Krsto Popović, Date of Birth, Date of Death

Krsto Popović

Montenegrin soldier

Date of Birth: 13-Sep-1881

Date of Death: 14-Mar-1947

Profession: military personnel

Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Krsto Popovic (Cyrillic: ????? ???????; 13 September 1881 – 14 March 1947) was an officer of the Montenegrin Army who fought in the Balkan Wars and in the First World War. Unhappy with the Podgorica Assembly of 1918 which merged Serbia and Montenegro into what would become Yugoslavia, he became one of the leaders of the 1919 Christmas Uprising on the side of the Greens who supported the newly dethroned King Nikola of the Petrovic-Njegoš dynasty and who favored a confederation of Yugoslavia that still gave Montenegro a form of independence in skirmishes against the Whites who favored King Alexander of the Karadordevic dynasty and complete annexation of Montenegro into Yugoslavia. After the uprising failed, Popovic emigrated to Italy, but returned in June 1919 to start guerrilla warfare.
He eventually laid down arms after the death of King Nikola in 1921 and he was eventually pardoned by King Alexander after proclaiming allegiance to him.
He lived out his remaining years in Yugoslavia relatively peacefully until the Second World War when he formed the Lovcen Brigade.
For this, he was labelled a collaborator by the new Communist government and in 1947 he was killed in an ambush by agents of the OZNA. Despite identifying as a Serb, today he is celebrated by Montenegrin nationalists as a symbol of Montenegrin independence.