Montenegro travel guide

Yugoslavia suffered at the hands of Nazi Germany , who invaded in 1941, exterminating Serbs and Jews along the way. In 1945, the Kingdom became a Republic, or socialist federation of Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia led by Josip Tito who ruled the country, controversially, as president and military marshal until he died in 1980. During this period the Serbian Orthodox Church, part of both Serbian and Montenegrin heritage for generations, was removed from education and state, and many priests were imprisoned. The Russian influence of Tito’s politics can still be seen in architecture from this period and, indeed, it is still a popular place for Russian tourists to visit and, again, controversially for many Montenegrins, for Russian companies to invest in, particularly hotel resorts. Although this has slowed down with the economic downturn in Russia.

It is worth noting that before Yugoslavia existed, there was very little distinction between Serbs and Montenegrins, due to this allegiance to their Serbian Orthodox Church heritage. You can find out more about this at Cetinje, the original capital, where the still revered Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro, Petar II Petrovic-Njegoš, ruled between 1830-1851. You can visit his mausoleum in Lovcen National Park, a much celebrated pilgrimage for many Montengrins. A philosopher and poet, it is thought that he was the founder of a modern, free thinking Montenegro. Indeed, there are Orthodox churches scattered throughout Montenegro, and visiting them is an important cultural aspect of many visitors’ stays in the country.

After Tito’s death, Yugoslavia started to disseminate as each country sought independence at different times, and with this inter-ethnic conflict and outright wars broke out throughout the whole region from 1991, with well documented human rights violations happening on all sides. Although Montenegro saw little actual violence on its territory compared with other regions. Montenegro was the only subsequent republic to support Serbia during the wars, having joined Serbia in a Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992.

The wars in former Yugoslavia ended in 1996 by the Dayton Agreement and time has finally brought healing. As indeed has tourism, which is now the major focus for all of these countries. After the Dayton Agreement, Serbia and Montenegro fell into more difficulties, with more than 600 000 Serbian refugees having fled here during the wars, and then another unstable situation in Kosovo in 1999, which also sent many ethnic Albanians into the country. There are still vibrant communities of Albanians living in southern Montenegro, near the border with Albania, particularly in Ulcinj, Tuzi and Plav. It was during this time, when Serbian President Milosevic's horrific actions against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo led to NATO intervening with air strikes, that Montenegro stood apart from these atrocities, with the anti-Milosivic president Milo Djukanovic declaring Montenegro ‘not a party’ to the conflict over Kosovo.

Serbian-Montenegrin relations continued, however, with a new state called, quite simply, Serbia and Montenegro, being created in 2002. This only lasted until 2006, when an independence referendum resulted in 55 percent of voters saying yes. In 2008 Montenegro recognised Kosovo's self-declared independence from Serbia which, after the conflict, was being administered by the UN. Indeed, Serbia still doesn’t recognise Kosovo’s independence, although Serbians living there are in a tiny minority.

Montenegro has applied to be a member of the EU, but this is still a work in progress. Although with Montenegro’s feisty history, no doubt they will make their independent indentation in Brussels very soon.