Jovan Praporčetović

Jovan Praporčetović (Belgrade, Principality of Serbia, 6 November 1843 - Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia, 3 January 1904) was a Serbian honorary general. He was the Minister of Defence
of the Kingdom of Serbia (1891-1892).
==Military education and training==
Jovan Praporčetović was born on 6/18. November 1843 in Belgrade.1) He finished six grades of high school in Belgrade and then enrolled in the Military Academy (Serbia)|Military Academy in 1861. It was about that time that he witnessed Čukur Fountain|Čukur fountain incident and joined the freedom fighters along with his classmates.https://www.google.ca/books/edition/%C4%8Cukur_%C4%8Desma_1862/wKQMAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Jovan+Prapor%C4%8Detovi%C4%87&dq=Jovan+Prapor%C4%8Detovi%C4%87&printsec=frontcoverAfter graduating from the Military Academy, he was promoted to lieutenant general in 1866.3) From 1866 to 1867 he was on service in the topographic department of the Ministry of War.4) From 1867 to 1868 he was a sergeant of the engineering battalion, and then from 1868 to 1873, he was a staff officer of the Aleksinac district.5) From 1873 to 1874 he served in the general military department of the ministry. military. Together with Radovan Miletić, in 1874 he helped the Austro-Hungarian geodetic and topographic officers to determine 70 points in Serbia by astronomical observations, and a total of 130 points by triangulation.6) They also determined altitudes at 1000 points. Heights were determined concerning the Sava near Belgrade, as a place of 90 meters above sea level concerning the Black Sea.7) Together with Radovan Miletić, he was sent in August 1874 as a state cadet to study in Austria at the Vienna Military Geographical Institute.8) 9) They stayed in Vienna until the middle of 1875, and when they returned they printed the work "Measuring Heights" and "Determining Geographical Positions in General and Especially Some Points in Serbia." 10) They became the first geodetically trained officers.11) Until the beginning of the war he was in the general military department of the Ministry of War.12) He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1876.13)
==Serbian-Turkish Wars (1876-1878)|Serbian-Turkish Wars==
In the First Serbian-Turkish War, he was for a time commander of the 1st class Jagodina brigade.14) After that, he was appointed to the headquarters of the Supreme Command under General Mikhail Chernyayev.15) He commanded the Lukovica corps from October 9 to 17 October 1876.16) From 13 October to 1876 to 2 May 1877, he was the Belgrade garrison officer.18) In the Second Serbian-Turkish War, he was the commander of the Aleksinac Brigade. Morava army, with which he participated in the siege of Niš.19) When Stevan Binički was removed at his own request, then on January 5, 1878, Praporčetović was appointed in his place as commander of the Ibar Division.20) Before that, Binicki sought reinforcements so that he could defend Kuršumlija from the onslaught of Hafiz Pasha from the direction of Priština.21) Since the Ibar Division did not receive reinforcements, it was defeated on 6 January 1878, in Samokov, and the Turks subsequently captured Kuršumlija.22) After that, Praporčetović unsuccessfully tried to take Samokov. Praporčetović was later the commander of the Morava Division.24)
==Minister of Defence==
From October 1878 to 1882 he was chief of the geographical department of the General Staff.25) From 1882 to 1884 he was appointed commander of the cavalry regiment and commander of the cavalry of the permanent staff.26) He was promoted in 1883 to the rank of cavalry colonel.27) From the end of October 1884 until February 1885 he was chief of staff of the active army.28) During the Serbian-Bulgarian war in 1885 he was on duty in the Supreme Command.29) From October 1885 he was commander of the cavalry brigade.https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Bulgarien_und_Ostrumelien/d4kRjQ8bauUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Jovan+Prapor%C4%8Detovi%C4%87&pg=PA451&printsec=frontcover
After the war he was in the service of the Ministry of Defense from 1886 to March 1887.31) After that, from April 1887 to April 1889, he was appointed Chief of the Historical Department of the General Staff.32) From April 1889 to May 1892, he was commander of the Moravian Divisional Division. area.33) After the crisis over the expulsion of Queen Natalija, Radovan Miletić was replaced, so Praporčetović was appointed the new Minister of Defense in the government of Nikola Pašić from May 19, 1891, to April 2, 1892.34)
==Literature==
* National Encyclopedia: Narodna enciklopedija srpsko-hrvatsko-slovenačka, Belgrade, 1929, book 3, p. 637-638
* Petar Opačić, Savo Škoko, "Serbian-Turkish Wars 1876-1878," BIGZ, Belgrade, 1981.
* Slobodan Đukić, "Foreign Influences on the Development of the Serbian Military Doctrine 1878-1918", doctoral dissertation, Belgrade, 2013.
* Stevan Radojčić, Zoran Srdić: "Astronomical and Geodetic Papers of the Vienna Military Geographical Institute in the Principality of Serbia in 1874"
* Živan Živanović, Politička istorija Srbije u drugoj polovini devetnaestog veka Knjiga treća 1889-1897, publisher: Izdavačka knjižarnica Gece Kona, Belgrade, 1924.
1) "NA", Narodna enciklopedija srpsko-hrvatsko-slovenačka, Belgrade, 1929, book 3, p. 637-638
2), 3), 4), 5), 9), 12), 13), 14), 15), 16), 17), 18), 24), 25), 26), 27), 28) , 29), 30), 31), 32), 33) NA
6) "GE", Stevan Radojčić, Zoran Srdić: Astronomical and geodetic works of the Vienna Military Geographical Institute in the Principality of Serbia in 1874.
7), 11) GE
8), 10) С. Đukić, 2013, p. 26
19), 20), 21) P. Опачић, С. Skoko, 1981, p. 219
22) П. Опачић, С. Skoko, 1981, p. 254
23) П. Опачић, С. Skoko, 1981, p. 271
34) Zivan Zivanovic 3, 1924, p. 102
Category:Serbian people
Category: dead people