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MICHAEL OBRENOVICH III
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See also:MICHAEL OBRENOVICH III . (1823-1868), See also:Prince of 'See also:Servia, was the youngest son of Prince Milosh, the founder of the Obrenovich See also:dynasty. After the See also:abdication of his See also:father (1839) and the See also:death of his See also:elder See also:brother See also:Milan Obrenovich II. (184o) he ascended the See also:throne of Servia. He wished to continue the See also:work of his father, in liberating all the Servian See also:people, and if possible all other See also:Balkan Christians, from See also:direct See also:Turkish See also:rule. But while this See also:programme made the See also:Sultan hostile, it also failed to win the support of See also:Austria, which did not wish the Eastern Question to be opened by the ambitious Servian. The support which his aspirations found in See also:Russia increased See also:Turkey's and Austria's suspicions of the prince's activity. At the same See also:time the See also:political situation at See also:home was not favourable to his See also:anti-Turkish policy. The See also:power was in the hands of men who had forced Obrenovich I. to abdicate, and feared that Obrenovich III. might avenge his father. They thought it safer for them to replace him on the throne by a See also:man who was not an Obrenovich, and who would be personally obliged to them for his See also:elevation. These motives were at the bottom of the revolt, started and led by Vuchich in See also:August 1842, the outcome of which was that Prince Michael See also:left the See also:country and that his See also:equerry, See also: He constantly refused to agree to suggestions for his restoration by forcible means. His See also:device was Temps et meum See also:jus, " Time and my right." He supported Servian authors and artists, and wrote himself a See also:book in See also:defence of his father Milosh against the attacks of See also:Cyprian See also:Robert. He wrote See also:poetry too, and some of his songs, set to beautiful See also:music, were very popular amongst the Servians. He married in 1856 the beautiful Julia, Countess See also:Hunyadi. In 1858 the Servians, having dethroned Prince Karageorgevich, recalled Michael's father Milosh Obrenovich I. Michael returned to Servia, and on his father's death (186o) ascended the Servian throne for the second time.- His See also:proclamation " that henceforth the See also:law is the highest will in Servia," opened a new era of strict legality and at the same time of entire emancipation from See also:foreign influences, and more especially from Turkey's interference with the See also:internal affairs of Servia. The old constitution, granted to Servia by the sultan as the suzerain and the See also:tsar as the See also:protector of Servia as far back as 1839, was discarded and replaced, by one which limited the power of the oligarchic See also:senate and gave a certain See also:share in legislation to the " Narodna Skupshtina " (the See also:National See also:Assembly). He established the Servian national See also:army and increased the See also:regular army. Reforms in all branches of public See also:administration were introduced, and Servia, until then a See also:half-See also:oriental and half-patriarchal See also:state, was resolutely led to become a civilized country in a See also:European sense. When in 1862 the Turkish See also:garrison bombarded the See also:town of See also:Belgrade from its citadel, Prince Michael, supported by the European See also:diplomacy, succeeded in obtaining evacuation of some of the smaller forts in Servia, but the strong fortress of Belgrade still remained garrisoned by the Turkish troops. Prince Michael now made vigorous political and military preparations for See also:war against Turkey. He made See also:secret arrangements with the Bulgarian, Bosnian and Albanian leaders, an See also:alliance with See also:Montenegro and an understanding with See also:Greece, with the See also:object that they all should rise if Servia declared war on Turkey. He even succeeded in obtaining Austria's promise, that it would observe an attitude of friendly See also:neutrality and would have nothing against an eventual See also:annexation of the largest See also:part of Bosnia to Servia, and he secured to himself the sympathies of See also:Napoleon III. and his See also:government. In the beginning of 1867 he formally asked the See also:Porte to withdraw the Turkish garrisons from the fortress of Belgrade, as well as from other two fortresses of See also:minor importance (See also:Shabats and Smederevo (See also:Semendria)). For some time the chances were that a war would take See also:place that See also:spring (1867) between Servia and Turkey, but See also:peace was kept by the See also:action of See also:Great See also:Britain, who advised the sultan to withdraw the Turkish garrisons from the Servian fortresses; and this See also:advice, backed by Russia, See also:France and Austria, prevailed at last with the sultan. On the 26th of See also:April 1867 the fortresses were delivered over to Prince Michael, who shortly afterwards went to See also:Constantinople to thank the sultan personally. Prince Michael's policy had triumphed. But his success was See also:short-lived. A See also:group of See also:young men, mostly educated in France and See also:Germany, now started a liberal See also:movement under the leadership of Yovan Ristich (or See also:Ristitch). They wanted a more liberal constitution than that which Prince Michael had given; and this movement tended to qualify his popularity. Meanwhile the prince contemplated See also:divorce from his wife Princess Julia, by whom he had no See also:children, and See also:marriage with the daughter of his See also:cousin Madame Anka Constanitinovich; and the adherents of the exiled Karageorgevich dynasty were alarmed at the prospect of his eventually having legal heirs to the throne. A former private secretary to Prince Alexander Karageorgevich, and two of the same prince's See also:brothers-in-law, formed a See also:conspiracy, which resulted in the brutal assassination of Prince Michael on the 29th of May (See also:June 10 (O.S.), 1868), whilst he was walking in the See also:park of Koshutilyak, a few See also:miles distant from Belgrade. (C. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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