Ilija Garašanin

Ilija Garašanin (; 28 January 1812 – 22 June 1874) was a Serbian statesman who served as the prime minister of Serbia between 1852 and 1853 and again from 1861 to 1867.

Ilija Garašanin was conservative in internal politics. He believed that bureaucracy was the only way for administration to work. In foreign politics, he was the first pro-Yugoslavia statesman among Serbs. He believed that a great Yugoslav state had to maintain its independence from both Russia and Austria. He was one of the more influential Serbian politicians of the 19th century.

Early life, education and military service

Ilija was born in Garaši, south of Belgrade, the son of businessman hadži Milutin Savić (nicknamed "Garašanin"), a Serbian revolutionary and member of the National Council, his mother was Pauna Loma, the sister of vojvoda Arsenije Loma. Savić was born in the village of Garaši. His father Sava "Saviša" Bošković settled in Garaši from Bjelopavlići (in Montenegro). His paternal great-grandfather Vukašin Bošković was a knez of the Bošković brotherhood in Bjelopavlići.

Ilija was homeschooled with private teachers, he went to a Greek school in Zemun, and was for a time in Orahovica where he learnt German. He helped his father in business. Prince Miloš Obrenović put him in governmental work, appointing him customs officer in Višnjica, on the Danube, and later Belgrade. After serving in the regular army, Knez Miloš promoted him to colonel in 1837, he commanded the regular army and military police.

Entering politics

His father was part of the Defenders of the Constitution, who managed to overthrow Miloš Obrenović and appointed Aleksandar Karađorđević in his place (Aleksandar was the son of Karađorđe, who was assassinated by Obrenović in 1817). In 1842, his father and brother were killed in revolts against knez Mihailo. Toma Vučić-Perišić, his father's colleague and Interior Minister, appointed Ilija his assistant, and in 1843, when Toma was exiled by Russia, he became the new Interior Minister.

Načertanije

thumb|left|Garašanin in 1852

The primacy Garašanin gave to inter-state consideration is most clearly elaborated in his 1844 Načertanije ("The Draft"). The ideas expressed in the draft guided his policies throughout his career, but were never implemented. Načertanije became a 19th-century statement on the Serbian nation and its vital interests as well as the root of aspirations for a Greater Serbian state. The document was publicly referred to for the first time in an 1888 book by Serbian historian Milan Milićević but was only known to a few people at the time and remained unpublished until 1906. Because Načertanije was a secret document until 1906, it could not have affected national consciousness at the popular level, at least not in the 19th century.

Although written by a statesman and politician identifying Serbian needs with those of the new Principality, Garašanin was strongly influenced by broader views of the Polish émigré Adam Jerzy Czartoryski and his advisers, as well as French and British attitudes toward nationality and statehood. Ideologically, Garašanin combines in his Načertanije the German and French models of a nation while politically attempting to balance the interests of the present Serbian state with contemporary demographics (the fact that many Serbs were then still living under the yoke of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires) and past, medieval possessions in Old Serbia (present-day territory of Kosovo, and North Macedonia). His strength was all the more apparent in the light of Prince Alexander's impotence for the Prince merely reflected the glory of his great father Karađorđe.

Awards and legacy

He was awarded the Order of Prince Danilo I.

He is included in The 100 most prominent Serbs.

Garašanin left behind a vast (still not published) political correspondence.

References

Sources

Petar II Petrović Njegoš, Cjelokupna djela, edited by Danilo Vušović, 2nd edition (Belgrade, 1936). In addition to his literary works, this volume contains a collection of letters, including the one to Garašanin, by Njegoš.