| General Sava Grujić Сава Грујић |
|
|---|---|
| 42nd Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia | |
| In office 1 January 1888 – 27 April 1888 |
|
| Monarch | Obrenović |
| Preceded by | Jovan Ristić |
| Succeeded by | Nikola Hristić |
| 45th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia | |
| In office 7 March 1889 – 23 February 1891 |
|
| Monarch | Obrenović |
| Preceded by | Kosta Protić |
| Succeeded by | Nikola Pašić |
| 49th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia | |
| In office 5 December 1893 – 24 January 1894 |
|
| Monarch | Obrenović |
| Preceded by | Lazar Dokić |
| Succeeded by | Đorđe Simić |
| 61st Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia | |
| In office 4 October 1903 – 10 December 1904 |
|
| Monarch | Karađorđević |
| Preceded by | Jovan Avakumović |
| Succeeded by | Nikola Pašić |
| 64th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia | |
| In office 7 March 1906 – 29 April 1906 |
|
| Monarch | Karađorđević |
| Preceded by | Ljubomir Stojanović |
| Succeeded by | Nikola Pašić |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 November 1840 |
| Died | 3 November 1913 (aged 72) |
| Political party | People's Radical Party |
| Occupation | Military |
| Religion | Orthodox Christian |
General Sava Grujić (Serbian Cyrillic: Сава Грујић, also transcribed as Grujitch; 25 November 1840 – 25 November 1913) was a Serbian military, diplomat and a Radical Party politician. As a diplomat he was the first to represent Serbia in Bulgaria and was Serbian representative to the Russian Empire, Serbian Deputy in Constantinople and Representative to the Serbian Minister in Athens.
As a military he participated in both Serbian - Ottoman Wars (1876-1877) and (1877-1878) and served as Minister of War and Minister of Defence.
Starting from comparatively humble origins, he served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia five times between 1889 and 1906 in the Governments of both Karađorđević and Obrenović.
Sava Grujić was considered one of the builders of Yugoslavia and played an instrumental role in its creation. He was an able negotiator and diplomat and with some of his contemporaries put together ideas for the formation of a south Slav State working together with prominent liberals of his day. [1]
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Sava Grujić was born on 25th November 1840 at Kolari, a village in the district of Smederevo, just ten years after Serbia became a semi-independent state after five centuries of Turkish occupation.
His grandfather, Vule Ilic, was a well-known vojvoda (duke or military commander) under Karadjordje who distinguished himself by his skill and bravery at the battle of Suvobor in 1809 during the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
His parents, on the other hand, were very modest and, once Sava had finished his elementary education at the village school, could no longer afford to pay for any further education; fortunately, the local priest and another local official recognized Sava's potential and arranged for him to go to Belgrade for secondary education.
After leaving the Gymnasium (high school) Sava entered the Serbian Military Academy in Belgrade from 1856 to 1861 where he developed an interest in gunnery. In 1861 after graduation, he was promoted to second lieutenant of artillery and as top graduate was sent to Prussia, at the Prussian Military Academy (German: Preußische Kriegsakademie) to continue his military education and for the practical study of gunnery.
When the Polish uprising started in 1863, inspired by new and modern liberal ideas, Sava left Berlin to join the Polish fighters, young people fighting against foreign domination gave Sava his first taste of politics, he returned to Belgrade when the uprising collapsed and he could not return to Berlin.
Wanting to get a higher theoretical artillery formation, in 1864, Sava Grujić entered the Russian service in the 23rd Artillery Brigade. In 1865, he enrolled at the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy, spending the last two years at the St. Petersburg's arsenal. During those years Sava formed a great respect for Russian military strength. After graduation in 1870 he returned to Serbia. Frustrated by the state of Serbian politics and involved with a liberal and progressive group of people, Sava wrote an article openly criticizing the Minister of War, as a result he was fired from the army, however later that same year he was reintegrated.
He was appointed first chief of the arsenal in Kragujevac as expert in artillery and armaments and then chief of artillery control, Kragujevac became Serbia's main center for arms production and the modernization of armaments.
In July 1875 the Christian peasants of Herzegovina rebelled against their Muslim landlords and Ottoman Turkish rulers. The insurrection which was aided by Serbia and Montenegro quickly spread to Bosnia and aroused enormous popular sympathy in Serbia, still an autonomous principality within the Ottoman Empire. [2]
On June 30, 1876, Serbia, followed by Montenegro, declared war on the Ottoman empire.
Sava Grujić was appointed chief of artillery serving under General Michael Cherniaev, a russian who took Serbian citizenship. Sava Grujić as Chief of Artillery took a leading part in the battle and by the end of 1876 was promoted to the rank of Colonel.
On April 24, 1877, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire and in December was joined by the Serbs and Montenegrins, the conflict is known as the Russo-Turkish War.
After the war with the Turks, on November 4th 1876, Sava Grujić was appointed Minister of War, for the next two years he organized major reforms in the army in order to improve her fighting capacity and giving her a new organization.[3] The formal independence of Serbia from the Ottoman Empire was internationally recognized at the Congress of Berlin of 1878, which formally ended the Russo-Turkish War and started Sava's diplomatic career.[4] [5]
Sava Grujić quickly proved himself to be a versatile politician and a skilled diplomat, as such he was sent as ambassador and representative of the Serbian Kingdom around capitals helping secure Serbia's place in Europe. A few years later he was made minister for foreign affairs.
IIn 1879, as foreign relations between the Principality of Bulgaria and Serbia were established for the first time, Sava Grujić was chosen to be the first Serbian diplomatic representative in Bulgaria. The political tensions were high as Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece all had national ambitions in the region of Macedonia.
From 1882 to 1884 Sava moved to Athens where he was posted as Serbian Minister of the new Kingdom of Serbia.
A new liberal reformer, Charilaos Trikoupis, having just been elected Prime Minister was pushing through an aggressive program of reforms to make Greece into a progressive nation, Sava was involved into many negotiations between their respective governments and the Ottoman Porte.
From 1885 to 1887 he became the Serbian representative to the Russian Empire and moved his family to Saint Petersburg. Later, as a trusted political friend of Russia, he was sent a special envoy to Constantinople during the conflict between Russia, Turkey and Austria to negotiate with the Turks on behalf of the Russians.[6] In June 1887 he was promoted General and became Minister of War again (now Minister of the Army) in a coalition government.[7]
Sava joined the Radical Party in Serbia. Under the influence of western ideas such as liberalism and nationalism, the Radicals stood for changes through social and political reform encouraging the modernization of the country. Their political program called for change in constitution, free press, judicial independence, reform of the education system and local self-government among other things.
In 1888 Sava Grujić became Prime Minister for the first time, his first act was to make a new constitution.. [8]
A year later he became Foreign Secretary as well as Prime Minister.
From 16 March 1890 to 11 February 1891 he was again Minister of Defence and then went to St. Petersburg as Serbian Minister, he was then sent as Serbian deputy to Constantinople from 1891 to 1893[9].
On his return he became President of the new Government, Minister and Military Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [10]
The Serbian Radical party was not directly involved in the coup d'etat of 1903, but it was one of the groups that benefited the most from the overthrow of the Obrenovich dynasty. As the most popular political party within Serbia by far, it has been estimated that by 1903 as much as 80% of Serbia's population either supported or belonged to the Serbian Radicals, the transformation of Serbia into a parliamentary democracy meant that the Radicals would dominate the parliament, and that they would continually form the government and run Serbia.[11]
On 15 June 1903, after King Peter Karađorđević become the new leader of the Serbian state, Sava Grujić is appointed President of the State Council and Prime Minister.[12] He remained in that office until 27 November 1904.
He became twice more time Prime Minister and Minister of the Military from 1 March to 17 April 1906 and finally President of the Council of State from 1906 to 1910.
In 1901 Sava Grujić headed the Serbian delegation to the second International Court of Justice in The Hague where he spent several months.
In 1906 he retired from active political life but remained President of the State Council, In 1910 he retired from all activities.
October 1913 saw the end of the Balkan War against the Turks when Serbia together with Greece and Bulgaria liberated the Balkan Peninsula from the Turks. Sava Grujić died peacefully in his home just a few days after celebrating this historic event. He wrote a number of military manuals and books. One of his best known publications which was very popular at the time was the History of the Serbo-Turkish Wars of 1816 - 1818 in four volumes. [13] Several other manuscripts were lost during the first World War as they were about to be published.
Sava Grujić married a first time in 1867, his wife died at a young age, they had a daughter, Angelina.
He married Milica Radovenović from Sremska Mitrovica in second marriage. They had four children: Captain Boro Grujić (born 1921), Captain Alek Grujić, Mara (1924) married to Cavalry Division General Vojin Tcholak-Antitch great-grandson of vojvoda Čolak-Anta Simeonović, and Olga, Royal Lady in Waiting, married to Milivoje S. Lozanić professor of Chemistry courses and son of Sima Lozanić minister diplomat, rector of the University of Belgrade and President of the Serbian Royal Academy.
Sava was an honorary member of the Serbian Academy of Science and the Russian Archaeological Institute. As well as Serbian, Sava spoke German, Russian, French, Turkish and some Greek.
Generala Save Grujića is a street of the western section of downtown Belgrade (Savski Venac). [14]
== References ==