Royal Montenegrin Army
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The Royal Montenegrin Army (in Serbian/Montenegrin: Војска Краљевине Црне Горе; Vojska Kraljevine Crne Gore) or the Army of Kingdom of Montenegro, was the army of Kingdom of Montenegro.
Creation of the army
[edit]The creation of Royal Montenegrin Army succeeded on 28 August 1910, during the proclamation of Kingdom of Montenegro, Nicholas I of Montenegro became king and commander-in-chief of the new army as well as the Prime Minister of Kingdom of Montenegro as commander and the Minister of Defence of Kingdom of Montenegro as the Division General of the Army. A year passed and along with Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria founded the Balkan League, a military alliance to remove the Ottoman dominion on the Balkans.[citation needed]
Montenegro on Balkan Wars
[edit]First Balkan War
[edit]The Kingdom of Montenegro was the first country in the league to declare war to the Ottoman Empire. The war started with Montenegrin forces attacking the Ottoman city of Novi Pazar to liberate to the Christians harshly treated by the Ottomans. The Montenegrin Army was controlled under the Nicholas and, commanded by the Prince Danilo and Peter, both Nicholas I of Montenegro's sons, and the generals Janko Vukotič and Mitar Martinović. Although Montenegro was the smallest country of the Balkan Peninsula, it's military power was incredible for its size.
Montenegro had a very small professional army, being the smallest Balkan army.[7] Despite scarce resources machine guns, artillery pieces and cannons, most of its citizens were soldiers or army officers Although it had few battalions, its casualties were serious, losing about of its 50% men. In the aftermath 2,836 men were killed, 6,602 were wounded wounded and 406 died of disease or other combat related illneses.[citation needed]
Second Balkan War
[edit]Montenegro gained the eastern part of Kosovo, Metohija, except the area of Prizren, which was gained by Serbia. However, it didn't get the region of Shkodër which they desired[8] after eight months of continuous siege. Bulgaria accused Serbia of conquering territories not proposed in the treaty and thus Bulgaria declared war on Serbia, starting the Second Balkan War. Montenegro (still allied with Serbia) sent 12,800 men to assist with the war effort. Under the command of Nicholas and Prince Danilo and general Janko Vukotić. The Bulgarian Army surrendered in less than a month and only lost 1% of its men, suffering only 1,201 casualties; 241 killed and 961 wounded.[citation needed]
Montenegro in WWI
[edit]On 28 July 1914, the heir of the Austro-Hungarian throne, the archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie Chotek, were assassinated by a Bosnian Serb nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia telling them that they were responsible for the assassination. Serbia accepted all the terms but one which allowed Austro-Hungarian police. The reason for this is because they said it denied their right as a sovereign nation. Thus Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia (self-proclaimed protector of all Slavs, principally to Serbia and Montenegro) declared war on Austria-Hungary in defence of the Balkan Slavs. The German Empire, an ally of Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia. France (which was an ally of Russia) declared war on the German Empire, starting World War 1.[citation needed]
Nicholas decided to maintain the neutrality because his country was recovering from the Balkan Wars and the army wasn't prepared to affront Austria-Hungary, a superpower with 10 times more men in their respective armed forces. The Austro-Hungarian army wasn't very prepared, equipped or trained compared to both Serbia and Montenegro, both of which fought in the Balkan wars in previous years. Austria-Hungary had a massive population being 100 times more. But the Serbian population of Montenegro supported the Serbian war effort and pressured Montenegro to enter the war. Montenegro would enter the war on the 6th of August 1914.[citation needed]
Montenegro during Serbian campaign of 1914
[edit]Montenegro mobilized 45–50,000 men of the royal army along with 62 batteries, 14 land cannons and 62 machine guns. Together with 427,597 men of the Royal Serbian Army, they added 465–470,597 men versus 500,000 men of the Austro-Hungarian Army. The Austro-Hungarians were defeated in December 1914 with half of its forces being lost. Serbia also suffered heavy losses losing 75% of its men. Montenegro lost less than 15%[9] of its army only losing 13,000.[citation needed]
Militarization on Serbian campaign of 1914
[edit]| Type | Austria-Hungary | Serbia + Montenegro
(total) |
|---|---|---|
| Battalion | 329 | 209 |
| Battery | 200 | 122 + 62 (184) |
| Squadron | 51 | 44 |
| Engineering companies | 50 | 30 |
| Land cannon | 1243 | 718 + 14 (732) |
| Machine guns | 490 | 315 + 62 (377) |
| Total soldiers | 500.000 | 420.597 + 45–50.000 (465-470.597) |
References
[edit]- ^ The Royal Monteengrin Army has disbanded on 25 January 1916, after the Austro-Hungarian conquest of Kingdom of Montenegro in Montenegrin campaign, after the Austro-Hungarian Army captured to the whole army and Janko Vukotić, Chief of Staff of the Montenegrin High Command, making them prisoners
- ^ Since Nicholas went to exile in France, he gave all powers of Royal Montenegrin Army to Janko Vukotić, becoming Chief of Staff of the Montenegrin High Command
- ^ Eldest son of Nicholas I of Montenegro
- ^ All the notable commanders were Prime Minister (except Radomir Vešović) or politicians (except Krsto Popović) and Minister of Defence of Kingdom of Montenegro
- ^ Commander-in-chief
- ^ Principally, almost all Ministers of Defence of Kingdom of Montenegro were Prime Ministers of Kingdom of Montenegro (except for Radomir Vešović)
- ^ Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Andorra did not have or even had an army, although Luxembourg now has less than 1,000 soldiers, the army of the Kingdom of Montenegro had the smallest army in all of Europe since its creation in 1910.
- ^ Shkodër was important to Montenegro during the First Balkan War because of its strategic location and its value as an economic and cultural center. The city was located near the border between Montenegro and the Ottoman Empire, making it a key point for controlling the region and ensuring access to important trade routes. Furthermore, Skhodër had a cultural and symbolic meaning for Montenegro, as it was a part of its history and traditions. Shkhodër was captured by Montenegro during the war, which allowed it to expand its territory and increase its influence in the region.
- ^ 1,700 men were killed or wounded