas Uprising in 1919 by royalist forces, which was quickly suppressed.

Picture

The Blue Palace was built in 1894-1895 in late Empire style as the residence of Crown Prince Danilo of Montenegro, then heir-apparent to the throne.

Image: MrSco (uživatel Flickru), CC BY 2.0, file

Sources

• Kingdom of Montenegro (Wikipedia)
• Kingdom of Montenegro (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.