Jovan Petrović (Serbian: Јован Петровић;

Sombor Sombor ( sr-Cyrl, Сомбор, ; ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the West Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city has a total population of 41,814 (), while its adminis ...

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

, 16 June 1843 -

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...

, 19 March 1902) was a

Serbian Army The Serbian Army () is the land-based and the largest component of the Serbian Armed Forces. Its organization, composition, weapons and equipment are adapted to the assigned missions and tasks of the Serbian Armed Forces, primarily for operatio ...

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

, Minister of Defence and Minister of Public Works of the Kingdom of Serbia. He also served as 10th Dean of the Academic Board of the Military Academy in Serbia from 1894 to 1897.

Military Academy

Jovan Petrović was born on 16 June 1843 in

. His father Petar was the head of the workshop at the Military Technical Institute in

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the List of cities in Serbia, fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Se ...

. Jovan finished high school in Belgrade, then he finished four grades of Gymnasium in

, and in Belgrade, he graduated from Velika škola. He then enrolled in the Military Academy in Belgrade in 1860. He graduated from the Academy in 1865, when he was promoted to the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

. During the incident at Čukur česma in 1862, he joined the freedom fighters at the

barricades Barricade (from the French '' barrique'' - 'barrel') is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction. Adopted as a military term, a barricade denote ...

War Academy in Berlin

After graduating from the Military Academy, he served in the Artillery Administration and the ''Topolivnica'' (Ordnance Foundry) in

. For a time he was commander in the Military Crafts School until 1867. In 1868 he was a

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

in the 3rd Field Brigade. From 1868 to 1872, he was promoted to a general staff

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

of the

Knjaževac Knjaževac ( sr-cyr, Књажевац, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zaječar District of the Southern and Eastern Serbia, eastern Serbia. As of 2022, the municipality has a population of 25,341 inhabitants, while the town has 16,350 ...

People's Army. He was sent as a state cadet in 1872 to the

Prussian Staff College The Prussian Staff College, also Prussian War College () was the highest military facility of the Kingdom of Prussia to educate, train, and develop German General Staff, general staff officers. Location It originated with the ''Akademie für ...

, then called the Allgemeine Kriegsschule (War School). After three years of schooling, he graduated from the academy in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1875. After that, he was an intern in the Guards Infantry regiment in

. Upon his return to Serbia from 1875 to 1876, he served in the Ministre of Defence and was then the Chief of the Serbian General Staff.

Serbian-Turkish Wars

In the First Serbian-Turkish War, he served in the Supreme Command. From 27 June to 18 August 1876, he was chief of staff of the Morava Army and took part in the Battle of Šumatovac, commanding a detachment of six battalions at Prugovac, on the left flank. The Turkish numerically superior division easily kept the six battalions suppressed, but when help arrived they achieved their goal of protecting the left flank. After that he became the Chief of Staff of the Morava- Timok Army of General

Mikhail Chernyayev Mikhail Grigoryevich Chernyaev ( Russian: Михаил Григорьевич Черняев) (3 November / 22 October 1828 in Bender, Bessarabia Governorate – 16 August 1898) was a Russian major general, who, together with Konstantin Kaufm ...

. Later, he became the commander of the Katun Army and the Chief of Staff of the 2nd Corps. After the peace, he received the customary "sword of surrender" from the Turkish commander at

Aleksinac Aleksinac ( sr-Cyrl, Алексинац) is a town and municipality located in the Nišava District of Southern and Eastern Serbia, southern Serbia. According to 2022 census, the municipality has a population of 43,258 inhabitants. History Preh ...

. In the Second Serbian-Turkish War, he was the Chief of Staff of the Morava Corps. During the liberation of

, he participated in the negotiations, when the Turks surrendered the city of Niš.

Minister of Public Works and Defence

In the summer of 1879, he was an auxiliary member of the Serbian delegation in the International Commission for Determining the Border after the Serbian-Turkish Wars. In October 1879 he was appointed to the

Serbian General Staff The General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces () is the highest Staff (military), authority within the Serbian Armed Forces and a significant command entity with numerous organizational units under its direct command. Missions General Staff pos ...

. From 1879 he taught the General Staff at the Military Academy, and from 1882 the history of wars and strategy. He was appointed commander of the 2nd Infantry Regiment in 1881. He was promoted to the rank of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

by the General Staff in 1883. Politically he belonged to the Progressives and became a minister in several Progressive governments at the time. He was

Minister of Construction Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

in the Cabinet of Milan Piroćanac from 16 January 1883 to 3 October 1883. After that he was

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

in the governments of

Nikola Hristić Nikola Hristić (10 August 1818 – 26 November 1911) was a Serbian politician who served as Prime Minister of Serbia for four terms. Biography Hristić was born and educated in Sremska Mitrovica. In 1840 he came to live and work in Belgrade, whe ...

and

Milutin Garašanin Milutin Garašanin ( sr-Cyrl, Милутин Гарашанин; 22 February 1843 – 5 March 1898) was a Serbian politician who held the post of Prime Minister of Serbia, President of the National Assembly, Minister of Finance, Internal affairs, ...

from 3 October 1883 to 6 December 1885. At the beginning of the

Serbo-Bulgarian War The Serbo-Bulgarian War or the Serbian–Bulgarian War (, ''Srăbsko-bălgarska voyna'', , ''Srpsko-bugarski rat''), a war between the Kingdom of Serbia and the Principality of Bulgaria, erupted on and lasted until . Despite Bulgaria's statu ...

, in addition to the duty of Minister of Defence, he served as Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command. Because he had no major war experience, he was viewed by the army to be unable to perform both the duties of Minister of War and Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command. He was also an honorary aide to King Milan Obrenović. After the defeat at the

Battle of Slivnitsa The Battle of Slivnitsa (, ) was a battle between the Bulgarian army and the Royal Serbian Army on 17–19 November 1885, in the Serbo-Bulgarian War. The Bulgarian victory solidified the unification between the Principality of Bulgaria and ...

, the king dismissed his duties as ill and incompetent. At his own request, he retired on 10 January 1886.

Dean of the Military Academy

Reactivated in March 1894 and appointed the Dean of the Military Academy where he also taught war skills and strategy until 1897. In November 1897 he took his retirement again. Then in August 1900, he was reactivated all over again when he was promoted to the rank of

. From 1900 to 1901 he was commander of the

Šumadija Šumadija ( sr-Cyrl, Шумадија, ) is a geographical region in the central part of Serbia. The area used to be heavily covered with forests, hence the name (from ''šuma'' 'forest'). The city of Kragujevac is the administrative center of t ...

divisional area, and from 1901 until he died in 1902 he was commander of the Morava divisional area. He died in Niš on 1 April 1902.

Literature

* ''Narodna enciklopedija srpsko-hrvatsko-slovenačka'', Beograd, knjiga 3, 445 * Petar Opačić and Savo Škoko: "Serbian-Turkish Wars 1876-1878", BIGZ, Belgrade, 1981. * Slobodan Đukić: "Foreign Influences on the Development of the Serbian Military Doctrine 1878-1918," doctoral dissertation, Belgrade, 2013. * Milić Milićević and Ljubodrag Popović: ''Generali vojske Kneževine i Kraljevine Srbije,'' Vojnoizdavački zavod, Beograd, 2003. * Slobodan Jovanović: "Vlada Milana Obrenovića," book 3, Belgrade, 1934.

References

* Translated and adapted from Serbian Encyclopedia
Јован Петровић
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrovic, Jovan 1843 births 1902 deaths People from Sombor Politicians from Niš Serbian generals Defence ministers of Serbia Interior ministers of Serbia Politicians from Belgrade People from the Austrian Empire