Radomir Vešović

Radomir Vešović (Serbian Cyrillic: Радомир Вешовић; 6 April 1871 – 27 September 1938) was a Montenegrin and Yugoslav military officer and politician. Vešović was born in village of Lopate in Montenegrin county of Lijeva Rijeka, in a family whose male members were traditionally military officers. He completed military education in Italy in 1890 as the first member of Vasojevići tribe who received formal military education. In 1911 he was appointed as commander of Vasojević brigade, with rank of brigadier.

At the beginning of the First Balkan War he was commander of the group of Montenegrin brigades that captured Plav, Gusinje, Deçan and Gjakova from the Ottomans, which brought him the rank of General. He continued his war engagement by participating in the Montenegrin siege of Scutari where he was wounded twice. He showed an exceptional courage which earned him a golden Obilić Medal.

At the end of 1913 Vešović was appointed as the governor of Metohija (the supreme commander of the military and civil administration of Đakovica Divisional Area) where he became also known as the firm hand. In 1913 he was promoted to a commander of the Old-Serbian Detachment until he became the Montenegrin War minister in period 1913–1915.

After the beginning of the First World War and against the order of Montenegrin King Nikola, Vešović captured Scutari on 27 June 1915, despite opposition of Entante and behind the back of Serbian supreme command. During the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Montenegro, Vešović was the main organizer of the planned general uprising against the occupying forces planned for Vidovdan 1916 or for Saint Peter's feast day. The plans were discovered and occupation government sent patrol to arrest Vešović. Vešović escaped after killing one Austro-Hungarian officer and joined Chetnik guerrilla rebel forces in the region of Northern Montenegro and Metohija. He did not participate in their actions and in January 1918 surrendered after receiving guarantees that his life would be spared if he would participate in the Austro-Hungarian campaign to convince comitadji irregulars to stop their actions. Vešović accepted to do so and lost what remained of his prestige, before he was interned to Austria.

After the World War I and unification of Montenegro and Serbia, Vešović was one of four generals of former Montenegrin army who was accepted as general of new Army of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, receiving the rank General of Division. Being strong supporter of the Montenegrin Petrović dynasty, he refused to pledge his loyalty to Karađorđević dynasty, which together with some speech he held in Andrijevica, resulted with his arrest in 1919 and trial in Zemun in 1921.