Milan Obrenovic

King of Serbia. After the murder of Prince Mihailo, he became Prince on July 2, 1868. During his reign, he relied mainly on the army, and therefore, he was constantly working on improving its strength. In foreign politics, Milan Obrenovic relied on Russia at first. Under public pressure, he declared war on Turkey in 1876, which ended in 1878, unsuccessfully since it was not prepared properly in a diplomatic sense. During the same year, under the influence of Russia, he declared war on Turkey once again, from which Serbia came reinforced, gaining the following districts: Pirot, Nis, Toplica, and Vranje, and in 1878. Serbia was formally recognized as an independent state in Congress in Berlin. Since the Russian support to Bulgaria, which culminated in the Sanstefan contract, Milan Obrenovic changed his orientation to Austro-Hungary. In June 1881, he signed a secret contract with Austro-Hungary, in which Serbia was obligated not to act against the interests of Austro-Hungary in Bosnia and Herzegovina and not to sign political contracts with other countries. In return, Austro-Hungary guaranteed that he would remain on the throne and diplomatic assistance to help Serbia gain territories further toward the south, which was understood as a betrayal of national interests by the public. He declared himself King in 1882. When Bulgaria joined with Eastern Rubella in 1885, Milan Obrenovic declared war on it in order to occupy part of Bulgarian territory. With his failures in this war, which he led unsuccessfully, the public was even more disappointed by his politics. In 1888, he accepted the constitution, which would eventually transform Serbia into a constitutional and parliamentary Monarchy, but after conflicts with constitutional clauses, he abdicated the next year in favor of his underage son Aleksander. He was appointed as Commandant of the Active Army but resigned in 1890.