The years of Stanković's life and work were imbued by numerous political events. Among them were the revolution 1848, absolutistic period of von Bach's reign and Crimean War, the breakdown of Bach's regime and the abolition of the Voivodeship of Serbia. In Serbia this was the period of the second reign of the Serbian Prince Mihailo Obrenović. The national movement among the Serbs was established by the work on language and folk literature done by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. Although himself not a singer, Vuk accepted the view of Jacob Grimm that lyrical folk poems should be supplemented with their music settings.