Serbia and Montenegro

Serbia and Montenegro was a country in Southeast Europe, created from the two remaining republics of Yugoslavia after its breakup in 1991. The republics of Serbia and Montenegro together established a federation in 1992 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (abbreviated FRY, sometimes and as FR Yugoslavia; Serbian: Savezna Republika Jugoslavija (abbreviated SRJ, sometimes and as SR Jugoslavija), Serbian Cyrillic: Савезна Република Југославија (abbreviated СРЈ, sometimes and as СР Југославија)). In 2003, it was reconstituted as a state union officially known as the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, transitioning to two independent nations by 2006.

The FRY aspired to be a sole legal successor to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, but those claims were opposed by other former republics. The United Nations also denied its request to automatically continue the membership of the former state. Eventually, after the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević from power as president of the federation in 2000, the country rescinded those aspirations and accepted the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Committee about shared succession. It re-applied for UN membership on 27 October and was admitted on 1 November 2000. From 1992 to 2000, some countries, including the United States, referred to the FRY as "Serbia and Montenegro".

Montenegro

Coordinates: 42°30′N 19°18′E / 42.500°N 19.300°E / 42.500; 19.300

Montenegro (ⁱ/ˌmɒntᵻˈneɪɡroʊ/ MON-tən-AYG-roh or /ˌmɒntᵻˈniːɡroʊ/ MON-tən-EEG-roh or /ˌmɒntᵻˈnɛɡroʊ/ MON-tən-EG-roh; Montenegrin: Crna Gora / Црна Гора [t͡sr̩̂ːnaː ɡɔ̌ra], meaning "Black Mountain") is a sovereign state in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the south-east. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Prijestonica, meaning the former Royal Capital City.

In the 9th century, there were three principalities on the territory of Montenegro: Duklja, roughly corresponding to the southern half, Travunia, the west, and Rascia, the north. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in the independence of Duklja and the establishment of the Vojislavljević dynasty. Duklja reached its zenith under Vojislav's son, Mihailo (1046–81), and his grandson Bodin (1081–1101). By the 13th century, Zeta had replaced Duklja when referring to the realm. In the late 14th century, southern Montenegro (Zeta) came under the rule of the Balšić noble family, then the Crnojević noble family, and by the 15th century, Zeta was more often referred to as Crna Gora (Venetian: monte negro). Large portions fell under the control of the Ottoman Empire from 1496 to 1878. Parts were controlled by Venice. From 1515 until 1851 the prince-bishops (vladikas) of Cetinje were the rulers. The House of Petrović-Njegoš ruled until 1918. From 1918, it was a part of Yugoslavia. On the basis of an independence referendum held on 21 May 2006, Montenegro declared independence on 3 June of that year.

Montenegro (disambiguation)

Montenegro is a country on the Adriatic coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Montenegro or Monte Negro, meaning "black mountain" in many Romance languages, may also refer to:

Montenegro (country)

Other places

Brazil

Colombia

Mexico

Spain

Other uses

See also

Montenegro (book)

Montenegro is a novel written by Starling Lawrence. The book was first published in 1997 by Farrar Straus Giroux publishers. The novel is set in the mountains of Balkans of Montenegro. This was the author's first novel.

Reviews

Publishers weekly in their review called it "a dashing novel set in the rocky heart of the Balkans at the turn of the century, but with emotions and political fervor that uncannily foreshadow the present-day Bosnian quagmire."The Los Angeles Times called it a "a subtle and moving novel, an old-fashioned narrative that addresses modern questions of ethnicity and belonging."

References

Serbia

Coordinates: 44°N 21°E / 44°N 21°E / 44; 21

Serbia (ⁱ/ˈsɜːrbiə/, Serbian: Србија / Srbija, IPA: [sř̩bija]), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: Република Србија / Republika Srbija), is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads between Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Serbia is landlocked and borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; Macedonia to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro to the west; it also claims a border with Albania through the disputed territory of Kosovo. The capital of Serbia, Belgrade, is one of the largest cities in Southeast Europe. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents.

Following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and Constantinople in 1217; it reached its peak in 1346 as a relatively short-lived Serbian Empire. By the mid-16th century, the entire territory of modern-day Serbia was annexed by the Ottoman Empire, at times interrupted by the Habsburgs. In the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the region's first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. Following disastrous casualties in World War I, and subsequent unification of Habsburg crownland of Vojvodina with Serbia, the country co-founded Yugoslavia with other South Slavic peoples, which would exist in various political formations until the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, which had devastating effects for the region. As a result, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro in 1992, which broke apart in 2006, when Serbia again became an independent country. In 2008 the parliament of Kosovo, Serbia's southern province with an Albanian ethnic majority, declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community.

Kingdom of Serbia (1718–39)

The Kingdom of Serbia (Serbian: Краљевина Србија/Kraljevina Srbija; German: Königreich Serbien; Latin: Regnum Serviae) was a province (crownland) of the Habsburg monarchy from 1718 to 1739. It was formed from the territories to the south of the rivers Sava and Danube, corresponding to the paşalık of Belgrade, conquered by the Habsburgs from the Ottoman Empire in 1717. It was abolished and returned to the Ottoman Empire in 1739.

Although Habsburg rule was more oppressive than Ottoman and exploited the local Serb majority, the latter did benefit from self-government, including an autonomous militia, and economic integration with the Habsburg monarchy—reforms that contributed to the growth of the Serb middle class and were continued by the Ottomans "in the interest of law and order". Serbia's population increased rapidly from 270,000 to 400,000, but the decline of Habsburg power in the region provoked the second Great Serb Migration (1737–39).

History

In 1688–89, during the Great Turkish War, the Habsburg troops temporarily took control over most of present-day Serbia, but were subsequently forced into retreat. The Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 recognized Ottoman authority over most of present-day Serbia, while the region of Bačka and the western part of Syrmia were assigned to the Habsburgs.

Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia

The Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia (German: Gebiet des Militärbefehlshabers in Serbien) was the area of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that was placed under a military government of occupation by the Wehrmacht following the invasion, occupation and dismantling of Yugoslavia in April 1941. The territory included Serbia proper, with the addition of the northern part of Kosovo (around Kosovska Mitrovica), and the Banat. This territory was the only area of partitioned Yugoslavia in which the German occupants established a military government. This was due to the key rail and riverine transport routes that passed through it, and its valuable resources, particularly non-ferrous metals. On 22 April 1941, the territory was placed under the supreme authority of the German military commander in Serbia, with the day-to-day administration of the territory under the control of the chief of the military administration staff. The lines of command and control in the occupied territory were never unified, and were made more complex by the appointment of direct representatives of senior Nazi figures such as Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler (for police and security matters), Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (for the economy), and Reichsminister Joachim von Ribbentrop (for foreign affairs). The Germans used Bulgarian troops to assist in the occupation, but they were at all times under German control. Sources variously describe the territory as a puppet state, a protectorate, a "special administrative province", or describe it as having a puppet government. The military commander in Serbia had very limited German garrison troops and police detachments to maintain order, but could request assistance from a corps of three divisions of poorly-equipped occupation troops.