Realm of the Black Mountain

When Slobodan Milosevic spoke of Montenegro and Serbia as 'two eyes in the same head', he encapsulated a view that has deep roots in both countries. But many Montenegrins disagree profoundly and reflect bitterly on the experience of being politically lumped together with Serbia since shortly after the First World War. The West knows comparatively little about Serbia's junior partner in an increasingly loose and fractious federation: the small craggy republic of Montenegro. Elizabeth...
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When Slobodan Milosevic spoke of Montenegro and Serbia as 'two eyes in the same head', he encapsulated a view that has deep roots in both countries. But many Montenegrins disagree profoundly and reflect bitterly on the experience of being politically lumped together with Serbia since shortly after the First World War. The West knows comparatively little about Serbia's junior partner in an increasingly loose and fractious federation: the small craggy republic of Montenegro. Elizabeth Roberts traces its history from pre-Slavic times, including its part in the 1389 battle of Kosovo, and its prominent role in resisting the Ottomans. She recounts Monenegro's development under its Prince-Bishops towards the independence achieved at the Congress of Berlin and lost after the Versailles Conference when the Montenegrin Assembly voted to join Yugoslavia. She also reveals Montenegro's unsung role in Yugoslavia's demise, and the prospect - aspired to by most of its citizens - of its becoming the 21st century's first newly independent state.