Realm Of The Black Mountain: A History Of Montenegro (2007)

Montenegro was admitted to the UN as its 192nd member in June 2006, thus recovering the independence it had lost nearly 90 years earlier at the Versailles Peace Conference. This book traces the history of the tiny Balkan state from its earliest roots in the medieval empire of Zeta. It also focuses on its troubled 20th century history. Contents 5 Preface and Acknowledgements 13 Nomenclature and Transliteration 17 Introduction: Montenegrin Identity in Time and Space 21 The Balkan Wars 45 Montenegro in the first Yugoslavia 49 1. Early History: Between East and West 59 Prehistory 59 The Nemanjic dynasty - 78 2. Zeta between Venice and the Ottomans 92 The relationship with Venice and with Serbia 93 The dynasty under threat 99 The weakening control of the Balsici 104 Zeta oscillates between Venetian and Ottoman suzerainty 105 The (re)emergence of the Djurasevici/Cmojevici 110 The Cmojevici retreat 115 The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as a whole 119 3. Clansmen and Empires 123 Ottoman rule 124 The Orthodox Church under the Ottomans 135 Rebels and retribution 137 The Candian war (Î 645-69) 140 The Morean war (Î 684-99) 144 The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in perspective 148 4. Montenegrin Theocracy 152 The origins of the Petrovic dynasty 156 Relations with Russia 159 Relations with Venice 162 5. Montenegro in the time of Petar I (1774-1830) 186 The Ottoman renegade, Kara Mahmud 187 First steps on the road to unity 191 Relations with Austria 205 6. Crucible of Resistance: Montenegro under Ni egos (1830-51) 210 Forwards and backwards on the road to state-building 220 Encounters with adversaries—Small Aga Cengic 229 Osman Pasha Skopljak 230 Relations with the Great Powers 233 7. Montenegro and the anti-Ottoman Wars: the Road to Independence (1850-80) 240 Manoeuvring between the Powers 246 The battle of Grahovo 250 Danito’s assassination; the impact of his rule on Montenegro 253 Moving forward: progress at home,frustration abroad 258 Strengthening ties with Russia and the growth of nationalist sentiment 261 The Treaty of San Stefano 280 The Congress of Berlin 280 8. Montenegro on the International Stage 288 1880-1900: fin-de-siècle Montenegro 289 Royal marriages 291 Relations with Serbia 297 Austria’s annexation of Bosnia-Hercegovina 303 The Balkan Wars 308 The Siege of Scutari 313 —j 7\ 327 9. From the First World War to Loss of Statehood 332 Serbia and Montenegro at war 335 Serbs and Montenegrins in retreat 339 Nikola's govemment-in-exile 345 The international context 357 Death of King Nikola 362 10. The Interwar Years and the Second World War 366 The Partisans*situation deteriorates 395 11. Montenegro in the Second Yugoslavia 422 12. The Djukanovic Years 463 Appendix: the Instrument of Independence 511 Genealogies of the Montenegrin and Serbian Royal Houses 517 Bibliography 522 Index 533