The 102-year War between Montenegro and Japan

Who would have thought? Montenegro, a tiny country in the Balkans, was officially at war with Japan until just recently — until 2006 to be precise.

This is certainly not a joke and to find out why, we must dig up some historical facts. In 1904, when the Russo-Japanese war broke out, Montenegro, in order to show its Slavic solidarity with Russia, declared war on Japan along with the Russian Empire.

A declaration of war is usually a pretty serious matter. Sometimes, however, it is just a formal way of showing alliance to a certain country. In those cases, the at-war status can linger in legal limbo for decades or even centuries, long after any pretext for actual combat has evaporated.
There are a couple of similar declarations of war throughout history.

In May 1918, as German troops engaged in a last-ditch offensive they hoped would reverse their country’s fortunes in World War I, a new player suddenly threw its support to the Allied forces – it was Costa Rica!

The small Central American country’s president, Federico Tinoco Granados, had come to power in a coup the year before and was eager to receive diplomatic recognition from the United States, along with the foreign aid such recognition might secure for his impoverished country.
In return for his declaration, Granados received a proverbial pat in the back from U.S. president Woodrow Wilson for “supporting the cause of liberty.” And that’s it.

The United States refused to recognize Granados’s repressive dictatorship and barred his government from attending the peace talks at Versailles. Granados resigned in 1919 — but the declaration of war remained in place, lasting conveniently all the way through World War II, when Costa Rice did contribute to the Allies by taking in Jewish refugees, allied ships and Axis prisoners of war. Costa Rica finally made peace with Germany after the latter’s surrender in 1945.

Likewise, the Principality of Andorra was an ally of the Entente powers — Russia, France and Great Britain — at the very beginning of World War I. However Andorra didn’t send any of its 10 part-time soldiers to the front. Nor was it a signatory to the Treaty of Versailles.
In other words, for the tiny country of then roughly 5,000 people, the war never ended.
Andorra hastily corrected that diplomatic oversight in 1939 as German chancellor Adolf Hitler’s army began its campaign of conquest across Europe. This did not prevent the Nazis from occupying Andorra in 1942.

In 1904, according to many accounts, the Kingdom of Montenegro declared war on Japan. The tiny state was more than 9,000 kilometers away from its Pacific adversary yet was able to send around 500 volunteers to war.

Montenegrins established relations with Russia in the early 18th century, when the Russian Emperor offered to help them fight the Ottoman Empire. From that point on, Montenegrins regarded Russia as their protector and they even referred to it as ‘’Mother Russia’’. They received annual financial aid, resources and political support. At one point, Montenegro was even ruled by a man who claimed to be the Peter III Romanov, which was of course a lie. See more at Lažni Car Šćepan Mali.

Back in 1904, both the Russian and Japanese empires had intentions of expanding their influence in Manchuria and Korean peninsula. Russia, similar like today, were trying to get a port on a warmer sea which could be used all year round, since their port in Vladivostok was not available during winter. Russians decided to pay the Chinese for usage of their Port Arthur. This is why the Japanese considered Russia to be a serious rival for expansion and a threat to their imperialistic plans, so they decided to offer the Russians a peace treaty which would give the Russians dominance over Manchuria and the Japanese would get the Korean peninsula.

Russians decided to reject this offer and the negotiations broke down, and that is the reason why the Japanese opened hostilities and made a surprise attack on Port Arthur in 1904. This is how the Russo – Japanese war broke out and Montenegrins declared war on Japan as a sign of support to their Slavic brothers.

As previously mentioned, Montenegro had been born out of pan-Slavic uprisings against centuries of Turkish occupation that succeeded in no small part due to Russian support. So Montenegrins felt a lot of sympathy for Russia when Moscow’s forces in China came under a Japanese surprise attack in 1904.

In fact, Montenegrin historian Novak Ražnatović disputes that there were any official declarations of war. According to Ražnatović , Prince Nikola of Montenegro had earlier been given a purely honorary colonel’s commission in a Russian regiment, and the prince simply made a statement exhorting his regiment to victory when it deployed against the Japanese.

But whether war was officially declared or not, around 500 Montenegrins volunteered to fight alongside the Russians, including Prince Arsen Karadjordjević of Serbia, who commanded a regiment of Cossack cavalry at the Battle of Mukden. Jovan Lipovac led up to 14,000 soldiers in several major battles, one Montenegrin fighter even killing a samurai in a duel.

That hero was Aleksandar Lekso Saicic (born August 5th 1873 – died April 7th 1911) a hero from a village called Vinicka next to Berane.

Lekso Saicic was a captain in the Montenegro army and he was remembered for his outstanding skills with a sword. He left behind numerous legends of his swordsmanship. One of them says how he easily knocked out his uncle Milo’s sword with just a simple stick.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, Lekso unbuttoned top button on his uncle’s shirt with one simple motion of the stick. He did it so fast that barely anyone saw it. He humiliated the Italian sword master in their duel at Cetinje when he, after just several hits, kicked the sword out of Italian’s hands and made him run away.

Lekso graduated from high school in Dubrovnik from where he went to Belgrade to study at the Infantry school for officers. Quite interestingly, the tradition of Montenegrins studying in Belgrade is still present today.

After Belgrade, he spent three years as an adjutant of Vasojević brigade. As a soldier wishing to progress, Lekso headed for Istanbul to join the Turkish army as a corporal of an Emperor’s brigade where he also spent three years.

He switched Istanbul for Manchuria (China) and joined the Russian army  with a promotion to sergeant. He was caught up in the middle of a war between Russia and Japan.

The two armies were rolling towards one another. They then camped under Jun Dzu An, eastern Manchuria, not so far from Vladivostok.  (1904-1905)

According to usual rules, a battle should begin in the middle of a wide field. While Russian tacticians were searching for the best way to win after series of defeats, a rider came forward from the opposite side. The commander of the Japanese addressed the Russians through his messenger. He demanded that they send one warrior for a duel against his samurai.

The Russians were appalled. They could not believe that, even at the beginning of the 20th century, Japanese still practiced these customs.

They summoned a council: if they don’t send a champion, they will be embarrassed, and if they do, who could face the experienced samurai warrior? They knew how much psychological significance this duel had for the upcoming battle.

The decision was made: they would find a champion. They found him immediately or to be more precise, he found them. As soon as the voice spread across the camp, a tall and slim lieutenant showed up at the commander’s tent entrance.

– “Aleksandar Saičić from Berane, Montenegro” – he firmly salutated. “A loyal servant of Count Nikola, now in his Emperor’s service, ready to face the enemy,” Saičić said decisively.

The high-rank officers whispered among themselves and then decided that they had no other options but to give him a chance.

The Aleksandar Saičić saluted and immediately went to search for a sword and a horse. He found the sword immediately but he chose the horse carefully. He looked for the one that can easily move left and right upon rider’s command.

In the surreal environment and with the sounds of battle march, Saičić rode onto the battlefield. From the other side, all dressed in black fur, rode out a samurai. A personification of pure fear. Lekso later confessed that he reminded him of some black scavenger. A battle to the death.

The cheering of the army died off as soon as the duelists charged. The ground squealed under the hoofs. Steel clashed against steel. Both of them remained in their saddles. They charged again.

A hero against a hero.  A poet described it like this: ‘They flew towards each other and clashed like two eagles, swinging their swords towards the Sun, armies sang from both sides like some ancient choir .

Then Saičić felt this horrible pain and something warm poured into his eyes from his forehead. He managed to wipe the blood from his forehead with the sleeve and avoid the ominous blade that swung just above his head.

In that very moment, with the likes of speed only Lekso Saičić had, he swung his own blade and cut the samurai. He heard the warrior’s cry just next to his ear followed by the famous Russian ‘URA’ battle-cry. As soon as the samurai hit the ground, his horse went back to the Japanese army. This defeat shook the Japanese hard.

After wining the duel, among many other medals, Aleksandar Lekso Saičić was honored with the Cavalier of St. Ana’s medal, the greatest Russian award. Moreover, he was granted 40 golden Napoleons a year until the end of his life.

He was promoted into a Captain in the far away Manchuria and he was the head of cavalry dragoon unit escadrille. The sword with which he defeated the samurai is kept in the Military museum in Moscow.

However there are some stories that Lekso did not kill him in fair battle. The stories say that the Montenegrin waited for the samurai to bow before the battle, and then cut him dead.

The war was eventually won by the Japanese. The peace treaty between Russia and Japan was signed in Portsmouth in 1905, but the Montenegrins did not sign the peace treaty at the time, since it had no relevance.

Time passed, Montenegro lost its independence as it became a part of Yugoslavia and the treaty with Japan was not signed and the fact that Montenegro was still at war with this country was overlooked. Only after more than a hundred years, back in 2006, when Montenegro became independent once again and the diplomatic relations with Japan were re-established was the peace treaty officially signed.

In 2006, somebody finally remembered about the unfinished business. Japan sent a deputy foreign minister Akiko Yamanaka on a mission to Montenegro to sign a formal peace treaty declaring the war over. This same year, Japan recognized Montenegro as an independent state.

Today Japan is the Balkan state’s 12th-largest trading partner.

In 2013 Montengro declared a war on Syria, and as far as evidence suggests, no ceasefire has been signed yet.

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