Voivode - Serbia

Serbia

During the Middle Ages, the Vojvoda was a military commander rank and a noble titule. In 1691, the Serbs who lived in the Habsburg Monarchy (now Vojvodina province in northern Serbia) gained from the Habsburg emperor the right to territorial autonomy within one separate voivodeship in the Habsburg Monarchy, as well as right to be ruled by a Serb voivode - a civil and military administrator. However, the voivodeship was not formed at that time, nor was a voivode appointed, only a vice-voivode. Jovan Monasterlija was the vice-viovode of the Serbs between 1691 and 1706. After him, no other vice-voivodes were appointed. At the May Assembly in Sremski Karlovci (May 13–15, 1848), recalling the privilege from 1691, the Serbs proclaimed the creation of the Serbian Vojvodina and elected Stevan Šupljikac as voivode. These actions were later recognized by the Austrian emperor, and Šupljikac was recognized as a voivode. By a decision of the Austrian emperor, in November 1849, a new province was formed as the political successor of the Serbian voivodeship. It was known as the Serbian Voivodship and Tamiš Banat. The new voivodeship existed between 1849 and 1860 and the title of great voivode (Grosswojwod) belonged to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria himself, though it was ruled by an appointed governor. After the voivodeship was abolished in 1860, Franz Joseph I kept the title of great voivode of the Voivodship of Serbia until his death in 1916. His successor, Karl I of Austria, also retained the title until the end of the monarchy in 1918.

The title was often used to designate important military commanders in the Serbian Uprising against the Turks 1804-1815. In the Balkan Wars and World War I this title was used to designate the highest military rank in Serbian Army (above the General - as equalent of Field Marshal in other armies). Only five people ever officially held that military rank: Radomir Putnik (got it in 1913), Stepa Stepanović (1914), Živojin Mišić (1914), Petar Bojović (1918) and the French General Louis Franchet d'Espérey (1918). It was only an honorary rank since in 1916–1917 General Petar Bojović held the position of Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command (the highest military position in the Serbian Army) and was a superior to two army commanders who were vojvodas (Stepa Stepanović and Živojin Mišić). In the same period the Serbian paramilitary organisation Chetniks used the title internally to designate its top commanders - Vojin Popović, Voja Tankosić and Kosta Pećanac being the prime examples. It was used in this manner again by the Chetniks in the Second World War.