Realm of the Black Mountain

When Slobodan Milosevic, the son of Montenegrin parents, spoke of Montenegro and Serbia as 'two eyes in the same head', he encapsulated a view of the symbiosis of Serbia and Montenegro that has deep roots in both nations. But many Montenegrins disagree profoundly and reflect bitterly on the baleful experience of being politically lumped together with Serbia since shortly after the First World War. While much has been written on Serbia, little is known of its junior partner in an increasingly loose and fractious federation: the small, craggy republic of Montenegro. This book traces its history from pre-Slavic times, including its part in the battle of Kosovo, and its unique role in resisting the Ottomans. It recounts Montenegro's development under its Prince Bishops towards the independence achieved at the Congress of Berlin (with the public support of Gladstone and the poet Tennyson) and lost after the Versailles Conference when the Montenegrin Assembly voted, under the shadow of Serb bayonets, to join what was to become Yugoslavia. Elizabeth Roberts also analyses Montenegro's largely unsung role in Yugoslavia's demise, during which it made the perilous transition from being Milosevic's staunchest ally to becoming a major thorn in his side, and the prospect - aspired to by perhaps a majority in the republic - of its becoming the first newly independent state this century.