Milan I of Serbia

Birth and infancy in exile

Milan Obrenović was born in 1854 in Mărășești, Moldavia where his family had lived in exile ever since the 1842 return of the rival House of Karađorđević to the Serbian throne when they managed to depose Milan's cousin Prince Mihailo Obrenović III.

Milan was the son of Miloš Obrenović (1829–1861) and his Moldavian wife Marija Obrenović, née Elena Maria Catargiu (1831–1879). Milan's paternal grandfather (Miloš's father) was Jevrem Obrenović (1790–1856), brother of Miloš Obrenović I, Prince of Serbia. Milan was therefore Prince Miloš's grandnephew. He had only one sibling — sister Tomanija.

Shortly after Milan's birth, his parents divorced. Several years later on 20 November 1861, at the age of seven, Milan's father Miloš died fighting the Turks near Bucharest as a foreign mercenary in the Romanian Army, meaning that his mother Marija got a legal custody. Marija, however, lived a lavish aristocratic lifestyle, soon becoming Romanian ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza's mistress and bearing him two sons — Alexandru Al. Ioan Cuza (nicknamed Sașa) and Dimitrie. As a result, she showed little interest in her children from the previous marriage with Miloš. Therefore, an agreement was reached for young Milan to get legally adopted by his cousin Mihailo Obrenović, who in the meantime, following the 1858 expulsion of the Karađorđevićs, had returned to Serbia where he became the ruling prince in 1860.

Arriving in Serbia

Milan was brought to Kragujevac by Prince Mihailo Obrenović III who also arranged for a governess to raise the youngster. Decades later, once Milan became a king, details of his mother's personal life were often used by his political opponents, notably People's Radical Party (NRS) leader Stojan Protić who went as far as making an untrue accusation in his paper Samouprava that King Milan's father was actually Alexandru Ioan Cuza, referring to King Milan pejoratively as Kuzić instead of Obrenović.

After bringing his nephew to Serbia, Prince Mihailo also took care of the youngster's education, sending him to Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris where young Milan reportedly displayed considerable maturity.

Regency of Milivoje Petrović Blaznavac

As Milan was still underage to rule on his own, a regency was established to rule in Milan's name. The three-man council was headed by Blaznavac. Statesman and historian Jovan Ristić and Jovan Gavrilović, a politician and historian from a wealthy merchant family rounded out the trio.

Young Milan was brought back to Serbia from Paris and enthroned in front of the Topčider assembly while the Blaznavac-controlled army surrounded the building just in case. Furthermore, prominent Serb nobleman from Dubrovnik, Medo Pucić, was brought to Belgrade to serve as teacher and adviser to the prince.

Under Blaznavac's tutelage, both personally and politically, the prince deferred to the head of the regency council in all matters of state. Prince Milan did not benefit from a large inheritance from his wealthy family as all of Prince Mihailo's vast property went to Mihailo's sisters (Prince Miloš's daughters) Petrija's and Savka's children.^[3] The only property young Prince Milan did inherit was his late father's compound in Mărășești that had an overwhelming amount of debt associated with it.^[3]

On 2 January 1869, the third Serbian constitution, mostly Ristić's creation, was promulgated.

In 1871, the prince faced two separate incidents although it is unclear as to whether these were genuine attempts on his life. In May as he exited the National Theatre building, a bomb exploded a couple of hundred metres away on Terazije. Buried under a footpath, the exploded device didn't cause anyone injuries. At the time and there was speculation in Serbia that it was Blaznavac who had organised the explosion in order to scare and confuse the young prince who was nearing his age of majority into remaining reliant on Blaznavac. The event became known as the Terazijska bomba [sr] (Terazije Bomb) in the Serbian historiography.

Several months later, on 6 October, Prince Milan was involved in another incident, this time during a visit to Smederevo. At some point, he went to an outhouse to relieve himself and while above the pit toilet, the wooden floor caved in under his weight and he fell into the pit. As he was armed at the time, the prince began shooting from his pistol in order get the attention of his entourage who rescued him. Historical accounts of the nature of this event differ. Historian Slobodan Jovanović thinks the occurrence was "likely coincidental".^[4] On the other hand, historian Leontije Pavlović in his book Smederevo u XIX veku (Smederevo in the Nineteenth Century) states the conspirators doused the wooden floor with nitric acid that ate away at the planks. However, these claims couldn't be confirmed as he based them on an item from the historical archives that has since disappeared.^[4] The entire episode is known as the Smederevski nameštaj [sr] (double meaning: The Smederevo Furniture or the Smederevo Setup).^[4]

Prince reaches the age of majority

On 22 August 1872, Milan was declared of age, and he took government into his own hands. He soon demonstrated great intellectual capacity, coupled with a passionate headstrong character. Eugene Schuyler, who observed him about this time, found him to be a very remarkable, singularly intelligent and well-informed young man. The Principality of Serbia was still a de jure part of the Ottoman Empire though in reality it already had long functioned as a semi-independent state whose politics and economy was much more dependent on other Great Powers, particularly Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire, than on its formal ruler, the declining Ottomans. Milan carefully manoeuvred between the Austrian and Russian geopolitical interests in Serbia, with a judicious leaning towards the former.

When Serbs from the neighbouring Bosnia Vilayet (also part of the Ottoman Empire, though more integrated and loyal due to its large Muslim population) began an uprising in July 1875 on the outskirts of Nevesinje, protesting the tax system as well as harsh treatment under local beys and aghas, Prince Milan condemned the uprising and refused to take part in it. The rival House of Karađorđević, whose members lived in exile across Europe, had a different approach, taking part in organising and implementing the uprising. Their actions included the 31-year-old Petar Karađorđević going to the Herzegovina region in order to fight under the pseudonym Petar Mrkonjić. As the uprising grew, spreading to the rest of Herzegovina and soon engulfing the entire Bosnia Vilayet, domestic pressure in the Serbian principality increased on young Prince Milan to help his Serb brethren.

Marriage

Milan married Natalie Keshko on 17 October [O.S. 5 October] 1875 at the St. Michael's Cathedral, Belgrade, Serbia.^[5] Natalie, sixteen years of age, was the daughter of Bessarabian nobleman Petre Ivanovich Keschko, who served as a colonel in Imperial Russian Army. Natalie's mother, Pulcheria, was by birth Princess Sturdza, meaning that the couple were fairly close second cousins because Milan's mother Elena and Natalie's father Petre were the children of two sisters, meaning that Milan and Natalija shared a set of great-grandparents.^[3] This relation meant that their marriage had to be specifically approved by the church, namely Metropolitan Mihailo Jovanović, the Metropolitan of Belgrade, however, this wasn't done.^[3]

A son, Alexander, was born to Natalija and Milan in 1876, but their relationship showed signs of friction right from the start.

Serbian–Ottoman Wars

It was under Milan's reign that the First Serbian–Ottoman War broke out, against his own personal preference, out of deference to public opinion. Meanwhile the Karađorđević pretender, Peter, fought for the Serbs as a volunteer. ^[6]

The Serbian effort to invade Turkish territory was stopped to the east of Zaječar, while Turkish troops destroyed the strategic Serbian post of Knjaževac. Retreating Serbian troops were then defeated at Aleksinac. ^[6]

As the Serbian military situation became desperate Prince Milan asked for the Great Powers to intervene, and an armistice was granted by the Ottomans, but it fell apart in the wake of the Deligrad Event. ^[6]

The resumed fighting went in favor of the Ottomans, and after the fall of Đunis, Ottoman troops began their march to Belgrade. It was at this point that the government of the Russian Empire intervened offering an ultimatum to the Porte to grant both Serbia and Montenegro an armistice within 48 hours or face Russian intervention. Such an armistice to last for two months was granted on November 1, 1876 and subsequently extended until March 1, 1877, when a definitive peace treaty was signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia. The treaty preserved the status quo ante bellum. Serbia gained no territory, but was not forced to cede anything either or pay a war indemnity. ^[6]

At the end of the Serbo-Turkish War (1876–78), Europe's powers induced the Sublime Porte to acknowledge Serbian independence at the Treaty of Berlin.