102330 | GERMANY & MONTENEGRO. Nikola abandons Montenegro cast iron Medal.

102330  |  GERMANY & MONTENEGRO. King Nikola abandons Montenegro cast iron Medal. Issued 1916 (57mm, 12h). By K. Goetz in München.

 

DIE FRIEDENSTAVBE ERST ABGESANTD (the dove of peace first dispatched), bust of Nikola right; below, dove, carrying document inscribed S M/FRANZ/IOSE in three lines // VERLIESS DER RABE DRAVF SEIN LAND (thereafter, the raven abandoned its land), raven, carrying crown in its talons, flying to right above mountains; below, hand drawing sword from hilt.

 

Kienast 173. NGC MS-63.

 

Nikola served as the Prince of Montenegro after succeeding his assassinated uncle, Danilo I, in 1860. A proponent of a unified Balkan state, he expanded his power by declaring himself king in 1900, and rallied other Balkan nations against Ottoman influence in 1912. When the events that would lead to World War I began, namely the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian crown prince, Franz Ferdinand, along with his wife Sophie in the streets of Sarajevo in 1914, Austria-Hungary and Serbia found themselves at odds, and Nikola brought Montenegro into the conflict on the side of Serbia. Just a few years later, however, Serbia fell to the Central Powers, with Montenegro coming next. Nikola capitulated and went into exile in France, where he died in 1921.

 

Upload: 1 June 2023.