Montenegro breaks off relations with Germany and is at war with it

On 8 August 1914 the Kingdom of Montenegro broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, and a state of war began between the two countries. This is the date given by contemporary chronicles of the war. Other sources give 9 or 12 August. The differences arise partly because Montenegro used the Julian calendar and news from Cetinje reached the European capitals with a delay.

A few days earlier Montenegro had declared war on Austria-Hungary, taking its stand beside Serbia. The break with Germany was a natural consequence of that decision. Germany was Vienna’s closest ally and had been at war since 1 August with Russia, Montenegro’s traditional protector. King Nicholas I therefore came down unequivocally on the side of the Entente.

From a military point of view the state of war with Germany changed little. The two countries had no common border, and the Montenegrin army fought only Austro-Hungarian troops in Herzegovina and around the Bay of Kotor. As with Serbia two days earlier, the declaration was above all of political importance: the small Balkan monarchy was becoming a full participant in the European war.

German troops appeared in the Balkans only in the autumn of 1915, when together with Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria they attacked Serbia. Montenegro fell a few weeks later. In January 1916 Austro-Hungarian troops took Mount Lovćen and Cetinje, and the country capitulated.