, 1881 On 10 June 1868, when Milan was only fourteen years of age, Prince Mihailo Obrenović III was assassinated. As the late prince did not have any male heirs, the question of who was to succeed him on the Serbian throne became a pressing one. In the post-assassination chaos and the resulting power vacuum, influential senior statesman
Ilija Garašanin re-emerged in Serbian political life, despite only eight months earlier being removed by the late prince from the post of
Prime Minister of Serbia and replaced with
Jovan Ristić. While consolidating forces within the state to prevent the conspirators from taking over the power, Garašanin also reportedly contemplated solving the throne issue by starting a third royal dynasty. General political consensus was that the new ruler should be selected by the Visoka narodna skupština (
Grand National Assembly). However, cabinet minister
Milivoje Petrović Blaznavac was rapidly increasing his power and influence. He had managed to consolidate his control over the army and stage a
coup d'état. So when Blaznavac suggested the young Milan as the successor to Prince Mihailo, Garašanin had no choice but to yield to the more powerful authority.
Regency of Milivoje Petrović Blaznavac As Milan was still underage to rule on his own, a regency was established to rule in Milan's name. The three-man council was headed by Blaznavac. Statesman and historian Jovan Ristić and
Jovan Gavrilović, a politician and historian from a wealthy merchant family rounded out the trio. Young Milan was brought back to Serbia from Paris and enthroned in front of the Topčider assembly while the Blaznavac-controlled army surrounded the building just in case. Furthermore, a prominent Serb
nobleman from
Dubrovnik,
Medo Pucić, was brought to Belgrade to serve as a teacher and adviser to the prince. Under Blaznavac's tutelage, both personally and politically, the prince deferred to the head of the regency council in all matters of state. Prince Milan did not benefit from a large inheritance from his wealthy family as all of Prince Mihailo's vast property went to Mihailo's sisters (Prince Miloš's daughters) Petrija's and Savka's children. The only property young Prince Milan did inherit was his late father's compound in Mărășești that had an overwhelming amount of debt associated with it. On the other hand, historian Leontije Pavlović in his book
Smederevo u XIX veku (Smederevo in the Nineteenth Century) states the conspirators doused the wooden floor with
nitric acid that ate away at the planks. However, these claims couldn't be confirmed as he based them on an item from the historical archives that has since disappeared. Natalie, sixteen years of age, was the daughter of
Bessarabian nobleman Petre Ivanovich
Keschko, who served as a
colonel in
Imperial Russian Army. Natalie's mother, Pulcheria, was by birth Princess
Sturdza, meaning that the couple were fairly close second cousins because Milan's mother Elena and Natalie's father Petre were the children of two sisters, meaning that Milan and Natalija shared a set of great-grandparents. This relation meant that their marriage had to be specifically approved by the church, namely Metropolitan
Mihailo Jovanović, the
Metropolitan of Belgrade, however, this wasn't done. A son,
Alexander, was born to Natalija and Milan in 1876, but their relationship showed signs of friction right from the start.
Serbian–Ottoman Wars It was under Milan's reign that the
First Serbian–Ottoman War broke out, against his own personal preference, out of deference to public opinion. Meanwhile, the
Karađorđević pretender,
Peter, fought for the Serbs as a volunteer. The Serbian effort to invade Turkish territory was stopped to the east of
Zaječar, while Turkish troops destroyed the strategic Serbian post of
Knjaževac. Retreating Serbian troops were then defeated at
Aleksinac. As the Serbian military situation became desperate Prince Milan asked for the Great Powers to intervene, and an armistice was granted by the Ottomans, but it fell apart in the wake of the
Deligrad Event. The resumed fighting went in favor of the Ottomans, and after the fall of
Đunis, Ottoman troops began their march to Belgrade. It was at this point that the government of the Russian Empire intervened offering an ultimatum to the
Porte to grant both Serbia and Montenegro an armistice within 48 hours or face Russian intervention. Such an armistice to last for two months was granted on November 1, 1876, and subsequently extended until March 1, 1877, when a definitive peace treaty was signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia. The treaty preserved the
status quo ante bellum. Serbia gained no territory, but was not forced to cede anything either or pay a
war indemnity. At the end of the
Second Serbian–Ottoman War (1876–78), where Serbia was victorious, Europe's powers induced the
Sublime Porte to acknowledge Serbian independence at the
Treaty of Berlin. ==King of Serbia (1882–1889)==