TURBULENCES IN SERBIA FOLLOWING THE MAYCOUP D’ETATAND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ORGANIZATION „UNIFICATION OR DEATH”

Authors

  • Radoslav Gaćinović Институту за политичке студије Београд

Keywords:

May coup d’ etat, conspiracy, dynasty, murder, civil democracy

Abstract

In the beginning of the time period in question that is described in this paper the Army officers used to observe internal political conflicts with interest. In the beginning of the conflict in question the officers did not tend to get involved in it. However, as the time went by, under the influence of brave writing of oppositional press, eventually many young officers opted to support the opposition. At the same time the conspirators took into consideration the issue of the selection of a new leader. Firstly they were interested to find some foreign prince as a candidate for such position. For this positiona duke Sergey Kapnist, Russian embassador in Wien, who had been consulted regarding this matter, suggested Prince Petar Karadjordjevic who was in Geneve at that period. As for the situation in Serbia at that time, it seemed that it was just about time for a change of the leader on the throne. It became obvious during demonstrations which took place in Belgrade in March of 1903. Namely, on March 23 (if counting the time in accord with old calendar) merchants’ assistans held their meeting in Belgrade and later were joined by the school youth. Their meeting turned into a great political demonstration against abolition of the Constitution, which had been commited by King Aleksandar before that. Soon after that the troops of a Belgrade garnizon went out on the streets to stop the demonstrants. However, when one cavalry squadron encountered dense rows of the demonstrators, their Commander turned to the soldiers and, instead shouting the orders to them to use their sabers and carbines against the demonstrators, he loudly shouted: „Take good care that you do not run over somebody!“ At the same time, on the Kalemegdan hill one engineer Lieutenant Colonel disarmed a gendarme who had intended to use his gun against demonstrators. These were not some random gestures, as such was the mood of the whole army at the time. The masses shouted: „Long live the Army!“ These were not just some simple and accidental words blurted out, but they clearly exhibited that the people and Army had merged into one single internal front and that they had become imbued with the same thoughts and intentions. The consequence of such „silent agreement“ between the people and Army was the event of 29th of May. In the night between 28 and 29th of May (in accord with old calendar time counting) one group of the officers – conspirators went inside of the Court and murdered King Aleksandar and Queenn Draga. In the same night President of the Government General Cincar – Markovic, Minister Army General Milovan Pavlovic and three King’s adjutants and two Queen’s brothers Nikola and Nikodije Lunjevica were murdered, too. Among the conspirators only the Captain Dragutin Dimitrijevic – Apis was wounded. The news on the death of King Aleksandar did not make anybody sad, because the King and his regime were not much beloved among the people. The Maycoup d'etat toppled the autocratic rule of the King Aleksandar Obrenovic which „surpressed whole life of the nation as some nightmere“ and it was substituted by the government of liberal bourgeoisie and civil democracy. Even though this new government did not promise totally smooth and easy sailing of the state ship, the whole state sighed out with relief on the news of the change of the government at the helm of the state ship. The new regime brought to political scene some new aspirations in the fields of domestic and foreign politics. Soon afterward there was established an organization entitled „Unification or death“ due to the fact that the activity of the organization „National defense“ was not sufficient to fulfill the needs of the national-revolutionary objectives of that time. It was established by its ideological father Bogdan Radenkovic – a vice Consul who was later sentenced at so-called Thessaloniki court trial. Along with Radenkovic, this organization was supported and joined by Ljuba Popovic – Cupa and also the initiative for the establishment of such national-revolutionary orgaization was supported by Milovan Milovanovic, who was President of the Government of Serbia in 1911 and 1912.Milovanovic passed away shortly before the beginning of Balkan Wars and he was substituted by Nikola Pasic on that duty. In addition, one of first members of this organization was also an infantryLieutenant Colonel Velimir Vemic who also later was sentenced at the Thessaloniki court trial. The abovementioned persons did not deny during this court trial that they were members of this organization, but claimed that their objective was not murdering of King Aleksandar and politician Pasic, but that instead of it the objective of the organization was the unification of all Serbian states and, before everything else, the struggle against Austro-Hungary.

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Published

2016-03-31

How to Cite

Gaćinović, R. . (2016). TURBULENCES IN SERBIA FOLLOWING THE MAYCOUP D’ETATAND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ORGANIZATION „UNIFICATION OR DEATH”. KULTURA POLISA, 13(29), 11–29. Retrieved from https://kpolisa.com/index.php/kp/article/view/832

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