When Montenegro Declared War on Japan

by Nada Andersen
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This is a story that explains my nature to some extent because I do draw some distant lineage from the Njegoš family, whoever knows history of Balkans and Montenegro will figure this out.

The historical fact is that the Kingdom of Montenegro declared war on Japan around 1904; this was largely in support of Russia who was warring with Japan over Manchuria at the time. The Declaration of War was announced to the population of Montenegro by their King Nikola. To give perspective, Montenegro is this tiny country with the population of some 200,000 (est.) inhabitants at that time.

Soon a delegation of the people came to King’s Court to express their concerns about going to war. The conversation went along these lines:

Representative of the people: “Our King, we are extremely worried about this war with Japan you got us into.”

King Nikola: “Why, what’s the problem? We are a small but proud and brave country, our soldiers will fight till they breathe their last!”

Representative of the people: “That, our King, precisely is the problem! We are a small country and Japanese are very many! Where the hell are we going to bury them all???”

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