Armed Forces of the Principality of Serbia
Armed Forces of the Principality of Serbia | |
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Војска Кнежевине Србије | |
Founded | 1830 |
Current form | Serbian Armed Forces |
Disbanded | 1882 |
Headquarters | Paraćin (June 1876) |
Leadership | |
Supreme Commander |
|
Personnel | |
Active personnel |
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Reserve personnel | National Militia (90,000–120,000) |
The Armed Forces of the Principality of Serbia (
Founded in 1830, it became a standing army taking part in the First and Second Serbo Turkish Wars of 1876–1878, the first conflict in the nation modern history, after which the country gained its full independence. It was succeeded by the Royal Serbian Army.
Establishment
A small Serbian army was established in 1830 after the Russian victory over the Ottomans in the
After
Serbian officers participated in the Serb uprising of 1848–49 and the Herzegovina uprising (1875–1877).
History
Army under Prince Miloš Obrenović (1830–1838)
The
Army under Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević (1842–1858)
Regular army was temporarily disbanded by the new Serbian Government, led by the leading
As the Regular Army was too small to protect the country from its powerful neighbours (Austria and Ottoman Empire), during the crisis of Hungarian Revolution of 1848, when Serbia was directly threatened by the Austrian invasion, Serbian government resorted to enlistment of all the men available for the military service, the so-called People's Militia (Serbian: Народна војска, Narodna vojska). At the time Serbia was (on paper) able to rise 94,000 men (16,000 horsmen), with 40,000 more in reserve, but there was not enough arms nor food for so many. Conscripts were expected to provide their own weapons and clothing, receiving only food and ammunition from the government. In reality, not even half of them had working rifles, mostly old flintlock muskets of the Ottoman and Austrian production.[5]
In 1856–1858 Serbia imported the first 7.000 modern percussion rifles, Francotte rifle model 1849/56 from Belgium.[6]
The first military schools and factories
To modernize Serbian army, in 1848. Serbian Government built the first Cannon Foundry (Serbian: Тополивница, Topolivnica) and State Arsenal in Belgrade, with the main production facilities in Kragujevac. In 1850. government founded Artillery School in Belgrade, which was the foundation of the Serbian Military Academy. After the Russian defeat in Crimean War (1853–1856), Serbia was made a joint protectorate of Russia, Austria, France and United Kingdom by the treaty of Paris (1856).[5]
In 1855. the Cannon Foundry in Kragujevac opened a rifle-production department, working on adaptation of old flintlock muskets to percussion system, with the capacity of 60 muskets a day. The same year two machines for making Minnie balls were imported from Belgium, and in 1857. Kragujevac Foundry installed the machines for production of copper percussion caps, making Serbia finally independent in the production of percussion rifle ammunition. In 1858. a new production line with 28 skilled workers under the guidance of Mihailo Cvejić was set up for converting some 15,000 old flintlock muskets to percussion system: in the first year only some 1,800 rifles were converted, then the production increased to 1,000 addapted rifles a month, so by 1863. Serbian army had some 15,000 converted percussion muskets.[6]
Army under Prince Mihailo Obrenović (1860–1868)
In 1858. Prince
In 1862. Serbian People's Militia existed on paper only: less than a half of the militiamen had serviceable rifles. However, in 1863. Serbia received some 31,000 (or 39,200) old percussion muskets from Russia (Russian musket model 1845): these muskets were converted to rifles in Kragujevac and became the standard weapon of the National Militia.[7] In 1866. new military schools were opened in Beograd and Kragujevac, to provide Militia officers with basic training in tactics, fortification and topography.[5] In 1867. the first Serbian breechloading rifles (Green model 1867) were made in Belgrade Arsenal, converting some 27,000 Austrian decommissioned Lorenz rifles.[7]
Army under Prince Milan Obrenović (1868–1882)
During the reign of Prince Milan Obrenović (1868–1889, King of Serbia since 1882), modernization of the Serbian army continued. In 1870, the Serbian army adopted new, much better breechloading rifles (Peabody model 1870), converting some 28,000 Belgian percussion rifles. In 1874, the. Regular Army was raised to a division (4 battalions of infantry, 1 artillery brigade, 1 battalion of engineers, 2 cavalry squadrons and telegraph command, in all 5,000 men), National Militia was formed in brigades (18 in total, one for each county) and more educated officers were hired. Serbian army had 317 officers (5 colonels, 12 lieutenant-colonels, 20 majors and only one general, Milivoje Petrović Blaznavac).[5]
For the war against the Turks in 1876–1878, in 1876. Serbia mobilized 158 infantry battalions of the First (men aged 20–35) and the Second class (men aged 35–50), 18 battalions of the Third class (men over 50), 18 squadrons of cavalry, 44 batteries with some 210 cannons (only one battery of modern Krupp breachloaders), 6 engineer and 6 medic companies, in all some 130,000 men, 22,000 horses and 6,000 oxen. It was a tremendous effort for the country of 1,300,000 inhabitants.[5]
In 1876, Serbian armament was already obsolete: only the First class soldiers were fully armed with breechloading rifles (in fact converted muzzleloaders
After 1880. Serbian Peabody rifles were mostly replaced with 100.000 more modern bolt-action Mauser-Koka rifles imported from Germany.[9]
Only the First class militiamen had complete, state-issued uniforms: the Second and Third class soldiers wore their own civilian clothes.[10]
Wars
Conflict | Combatant 1 | Combatant 2 | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Serbian–Turkish Wars (1876–1878)
|
Serbia | Ottoman Empire | Victory |
Notes
References
- ^ Babac 2015, p. 23.
- ^ Stokes 1990, p. 108.
- ^ Babac 2015, p. 21.
- ^ Stokes 1990, p. 109.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Gažević 1967, pp. 50–53.
- ^ a b Bogdanović & Valenčak 1990, pp. 36–40.
- ^ a b c Bogdanović & Valenčak 1990, pp. 53–61.
- ^ Gažević 1967, pp. 116–122.
- ^ Gažević 1967, pp. 549–550.
- ^ Gažević 1974, pp. 50–53.
Sources
- Ahrens, G.H. (2007). Diplomacy on the Edge: Containment of Ethnic Conflict and the Minorities Working Group of the Conferences on Yugoslavia. Woodrow Wilson Center Press Series. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8557-0.
- Babac, D. (2015). The Serbian Army in the Wars for Independence Against Turkey, 1876-1878. Helion. ISBN 978-1-909982-24-6.
- Bogdanović, B.; Valenčak, I. (1990). Rifles: two centuries of rifles on the territory of Yugoslavia (in Serbian). Sportinvest. ISBN 978-86-7597-001-9.
- Gažević, N. (1974). Military Encyclopedia. Military Encyclopedia (in Serbian). Vol. 7. Belgrade: Military Publishing House.
- Gažević, N. (1967). Military Encyclopedia. Military Encyclopedia (in Serbian). Vol. 9. Belgrade: Military Publishing House.
- Lampe (2000). Yugoslavia as History: Twice There Was a Country. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-77401-7.
- Stokes, G. (1990). Politics as Development: The Emergence of Political Parties in Nineteenth-century Serbia. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-1016-7.
External links
- Bjelajac, Mile (2015). "Tradicija". O Vojsci. Vojska Srbije. Archived from the original on 2016-01-05. Retrieved 2017-05-09.