Christmas Uprising
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Christmas Uprising or Christmas Rebellion was an uprising which occurred in Montenegro after the First World War. The catalyst was the decision of the Grand National Assembly (Podgorička skupština) for annexation of Montenegro by Serbia. The uprising resulted in a guerrilla war that lasted until 1926. It was named after the Orthodox Christmas of January 7, 1919.
The uprising might have taken a different course had King Nikola not been deceived by the Great Powers, who promised (and never fulfilled) to reestablish the sovereign state of Montenegro by diplomatic means if he would stop supporting the uprising.Based on this promise, he issued a proclamation in January 1919 asking for a stop to the resistance.
The core of the resistance was crushed in a severe, comprehensive military campaign in 1922-23, but guerrilla resistance continued in the highlands for several more years. It is interesting that the last of the guerillas was lured to lay down his arms by a promise that he would get a sabre and a medal from King Aleksandar of Yugoslavia. When this condition was met, he returned home.
An estimated three thousand Montenegrins lost their lives, and another three thousand were wounded; several thousand homes were burned and destroyed. The already large emigration, particularly to the United States, accelerated. At that time, Montenegro was a country of only about 300,000 people.
The Christmas Uprising, about which new historical documents are now being published for the first time since the 1920s, shows that opposition to Montenegro's entry in Yugoslavia was considerable.
[edit] The Role of Italy
Though the actual rebellion was started by local Montenegrin chieftains, it is widely believed that the Kingdom of Italy played an instrumental role in its organizing. Various Italian figures visited prominent Montenegrins who were known to be dissatisfied with the decisions of Podgorica Assembly in order to spur them on to take up arms and rebel.
The Italian involvement came on the heels of their unsuccessful November 1918 attempt to occupy Montenegro under the guise of joint allied American support.
The Kingdom of Italy was vehemently opposed to the creation of joint South Slavic state Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the Italians disputed many of the new kingdom's coastal territories (Istria and Dalmatia). Their support of the Montenegrin uprising was seen as part of a larger attempt to stretch the already frail defense capability of the newly created South Slavic state which would make it easier for Italians to attack the new state's still undefined borders.
