Modern History
Petar Petrović Njegoš perhaps the most influential vladika, reigned in the first half of the 19th century. In 1851 Danilo Petrović Njegoš became vladika, but in 1852 he married, threw off his ecclesiastical character, assuming the title of knjaz (Prince) Danilo I, and transformed his land into a secular principality.
Following the assassination of Danilo by Todor Kadić in Kotor, in 1860, the Montenegrins proclaimed Nicholas I as his successor on August 14 of that year. In 1861 – 1862, Nicholas engaged in an unsuccessful war against Turkey, Montenegro holding onto its independence only by the skin of its teeth.
He was much more successful in 1875. Following the Herzegovinian Uprising, partly initiated by his clandestine activities, he yet again declared war on Turkey. Serbia joined Montenegro, but it was defeated by Turkish forces in 1876 only to try again the following year after Russia decisively routed the Turks. Montenegro was victorious throughout, though. The results were decisive; 1,900 square miles (4,900 km2) were added to Montenegro's territory by the Treaty of Berlin; that the port of Bar and all the waters of Montenegro were closed to the ships of war of all nations; and that the administration of the maritime and sanitary police on the coast was placed in the hands of Austria.
The reign of Nikola I (1860 – 1918) saw the doubling of Montenegro's territory and international recognition of her independence (1878).
Montenegro was an ally of Russia in the Russo-Japanese war. Volunteers from Montenegro were fighting in the Russian Army. In 2006, over 100 years after the end of the war, Japan recognized Montenegrin independence and declared the war being over. A peace treaty was signed.
Nicholas I also granted the country's first constitution (1905) and was elevated to the rank of King (1910).
In the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), Montenegro did make further territorial gains by splitting Sanjak with Serbia.
In addition, the newly-captured city of Skadar had to be given up to the new state of Albania at the insistence of the Great Powers despite the Montenegrins having invested 10,000 lives for the conquest of the town from the Ottoman-Albanian forces of Essad Pasha Toptani.
Read more about this topic: History Of Montenegro
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