Michael III

Michael III (born September 16 [September 4, Old Style], 1823, Kragujevac, Serbia—died June 10 [May 29, Old Style], 1868, Košutnjak, near Belgrade) was the prince of Serbia (1839–42, 1860–68) and modern Serbia’s most enlightened ruler, who instituted the rule of law and attempted to found a Balkan federation aimed against the Ottoman Empire.

The second son of Miloš Obrenović, Michael succeeded to the Serbian throne on the death of his elder brother, Milan, on July 8, 1839, but fled into exile after a revolt in 1842. Having travelled widely, he returned on his father’s restoration to the throne (1858), served as commander in chief of the army, and became prince again on Miloš’s death in 1860. An enlightened though increasingly authoritarian ruler, Michael gradually freed Serbia from Turkish controls until all Ottoman soldiers had left the country in 1867. Nevertheless, his Balkan League, designed to unite all South Slavs against Turkey, collapsed soon after his death. In domestic affairs, Michael reformed the judicial system, revised the electoral laws, and instituted a regular conscript army (1861), for which Russia furnished supplies; he also established a state mortgage bank (1862), the Serbia Learned Society (1864), the first Serbian coinage since the Middle Ages (1868), and the national theatre. His reign was cut short by his assassination.