Milan (king of Serbia)

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Milan

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Milan (Milan Obrenović) , 1854-1901, prince (1868-82) and king (1882-89) of Serbia; grandnephew of Miloš Obrenović. He succeeded his cousin Michael Obrenović as prince. He was educated in Paris, and a regency, which undertook constitutional reform in 1869, ruled for him until 1872. Under Russian influence he declared war (1876) on the Ottoman Empire in support of the rebellion in Bosnia and Herzegovina (see Russo-Turkish Wars ). At the Congress of Berlin (1878) he secured Austrian support and obtained European recognition of the full independence of Serbia from the Ottoman Empire. In 1882 he took the title king of Serbia after signing a secret treaty granting Austria considerable influence. Heavy taxation, his pro-Austrian policy, his scandalous private life, and his unsuccessful campaign (1885) against Bulgaria aroused bitter opposition. After proclaiming (1889) a liberal constitution, he abdicated in favor of his son, Alexander (Alexander Obrenović), and went abroad. He returned in 1897 and became commander in chief of the army but resigned upon his son's marriage to Draga Mašin.

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Serbia

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | © World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Serbia Balkan republic that, with the smaller Republic of Montenegro, forms the rump federal state of Yugoslavia. Serbia is bounded n by Hungary, e by Romania and Bulgaria, s by Macedonia, sw by Albania and Montenegro, w by Bosnia-Herzegovina, and nw by Croatia. It includes the provinces of Vojvodina (n) and Kosovo (s), formerly autonomous under the Yugoslav federation. The capital is Belgrade, and other major cities include Niš (Serbia), Novi Sad (Vojvodina), and Priština (Kosovo). The republic can be geographically divided between the mountainous s and the fertile n plain drained by the rivers Danube, Sava, Tisza, and Morava. Vojvodina is the principal agricultural area, producing fruit and grain. Serbia is the principal industrial area, with mining and steel manufacture. Kosovo is a poor region with large coal deposits.

History and Politics

Serbs settled the area in the 7th century ad, and they adopted Orthodox Christianity under Byzantine rule. Serbia was the leading Balkan power until defeated by the Ottoman Turks in 1389. The Ottomans divided the territory and installed a puppet regime. In 1459, Serbia became a province of the Ottoman Empire. The 18th-century decline of the Ottoman Empire encouraged Serbian nationalism. In 1829, Serbia gained autonomy under Russian protection. In 1867, Milan Obrenović began a war in support of a rebellion against Turkish rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Russia intervened to aid Serbia and, in 1878, Turkey finally granted Serbia complete independence. In 1903, King Alexander Obrenović was assassinated, and Peter I (the Great) became king.

In 1908, when Austro-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia responded by forming the Balkan League. In 1912, the alliance defeated the Turks but disintegrated into factional feuding. In 1913, Serbia defeated Bulgaria in the second Balkan War. The expansion of Serbian territory in the Balkan Wars antagonized Austria, and the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand led to the outbreak of World War 1. In 1918, Serbia became the leading force in the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. During World War 2, the German army occupied and divided Yugoslavia. Resistance was two-fold: Tito led the Yugoslav communist partisans, and Mihajović led the Serbian nationalists (Chetniks). In 1946 Serbia became an autonomous republic within Tito's neo-communist Yugoslavia. In 1987, President Slobodan Milošević restated nationalist claims for a Greater Serbia, including Vojvodina, Kosovo, and Serb-populated areas in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia. In 1989, Serbian troops were sent to suppress Albanian nationalism in Kosovo. In 1991, Serbia prevented Croatia from assuming presidency of the federation. Croatia and Slovenia responded by declaring independence, and the Serbian-controlled Yugoslav army invaded. In 1991, the army withdrew from Slovenia. In 1992, Serbia and Croatia agreed to a UN-brokered ceasefire, allowing Serbia to keep the territory it captured. Serbian troops quickly seized nearly 75% of the newly recognized republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and pursued a policy of ‘ethnic cleansing’, forcibly resettling, incarcerating or killing Muslims, and repopulating villages with Serbs. The UN imposed sanctions on the Serbian regime, but atrocities continued on both sides.

In 1995, Bosnian-Serb troops captured UN protected areas, and Western governments and NATO launched air strikes against Serb targets. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia began a new offensive against Serbia and reclaimed much lost territory. The US-brokered Dayton Peace Accord (November 1995) divided Bosnia-Herzegovina into provinces. Following peaceful, mass demonstrations in Belgrade, Milošević was forced to concede some of the Zajedno coalition victories in 1996 elections in Serbia. In 1997, Milošević resigned the Serbian presidency in order to become president of Yugoslavia. Fighting recommenced in Kosovo in 1998, and hundreds of thousands of Kosovars fled into neighbouring countries, mainly Albania and Macedonia, to escape ‘ethnic cleansing’. In 1999, NATO launched a wave of air strikes against Serbia, devastating its economy. In June 1999, the Yugoslav Army withdrew from Kosovo and a United Nations' peace-keeping force (K-FOR) deployed in the province. In 2000 elections, Vojislav Koštunica replaced Milošević as president of Yugoslavia. In 2001, Milošević was arrested on charges of corruption and abuses of power and faced the International War Crimes Tribunal. In 2003, prime minister Zoran Djindjić was assassinated.

http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu

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Milan. (Image by Trista B, CC)

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