Kosta Taušanović (May 4, 1854 in

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 ...

– January 26, 1902 in

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

) was a

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

politician, minister and banker. He studied agriculture in

Tábor Tábor (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants, making it the second most populated town in the region. The town was founded by the Hussites in 1420. The historic town centre is well pres ...

(then in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, today in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

) and commerce in Hohenheim (

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

). Taušanović was a prominent member of the

People's Radical Party The People's Radical Party (, abbr. NRS) was a populist political party in Serbia and later Yugoslavia. Led by Nikola Pašić for most of its existence, its ideological profile has significantly changed throughout its history, shifting from ...

, among its founding members and one of the closest collaborators of its leader

Nikola Pašić Nikola Pašić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Пашић, ; 18 December 1845 – 10 December 1926) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat. During his political career, which spanned almost five decades, he served five times as prime minis ...

. A Russophile, and an opponent of the Obrenović dynasty, Taušanović was persecuted by the Royal government on several occasions. After the

Timok Rebellion The Timok Rebellion ( sr-cyr, Тимочка буна, Timočka buna) was a popular uprising that began in eastern Serbia (now the region of the Timok Valley) on 28 September 1883, led by the People's Radical Party. It has been called the most imp ...

(1883) he was, along with many other Radical leaders, sentenced to eight years in prison, but was pardoned in early 1886. He was a negotiator of the Liberal-Radical Coalition of 1886. He was again in trouble with the authorities due to his Radical affiliation after the assassination attempt against ex-King Milan Obrenović (1889), as well as during the so-called Čebinac affair (1894).

Career

A Radical deputy in the Serbian Parliament (1880-1883), serving as a chairman of the Great Constitutional Assembly, he was one of the key figures in the process of the adoption of the highly liberal 1888 constitution of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. Besides being a deputy in the Serbian parliament, Taušanović was, after the abdication of King Milan Obrenović, a Minister in several governments (Minister of Interior 1889-1891 in Grujić's cabinet, Minister of Economy 1891-1892 in Pašić's Cabinet), and founder of the first insurance company in Serbia, as well as the Serbian Lottery (''Srpska Lutrija'') and the Serbian Shipping Company (''Srpsko Brodarsko Drustvo''). In 1895 he was instrumental in founding the

Serbian Bank in Zagreb The Serbian Bank in Zagreb () was a medium-sized bank in the Kingdom of Hungary and then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, established in 1895 and liquidated in 1945. It has been described as "the financial center of the Serbian irredentist movement" ...

. As Minister of Interior, he was criticized for not acting strongly against attacks by a mob on the members of the Progressive party in the streets of Serbian cities in May 1889. He was elected president of the Serbian Society of Journalists in 1899. Jointly with another prominent Radical leader, Jovan Đaja, Kosta Taušanović launched the ''Narod'' (''The People'') daily. In the mid-1890s, he distanced himself from Pašić and formed a separate faction within the National Radical Party. In 1899, sentenced for alleged participation in the assassination attempt against ex-king Milan, Taušanović was sentenced to nine years in prison only to be pardoned again in 1900. He left prison in bad health. Taušanović was considered one of the most entrepreneurial Serbian politicians, an expert for both the banking and insurance system. He was highly successful in business, serving as chairman of ''Beogradska zadruga'', ''Trgovačka zadruga'' and ''Izvozna Banka''. In ''Beogradska zadruga'' (''Belgrade Co-op'') he founded the first Serbian insurance society; in ''Trgovačka zadruga'' (''Merchant Co-op''), he redirected their business into export of livestock; at ''Izvozna banka'' (''Export Bank'') he contributed greatly to the company's establishment as a serious enterprise. Only in Ottoman-held

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

did Taušanović's attempt to establish financial institutions not provide expected results. Bista Koste Tausanovica na Kalemegdanu

His friends and admirers erected a monument of him at the entrance of the

Kalemegdan The Kalemegdan Park (), or simply Kalemegdan ( sr-Cyrl, Калемегдан) is the largest park and the most important historical monument in Belgrade. It is located on a cliff, at the junction of the River Sava and the Danube. Kalemegdan Pa ...

Park (formerly the city fortress) in downtown

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Work

In 1879, Kosta Taušanović translated Čeněk Hevera's ''Švýcarsko, jeho ústava, jeho vláda, jeho samospráva'' ("Switzerland, Her Constitution, Government, and Self-Government") which was published the following year.

References and further reading

Career

Work

References and further reading

Further reading