Đorđe Simić

Đorđe Simić
Ђорђе Симић
President of the Government of Serbia
In office
24 January 1894 – 3 April 1894
Monarch Alexander I
Preceded by Sava Grujić
Succeeded by Svetomir Nikolajević
President of the Government of Serbia
In office
27 December 1896 – 19 October 1897
Monarch Alexander I
Preceded by Stojan Novaković
Succeeded by Vladan Đorđević
Personal details
Born 28 February 1843
Belgrade, Serbia
Died 11 October 1921 (1921-10-12) (aged 78)
Zemun, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Nationality Serb
Political party People's Radical Party

Đorđe S. Simić (28 February 1843, in Belgrade – 11 October 1921, in Zemun), was a Serbian politician and diplomat. He was twice Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia.

Biography

Đorđe S. Simić was the son of Stojan Simić and the nephew of Aleksa Simić, both Serbian politicians. Upon graduation in Belgrade, he studied the state sciences in Berlin, Heidelberg and Paris.

He was hired as a civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and was head of its political department from 1867 to 1882. From 1882 to 1884 was Consul-General in Sofia, from 1887 to 1890 Serbian Minister to St. Petersburg and from 1890 to 1894 Serbian Minister in Vienna.

Đorđe S. Simić was the Prime Minister of Serbia for the first time from 12 January to 21 March 1894. The government quickly came to a crisis and fall due to the King Aleksandar I, demanding the Simić cabinet to fight the People's Radical Party, which Simić and several other ministers refused to accept.

Simić was again Serbian Minister in Vienna from 1894 to 1896. He was the Prime Minister for the second time (and also Minister of Foreign Affairs) from 17 December 1896 to 11 October 1897. This government was composed of neutral politicians and radicals. In foreign policy the Simić's second cabinet has achieved only partial results in Macedonia: Serbia obtained the right to establish schools in Serbian language, and a Serbian bishop was temporarily installed in Skopje. In internal politics, the government improved finances and armament of the Serbian Army after the threats to the regional security provoked by the Greco-Turkish War of 1897.

in 1900, Simić was appointed as the Serbian Minister in Rome, then he was Senator and President of the State Council in 1901, Minister of Serbia at Istanbul from 1903 to 1906, and again in Vienna, from 1906 to 1912.

One of the founders of Red Cross in Serbia, Simić was its longtime president.

A man of noble manners and capable diplomat, Simić was a weak as politician and soft in character, without his own initiative, the man who had no significant political weight, but arrived at the high position in the government as a compromise candidate chosen by the king (Slobodan Jovanović).

Simić was married, in 1867, to Princess Jelena of Serbia (18 October 1846 – 26 July 1867), daughter of Alexander, Prince of Serbia.

Bibliography

See also

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