Petar Topalović (officer)

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Petar Topalović (Serbian: Петар Топаловић; 14 September 1836 – 20 August 1891) was a general, minister of defense, minister of public works in the principality of Serbia and the chief of the Military Academy in Belgrade.He also served as 7th Dean of the Academic Board of the Military Academy in Serbia on two occasions in 1886 and from 1889 to 1891.

Military career

Petar Topalović was born on 14 September 1836 in Kragujevac, Principality of Serbia. He was the son of Milosav Topalović and Anka Nenadović, the grandson of Jevrem Nenadović and the great-grandson Jakov Nenadović. He was married to Lenka, the daughter of George Pantelić, a merchant from Sremska Mitrovica. He had a son Milosav and daughters Draginja and Anka. Draginja's daughter was married to Lieutenant Ljubomir Pokorny.

As a grandson of high-ranking functionaries in the government, he had private tutors at home during his elementary schooling who prepared him for the military.He finished high school (Gymnasium) in Belgrade, and after that, in 1855, he enrolled in the prestigious Artillery School in Belgrade. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1860. At first, until December 1861, he was a sergeant in an infantry company. From 1861 to 1863 he was a state cadet in Prussia, in Potsdam and Berlin, in the Guards units. On his own initiative, he left the army in January 1863 together with Sava Grujić and Dimitrije Đurić, because their request to return to Serbia was not granted after the incident at Čukur fountain. At his own expense, he went to Paris, where from 1864 to 1866 he attended the French General Staff Academy as a cadet. In 1867, he spent seven months as a state cadet in the Topographic department in Paris.

He returned to the civil service in 1867, then from 1867 to 1868 he was a sergeant in the artillery, and then he served for several months in the general military department of the Ministry of Defence and was an aide-de-camp to Knez Mihailo Obrenović. After that, from 1868 to 1873, he was a staff officer of the Šabac district. He was promoted to the rank of General Staff Captain in 1873. From 1873 to 1875, he taught the history of war skills and strategy at the Military Academy as a professor. He was promoted to the rank of major in 1875. From 1874 to 1876, he was the chief of staff of the artillery brigade, and from 1876 until the beginning of the First Serbian-Turkish War, he was the chief of the general staff of the Timok divisional area.

Serbian- Turkish Wars

In the First Serbian-Turkish War in 1876, he was the Chief of Staff of the Timok Army. From October 1876, he was in the headquarters Mikhail Chernyayev, first the chief of staff of the 4th Corps, then the chief of staff of the Timok-Morava army, and then the chief of staff of the Timok Corps. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel on October 22, 1876. At the beginning of the Second Serbian-Turkish War in December 1877, he was the commander of the Danube Division of the Timok Corps. He performed with the Danube Division from Gramada to Niš. His division was hired to block Niš from the northeast. During the liberation of Niš, his division fired heavy artillery fire at the Turkish fortifications at Vinik, with the aim of facilitating the attack of the Šumadija Corps. From January 15 to October 21, 1878, he was the commander of the Ibar Division.

Minister of Public Works and Defense

Until April 1880 he served in the General Staff and held the tenure of professor at the Military Academy. He was promoted in 1881 in the rank of colonel. From April 1880 until September 1885, he was the Chief of the General Staff. He participated in the Serbian-Bulgarian army of 1885 as commander of the Morava Division. After the Serbian defeat at Šlivnica, he was replaced on 2 December 1885 by Jovan Petrović as Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command. He was promoted in March 1887 to the rank of general. From 4 April 1886 to 17 February 1887 he was the Minister of Public Works in the Milutin Garašanin Administration. He was in the same government after that as Minister of Defence from 17 February to 13 June 1887. In November 1887 he was appointed commander of the Morava divisional area. From 1886 to 1890 he was a professor at the Military Academy in Belgrade. On two occasions he was the director of the Military Academy, from 13 March to 4 April 1886 and once again from 8 April and 1889 until his death in 1891. He died in Belgrade.

He published several articles in military publications, including Ratnik and Vojin. He translated from a collection of German publications entitled "A Soldier on the Land" (1875)and from Wilhelm von Scherff's Studien zur neuen Infanterie-Taktik (1872–1876) (Studies on new infantry tactics). He translated Vial's "Strategy" (1876) from French.

Decorations

She was awarded the following domestic decorations, the Order of the Cross of Takovo, the 1st and 2nd order, the Gold Medal for Courage, the War Memorial for Liberation and Independence 1879-1878, Monument to the War of 1885-1886 and the Order of the Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honour (France) and the Order of the Iron Crown of the 2nd Order (Austria).

He died in Belgrade, on August 20, 1891.

See also

• Ranko Alimpić
• Vladimir Cukavac
• Đura Horvatović
• Josif Kostić
• Milojko Lešjanin
• Svetomir Matić
• František Zach

References

• Translated and adapted from Serbian Wikipedia:https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80_%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%9B#cite_note-1

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