Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/1031

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MONTENEGRO
979


dice Serbia and its dynasty as incurably regicidal, to estrange the two Serb States and to create an atmosphere in which his designs should appear legitimate and necessary; that of Nich- olas was to strike at his internal opponents and to prepare the way to his headship of the Serbs. It is from its connexion with the wide issues at stake, and as being the first of a long series of similar incidents culminating in the tragedy of Sarajevo (per- petrated by the son of another Bosnian police spy), that the Cettigne trial derives its importance.

Later in the year followed the annexation of Bosnia and the proclamation of Bulgarian independence. In the effervescence which followed, Montenegro stood by Serbia, and in the settle- ment of the " annexation crisis " obtained the suppression of Article 29 of the Treaty of Berlin which established an Austrian tutelage over her coast and maritime administration. On Aug. 28 1910 Prince Nicholas took the title of king, encouraged thereto by Austria which saw in the kingly style an additional hindrance to a future union with Serbia.

It had early become evident that for the Young Turks liberal reform was but a pretext; that their movement, though largely engineered by Jews and crypto-Jews, was strongly nationalist, and that they were bent upon a policy of forcible Turkification. The disillusionment of the subject population led to a recrudescence of the old troubles. Incidents on the Montenegrin frontier in Aug. 1912 led to the withdrawal of the Turkish mission, and these were followed by fresh massacres at Berane, whilst similar incidents took place in Macedonia. A formal alliance was entered into between Serbia and Bul- garia, and agreements for common action were made with Greece and Montenegro also. The demands of the Balkan League were rejected by the Turks, and on Oct. 8, anticipating its allies by g days, Montenegro declared war against Turkey.

Although the principal objective of Montenegro was Scutari, a large portion of the Montenegrin forces was directed upon the Sanjak and Kossovo, apparently with the idea of staking out claims for the future settlement. The Montenegrins entered Pech and Dyakovitsa, but were forestalled at Prizren by the Serbs. In the meantime they were unable to make any serious impression on Scutari, in the siege of which their lack of scien- tific military training and modern equipment became manifest. The offer of help from Serbia, at first refused from considera- tions of amour propre, was subsequently accepted, and a Serb general took charge of the operations with a reinforcement of troops and especially of artillery.

During the abortive negotiations in London which followed the armistice entered into at Chatalja, Dec. 9 1912, and the renewed war which ensued on its expiration on Feb. 3 1913, the Great Powers had had under consideration the future of Scutari, which they decided to allot to the newly formed princi- pality of Albania, and on April 4, four days after the Porte had accepted the terms laid down By the Powers in return for their mediation, an allied squadron appeared off the Montenegrin coast. The siege continued, however, to be pressed, and, on April 22, the town was surrendered by its commander, the Albanian Essad Pasha, but, on the renewed pressure of the Powers, the Government announced its evacuation on May 5.

On the outbreak of the second Balkan War, Montenegro assisted Serbia and took part in the Peace of Bucharest, Aug. 6. Though Montenegro had gained a notable accession of territory, the outcome of the war was disappointing for both the country and the dynasty. The Montenegrins had failed to retain Scutari, and the sacrifices suffered in its siege had gone for nothing. The dynasty had also greatly suffered in prestige. Complaints were made that the sons of King Nicholas had frequently absented themselves from the army, especially dur- ing the severe winter months, and they were compared unfa- vourably with Alexander, the Prince Royal of Serbia. The troops, too, who had served with the Serbian army, contrasted the organization and equipment of the latter with their own, and realized to an increasing degree that material self-interest, no less than Pan-Serb patriotism, demanded some form of union with the sister State, and the country generally saw that it was

too poor and small to develop in isolation. The reputation of Serbia among the Southern Slavs had vastly increased, and on it were centred all hopes of national reunion; the figure of King Peter had grown notably greater, that of King Nicholas smaller. During the early part of 1914 negotiations were entered into with Serbia for a military, diplomatic and economic union between the two kingdoms, but their conclusion was anticipated by the outbreak of the World War.

In the World War Montenegro threw in her lot with the Entente, and her troops cooperated with the Serbian army. At the instance of the Russian Tsar, the Serbian General Yanko- vich was sent to Cettigne to assume the functions of chief of the staff, a post in which he was subsequently succeeded by Colonel Pesich. The presence of these officers did not, however, prevent King Nicholas from issuing executive commands on his own authority; the Serbian and Montenegrin forces were never combined under one control, and liaison was maintained by the presence at Montenegrin headquarters of a delegate from the Serbian High Command. Austria's main strength was directed elsewhere, and she contented herself in the early stages of the campaign with a defensive attitude on the Montenegrin front.

In the early part of 1915 the Montenegrin court engaged in an intrigue with the Austrians, with whom, prior to the war, King Nicholas had long entertained secret relations. In May of that year, Prince Peter, the youngest son of the King and commander of the important Lovchen position, which over- looked Cattaro and protected Cettigne, had a secret meeting at Budua with the Austrian Colonel Hupka, a former military attache at the Austrian legation ; and in July the Crown Prince Danilo proceeded to Italy, via Athens, where he was alleged to have discussed a separate peace with a German agent.

In October the combined Austro-German-Bulgar attack was launched against Serbia, and the bulk of the Serbian army was eventually forced to retreat through Albania to the Adriatic.

The consequences of the Serbian disaster to Montenegro were aggravated by treachery. In the beginning of Jan. 1916 Prince Peter withdrew his troops from one of the key positions of Mont Lovchen, which fell into the hands of the Austrians practically without a struggle. On Jan. 13 King Nicholas addressed a telegram to the Austrian Emperor asking for terms of peace, although his advisers had unanimously expressed themselves in favour of continuing the struggle, and it was only the uncompromising conditions laid down that eventually led him, on Jan. 19, to flee, first to Medua and thence to Italy. In the meantime the Montenegrin army was entrapped, for the King had refused the advice that he should follow the example of the Serbians and withdraw his army with the latter, and had given orders that it should remain in the country. It thus fell into the hands of the Austrians. Prince Mirko, the King's second son, also remained behind, and subsequently went to Vienna. The object of these manceuvres was evidently to assure the future of the dynasty in any event, for Mirko, since his elder brother was childless, was the eventual heir to the throne.

Intrigues were set on foot for the formation of a Southern Slav vassal State under the suzerainty of the Habsburgs with Mirko as ruler, the State to consist of the debris of Serbia and Montenegro. Mirko himself subsequently died in the Austrian capital. The King retired to France, where he established him- self successively at Lyons, Bordeaux, and Neuilly, the three Western Powers according him a subsidy. In May 1916 M. Andrew Radovich, an old opponent, was appointed Premier and in the summer the King received not unfavourably a mem- orandum advocating a union between Montenegro and the other Southern Slav provinces. A visit to Italy in the autumn resulted in a change of attitude, for official Italy was by no means enamoured of a project which would strengthen the trans-Adriatic kingdom and deprive herself of a useful lever. Henceforward the gap between the dynasty and national feeling steadily widened. In Jan. the Ministry resigned after present- ing a series of strongly worded memoranda on the question of national union and on the responsibility of the King for the position in which the country was involved. The appointment