Stefan Borislav III

Stefan Borislav III, (real name: Stefan Dragoljub Borislav Karađorđević) was the son of former emperor Stefan Borislav I and the brother of the third reigning emperor, Stefan Borislav II.

Borislav was the fourth reigning emperor of the Serbian Empire and started his reign on May 17th, 1984.

History:

Stefan was born on the 16th of August, 1928, to Borislav I, who was the second in line to the throne at that time. He was born in Belgrade and was raised there for the most of his life. Borislav was fascinated in the military at a young age, joining the army at 16 and quickly rose to the position of Colonel by February of 1945.

Soon enough, he had to escape Serbia, as a new communist regime had been put in place by general Petar Potočnik. In 1948, Petar overthrow Radomir Dražovic and made the nation a kingdom under himself as Petar I of Yugoslavia. In February 1949, Borislav's grandfather, Franjo I, became king of Yugoslavia. Soon enough, Borislav travelled back to Serbia.

Political influences:

From March 1950 to January 1952, Borislav and his grandfather spent many long days ranting about politics. Borislav seemed to agree on Franjo's hateful policy ideas, as both of them were very nationalistic. At the same time, Borislav skyrocketed through the ranks of the military, becoming a Major General by the outbreak of the Greco-Serbian war in 1955.

Borislav's political ideas were shaped by Franjo and his hateful ideas towards smaller ethnic groups in the empire, such as Bosniak muslims and Albanians.

Military career in the empire:

Borislav fought in the Great European War as a General from 1964-1966. Here, he lead the 3rd field army and was given more freedom to fight than his brother, Borislav II, due to being the Naslednik to the throne at the time. Borislav managed to inflict heavy losses on the Germans during the Battle of Pula in mid 1965, gaining him more respect from soldiers and politicians alike.

Borislav returned to war for a bit in 1973 as the Third world war broke out, but he mostly stayed out of the war after his father took a break, since he wanted to be able to visit him during his time in need. After his father recovered, Borislav shortly returned to the military, helping his brother beat back the Nazis to Berlin during the Liepzig Offensive in 1977.

Post-war:

After the Third World War, Borislav focused more on politics, trying to influence his brother after ascending to the throne in October of 1977. During the outbreak of the Croatian revolution in April of 1980, Borislav supported the ideas of Rodavan Jovanovic, who wanted to use tear gas before to disperse the protests that had started earlier.

Borislav started to support the Nationalists in the government, giving them secret imperial funds to grow their secret police force. Borislav has become great acquaintences with Radovan Ratkovic, the head of the Nationalist Party, who he plans to make prime minister one day. In March of 1981, it was revealed that Borislav II could not have any kids due to gonorrhea that he had been infected with since he was in his 20s, this confirmed that Borislav III would eventually become the Emperor of Serbia.

Reign as Emperor of Serbia:

On the 17th of May, 1984, his brother and the second Emperor of Serbia, Borislav II, died of liver disease in the company of his brother. Borislav was then coronated and was officially made the emperor of the Serbian empire on the 20th of May, 1984. He started his reign by making new reforms to the army and reforming the powers of the emperor, promising that his reign would be more eventful and make the empire more stable than his brother did.

Borislav came under fire for his policies, which were extremely intolerant and were aimed at making only a small part of the population happy. Borislav dmoted Secretary of State Draža III to a mere general on the 19th of August, 1988, after a heated argument by the two in parliament. After the riots in Skopje in 1989, Borislav started treating the people of Vardar Macedonia even more unfairly as a "punishment for their actions."

Turkish revolution, death and the fall of the regime:

On the 28th of May, 1990, the Turkish revolution broke out as the citizens of Ankara started seizing weapons and different government buildings. Prime minister Radovan Ratkovic got word of it in the middle of parliament and immediately sent Petar II to quell the rebellion. Petar got to Ankara by the 31st of May and started setting up defences and artillery outside of the city.

Meanwhile, Borislav was infuriated by the Turks and decided to visit the battlefront in Ankara on the 15th of June, arriving there by the morning of the 17th. At the outskirts, Borislav wandered around speaking to soldiers before entering a house to speak with officers of the divisions stationed at the front. At 11 AM, the group heard artillery shells and Borislav stepped out of the house, only to get hit by an artillery shell 2 minutes later, splitting his body in half.

After Borislav's death, the nationalist regime went into a panic and started causing more street violence. On the 6th of July, 1990, the nationalist government officially fell after Prime Minister Ratkovic was beaten, shot and thrown out of a third story window into mud by the opposition coalition in government.

Crimes against humanity:

During his relatively short reign of 6 years, Borislav committed heinous atrocities against the people of his empire, mostly carried out by the nationalists in parliament such as Slavko Karadžić and Radovan Ratković. Borislav had ordered the making of many different prison camps, such as the ones in Sarajevo, Bucharest and Skopje, which at their peak in March of 1990, held 770 000 inmates all together.

The number of deaths that Borislav has caused is unknown, but people estimate it from being somewhere as low as 7 000 to as high as 500 000, with around 180 000 being the most widely respected number.

Medals and awards:

* Order of Karađorđe's Star (Awarded: 9th of March, 1950)
* Order of Merits, gold (Awarded: 11th of April, 1951)
* Order of St. Prince Lazarus (Awarded: 18th of June, 1957)
* Order of the Empire of Serbia, 1st class (Awarded: 28th of August, 1966)
* Sretenje Order, 1st class (Awarded: 16th of May, 1977)
* Order of the White Eagle, 1st class (Awarded: 18th of November, 1980)
* Order of the Serbian Flag, 1st class (Awarded: 6th of June, 1984)
* Order of Serbdom, 1st class (Awarded: 2nd of December, 1988)
* Order of St. Sava (Awarded: 28th of October, 1989)