| Unit Name: | Royal Montenegrin Army Army of Kingdom of Montenegro |
| Native Name: | Војска Краљевине Црне Горе Vojska Kraljevine Crne Gore |
| Dates: | 28 August 1910 |
| Disbanded: | 26 November 1918 [1] |
| Countries: |  France France  United Kingdom United Kingdom Russia Serbia |
| Branch: | Land army |
| Type: | Infantry and artillery |
| Role: | Defend Montenegro |
| Size: | +44,000 soldiers (on 28 August 1910) 44,500 soldiers (on First Balkan War) 12,800 soldiers (on Second Balkan War) 50,000 soldiers (on WW1 and Montenegrin campaign) 45-50,000 soldiers (on 1914 Serbian campaign) 48,300 soldiers (on 1915 Serbian campaign) |
| Colors: | Pan-Slavic colors |
| Battles: | First Balkan War Second Balkan War 1914 Serbian campaign 1915 Serbian campaign Montenegrin campaign WW1 |
| Commander1: | Nicholas I of Montenegro[2] |
| Commander1 Label: | Supreme commander[3] |
| Commander2: | Prince Danilo of Montenegro[4] |
| Commander2 Label: | Deputy commander-in-chief |
| Commander3: | Božidar Janković (1914-1915) Petar Pešić (1915-1916) |
| Commander3 Label: | Chief of Montenegrin Supreme Command |
| Commander4: | Petar Pešić (1914-1915) |
| Commander4 Label: | Deputy Chief of the General Staff |
| Commander6: | Minister of War of Kingdom of Montenegro[5] |
| Commander6 Label: | Inspector of the General Staff |
| Commander7: | President of the Ministerial Council of Kingdom of Montenegro |
| Commander7 Label: | Commander |
| Notable Commanders: | Janko Vukotić Andrija Radović Mitar Martinović Anto Gvozdenović Milutin Vučinić Radomir Vešović Krsto Popović Milo Matanović Petar Pešić Božidar Janković Mašan Božović Đoko Pavićević [6] |
| Commander5 Label: | Chief of the General Staff |
| Commander5: | Janko Vukotić |
The Royal Montenegrin Army (in Serbian/Montenegrin: Војска Краљевине Црне Горе; Vojska Kraljevine Crne Gore) or the Army of the Kingdom of Montenegro, was the army of Kingdom of Montenegro.
The creation of Royal Montenegrin Army succeeded on 28 August 1910, during the proclamation of Kingdom of Montenegro, Nicholas I of Montenegro became king and commander-in-chief of the new army as well as the Prime Minister of Kingdom of Montenegro as commander and the Minister of Defence of Kingdom of Montenegro as the Division General of the Army. A year passed and along with Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria founded the Balkan League, a military alliance to remove the Ottoman dominion on the Balkans.
See main article: First Balkan War. The Kingdom of Montenegro was the first country in the league to declare war to the Ottoman Empire. The war started with Montenegrin forces attacking the Ottoman city of Novi Pazar to liberate to the Christians harshly treated by the Ottomans. The Montenegrin Army was controlled under the Nicholas and, commanded by the Prince Danilo and Peter, both Nicholas I of Montenegro's sons, and the generals Janko Vukotič and Mitar Martinović. Although Montenegro was the smallest country of the Balkan Peninsula, it's military power was incredible for its size.
Montenegro had a very small professional army, being the smallest Balkan army.[7] Despite scarce resources machine guns, artillery pieces and cannons, most of its citizens were soldiers or army officers Although it had few battalions, its casualties were serious, losing about of its 50% men. In the aftermath 2,836 men were killed, 6,602 were wounded wounded and 406 died of disease or other combat related illnesses.
See main article: Second Balkan War. Montenegro gained the eastern part of Kosovo, Metohija, except the area of Prizren, which was gained by Serbia. However, it didn't get the region of Shkodër which they desired[8] after eight months of continuous siege. Bulgaria accused Serbia of conquering territories not proposed in the treaty and thus Bulgaria declared war on Serbia, starting the Second Balkan War. Montenegro (still allied with Serbia) sent 12,800 men to assist with the war effort. Under the command of Nicholas and Prince Danilo and general Janko Vukotić. The Bulgarian Army surrendered in less than a month and only lost 1% of its men, suffering only 1,201 casualties; 241 killed and 961 wounded.
On 28 July 1914, the heir of the Austro-Hungarian throne, the archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie Chotek, were assassinated by a Bosnian Serb nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia telling them that they were responsible for the assassination. Serbia accepted all the terms but one which allowed Austro-Hungarian police. The reason for this is because they said it denied their right as a sovereign nation. Thus Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia (self-proclaimed protector of all Slavs, principally to Serbia and Montenegro) declared war on Austria-Hungary in defence of the Balkan Slavs. The German Empire, an ally of Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia. France (which was an ally of Russia) declared war on the German Empire, starting World War 1. Nicholas decided to maintain the neutrality because his country was recovering from the Balkan Wars and the army wasn't prepared to affront Austria-Hungary, a superpower with 10 times more men in their respective armed forces. The Austro-Hungarian army wasn't very prepared, equipped or trained compared to both Serbia and Montenegro, both of which fought in the Balkan wars in previous years. Austria-Hungary had a massive population being 100 times more. But the Serbian population of Montenegro supported the Serbian war effort and pressured Montenegro to enter the war. Montenegro would enter the war on the 6th of August 1914.
Montenegro mobilized 45–50,000 men of the royal army along with 62 batteries, 14 land cannons and 62 machine guns. Together with 427,597 men of the Royal Serbian Army, they added 465–470,597 men versus 500,000 men of the Austro-Hungarian Army. The Austro-Hungarians were defeated in December 1914 with half of its forces being lost. Serbia also suffered heavy losses losing 75% of its men. Montenegro lost less than 15%[9] of its army only losing 13,000.
| Type | Austria-Hungary | Serbia + Montenegro(total) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battalion | 329 | 209 | |
| Battery | 200 | 122 + 62 (184) | |
| Squadron | 51 | 44 | |
| Engineering companies | 50 | 30 | |
| Land cannon | 1243 | 718 + 14 (732) | |
| Machine guns | 490 | 315 + 62 (377) | |
| Total soldiers | 500.000 | 420.597 + 45–50.000 (465-470.597) |