Draža II

Draža in May of 1930, during the Yermanian independence rebellion.

Dobroslav I redirects here, as they are the same character, despite being radically different at first.

Draža II Božidar, also known by his fake name, Dobroslav I Božanović, was a Yermanian noble and the last chancellor of the republic of Yermania from 1928-1929. After the Yermanian independence rebellion concluded in 1931, Draža went into hiding in the alps of Italy. Eventually, Draža would return to Serbia under the fake name of Dobroslav Božanović senior, but was elevated to the status of a noble in 1950 by emperor Franjo I.

## History

Draža was born on the 29th of January, 1884 in the city of Rudolfovo (now known as *Novo Mesto*), then located in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Draža was the oldest child of nationalist politician and nobleman Draža I Božidar, who led a nationalist Yermanian movement to gain greater autonomy within the Austro-Hungarian empire, or possibly even independence.

He was raised by his father to be a great politician one day, like himself, while Draža was also interested in military and the politics relating to war. Draža was an extreme nationalist from a young age and had read up on his family history as well, being proud that Matic I, his great grandfather, was one of the first Yermanians to gain noble status in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

After finishing high school, Draža would go on to law school, trying to follow within the footsteps of his father. In January of 1906, protests erupted in Ljubljana, which quickly turned violent. In the protests, Draža's father was killed by a stray bullet shot by Austrian soldiers who were dispatched to clear the protests. After this, Draža felt that the only thing that could give the Yermanians freedom was violence, so he started training in a private militia group.

### First world war

When the first world war erupted in July of 1914, Draža initially departed for Serbia, where he would serve as a volunteer trying to fight the Austro-Hungarian army. Draža would get injured in the battle of the Drina on the 14th of September, 1914 and would spend weeks in a hospital, before escaping to Bosnia to attempt to sabotage Austrian supply lines and communications.

Draža's militia managed to cause a significant amount of damage to the Austrian communications in Bosnia, Croatia and Yermania, which left him with an arrest warrant for him. Eventually, as the war seemed to be lost for the central powers and many revolutions started in the Balkan territories of Austria-Hungary, Draža and his militia staged a rebellion with the help of brigadier general Aleksandar Garašanin, eventually managing to create the provisional state of Yermania in May of 1918.

### Role in the Yermanian republic

In February of 1919, Josip Krleža was elected the president of Yermania by the national convention. Krleža started transforming the country into a traditional democratic republic, where the president and convention balanced power between themselves. Draža, believing himself to be a great hero, joined the army and started rising through the ranks. After Petar Potočnik was elected president on the 26th of February, 1924, Draža sought to be a great politician as well, being a former classmate of Petar.

He would eventually join the Yermanian Nationalist Party in March of 1926 and would get himself elected into the national convention of Yermania in January of the next year. Draža was popular in government due to his family name being associated with the great Draža I, who was seen as a martyr after his death in the protests of Ljubljana. Draža would use his newfound popularity to run for chancellor in the 1927 election for the position.

## Chancellorship

Draža would eventually win the elections and was elected the chancellor of Yermania on the 9th of March, 1928. Draža would start to set up a nationalist dictatorship with the help of his political and military acquaintances, colonel Aleksandar Krajnc and lieutenant colonel Petar Zupančič. The president allowed it to happen, as he himself had already declared himself president for life and was getting rid of competition as early as June of 1925.

The dictatorship would be finalized with the creation of the "chancellor's bodyguard unit," which not only served as a bodyguard for the chancellor but also served as a paramilitary force which would deport, imprison or even kill competition to Draža's dictatorship. The unit was initially led by Aleksandar Krajnc and had a size of around 600 soldiers. Eventually, Petar Zupančič would replace Krajnc as the commander of the unit as Krajnc was promoted to vice chancellor by Draža on the 6th of January, 1929.

Imprisonments and deportations ramped up after Krajnc's promotion, reaching a peak around May of 1929. Draža all the time was using state money to build luxurious villas for himself and his henchmen as well, nearly wrecking the economy by December of 1928. However, Draža had also done some good, reforming the military and setting up a non-aggression pact with the kingdom of Italy, strengthening their ties together.

### Impending annexation

On the 2nd of June, 1929, the kingdom of Serbia sent the government of Yermania a document which demanded them to dissolve the state and be annexed into Serbia. If the government didn't send a response by the 1st of July, war would be declared by Serbia. Draža urged the president to not respond and to start a war, saying the newly reformed army would be able to handle the backwater Serbs.

Petar didn't want to risk it, but told Draža that a rebellion could be necessary if they decided to agree to the annexation. Draža tried to argue against it, but was overruled by most of the convention usually. Aleksandar Krajnc resigned and went into hiding on the 11th of June, 1929, which caused Draža to become very nervous, believing that if he would be caught by the Serbs, he could easily be executed for crimes against humanity. Draža decided to resign from his position as well on the 21st and went into hiding in the small city of Grosuplje.

## Yermanian independence rebellion

After meeting with Petar Potočnik on the 15th of February, 1930, the two decided to start a rebellion in the city of Grosuplje the next day. The two seized important buildings with relative ease, as the people of the city and the rest of the country in general were more than happy to welcome back their domestic rulers, instead of the foreign ones in control of them currently. Draža called the entire country to arms and by late April, the entirety of the former Yermania had been restored and Potočnik declared a provisional government on radio.

Draža and the rest of the provisional government's general staff, including chief of defense Aleksej Mlakar, wanted to push into Serbian territory to attempt to make the government simply let the Yermanian state be free. Mlakar was put in charge of the Istrian front while Draža pushed on towards Zagreb, capturing the city after a hard fought battle on the 9th of June, 1930. Draža dispatched brigadier general Aleksandar Krajnc to move towards the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia, while Draža would continue on to Karlovac.

### March on Belgrade

On the 3rd of August, 1930, Draža would be promoted to field marshal as he was to lead the march on Belgrade, otherwise known as the Belgrade offensive, a notorious military campaign meant to knock Serbia out of the war in a clean sweep. Draža would advance all the way to the western outskirts of Belgrade in early October of 1930, but would be pushed back due to a surprise attack from field marshal Dragutin Nedić coming from the north.

Draža would attempt to revive the failed offensive in late October by using up a large amount of resources to push towards Belgrade, making it 8 kilometers from the city before being pushed back once again. The Yermanian army would not be able to recover from the failed offensive, as they had used too many resources and too many men, which caused them to have to retreat all the way to the traditional borders of Yermania and a defensive operation of the homeland would be initiated on the 22nd of December, 1930.

### Escape from the war

The defensive managed to hold at first, but the cripplingly low amount of resources led to a break through by the royal Serbian army on the 25th of January, with the army advancing far into Yermania. Petar would re-locate the government to the small city of Grosuplje in order to hide from the Serbs on the 1st of March, 1931, but it proved to be futile as the Serbian army advanced into the city anyways. Draža would lead men into battle in the outskirts of the city but would eventually request Petar for permission to flee, seeing the situation as hopeless.

Petar gave him permission to flee and in the early morning of the 17th of March, Draža would leave the city with a small group of soldiers, dressed in a tattered, low rank military uniform, posing as a soldier taking citizens to safety. Draža would cross the Italian border on the 26th of March, two days after the end of the war.

## Exile in the Alps

Draža would enter a quiet life in a small house on the mountain of Presolana, located in the Italian Alps. He remained in exile for a long time, writing letters to his son and brother, telling them to not tell anyone about his whereabouts. An international manhunt would be declared for Draža II by the Serbian government in January of 1932, attempting to find the exiled war criminal to bring him to justice for his crimes. Draža, however, would never be found and was presumed dead in June of 1942 by the Serbian government.

He would eventually decide to make his way to Serbia, wanting to change the nation to an exact replica of the dictatorship he created in Yermania around a decade earlier. Draža made it to Serbia after taking a boat to land in Montenegro on the 16th of July, 1944, where he would start to make a name for himself by leading a small amount of Serbian partisans into cutting supply lines off the Axis forces. Draža had also, by now, changed his name to Dobroslav I Božanović, while his son was named Dobroslav II Božanović, allowing his integration into the Serbian nation to be a lot smoother, as his son was an officer in the royal Serbian army as well.

## Empire of Serbia

Dobroslav (Draža) would eventually start meeting with his former enemy, Franjo Karađorđević, who was trying to become the king of Serbia after his father Zivko was deposed and executed in June of 1945 by the Germans. Franjo thought that if he simply made it clear to the Germans that he wouldn't attack them, they would let him stay as king. Dobroslav sought to support Franjo in his movement, but remained as an independent politician and military officer instead of joining the monarchist party.

After Petar I proclaimed himself king of Yugoslavia, Dobroslav got himself elected into the parliament on the 29th of March, 1948, along with Franjo. Dobroslav would make himself known in parliament for his fiery speeches calling for unity and brotherhood under a single alphabet, a single language, a single identity and a single religion. After Franjo rose to the throne of Yugoslavia and eventually, to the imperial throne of the Serbian empire after proclaiming it on the 23rd of January, 1950, Dobroslav and his family would be named as "Serbian nobility" on the 31st of January and Dobroslav was promoted to general.

Dobroslav would be made the minister of the interior on the 2nd of February, 1950, by Franjo, as he was setting up a new loyal cabinet for the nation. In this role, Dobroslav would begin to reform the police force in the nation and would attempt to centralize the former federative kingdom to the capital of Belgrade. A few of his reforms to the police force still show today, around 70 years later. Dobroslav would also get his son elected into parliament on the 3rd of January, 1951, to ensure that the dynasty remained in power.

### Conflicts of the empire

Dobroslav was made to fight in the Serbian invasion of Banat from August 4th to August 12th, 1950, in order to seize vital oil fields which would be used later. He would also fight in the war of Mihailovgrad against the kingdom of Bulgaria in late October of 1950. Dobroslav gained great prestige in the war and was seen as a valiant war hero by the government and the people of the empire. However, unlike how he was in his youth, Dobroslav was not able to lead men at the front itself due to his declining health and aging figure.

In the Bosnian revolution of 1951, Dobroslav would play a key role, as he would make sure the Bosnian forces did not reach the important historical capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo, as losing this city would be a national embarrassment for the entire empire. Dobroslav managed to push the Bosnians back after their attempt to capture the city and kept pushing towards Rogatica, capturing the city in late September of 1951, which would eventually lead to the defeat of the Bosnians.

## Retirement, illness and death

On the 7th of February, 1952, Dobroslav would announce that he would be retiring from politics on the 9th of February, saying that he had fullfilled his purpose, which was to protect and serve the empire of Serbia. After a retirement party had been hosted on the 9th of February in the parliament of Serbia, Dobroslav left for a villa 2 kilometers outside of Smederevo, as he had been named count of Smederevo by Franjo two years earlier. Franjo would see Dobroslav one last time on the 30th birthday party of his grandson, where the two would exchange goodbyes and would both go to their own ways.

At the same time, Dobroslav announced his retirement from the military on the 12th of February, placing his son in charge of the general staff instead. Dobroslav would live out his life in Smederevo, occasionally being visited by his son and grandson. Dobroslav eventually contracted influenza in late April of 1955, which deteriorated to pneumonia, which he passed away from on the 6th of May, 1955. A funeral was held in Belgrade by Franjo's son, Stefan Borislav I and Dobroslav would be buried in the Belgrade cemetery on the 10th of May, 1955.

## Medals and awards

* Medal for bravery or courage, gold (Awarded: 15th of September, 1914)
* Order of the cross of Yermania, 1st class (Awarded: 9th of March, 1928)
* Order of merits in defense, 2nd class (Awarded: 16th of August, 1930)
* Order of the Serbian flag, 1st class (Awarded: 2nd of February, 1950)
* Order of Karađorđe's Star (Awarded: 15th of August, 1950)
* Order of Merits in Defense and Security, 2nd class (Awarded: 1st of January, 1952)