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History of Montenegro

Ancient times

The first recorded settlers of present-day Montenegro were Illyrians, the Docleata. In 9 AD the Romans conquered the region of present-day Montenegro. Slavs massively colonized the area in the 5th and 6th centuries, forming a semi-independent principality, Duklja, that was involved in Balkan medieval politics with ties to Rascia and Byzantium and to a lesser extent Bulgaria.

Middle Ages

Duklja gained its independence from the Byzantine Empire in 1042. In the next few decades Duklja expanded its territory to the neighbouring Rascia and Bosnia and also became recognised as a kingdom. Its power started declining at the ending of the 11^th century and by 1186, it was conquered by Stefan Nemanja and incorporated into Serbian realm. The newly acquired land, then called Zeta, was governed by the Serbian Nemanjic dynasty. In 1421 it was annexed to the Serbian Despotate, but after 1455 another noble family from Zeta, the Crnojević's, ruled Montenegro. They were to rule Montenegro until 1499, making it the last free monarchy of the Balkans before it fell to the Ottomans, who annexed it to the sanjak of Skadar.

Ottoman rule and Metropolitanate

In the 16^th century Montenegro developed a form of special and unique autonomy within the Ottoman Empire: the local Montenegrin clans were also free of many bonds due to Montenegro's autonomy. Nevertheless the Montenegrins refused to accept Ottoman reign and in the 17^th century raised numerous rebellions, culminating with the Ottoman defeat in the Great Turkish War at the end of that century. Montenegro became a theocracy led by the Montenegrin Orthodox Metropolitans, flourishing since the Petrović-Njegoš became the traditional Prince-Bishops (whose title was "Vladika of Montenegro"). The Venetian Republic introduced governors that meddled in Montenegrin politics. His predecessor Petar I contributed to the unification of Montenegro with the Highlands.

20^th century

Under Nicholas I, the Principality of Montenegro vastly advanced and enlarged several times in the Montenegro-Turkish Wars and achieved recognition of independence in 1878. Modernization of the state followed, culminating with the draft of a Constitution in 1905. In 1910 Montenegro became a Kingdom. It initiated the Balkan wars in 1912 and 1913 in which the Ottomans lost all lands in the Balkans, achieving a common border with Serbia, but the Skadar was awarded to a newly created Albania. In World War I in 1914 Montenegro sided with Serbia against the Central Powers, suffering a full scale defeat to Austria-Hungary in early 1916. In 1918 the Allies liberated Montenegro, which was subsequently merged with Serbia.

In 1904 Montenegro declared war on Japan in support of Russia. However, Montenegro inexplicably failed to adhere to the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905 and so remained at war with Japan until 1918, although no hostilities occurred. In 1922 Montenegro formally became the Zeta Area of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and in 1929 it became a part of a larger Zeta Banate of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In World War II Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis forces in 1941, who established a puppet Independent State of Montenegro, liberated by the Yugoslav Partisans in 1944. Montenegro became a constituent republic of the communist Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), its capital renamed to Titograd in honor of Partisan leader and SFRY president Josip "Tito" Broz.

After the dissolution of the SFRY in 1992, Montenegro remained part of a smaller Federal Republic of Yugoslavia along with Serbia. In 1996, Milo Đukanović's government severed ties between Montenegro and the Serbian regime, which was then under Milošević. Montenegro formed its own economic policy and adopted the German Deutsche Mark as its currency. It has since adopted the Euro, though it is not formally part of the Eurozone currency union. In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro came to a new agreement regarding continued cooperation and entered into negotiations regarding the future status of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 2003, the Yugoslav federation was replaced in favor of a more decentralized state union named Serbia and Montenegro.

Independence

The status of the union between Montenegro and Serbia was decided by the referendum on Montenegrin independence on 21 May 2006. 55.5% were for independence and 44.5% were against. Serbia, the member-states of the European Union, and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have all recognised Montenegro's independence. On 3 June 2006, the Parliament of Montenegro declared the independence of Montenegro, formally confirming the result of the referendum on independence.