TheAustro-Hungarian occupation of Montenegro (officially theMilitary General Government of Montenegro) was amilitary occupation of theKingdom of Montenegro byAustria-Hungary duringWorld War I, which lasted from 1916 to 1918.
On August 9, 1914, theKingdom of Montenegro entered the First World War on the side of theTriple Entente. The country fought together with theKingdom of Serbia againstAustria-Hungary. FollowingBulgaria'sentry into the war on October 15, 1915 and thecomplete occupation of Serbia by theCentral Powers in December 1915, Austria-Hungary began itscampaign in Montenegro on January 6, 1916 against the parts of theSerbian army that hadretreated into the country. On January 16, the whole of Montenegro was occupied and capitulated on January 23. KingNikola I and his government fled into exile viaItaly toFrance.
The Austro-Hungarian occupying power set up a General Government, based onthe model in Serbia, which was also occupied. The occupation lasted until the end of the First World War in November 1918, after which the country became part of what would later become theKingdom of Yugoslavia.
In response to Austrian plans to leave Montenegro as a reducedsatellite state, roughly within the borders of 1878, theGerman Secretary of State for Foreign AffairsGottlieb von Jagow said that they wanted to mutilate Montenegro in such a way that "only a barren heap of stones, not viable", would remain.[1] Chief of theAustro-Hungarian General StaffFranz Conrad von Hötzendorf demanded complete annexation, or Montenegro should "lose its effective independence" and retain "only a fictitious sovereignty". The Montenegrin western border was to be shifted so far (line north-western tip ofLake Skadar-Podbožur-Goransko) that even the capitalCetinje would no longer be located on the territory of the shrunken rest of Montenegro.[2] However, this demand, which was tantamount to annexation, was rejected byForeign MinisterStephan Burián von Rajecz andEmperorFranz Joseph I so as not to make possible peace with other states more difficult. The historianGerhard Ritter saw the unsuccessful attempts at special peace with Serbia and Montenegro as a "planned peace by force", which shows that "even more so in Austria" there was a willingness to "ruthlessly exploit military victories to expand power, without asking much about the 'opinion of the world' and the extension of the war".[3]
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To control the mountainous, impassable country, the Austro-Hungarian military administration needed over 40,000 troops.[3] With over 40,000 men, the military administration needed more than twice as many occupation troops as for Serbia. There was also a guerrilla movement from the beginning of 1918. Economically, the General-Gouvernement was no gain for the occupying power; the country could barely feed itself.[4]
Montenegro lost 20,000 soldiers in the war, which was 40% of all mobilized soldiers and 10% of the total population.[5] Other figures even speak of 39,000 dead and a 16% total losses, making Montenegro the most severely affected participant in the war.[6]
| No. | Portrait | Governor-general | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Defence branch | Chief of the General Staff | Reich Minister of War | Minister-President of Austria | Emperor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Hermann Kövess (1862–1940) | 14 January 1916 | 26 February 1916 | 45 days |  Austro-Hungarian Army | .jpg) Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf |  Alexander von Krobatin | .jpg) |  Franz Joseph I |
| 2 |  | Viktor Weber Edler (1861–1932) | 26 February 1916 | 10 July 1917 | 1 year, 132 days | Austro-Hungarian Army | ||||
 Ernest von Koerber | ||||||||||
 Charles I | ||||||||||
 Heinrich Clam-Martinic | ||||||||||
 Arthur Arz von Straußenburg | ||||||||||
 Rudolf Stöger-Steiner von Steinstätten | ||||||||||
 Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg | ||||||||||
| 3 | | Heinrich Clam-Martinic (1863–1932) | 10 July 1917 | 12 October 1918 | 1 year, 94 days | none | ||||
 Max Hussarek von Heinlein | ||||||||||
| 4 | .jpg) | Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin (1855–1925) | 12 October 1918 | 4 November 1918 | 23 days | Austro-Hungarian Army | ||||
 Heinrich Lammasch | ||||||||||
| Office dissolved |