Background
The Kingdom of Montenegro government capitulated to the forces of Austria-Hungary on 6 January 1916 during The Great War. King Nicholas I refused to sign capitulation and left the country to allied Italy where his daughter was married to the king. On 17 July 1917 the Yugoslav Committee and the Government of the Kingdom of Serbia signed the Corfu Declaration, which, accepted by the Great Allied Powers, laid the foundations for a South Slavic state. In 1918 the Serbian Royal Army took control of Montenegro from the Central Powers' occupation; Allied mission of Serbia, Italy, France, the United Kingdom and the United States were assigned to provisionally occupy and establish control over Montenegro.
Montenegro was planning and preparing unification with Serbia for more than 50 years with the wish of Nicholas I to become a ruler of the united state. This project of Nicolas had failed in 1903, after which Montenegro population became divided in political blocks, for united state or for confederation. The last negotiations between Montenegro and Serbia started shortly before World War I in 1914 about military, economic and foreign affairs. The most important disagreement point during the last negotiations was the position of Montenegro in the union: as an equal partner to Serbia or as a province of Serbia. In Montenegro the strongest supporter of unconditional union was later prime minister Andrija Radović, titled by the Serbian government which had been working on annexation of Montenegro from 1866. Since the beginning of October 1918, various initiatives were raised to formalize unification with the war drawing to a close. Even Nicholas I gave support to new united Yugoslav confederation but this position was still against Belgrade's wish of united state. Various tiny assemblies in territory controlled by the Serbian army were organized similar to the ones in the former Austro-Hungarian lands.
On 15 October 1918 the Government of Serbia named a "Central Executive Committee for Unification of Serbia and Montenegro" consisting of four strong proponents of a union of the two states, two from Serbia and two from Montenegro, that would organize the process of unification. With this decision the Kingdom of Serbia abolished the legal Montenegro parliament, just like Austro-Hungary did earlier, with the explanation: "Because 2/5 of parliament members are abroad it is necessary to elect new". This unconstitutional decision supported by Serbian military in Montenegro was against an order of the king of Montenegro, for gathering of parliament on first day after armistice was signed.
Read more about this topic: Podgorica Assembly
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