Montenegro History
Formerly populated by the Illyrians and later (7th century) by Slavic tribes from whose union the principality of Duklja arose (9th century), later known as Zeta, Montenegro, vassal of the Serbs (1215), was then subjected to Venice (1421) and its territory remained, until the end of the century. XV, the only one in the Balkans from which the Turks were absent, who seized it in 1499. The influence of the Turks, however, as previously the Venetian one, was felt only on the coasts and peripheral territories, while the interior and the mountains remained inaccessible. The residents, having taken refuge in the interior, were governed by the religious and political authority of the bishop of Cettigne. Danilo Petrovic-Njegos, bishop from 1697 to 1735, made religious power hereditary within his family and Montenegro became a kind of theocratic monarchy. The effectiveness in repelling the Turkish attacks and the suffocation of the uprisings of the local Muslims strengthened Montenegro, consolidating its independence; its international position benefited from the alliance with Russia (1711). Pietro I reorganized the administration of the country and ordered its legislation, having the first code of laws published in 1796; at the same time, as an ally of Russia, he successfully fought a war with Turkey and Napoleonic France. One of his successors, Danilo II (1851-60), secularized the country in 1852, declared himself a prince and introduced a regular army. After the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78, Montenegro, an ally of Russia, had some territorial advantages, also gaining access to the sea and international recognition. In 1905 it became a constitutional principality and in 1910 Prince Nicholas proclaimed himself king of Montenegro, took part in the First Balkan War and during the First World War he was openly in favor of Austria.
According to mysteryaround, this attitude cost Nicholas the throne, after the conflict and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and on 1 December 1918 Montenegro became part of the new Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia (since 1929, Yugoslavia). During World War II it was occupied by the Italian army (April 1941) against which the country rebelled on July 13, 1941; Freed in May 1945 by the Yugoslav army, with the Constitution of 1946 Montenegro became part of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia as one of the six people’s republics. After the disintegration of the Federative Republic, which resulted from the proclamations of independence of Croatia, Slovenia (1990) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992), in the same year Montenegro entered into a new federal pact with Serbia recognized internationally only with agreements signed in Paris at the end of 1995. The 1998 elections saw the anti- Milošević reformist coalition prevail, led by the victorious presidential candidate Milo Djukanović, laying the foundations for a “liberation” from Belgrade and a democratic evolution of the political system in the former Yugoslavia. In the first months of 1999, involved in spite of himself in the conflict that broke out in the Balkans between Serbia and the NATO member countries following the worsening of the crisis in Kosovo, Montenegro dissociated itself from the policy of Yugoslav leader Milošević, welcoming thousands of Kosovar refugees to its territory. After the end of the war, relations between the two republics worsened significantly. Milošević in fact rejected the proposal to transform the Yugoslav Federation into a “union of states” put forward by Montenegro, which therefore seemed to aim more and more decisively towards independence, introducing the mark as a parallel currency to the current one and creating an autonomous police force. A conflict fraught with risks for the already tormented Balkan area, attenuated by the fall of Milošević (October 2000), but not disappeared, and which divided the Montenegrin political forces themselves: in December 2000 the executive led by Milo Djukanović for the dissent of the small People’s Party, which left the ruling coalition following the approval of a project for greater independence from Serbia.
Djukanović’s party obtained a narrow victory over the independence movement in the elections of April 2001 and the minority government that emerged from this election found itself caught between separatist pressures and the still strong pro-Yugoslav opposition. Things, for Djukanović, went much better in the legislative elections of October 2002, in which the president’s party obtained an absolute majority in Parliament. The presidential elections of December 2002 were instead canceled for not having reached the quorum, according to indications given by the opposition, a situation that was repeated in the presidential elections of 2003. On March 14, 2002, Serbia and Montenegro signed a federation agreement. The agreement included maintaining a single seat at the United Nations and future EU membership. In January 2003 the Montenegrin parliament approved the constitution of the new union Serbia and Montenegro which will replace the Yugoslav Federation. In May of the same year, new presidential elections were held, in which, thanks also to the abolition of the minimum threshold of voters provided for by the old electoral law, Filip Vujanović won, taking the place of the outgoing president Djikanović, no longer re-eligible due to constitutional incompatibility. The latter, however, remained at the top institutional of the republic, assuming the post of head of government. In May 2006 the referendum was held which sanctioned the separation of Montenegro from Serbia with 55.5% of the votes, half a percentage point more than the threshold established by the European Union to recognize the validity of the vote. The legislative elections won by Milo Djukanović took place in September.
