Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ottoman Control of the Balkans
Despite taking Cetinje, the Ottomans withdrew. This remote corner was inhospitable and
barren, and in any case the Turks were more intent on controlling the Adriatic. Under Sü-
leyman the Magnificent, the Turks took Belgrade in 1521, putting beyond doubt their
dominance of the Balkans. That one rocky eyrie, Mt Lovćen, and its environs became the
last redoubt of Serbian Orthodox culture holding out against the Ottomans.
Despite being barely known in the rest of Europe, the Montenegrins retained a degree of
autonomy. Innately warlike and uncontrollable, their behaviour was such that the Otto-
mans opted for pragmatism and largely left them to their own devices. With the Venetians
extending their control in the Adriatic, taking Kotor and Budva, the Montenegrins found
themselves at the fault line between the Turkish and Venetian empires.
Through the 17th century a series of wars in Europe exposed weaknesses in the previ-
ously invincible Ottoman war machine. At one stage the Ottomans determined to remove
the concessions which the Montenegrins had long enjoyed and which they now considered
rightfully theirs. Montenegrin resistance to the Turkish attempt to enforce a tax regime
was violent and the Turkish retribution horrific. As Turkish reactions grew more violent,
the bonds between previously unruly Montenegrin clans became stronger.
During the 1690s the Ottomans took Cetinje several times, but each time they were
forced to retreat due to persistent harrying from Montenegrin tribesmen. At the conclusion
of the Morean War in 1699 the Ottomans sued for peace for the first time ever, ceding ter-
ritory at Risan and Herceg Novi to Venice. The Montenegrins' enthusiastic and effective
participation in the war had brought them - and their martial virtues - to the attention of
the Habsburgs and the Russians while also furthering a sense of common purpose amongst
the previously squabbling tribes.
It was then that the Ottomans finally realised they would not be able to control
Montenegro; nonetheless they were clearly reluctant to give up their claim. To encircle it,
they built a string of fort towns that attracted the Muslim population of the region. In the
countryside remained the Orthodox tribes and peasants, who developed a sense of solidar-
ity and separateness from the relatively well-off town populations. For the locals, identity
was tied to the notion of tribe and the Serbian Orthodox Church, rather than Serbia or
Montenegro. Nonetheless, distinct Serbian and Montenegrin identities were evolving: the
Serbs were directly ruled by the Ottomans, while the Montenegrins retained a degree of
