Mihailo Obrenovic III

Serbian Royalty. The younger son of Knez Milos and Kneginja Ljubica, he came to power for the first time when his brother Milan died in 1839. The Sultan confirmed him as elected but not as hereditary Prince. In August 1842, a revolt was organized by Toma Vucic, Mihailo was forced to leave Serbia, and Aleksandar Karadjordjevic came to the throne. He has spent six years abroad and during that time he collaborated with many Serbs dealing with literature and helped them, too (Vuk Karadzic, Djura Danicic, Branko Radicevic and others). When Milos Obrenovic returned to Serbia in 1858, Mihailo came along and took over supreme command of the army. When Milos died, he became Prince of Serbia again in 1860. In 1861 he made extensive changes in the constitutional structure of the state: the authority of the Council for Legislative Affairs was limited and the independence of its members abolished; ministers became responsible only to the Prince; freedom of the press was abolished; and the National Assembly became only an advisory organ. Mihailo paid special attention to military organization and in 1861 established a national army with about 50,000 soldiers in its ranks. Up to date weaponry was provided, and Serbia became the strongest military power in the Balkans. Mihailo's aim was the final liberation of his country from the Turks. He used the bombarment of Belgrade (1862) made by the Turks, and after the long negotiations he forced them to remove their garrisons from Belgrade and other Serbian towns (1867) Counting on a war with Turkey, he formed alliances and made agreements with other Balkan nations - Montenegro, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. Just when the preparations for the war were completed Mihailo was assassinated while out walking in park Kosutnjak in 1868.