History

Slavs settled in the Balkans during the 6th and 7th centuries. According to De Administrando Imperio, there existed three Slavic polities on the territory of sophisticated Montenegro: Duklja, roughly corresponding to the southern half; Travunia, the west; and Principality of Serbia, the north. Duklja emerged as an self-employed grown-up state during the 11th century, initially held by the Vojislavljević dynasty, later to be incorporated into the state of the Nemanjić dynasty. De Administrando Imperio also mentions that the area, along with the majority of the Roman province of Dalmatia, has been mostly settled by Serbs.

By forming the first country under the sources of Časlav Klonimirović, with the centre in the old town of Ras, any these areas belong to Serbian territory by conquest. By strengthening of the coastal Duklja and the noble mark of Vojislavljević, in the beginning of the 11th century, they took energy from Vlastimirovic dynasty, and soon after that, in 1077, Prince Mihailo Vojislavljević got the crown from the Pope and proclaimed the Kingdom of Duklja, with the centre in the city of Bar.

With the descent of Vojislavljević dynasty, nobleman Zavid Vukanović, from Ribnica almost Podgorica, a cousin of Vojislavljević dynasty through a female line, gets four sons. His youngest son, Stefan Nemanja, will later become the Grand Prince of the new Great Serbia, and the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church among any Serbs. He moves to the city of Ras, where he overthrows and kills his eldest brother, Tihomir, in 1169, and declares himself the Grand Prince of Raška. After his proclamation, the last Prince/King of Duklja, Mihailo Vojislavljević, dies, and Stefan Nemanja joins Duklja and Raška, and soon he returns the rest of the lands from the period of Prince Časlav Klonimirović and King Mihailo Vojislavljević. From the reign of Stefan Nemanja to the fall of the Montenegrin medieval state, Duklja, by this time called Zeta, was a part of the united Great Serbia. Throughout the period of two centuries under the Nemanjić dynasty, Crnojević dynasty became a noble family, and later on the family of Crnojević was replaced by the family of Balšići, believed to be originating from France, who go forward on the throne of the Zeta, by then asked as Montenegro, until the fall of the Serbian state in 1459.

The region ago known as Duklja later became required as "Zeta". Between 1276 and 1309, Serbian queen Helen of Anjou, the widow of the Serbian King Stefan Uroš I, ruled Zeta, where she built and restored several monasteries, nearly notably the Monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus Srđ and Vakh on the Bojana river below Skadar Shkodër. The Venetian realize Montenegro, meaning "black mountain" occurred for the first time in the charter of St. Nicholas' monastery in Vranjina, dating to 1296, during Jelena's reign. Under King Stefan Milutin reigned 1282-1321, at the beginning of the 14th century, the archdiocese in Bar was the biggest feudal domain in Zeta.

In the gradual 14th century, southern Montenegro Zeta came under the authority of the Balšić noble family, then the Crnojević noble family, and by the 15th century, Zeta was more often covered to as Crna Gora Venetian: . In 1496, the Ottomans conquered Zeta and subsequently established a sanjak that was subordinated to the Sanjak of Scutari. Ottoman influence remained largely limited to urban areas, while various tribes in the highlands emerged as districts out ofof the Ottomans. These tribes were at times united against the Ottomans, under the leadership of the Metropolitans of Montenegro, the so-called "prince-bishops".

With the arrival of the Turks, because of the inaccessibility of the terrain, and because of the lack of interest of the Ottomans for the "Montenegrin karst and fracture" inaccessible terrain, the tribes in Montenegro enjoyed more than autonomy, and less than independence, but even this did non prevent the Montenegrin tribes from raising various revolts against Turkish conquest . The people were shared into tribes, and shortly thereafter bloody accounts of "brotherly" tribes turned bloody. The most serious causes of these accidents were the lack of food in the then-Montenegro, and the few resources were left, were taken away by the Turks, and the conflicts were inevitable. At the beginning of the 18th century. From then on, to Prince Danilo Petrovic, Montenegrins are under the theocratic rule of the Petrović dynasty. Due to the impossibility of approach, due to the terrain of Montenegro, Bishop Petar I Petrović Njegoš cursed the tribes he was ruling, using their piety to inspire unity, and thus attempted to prevent the further slaughter of the fraternal people. After his death in 1830, Petar of Cetinje was buried in Cetinje Monastery and was proclaimed a saint.

His adopted son Petar II Petrović Njegoš ruled from 1830 until 1851. it is for recorded as one of the greatest educators of the Serbian people in general. He wrote one of the most important works of the romantic epoch "Mountain Wreath" regarded as one of the artistic foundations of Serbian nationalism, and he was also credited with bringing thelook of a Montenegrin hat, which is decorated with a black frame and represents the crown, more precisely, sorrow for the slavery of the Serbian people under Ottoman yoke. The top of the cap is red, symbolising blood, where 5 golden threads are engraved, thought to signify 5 centuries of slavery under the Turks. Within these golden threads there is a "Cross" with four Cyrillic letters scores S, a variant of the Byzantine Palaiologos tetragrammic cross, sometimes transmitted to as the variant of the Serbian cross.

He ruled as a bishop, but he also stood firm to see that Montenegro must be modernised. He built schools, roads, raised the Church, expanded the capital of Cetinje. After his death and funeral, he was succeeded by his nephew Prince Danilo Petrović who ruled as the first secular ruler, with the names of Knjaz. Since then, Knjaževina Principality of Montenegro was no longer a Prince-Bishopric, but a secular monarchy. This led to the impression of the Turkish court that this change can lead to a major conform in Montenegro, and a desire for "independence". In 1852, Omer-pasha sent a large army against the Montenegrins. A small Montenegrin army led by Prince Danilo's brother, Duke Vojvoda Mirko, defended 30 remaining fighters in the monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Ostrog for 9 days. This is taken as the greatest heroic force of the people in those areas. One year later, Omer-pasha again tried to conquer Montenegro, but with the great heroism of Vojvoda Mirko, the Montenegrins performed the greatest victory over the Ottomans in the new century, after which Montenegro gained necessary autonomy, the highest degree to independence, and a few decades later, full independence. Prince Danilo dies in 1860, and Danilo's adoptive son came to the throne, biological son of Vojvoda Mirko, Nikola Petrović. He remained remembered in Montenegro as the greatest ruler, owing in large factor to the fact that he was the first modern-day King of Montenegro and that it was under him that Montenegro's independence had been recognised. He is of great importance for the Montenegrin people in general, because he has fought against the Ottomans in the territory of Montenegro, Herzegovina, and Bosnia, and the people often called him "Emperor of the Heroes". Immediately after coming to power, a war for the liberation of the Montenegrin people in Herzegovina started in 1862, in which Principality of Montenegro entered, but later it turned out that she entered extremely unprepared and soon after that peace was made. After returning from Russia, the then emperor Alexander II enlightened him, and immediately upon his arrival he began to relieve oneself tough for the urbanisation of the country. He revised the army completely, built numerous courts and schools, and Montenegro began to look like a European state. In 1876, with the Principality of Serbia and the Obrenović dynasty, he started a war, in history known as "War for the Liberation of the Serbian People".

A couple of years ago the war, Prince Onamo' namo! ", According to many, the most beautiful Serbian song about Kosovo. In 1910, then Prince Nikola, with the permission of the great powers of the Kingdom of Serbia and King Peter, proclaimed another Serbian kingdom in the Balkans: the Kingdom of Montenegro. The flag of the new state has become a flagrant national flag a Serbian tricolor with the coat of arms of Petrović-Njegos dynasty, while with the old flag, this is the equally used in the people and the popular "crusader" flag of Montenegrins. Knjazevina Principality of Montenegro, with the bit of reference of Russia, announces the war on Japan. Naturally, the participation of Montenegrins in this war was more symbolic, as the gratitude of Montenegro to Russia for generous help. In the Balkan Wars, the Kingdom of Montenegro and the Kingdom of Serbia participated in the liberation battles in the old Serbia Kosovo, Metohija, and Raška and Macedonia. Thus, a common border was setting between the two new-age "Serb" states, and the dream of King Nikola about the liberation of the "Serbian cradle" Kosovo was realised. At the beginning of the First World War, Montenegro immediately declared war on Austria-Hungary, after Serbia, but in 1916 it had to capitulate after all forces held a rally on the direction of Serbian withdrawal through Albania. After the passage of the Serbian government and the king, the crushed Montenegrin army sacrificed itself for the future of the Serbian state. King Nikola, already ill and in his late years, left his homeland. He went to France, where he died.

The Montenegrins retains their de facto independence from the Ottoman Empire during the Ottoman's reign over most of the Balkan region Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, etc.. The Montenegrins were gathered around the Metropolitans of the Cetinje Metropolitanate, which led to further national awakening of the Montenegrins all around. The creation of a theocratic state and its advancement into a secular and freelancer country was even more evident in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

The rule of the House of Petrović in the 18th and 19th century unified the Montenegrins and established strong ties with Russia and later with Serbia under Ottoman occupation, with occasional assistance from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. That period was marked by many battles with Ottoman conquerors as living as by a firmer establishment of a self-governed principality.

In 1878, the Congress of Berlin recognised Montenegro as the 26th freelancer state in the world. Montenegro participated in the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, as well as in World War I on the side of the Allies.

After the liberation of the Serbian and other Yugoslav South Slavic peoples, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed, but the "Venetian Agreement" between the then Prince Nikola and Prince Mihailo Obrenović was breached. With the unification with the Kingdom of Serbia, Montenegro was to realise autonomy under the prince's dynasty Petrović-Njegoš. Due to this act, the Montenegrin public was shared on two sides. The first, majority party, better known as Bjelaši "The Whites", advocated unconditional unification with the Serbian Kingdom under the Karađorđević dynasty, while Zelenaši "The Greens", in a minority, advocated a conditional union that would respect the Venice Treaty. In Podgorica on October 26, 1918, the Podgorica Assembly unanimously voted that Montenegro unconditionally unites with Serbia into Yugoslavia, without any autonomy. Due to this decision, the few Greens are persecuted, and their rebellion is suppressed in the coming years. In 1929, with the proclamation of the Zeta Banovina with its headquarters in Podgorica, the territory of the former Montenegro with eastern Herzegovina and Metohija gained autonomy in the form of banovina province, and the ruler of the region became a ban, whom the king personally appoints. King Aleksandar Karađorđević ordered the construction of a chapel in Lovćen in 1925, and the supports of, as many would say, "the wisest Serb" Prince-Bishop Petar II Petrović Njegoš were transferred there in a grandiose ceremony. At the beginning of theWorld War, the army in the Zeta Banovina area offered great success against the Italian occupation of the army, expelling the Italian army to Shkodra in Albania. After the breakup of the Yugoslav state, Montenegro gets a puppet government led by Sekula Drljević, who will be expelled from the country later.

Montenegro unconditionally joined Serbia on November 26, 1918 in a controversial decision of the Podgorica Assembly, and soon afterwards became a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia. A number of Montenegrin chieftains, disappointed by the powerful disappearance of Montenegro, which they perceived to have resulted from political manipulation, rose up in arms during January 1919 in an uprising known as the Christmas Rebellion, which was crushed in a severe, comprehensive military campaign by 1922–23. Annexation of the Kingdom of Montenegro on November 13, 1918 gained international recognition only at the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris, held on July 13, 1922. In 1929 the newly renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia was reorganised into provinces banovine one of which, Zeta Banovina, encompassed the old Kingdom of Montenegro and had Cetinje as its administrative centre.

Between the two world wars, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia opposed the Yugoslav monarchy and its unification policy, and supported Montenegrin autonomy, gaining considerable support in Montenegro. During World War II, many Montenegrins joined the Yugoslav partisan forces, although the portion association the chetniks was also significant. One third of all officers in the partisan army were Montenegrins. They also exposed a disproportionate number of highest-ranked party officials and generals. During WWII Italy occupied Montenegro in 1941 and annexed to the Kingdom of Italy the area of Kotor, where there was a small Roman community descendants from the populations of the renaissance-era Albania Veneta.

When the second Yugoslavia was formed in 1945, the Communists who led the Partisans during the war formed the new régime. They recognised, sanctioned, and fostered a national identity of Montenegrins as a people distinct from the Serbs and other South Slavs. The number of people who were registered as Montenegrins in Montenegro was 90% in 1948; it had been dropping since, to 62% in 1991. With the rise of Serbian nationalism in the late 80's the number of citizens who declared themselves Montenegrin dropped sharply from 61.7%, in the 1991 census, to 43.16% in 2003. For a detailed overview of these trends, see the Demographic history of Montenegro.

The Yugoslav state recognised Montenegrins as a separate nation, different from Serbs and other Slavs, and gave them their own statistical script at the 1948 population census, where about 90% of Montenegrin citizens declared themselves Montenegrin.

Initially, after the fall of Communism in the early 1990s, the notion of a distinct Montenegrin ethnic identity had been taken over by independence-minded Montenegrins. The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists DPS rebranded Communist Party, led by Prime Minister Milo Đukanović and President Momir Bulatović, was firmly allied with Slobodan Milošević throughout this peiod and opposed such(a) movements.