The capital two-volume monograph "Montenegro and the Habsburg Monarchy" (1715-1918) by Niko Martinović, with its encyclopedic thoroughness and comprehensiveness, provides a precise picture of two centuries of Montenegrin history through relations with its most powerful neighbor. Martinović's book belongs to works that are usually supported by teams of scientists and entire institutes, and the fact that the monograph is the result of the enthusiasm of one author perhaps further illuminates the current moment in Montenegrin culture.
The book was published by the publishing house Oktoih.
A luxurious trilingual edition (Montenegrin/German/English) in two volumes, on over 800 pages, presents the chronological spectrum of the relationship between the powerful Austrian Empire and small Montenegro during the two-century rule of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty.
"It is a scientific work of the type of monumental synthesis of one of the grandiose historical topics, which, undoubtedly, is the result of patient and extremely professional research over many years, in which scientific experience and knowledge of a number of specialist sciences were necessary", Dr. Aleksandar Čilikov wrote in the review.
The extensive textual content of Martinović's monograph requires, according to Čilikov, in a critical sense, a series of specialist analyzes - first of all, from the point of view of history as a scientific discipline.
"This does not mean that we must exclusively treat it as a 'dry' historical reading. Even the most superficial analysis points to the erudition and expertise of the author, who presents a work with a refined linguistic style and an extraordinary thematic concept, which, in addition to being undeniably historical, also has general cultural significance," wrote Dr. Čilikov.
Through 38 chapters, Martinović chronologically brings to life the political and spiritual environment of Montenegro in the XNUMXth century, the establishment of Austrian missions, the historical significance of the battles on Krusi and Martinići after which the Habsburg Monarchy occupied the areas of the eastern coast of the Adriatic, the era of Saint Peter of Cetinje and Peter II Petrović Njegoš...
"While in today's Austria, Montenegro is seen as a mythical land of wild beauty in the southern Balkans, until then the concept of 'Austria' in the contemporary Montenegrin consciousness oscillates between the monarchical 'world of the past' and the reality of today, an amalgam composed of memories of the 'land of law and order' , good governance and social security, with the hope of an increased presence in the market economy and a benevolent state", wrote in the foreword the Austrian ambassador to Montenegro, Martin Pamer, emphasizing as a special circumstance that the two-volume work "Montenegro and the Habsburg Monarchy" was created in year marking the bicentenary of the birth of the "greatest Montenegrin" - Njegoš, and that it was issued in commemorative year 2014, when the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War and the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall are marked.
The reviewers of Martinović's book are academician Đorđe Borozan and Dr. Aleksandar Čilikov, the editor is Radomir Uljarević, while the design of the book is signed by Mirko Toljić.
Fascinating coincidences
Ambassador Pamer writes about the fascinating coincidence in the establishment of the state and the nation - "both countries experienced the Anschluss after the breakdown of society and war conflicts and both learned their lessons from it; both states - nations were created by demarcation with, in the linguistic sense, 'brotherly states', so that no other relationship resembles the complex relationship between Austria and Germany as the multi-layered relationship between Montenegro and Serbia.
The majority of today's inhabitants of our two countries would describe the beauty of their landscape as part of their own identity, so the love for rugged mountains, for example, is sung in both hymns".
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