Peter I of Serbia
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| Styles of Peter I of Yugoslavia | |
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| Reference style | His Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Sir |
Peter I of Serbia (Serbian: Petar I Karađorđević; Cyrillic: Петар I Карађорђевић; 11 July [O.S. 29 June] 1844 – 16 August 1921) reigned as the last King of Serbia (1903–1918) and as the first King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918–1921).
Early life
Peter was born in Belgrade on 11 July [O.S. 29 June] 1844, the fifth child of Prince Alexander Karađorđević and his consort Persida Nenadović.[1] He was the grandson of Karađorđe, the leader of the First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813) and the founder of the Karađorđević dynasty.[2] Peter was not born in the Royal Court, which was undergoing renovations at the time, but at the home of the merchant Miša Anastasijević. His birth was not met with much celebration because he was his parents' third son and his brother Svetozar was the heir to the throne. Peter did not become heir until 1847, following his brother's untimely death. Besides Belgrade, Peter spent much of his childhood in the town of Topola, from where the Karađorđevićes' originated. He received his elementary education in Belgrade, but did not distinguish himself in school.[1]
Exile
Prince Alexander was forced to abdicate in 1858, coinciding with the 14-year-old Peter's departure for Geneva, where he was due to attend high school. His family's rivals, the Obrenović dynasty, had returned to power and an Obrenović prince had taken Alexander's place. In 1861, Peter left for Paris and enrolled in the Collège Sainte-Barbe, which had been founded in 1430 and was located in the heart of the city's Latin Quarter. The following year, Peter enrolled in the Saint-Cyr, France's most prestigious military academy. He studied at the Saint-Cyr until his graduation in 1864, and continued living in Paris for some time after. During this time he pursued artistic interests such as photography and painting. In 1866, he entered the Higher Military School in Metz, which he attended until the following year.[3]
Peter, together with his relative Nikola Nikolajević, joined the French Foreign Legion at the outbreak of the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War under the pseudonym Petar Kara. He was given the rank of lieutenant.[3] He served in the 5th Legion Battalion of the 1st Foreign Regiment under Commandant Victor-Joseph Arago.[4] Peter fought at the Second Battle of Orléans on 3–4 December 1870 and the Battle of Villersexel on 9 January 1871.[3]
During the Great Eastern Crisis (1875–78), set off by a Serb uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1875 in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Herzegovina Uprising (1875–77)), Prince Peter adopted the nom de guerre of hajduk Petar Mrkonjić, and joined the Bosnian Serb insurgents as a leader of a guerilla unit.[5] He soon had to leave the region at the insistence of Prince Milan Obrenović, the ruler of Serbia, who saw Prince Peter Karadjodjević as a rival to the throne of Serbia and feared his popularity among the Serbian people.
In 1883, Prince Peter married Princess Zorka of Montenegro, the oldest daughter of King Nicholas I. They had five children:
- Princess Helen of Serbia (1884–1962)
- Princess Milena (1886–1887)
- Prince George, Crown Prince of Serbia (1887–1972)
- Alexander I of Yugoslavia (1888–1934)
- Prince Andrew, 1890 (died at birth along with his mother, Princess Zorka)
Following his marriage, Prince Peter remained in Montenegro for about ten years. After the death of his wife, he and his surviving children moved to Paris, and eventually settled in Switzerland. His two sons, George and Alexander were admitted to the Page Corps in Saint Petersburg.
Prince Peter finally returned to Serbia in 1903, after King Alexander I Obrenović and his family were killed in a military coup d'état. Peter Karadjordjević, already proclaimed as the new King by army conspirators, was elected as the King of Serbia by the Serbian Parliament and Senate. He was crowned King of Serbia on 21 September 1904 in St. Michael's Cathedral and anointed on 9 October 1904. After 45 years in exile, the Karadjordjević dynasty had regained the leadership of Serbia from the rival House of Obrenović.
Reign (1903–1921)
The Western-educated King attempted to liberalize Serbia with the goal of creating a Western-style constitutional monarchy. King Petar I became gradually very popular for his commitment to parliamentary democracy that, in spite of certain influence of military cliques in political life, functioned properly. The 1903 Constitution was a revised version of the 1888 Constitution, based on the Belgian Constitution of 1831, considered as one of the most liberal in Europe. The governments were chosen from the parliamentary majority, mostly from People's Radical Party led by Nikola Pašić and Independent Radical Party led by Ljubomir Stojanović. King Peter himself was in favor of a broader coalition government that would boost Serbian democracy and help pursue an independent course in foreign policy. In contrast to the Austrophile Obrenović dynasty, King Peter I was relying on Russia and France, which provoked rising hostility from expansionist-minded Austria-Hungary. King Peter I of Serbia paid two solemn visits to Saint-Petersburg and Paris in 1910 and 1911 respectively, greeted as a hero of both democracy and national independence in the troublesome Balkans.
The reign of Peter I, from 1903 to 1914, is remembered as the "Golden Age of Serbia", due to the unrestricted political freedoms, free press, and cultural ascendancy among South Slavs who finally saw in democratic Serbia a Piedmont of South Slavs.[6] King Peter I was supportive to the movement of Yugoslav unification, hosting in Belgrade various cultural gatherings. Grand School of Belgrade was upgraded into Belgrade University in 1905, with scholars of international renown such as Jovan Cvijić, Mihailo Petrović, Slobodan Jovanović, Jovan M. Žujović, Bogdan Popović, Jovan Skerlić, Sima Lozanić, Branislav Petronijević and several others. King Peter I gained enormous popularity following the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913, which, from a Serb and South Slav perspective, were a great success, heralded by the spectacular military victories over the Ottomans, followed by the liberation of "Old Serbia" (Kosovo Vilayet) and mostly Slavic-inhabited Macedonia (Manastir Vilayet). The territory of Serbia was doubled and her prestige among South Slavs (Croats and Slovenes in particular, as well as among the Serbs in Austria-Hungary, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Vojvodina, Military Frontier, Dalmatia, Slavonia, etc.) grew significantly, with Peter I as the main symbol of this both political and cultural success. After the conflict between military and civilian representatives in the spring of 1914, King Peter chose to "retire" due to ill health, reassigning on 11/24 June 1914 his royal prerogatives to his second son Heir apparent Crown Prince Alexander.
The King, spending most of his time in various Serbian spas, remained relatively inactive during the First World War, although occasionally, when the military situation became critical, he visited trenches on the front-line to check up on morale of his troops. His visit to the firing line prior to the Battle of Kolubara in late 1914 boosted morale of the retreating Serbian forces and announced a counter-offensive and sparkling victory against numerically superior Austro-Hungarian forces. Another memorable visit in 1915 involved King Peter, by then 71, picking up a rifle and shooting at enemy soldiers. Following the invasion of Serbia by the joint forces of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria in October 1915, King Peter I led the army and tens of thousands of civilian refugees through the high mountains of Albania to the Adriatic sea on a 'Calvary known to few peoples'. (R. Wolfson "Years of Change. European History 1890–1945").
After the dramatic retreat in harsh winter through hostile environment of Albanian highlands from Prizren to the Albanian littoral, that took more than 100,000 lives, the King and his army, exhausted by cold and famine, were eventually transported by the Allies, mostly French ships to Corfu in early 1916. For the rest of World War I King Peter I, already of very poor health, remained on the Greek isle of Corfu, which became the seat of the Serbian government in exile until December 1918.
On 1 December 1918, King Peter I was proclaimed King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. King Peter stayed abroad until July 1919 and returned to Belgrade where he died in 1921 at the age of 77. He was solemnly buried in his endowment in Oplenac, the Church of Saint George in the vicinity of Topola in Central Serbia, where his grandfather Karageorge, the founder of the dynasty, launched a large-scale insurrection against the Ottomans in 1804.
Legacy
Three cities in interwar Yugoslavia were named after King Peter I: Mrkonjić grad in Bosnia-Herzegovina (former Varcar Vakuf), Petrovgrad in Vojvodina (Veliki Bečkerek, now Zrenjanin) and Petrovac na Moru (former Kaštel Lastva) in Montenegro. Dozens of monuments erected in his honor throughout Yugoslavia were destroyed after the communist takeover in 1945. Only one monument, in Zrenjanin (former Petrovgrad) was recently restored, as well as several smaller monuments in Belgrade and the rest of Serbia. The other monuments in honor to King Peter I were restored or erected in Republika Srpska, in Bosnia-Herzegovina where his cult status as a national hero is as strong as in Serbia.
In Paris, an avenue off the Champs-Élysées is named after him, Avenue Pierre Ier de Serbie.[7] There is a modest monument dedicated to King Petar I of Serbia in Orléans, France, when he fought as a volunteer in the French army. A large monument to King Peter and his son Alexander I of Yugoslavia was unveiled in 1936, at the Porte de la Muette in Paris.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 29 June 1844 – 23 December 1858: His Royal Highness Crown Prince Peter of Serbia
- 23 December 1858 – 15 Jun 1903: Prince Peter Karađorđević
- 15 Jun 1903 – 1 December 1918: His Majesty King Peter I of Serbia
- 1 December 1918 – 16 August 1921: His Majesty King Peter I of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Honours
| Serbian decorations and medals | |
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Order of Saint Prince Lazarus, Collar (Royal Order only) |
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Order of the Karađorđe's Star, Grand Master |
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Order of the White Eagle, Grand Master |
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Order of the White Eagle with swords, Grand Master |
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Order of the Karađorđe's Star with Swords, Grand Master |
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Order of St. Sava, Grand Master |
| Serbian Service Medals | |
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Medal of the Serbian Red Cross |
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Medal for Military Merit |
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Commemorative Medal of the Albanian Campaign |
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Commemorative Medal of the first Balkan War, 1912 |
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Commemorative Medal of the second Balkan War, 1913 |
| International and Foreign Awards | |
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Order of Saint Peter of Cetinje, Knight (Montenegro) |
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Order of St. Andrew, Collar (Russia) |
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Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, Collar (Italy) |
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Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, Knight Grand Cross (Italy) |
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Order of the Crown of Italy, Knight Grand Cross (Italy) |
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Order of the Medjidie, III class (Ottoman Empire) |
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Legion of Honour, Grand Cross (France) |
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War Commemorative Medal of 1870/71 (France) |
See also
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External links
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Notes
- 1 2 Bjelajac 1997, p. 95.
- ↑ Judah 2000, p. 83.
- 1 2 3 Bjelajac 1997, p. 96.
- ↑ Lepage 2008, p. 57.
- ↑ Franjo Jež (1931). Zbornik Jugoslavije: njenih banovina, gradova, srezova i opština. Matica živih i mrtvih s.h.s. p. 43.
- ↑ Norris 2008, p. 87.
- ↑ Avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie (see centre of map)
References
- Bjelajac, Mile (1997). "King Petar I Karađorđević". In Radan, Peter; Pavković, Aleksandar. The Serbs and Their Leaders in the Twentieth Century. Farnham, England: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-8552-189-1-8.
- Lepage, Jean-Denis G.G. (2008). The French Foreign Legion: An Illustrated History. Jefferson, North Carolina: MacFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-78646-253-7.
- Judah, Tim (2000) [1997]. The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia (2nd ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08507-5.
- Norris, David A. (2008). Belgrade: A Cultural History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-970452-1.
Further reading
- Živojinović, Dragoljub R. (1988–1992). Kralj Petar I Karađorđević [King Peter I Karađorđević] (in Serbian) 1–3. Belgrade, Yugoslavia: BIGZ. ISBN 978-8-61300-324-3.
| Peter I of Serbia Born: 29 June 1844 Died: 16 August 1921 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by Alexander I of Serbia |
King of Serbia 15 June 1903 – 1 December 1918 |
Expansion of state proclaimed King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes |
| New title | King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 1 December 1918 – 16 August 1921 |
Succeeded by Alexander I of Yugoslavia |
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