“‘Moscow’ Governs the City of Belgrade!” Russian-Serbian Military and Economic Cooperation at the Beginning of the 20th Century Cover Image

„Над Београдом господари ’Москва’!“ Руско-српска војно-економска сарадња на почетку ХХ века
“‘Moscow’ Governs the City of Belgrade!” Russian-Serbian Military and Economic Cooperation at the Beginning of the 20th Century

Author(s): Jaroslav Valerijanovič Višnjakov
Subject(s): Diplomatic history, Political history, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919)
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: Russian Empire; Kingdom of Serbia; May Coup; military cooperation; economic relations

Summary/Abstract: Period between May Coup in 1903 and 1915 was marked by the development of military and economic relations between Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia. At the beginning of the 20th century the Balkans became a basis of the widespread rivalry between Russia and Austria-Hungary. Russian strategic interests were linked to the navigation on Danube, so the Empire started organizing that activity. As a result, goods from the Empire appeared on Serbian markets, and so did the Russian investments. At the beginning of the century, the only major investment was building the business center of the Insurance Company “Russia”, modern day “Hotel Moscow”. This large scale building was at the time one of the tallest in Belgrade. Political events followed by the May Coup dramatically changed the Russian-Serbian relations – they reached a level of strategic partnership. From this period on, economic relationships were driven by the military goals and interests. Russian funding became close related to Serbian interest in buying arms in the Empire. Also, minor Russian auctioneers appeared in Serbian navigation society, which coordinated their activities with the Russian Black Sea and Danubian Society. Another signiϐicant project was the building of the railway in southeast Serbia that connected the city of Niš with Prahovo. This economic and military cooperation continued during the First World War and it lasted until the end of 1915 when Serbian people and military, together with the Russian engineers, medical and miner troops, started retrieving

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 11-28
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Serbian