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HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF SERBIA

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Ivan Meštrović, Monument of Gratitude to France

The history of Serbia’s international relations dates back to the Middle Ages. The rulers of the Nemanjic dynasty, led by Stefan Nemanja, established international relations from the earliest times, which contributed to the formation of an independent Serbian state.  Stefan Nemanja’s mission to Nuremberg in 1188 to the German Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa is considered to be the first diplomatic mission.

His son Sava Nemanjić continued international political relations , and established the autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church. All subsequent rulers of the Serbian medieval state were also skilled diplomatic negotiators who managed to reconcile the interests of Serbia with other medieval states: Hungary, Byzantium, Bulgaria, Dubrovnik and the Papal States. The political marriages with members of the powerful European royal  families  also contributed to the establishment of good international relations.

The beginning of modern Serbian diplomacy is related to 1804, when the First Serbian Uprising broke out. By order of leader Karadjordje Petrovic, two diplomatic missions (delegations) were sent to Petrograd and Zemun with the aim of gaining diplomatic support from Russia on the one hand, and the Habsburg monarchy on the other, for the upraising ragainst Ottoman rule.

As early as 1807, Tsarist Russia sent Constantine Rodofinikin to Serbia, who was also the first foreign representative in insurgent Serbia. The decision of the Governing Council from 1811 envisages the formation of  ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Duke Milenko Stojković was appointed the first Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs, but he did not accept that duty.

A stronger impetus to the development of Serbian diplomacy was given by Prince Miloš Obrenović from 1815. Already during 1815, Prince Miloš sent his first diplomatic agent Jovan Antić to Constantinople and the following year to Wallachia. The practice of encrypting diplomatic reports coming from Constantinople and Bucharest dates back to that time. The result of that diplomatic struggle was the acquisition of autonomy, ie internal self-government of Serbia by the Ottoman Empire. Through three hatisherifs (ceremonial charters of the Turkish sultan) from 1829 to 1830, the Ottoman authorities agreed to fulfill their obligations to grant internal self-government to Serbia. The Hatisherifs gave Serbia national, ie internal self-government, which included, among others, the right of legislative power, inheritance of the princely title for Milos Obrenovic, lump sum determination of annual tax, freedom of religion, the right to open schools, hospitals, printing, independence of the judiciary, return of six torn nahijas. abolition of feudalism.

Prince Milos formed the People’s Office, whose activities were extended to foreign policy. In 1826, a special, foreign department was established within the office. At the head of this department was Dimitrije Davidović, one of the most educated Serbian citizens, and the first secretary of Prince Miloš Obrenović. Thus,  Davidović who also performed the duty of the Minister of Foreign Affairs during 1834 and 1835, is considered the first Minister of Foreign Affairs.

After gaining autonomy, the first European diplomatic representatives who had the status of consuls began to arrive in Serbia. The Habsburg monarchy sent its first consul Antun Mihanović to the Principality of Serbia in 1836, Great Britain sent Colonel Lloyd Hodges to Serbia in 1837, and in 1838 Russia appointed Gerasim Vashchenko as its first consul in Serbia. The head of the French diplomatic mission in Serbia since 1839 was François Duclos. In the following years, consulates were opened by Italy, Prussia,Greece, and Romania. The arrival of European diplomats in Serbia contributed to the introduction of diplomatic customs, ceremonies and protocols that were unknown until then.

After the adoption of the Sretenje Constitution in 1835, a period of state’s reforming administration followed, but only in 1862 did the guardianships become ministries and receive more precise authorizations compared to the previous period. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was consequently constituted on modern principles. It’s tasks included maintaining relations with other countries, conducting negotiations and enforcing agreements, protecting the country’s political, economic and trade interests abroad, providing assistance to its citizens abroad, and appointing diplomatic and consular agents abroad. A diplomatic ceremony was also introduced.

In February 1868, a special Law on Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was adopted, which abolished previous titles (protocol clerk, registrar, archivist, forwarder) and introduced a new one (secretary of class III, clerk of class I, II and III). Until Serbia gained  independence in 1878, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs were Dimitrije Davidović, Ilija Garašanin, Jovan Ristić, Filip Hristić and many others.

When Serbia became an independent and internationally recognized state at the Berlin Congress, all its diplomatic missions abroad were raised from the rank of consulate to the rank of embassy. In addition to the embassies in Bucharest, Constantinople and Vienna, embassies were opened in Paris (1879), St. Petersburg (1879), Sofia (1879), Berlin (1881), Rome (1881), Athens (1882), London (1880), and Cetinje. (1897).

Shortly after the end of the Berlin Congress, the great European states began to send their highest diplomatic representatives to Serbia. Diplomatic relations between Serbia and the United States were established on July 15, 1882, with the appointment of Eugene Skyler as Consul General, while the first US Ambassador to Serbia on June 29, 1894, became Alexander Eben. In 1886, Germany appointed Hippolytus von Bray Steinburg as its ambassador in Belgrade. In 1890, Russia appointed Alexander Persiani as its first ambassador to Serbia, who had previously been in Belgrade as Consul General.

From independence until the end of the First World War, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia was headed by the most prominent Serbian diplomats, statesmen, politicians, scientists such as Jovan Ristic, Stojan Novakovic, Cedomil Mijatovic, Milutin Garasanin, Nikola Pasic, Andre Nikolic, Sime Lozanic, Stojan Protic. To this list should be added well-known writers who held the positions of Serbian consuls in the Ottoman Empire, such as Branislav Nušić, Vojislav Ilić, Milan Rakić, Jovan Dučić.
With the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formed. The newly established Yugoslav Ministry of Foreign Affairs consisted of six departments (political, administrative, consular – trade, accounting, main archive,press bureau ).

Diplomatic representatives of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in front of the Embassy in Sofia, 1938.

The diplomacy of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia made an important contribution to the initiation and formation of international organizations (League of Nations), and several regional and European alliances of the Lesser Entente (Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Romania), the Balkan Pact (Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece, Turkey). The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was on two occasions a non-permanent member of the Council of the League of Nations (1929–1932, and 1938–1939),  as a recognition that it was one of the founders of the League of Nations.

After Dr. Ante Trumbić, the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the diplomacy of the first Yugoslav state was headed by prominent Serbian diplomats, politicians and university professors such as Nikola Pašić, Dr. Momčilo Ninčić, Professor Slobodan Jovanović, Milan Grol and many others. During this period, some of the most prominent names in Serbian culture, such as Ivo Andrić and Miloš Crnjanski, also served in Yugoslav diplomacy.

Memorial plaque to Ivo Andrić in the great hall of the House of National Assemby of Serbia

The diplomacy of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia made an important contribution to the initiation and formation of international organizations (League of Nations), and several regional and European alliances of the Lesser Entente (Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Romania), the Balkan Pact (Yugoslavia, Romania , Greece, Turkey). The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was on two occasions a non-permanent member of the Council of the League of Nations (1929–1932, and 1938–1939), and as a sign of recognition that it was one of the founders of the League of Nations .

After Dr. Ante Trumbić, the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the diplomacy of the first Yugoslav state was headed by prominent Serbian diplomats, politicians and university professors such as Nikola Pašić, Dr. Momcilo Nincic, Professor Slobodan Jovanovic, Milan Grol and many others. During this period, some of the most prominent names in Serbian culture, such as Ivo Andrić and Miloš Crnjanski, also served in Yugoslav diplomacy.

After the end of the Second World War and the constitution of socialist Yugoslavia, the new Ministry of Foreign Affairs was formed, which initially included diplomats from the time of the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.  Socialist Yugoslavia has been one of the founders of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, the Conference on European Security and Cooperation (CSCE) in 1975, and was a member of the regional organization Balkan Alliance in 1954 (Yugoslavia, Turkey, Greece).

The backbone of the diplomacy of the second Yugoslav state was the policy of non-alignment. In accordance with independent state policy Yugoslavia maintained good relations with both the United States and the USSR. As one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, Yugoslavia hosted two conferences of this organization (the first conference in 1961, the ninth conference in 1989), while in 2011 Serbia hosted a conference of non-aligned countries to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the movement.  The ministries of Yugoslav diplomacy from Serbia during the period from 1945 to 1990 were Stanoje Simić, Koča Popović, Marko Nikezić, Mirko Tepavac, Miloš Minić.

Historical upheavals in the early 1990s led to the formation of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which operated within the SFRY in the period from 1993-1994. There were two Ministries (Serbia and Yugoslavia), and since 1994 only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the FR of Yugoslavia has continued its work.

A particularly difficult challenge for Serbian diplomacy was in 1999 during the NATO bombing of the FRY. After the democratic changes in Serbia in the 2000s, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was briefly in charge of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and when it ceased to exist in 2006, Serbia re-formed its Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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