Nikola I Petrovich

The beginning of reign

The future king was born in the town of Negushi , the ancestral nest of the Petrovichi-Negoshi dynasty . His father was Mirko Petrovich-Negosh , brother of the reigning prince, Metropolitan Danil I Petrovich , and his mother, Anastasia Martinovich. At that time Montenegro was a theocracy , where the supreme church and secular power passed from uncle to nephew.

In 1854, Danilo Petrovich Negos refused the episcopal dignity for the sake of marriage with the beautiful Darinka Kvekich , daughter of a Serbian merchant from Trieste . Montenegro has become a purely secular power ...

In 1856, Nicola entered the Lyceum of Louis the Great (Louis-le-Grand) in Paris . Princess Darinka, a big fan of French culture, insisted on this. The prince completed the course there, when on August 13, 1860 , after the murder of Uncle Danila I, he was proclaimed Prince of Montenegro . In November of the same year, the young prince married the daughter of the Montenegrin governor Peter Vukotich , Milena . The wedding took place in Cetinj, in the so-called. Vlachsky church.

In 1862, Nicholas I spoke in support of the Herzegovinian rebels, Luka Vukalovic, and launched military operations against Turkey. The Prince entrusted command of the Montenegrin contingents to his father Mirko Petrovich-Negosh, who was nicknamed “Swords of Montenegro” by his first military successes. However, the further campaign developed unsuccessfully. In the end, the Turks took Cetina , and Nicola had to sign an unprofitable peace. Montenegro was saved from complete humiliation by the diplomatic intervention of Russia.

In 1867, Nicholas I wrote the text of the patriotic song “Go there!” Which became the anthem of the Montenegrin people ^[4] . In 1867, Nicholas I visited Paris and met with Emperor Napoleon III. In 1868, Nicola I made a European tour. The prince visited Russia and met with Emperor Alexander II. On his way back he traveled to Berlin and Vienna. In 1869, Nicholas I secretly supported the revolt of the Krivoshan tribe (Krivoshye) against Austria-Hungary ^[5] .

Slavic-Turkish war and its outcomes

On June 19, 1875, another rebellion broke out in Herzegovina against Turkish lawlessness. It was led by the Croatian Catholic priest Ivan Musić. Nicola I again supported the rebels. In early June 1876, Montenegro and Serbia signed a secret alliance agreement, as well as a military convention, thanks to which Montenegro received funds for organizing an army, and for the purchase of weapons and ammunition. June 18, 1876 Serbia and Montenegro declared war on Turkey. The local conflict soon developed into a large-scale Slavic-Turkish war , the final phase of which is known as the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. . Ivan Musich Nicholas I was awarded the title of Governor Popovsky ^[6] .

The main events at the Montenegrin theater of operations took place in Herzegovina and towards the Albanian border ^[7] . Montenegrin troops were divided into two parts. The main forces, led by Prince Nikola I operated on the northwestern border, auxiliary units led by the governor Bozidar Petrovich acted on the borders east of Podgorica . During the period from June to October 1876, the Montenegrins won 6 major battles, the losses of the Turks amounted to 17 thousand killed, 18 thousand wounded and 1150 prisoners. In this case, 700 were killed and 1,300 wounded Montenegrins. Among these battles, the victory at the Wuchy Dole on July 28, 1876 became the most significant. In honor of this important battle for the Montenegrins, the Bulgarian writer Ivan Vazov wrote his work “Black Mountain”.

Montenegrin troops liberated Niksic , Bar and Ulcinj . The campaign to Podgorica was stopped by the beginning of peace negotiations between Russia and Turkey, as a result of which the San Stefano Peace Agreement was concluded in March 1878. However, already in the summer of 1878, favorable conditions for the winners were challenged by the leading European powers at the Berlin Congress . Under strong diplomatic pressure, Russia was forced to agree to a revision of the treaty. According to the results of the Berlin Congress, Montenegro received the cities of Bilecha , Bar, Ulcinj , Niksic , Kolasin , Andrievitsa , Zabljak and Podgorica . The country returned the landlock lost in the Middle Ages, and its independence was officially recognized by the international community. The subjects named Prince Nikolai Tsar Yunakov ^[8] . But at the request of Austria-Hungary, the Montenegrins were forbidden to have a navy and build defensive fortifications, and the Montenegrin Primorye was given under the sanitary and military control of the Austrian command ^[9] .

The Assembly gathered in April 1879 formulated the main tasks of state building: management reform, development of transport infrastructure, and raising the level of education of the population. At the suggestion of Prince Nikola, instead of the Senate, the Council of State, the government, and the Grand Court were created. The State Council was vested with the functions of the legislature. Five ministries were formed: foreign affairs, internal affairs, finance, justice and defense. Geographically, Montenegro was divided into 10 nakhii (counties): Katun, Rijeka, Trmnichka, Leshansk, Primorsky, Brdsky, Niksic, Zeta, Morach and Vasoevichi. A significant role was played by the emergence of a common code of property laws drawn up by Croatian lawyer Baltazar Bogisic , in which an attempt was made to introduce fundamental civil rights on the model of advanced European states.

In May 1881, large-scale two-year work on the construction of a transport highway from the coastal Kotor ^[10] to Cetinje was completed. In 1902, the Bar-Virpazar railway connection was opened. In 1884, the Ottoman sultan Abdul-Hamid II presented Nicole Negosh with a luxurious mansion in the Istanbul quarter of Emirgan, where until the First World War the embassy of the sovereign Montenegro was located ^[11] .

By 1889, there were 101 educational institutions in Montenegro, in which more than 5 thousand people studied.

In 1896, Nikola I organized the marriage of his daughter Elena with the Italian successor to the throne, Victor Emmanuel , for which the prince's daughter had to adopt Catholicism. Outraged by the change of faith in her daughter, Milena refused to attend her wedding in protest. After the marriage of Helen and Victor Emanuel, Nicholas I often visited the nearby Italian city of Bari . Locals deeply respected the prince, and subsequently erected a monument to Zi Nicole in the city in his honor.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Nikola I organized free accommodation for wounded Russian soldiers and officers, as well as the children of the victims, in the Adriatic resorts of Montenegro.

On December 19, 1905, the first constitution was adopted, according to which Montenegro was proclaimed a constitutional monarchy. Over time, the country formed the first political parties, among which the most distinguished were “club-dogs” and “right-handed people”. The "club" were in opposition to the prince and the ruling elite, in contrast to the "right-handed people" supporting them. The split in society led to several political crises in Montenegro, which led to two unsuccessful attempts on Prince Nikola. One of the participants in the assassination attempt of 1907 was 16-year-old Jovan Tomashevich , the future communist ^[12] . In 1906, the national currency “perper” was introduced in Montenegro. By 1906, representative offices of 11 foreign states functioned in Cetinj.

Royal title

The title of king (or “royal highness”, according to Russian archival documents), Nicole I took in 1901, so that his eldest son could marry the granddaughter of the English Queen Victoria ^[13] . Following the common European tradition, as well as strengthening its power in the country, on August 28, 1910 , on the 50th anniversary of his reign, Nicholas I proclaimed the Principality of Montenegro a kingdom . Thanks to this, he became the first king of this country after a centuries-old break. From now on, the monarch called himself Nicholas I, the king of Montenegro and Brda, the lord of Zeta, Primorye and Skadar Lake ^[14] . On this day, Nicholas I was awarded the Bulgarian Order of St. Cyril and Methodius and the Romanian Order of Carol I. In connection with the adoption of the title of King by Nicole I, the country's coat of arms was modified: a golden eagle was replaced with a silver one; the shield on which the lion was depicted turned completely red, and the royal crown replaced the princely crown. In addition, the coat of arms began to be depicted under the purple ermine royal mantle.

4 years later, on the eve of the First World War , Nicholas I appropriated the extraordinary powers of the autocratic monarch. Then Nicholas II granted the king the rank of Field Marshal of the Russian Imperial Army . King Nicholas I became the penultimate Russian field marshal (after him this title was awarded only to the Romanian monarch Carol I ) and the only one who survived to the 1917 revolution.

Intravital assessments of his personality

In 1865, Russian historian and diplomat Vincent Makushev wrote with undisguised irony about Nicole I Negosh:

In the Russian Empire, the attitude towards Nicole Negosh was ambiguous. Both Russian journalists and very conservative ministers and diplomats repeatedly accused him of despotism, of a parasitic attitude to a friendly country, of corruption, considered him “foppish” frivolous ^[16] .

For none other than Nicholas I was able to introduce Montenegro among the sovereign European powers: equal among equals. The sovereign often traveled abroad to Austria , Germany , France , Russia , Italy and other states; He was fluent in German, French, Italian and Russian. The prince ruled Montenegro with great diplomatic skill, maneuvering between the great powers. Nicola was a skilled politician and a good father: he arranged profitable dynastic marriages for his children, which earned him the nickname "father-in-law of Europe."

The secretary of the Russian mission in Cetin, Yu. Ya. Soloviev , who was at the Montenegrin court in 1905 and recalled at the request of the prince to Russia, wrote in his memoirs: “It was an unusually picturesque figure. Nikolai was a born actor ... Nikolai's favorite pastime was politics. He quarreled diplomats with each other in order to receive information about their colleagues in turn. He did his best to impress others, striking them with simplicity and good nature. In fact, he was a very cunning and political intriguer who went through many political difficulties ” ^[17] .

Witte in his memoirs mentions an episode of the Russian emperor Alexander III making a toast “For my only friend, Prince Nikolai of Montenegro” ^[18] .

Exile

The defeat of the Serbian army from the Austro-German forces forces it to retreat to the Adriatic through Montenegro. When Nikola realized that the occupation of the country was inevitable, on January 3, 1916 he appointed Serdar Janko Vukotić as the chief of staff of the High Command of Montenegro and transferred to him the full power in the country. The monarch himself, together with the government and the Assembly, leaves the country. The Montenegrin army was forced to capitulate to many times superior Austrian and German forces. On January 21, 1916, Janko Vukotich signed an act of surrender. Montenegro, which was called the "Slavic Sparta", was occupied by the Austrians.

Nikola Petrovich Negosh settled with his family in France. In 1917, according to the Declaration of Corfu , the merger of Montenegro with Serbia was announced. November 26, 1918 Montenegro officially became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . This state legal act was one-sided and actually meant the overthrow of the Montenegrin monarchy. All the efforts of Montenegrin diplomats at the Versailles Conference remained in vain, the international legal sovereignty of the country was lost.

Remaining in France, the legitimate king Nicholas I continued to claim the throne until his death in Antibes . He was buried in Italy, in San Remo , in the Russian Cathedral of Christ the Savior , which at that time belonged to the Karlovac jurisdiction. In 1989, the ashes of Nikola, Queen Milena and their two children were reburied in Montenegro, in the palace Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Cetinje .

From the marriage of Nikola I with Milena Vukotich , children were born:

• Zorka ( 1864 - 1890 ), in 1883 she married the Serbian emigrant prince, the future king Peter I ;
• Militsa ( 1866 - 1951 ), in 1889 she married the Grand Duke Pyotr Nikolaevich ;
• Anastasia ( 1867 - 1935 ), in 1889 married George Maximilianovich, Duke of Leuchtenberg, in 1907 a second marriage with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich ;
• Maritsa ( 1869 - 1885 );
• Danilo II Alexander ( 1871 - 1939 );
• Elena ( 1873 - 1952 ), Queen of Italy and Albania, Empress of Ethiopia, wife of Victor Emmanuel III ;
• Anna ( 1874 - 1971 ), in 1897 married Franz Joseph Battenberg ;
• Sofia (May 2, 1876 - June 14, 1876);
• Mirko ( 1879 - 1918 ), father of Mikhail Chernogorsky and grandfather of Nikolai Chernogorsky, the current successor to the throne;
• Ksenia ( 1881 - 1960 );
• Vera ( 1887 - 1927 );
• Peter ( 1889 - 1932 ).

• Nothos on the Gotha website
• Nicholas I Negosh // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Profile of Prince Nikola I Mirkov Petrovich Negosh on the official website of the RAS