Biographies
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Petar Karadjordjevich
Petar Karadjordjevich was born on 29 June 1844 in Belgrade and became the first constitutional monarch in Serbia after a military coup in 1903 that removed the Obrenović dynasty.
Following his military training in Bosnia and France, Petar Karadjordjevich participated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871 with the French. In 1875, he fought during the insurrection in Bosnia against the Ottomans.
On 1 August 1883, he married the Montenegrin princess Zorka and they had four children before she died in 1890.
After King Petar came to power he brought about reforms to the constitution, the organization of the army, schools, and agricultural system.
As war loomed in Europe in June 1914, King Petar gave executive control to his son Alexander (Aleksandar) making him Regent because of health concerns.
At the end of 1915, Serbia fell to the Austro-Hungarians and King Petar travelled to Corfu, and returned on 1 December 1918 to take the position of monarch of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. This kingdom became Yugoslavia. When King Petar died on 16 August 1921, his son Alexander (Aleksandar) became king.
Stephen Dushan (Stephen Dušan)
In the Twentieth century many Serbs wanted to claim the lands and glory of the medieval kingdom of Stephen Dushan of 1331 to 1355 when the Serbian state was at its height.
Stephen Dushan, also known as Stephen Uros IV, was born in 1331, the son of Stephen Uros III.
Dushan was named king of Serbia in 1331, when he organized a rebellion against his father who he placed in prison. Dushan became czar from 1346 to 1355. Dushan was able to gain power for Serbia by getting the support of the prince of Walchina. He also was able to take advantage of a war between the Byzantine emperors John V and John VI. He was able to conquer most of Macedonia, Thessaly, and Epirus.
Stephen Dushan had the archbishop of Serbia made a patriarch, holding a seat at Peč. After this he was crowned the czar of the Serbs, Bulgarians, Albanians, and Greeks with the assistance of the patriarchs of Peč and Trnovo in 1346. From 1349 to 1354, Dushan established a code of laws for his empire. He was successful in wars against Bosnia and Louis I of Hungary. In 1355, Emperor John VI fell and he decided to march on Constantinople, but died of a fever while on his way.
Although Dushan had been very successful in extending the territory of Serbia, there were many different groups struggling for power and his empire disintegrated shortly after his death.
Stephen Tvrtko
At the age of 15, Stephen Tvrtko was crowned the king of the Bosnians in 1353 when his uncle Stephen Kotromanic was killed in a war with Stephen Dushan of Serbia.
After the capture of the monastery of St. Sava in 1377, Stephen Tvrtko was crowned as the king of “the Serbs, Bosnians, and the Croats.” This brought a brief period of sweeping prosperity to Bosnia, as it claimed territory that encompassed the Sava River and the islands of Korula and Hvar. To maintain this territory until the end of his rein in 1391, Tvrtko did not attempt to demonstrate his authority over the Serbian territory.
On 28 June 1389, the Serbians were defeated by the Ottoman forces at Kosovo, and the Balkans came under the control of the Turks.
Sultan Murad I
Sultan Murad I invaded and won a major battle on the Maritsa River on 26 September 1371 against the Christians and including the Hungarian king to bring about the final process of taking control of the Balkans.
Various sources place Murad I’s birth in either 1319 or 1326 and his death in 1389. His father was the Sultan Orhan I and his mother was the Byzantine princess Helen (Nilofer). He was the ruler and Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1359, after the death of his father, until 1389.
It was Murad I who established the Ottoman Empire through the conquest of the lands around Turkey. He began with taking the city of Adrinople or Edine in Turkey and continued with expansion into Europe and most of the Balkans. His conquests forced the Byzantine emperor to pay tributes to the Ottoman Empire. Murad I established the title of sultan in 1383. He also established effective systems to recruit men for the military. He reorganized the system of government – a feudal system headed by timar-holders, or timariots in Turkish, who were given military judgeships.
By 1366, Murad I had already succeeded in defeating the Serbian king, forcing him to pay tributes to the Ottoman Empire. In 1389, Murad I was assassinated during the Battle of Kosovo by the Serbian noble, Miloš Obilic.
Vojislav Kostunica
Vojislav Kostunica won the 2000 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia presidential election over Slobodan Milosevic because Kostunica had international support and it was clear that there would be significant international aid when the election was won by him.
Kostunica was born on 24 March 1944. He graduated with a degree in Law and his Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Belgrade. In 1974, Kostunica lost his job when he openly criticised Tito’s Communist government.
In 1989, Kostunica was a founder of the Democratic Party of Serbia and became the Prime Minister in the Government of Serbia. After he became the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 2000, he opposed the extradition of Slobodan Milosevic to the court in The Hague. Kostunica’s position as president was abolished in 2003 when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was replaced with Serbia and Montenegro.
In December 2003, Kostunica’s party won a minority government in the parliamentary election, and in March 2004 he became prime minister, supported by the Socialist Party of Serbia.
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