Jovan Ristić

Jovan Ristić

Jovan Ristić ( Cyrillic Јован Ристић; born January 16 or February 13, 1831 in Kragujevac ; † September 4, 1899 in Belgrade ) was a Serbian diplomat and politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party ( Liberalna stranka ), Foreign Minister and several times Prime Minister of Serbia.

Life

Ristić studied in Heidelberg, Berlin and Paris. When he returned to Belgrade, he first worked as a high school teacher. In 1861 he was appointed his country's diplomatic agent in Constantinople. In this position, Ristić was involved in the negotiations that led to the complete withdrawal of the Ottoman troops in 1867, which until then had maintained garrisons in Serbia. Upon his return, the Serbian prince Mihailo Obrenović offered him a ministerial post, but the liberal politician could not work well with the conservative prince and he quickly resigned from this office. After the assassination of Mihailos (1868), he headed the hastily formed Regency Council, which presented a new constitution in early 1869, which essentially came from the pen of Ristić.

In 1872 Ristić became foreign minister and shortly afterwards he was appointed prime minister for the first time by Prince Milan ; but he could not prevail against political resistance and resigned after a year. Appointed again as head of government in 1876, Ristić led Serbia to war with the Ottoman Empire . After the war he represented his country at the Berlin Congress in 1878 , where he was able to gain much less territorial gains than had been expected in Serbia. As a result, his government became increasingly unpopular. Since a Bulgarian state had also emerged through the Berlin Treaty, the previous foreign policy program - Serbia as the core of a large state in the Balkans comprising all southern Slavs, which Ristić had taken over from his predecessor Ilija Garašanin , could no longer be realized. After Ristić had also concluded an unfavorable trade agreement with Austria-Hungary, he had to resign in 1879.

In 1887, Ristić was reappointed head of government by King Milan because he wanted to prevent the Radical Party from taking over sole rule. Until 1889 he led a coalition cabinet in which the radicals were also represented. The power-sharing continued with Ristić becoming the head of the Regency Council for King Alexander , who was still under age , while the government was taken over by the radicals. In 1892, however, Ristić transferred government power to his Liberal Party, which caused great dissatisfaction in the country. In April 1893, the young king had the Liberal government arrested, declared himself of legal age and brought the radicals back to power. This ended Ristić's political career and he withdrew into private life.

Works

Jovan Ristić wrote two books on Serbian foreign policy:

• Спољашњи одношаји Србије од 1848–1872. ( The foreign relations of Serbia 1848–1872 , Belgrade 1887)
• Дипломатска историја Србије 1875–1878 ( Diplomacy History of Serbia 1875–1878 , Belgrade 1896)

literature

• Holm Sundhaussen: History of Serbia. Vienna - Cologne - Weimar 2007. ISBN 978-3-205-77660-4
• Radoš Ljušić (ed.): Vlade Srbije, 1805-2005. Beograd 2005.

Remarks

1. ↑ In the literature two dates are mentioned, unclear whether according to the Julian or the Gregorian calendar