Vasa Jovanović

Vasilije Jovanović (also known as Vasa Maćedonac, b. Skopje, February 1874 – Belgrade, 31 December 1970), lawyer, politician, founder of the Chetnik movement and a founding member of the League of Nations.

Early years and education

Faced with ethnic Albanian violence, Jovanović's family fled the village of Kožlje. They found refuge in Skopje where Vasilije was born. After his primary education the family moved to Belgrade where young Jovanović finished high school and Law Faculty. He rounded up his education with a PhD in Bruxelles.

Founding of the Chetnik movement

As a lawyer in Belgrade he was a member of a masonic lodge Pobratimstvo where he was acquainted with Luka Ćelović and Milorad Gođevac who already kept touch with Serbs in Macedonia, especially those acting within VMRO. In September 1903 the group formed a Serb revolutionary and guerrilla committee for Macedonia – Glavni odbor četničke akcije. Jovanović became its secretary and one of its leaders until 1905.

After the Young Turk revolution in 1908 when affairs in Macedonia seemed to be going towards a political solution, Jovanović took part in the First Conference of Serbs of Old Serbia and Macedonia (12-15 August 1908) in Skopje.^[1] He was elected as a member of the Central Committee of the newly founded Serb Democratic League (political party of Serbs living in the Ottoman Empire). Jovanović also took part as a member of the Assembly of Serbs in Ottoman Empire in Skopje, which first met in February 1909 and was active until the end of that year when it was banned by the Young Turks.^[2]

WW1 and Later Political Career

In World War One he was mobilized and later on was sent to France by Serbian government.

After the War he was in Geneva as a Yugoslav member of the League of Nations. In Kingdom of Yugoslavia he took active role in politics and acted as a Minister of Transport in several governments.

Notes

References

S. Simić, Srpska revolucionarna organizacija, komitsko četovanje u Staroj Srbiji 1903-1912, Beograd 1998, pp. 22, 38-43

Serbian Chetnik Organization
Commanders (1903–12)	Aksentije Bacetović-Baceta Borko Paštrović Boško Mitrović-Virjanac Doksim Mihailović-Debarac Dušan Dimitrijević-Dule Đorđe Ristić-Skopljanče Đorđe Cvetković-Drimkolski Gligor Sokolović-Nebregovski Ilija Trifunović-Birčanin Ilija Jovanović-Pčinjski Jovan Cvetković-Dolgač Jovan Stojković-Babunski Jovan Stanojković-Dovezenski Kosta Milovanović-Pećanac Krsta Kovačević-Trgoviški Lazar Kujundžić-Klempa Ljuba Jezdić-Razvigora Micko Krstić-Porečki Nikola Skadarac Pavle Mladenović-Čiča Petar Kacarević Petar Koćura Petko Ilić-Nagorički Rade Radivojević-Dušan Savatije Milošević Spasa Pavlović-Garda Sreten Rajković-Rudnički Todor Krstić-Algunjski Trenko Rujanović Vasilije Trbić Vojin Popović-Vuk Vojislav Tankosić-Voja Zafir Premčević
Fighters	Aleksa Komnenić Aleksandar Arsić Aleksandar Blagojević-Kočanski Aleksandar Simić Alimpije Marjanović-Ovčepoljski Anđelko Aleksić Anđel Đorđević Aranđel Bojković Arsa Gavrilović Atanasije Sredojević Blagoje Krušić Bogdan Jugović Hajnc Bogdan Kostić-Čačanin Bogdan Maksimović Bogdan Radenković Bogosav Srećković Branivoje Jovanović-Brana Boško Čupić Božin Simić Božin Teofilović Cene Marković Cvetko Vasić Čuma Danilo Stojanović-Dane Danilo Krapjanin Danilo Smiljković Dejan Jekić-Dragomir Denko Božinović Denko Dajlević Denko Kumanovče Denko Somov Dimitrije Dimitrijević-Mita Dimitrije Aleksić-Ditko Dončo Crnorijski Dragiša Kovačević Dragiša Stojadinović Dragoljub Džilić-Stric Dragoljub Urošević-Podrinac Dragoljub Nikolić Dragomir Protić Dragomir Vasiljević Dragutin Jovanović-Lune Dragutin Antić-Alavantić Dušan Hadži-Jovanović Dušan Savković Dušan Sekulić Đoka Živković Đorđe Cvetković-Drimkolski Đorđe Đerđiković Đorđe Sokolović-Kratovac Đorđe Vuković-Užičanin Đoša Beljanovče Đura Ivanišević Emilio Milutinović Jaćim Mladenović Jaćim Pavlović-Jaćko Joca Mirčić Jovan Božinović Jovan Grković-Gapon Jovan Naumović-Osogovski Jovan Pešić-Strelac-Topličanin Jovan Protić Josif Jovanović-Belocrkvanac Josif Katić Josif Mihailović Koce Janković Koce Krstić Lazar Simić Ljubomir Vulović Ljuba Jovanović-Čupa Manasija Nikolić Marko Ibler Mateja Šumenković Mihailo Bošković Mihailo Josifović Mihailo Jovanović-Brodski Mihailo Petrović Mihailo Ristić-Džervinac Milan Aleksić Milan Palanka Milan Popović Milan Štipljanče Milivoje Čolak-Antić Miša Aleksić-Marinko Nace Janković Naum Marković Nikola Jablaničanin Nikola Janković-Kosovski Nikola Lukić-Skadarac Omilj Glišić Pandilo Ćoreski-Drimkolski Panta Radosavljević-Dunavski Pavle Blažarić-Bistrički Petar Đinović Petar Maričić Petar Todorović-Pera Projče Virjanac Raško Anastasijević Rista Cvetković-Porečki Rista Kovačević Rista Petrović-Porečki Rista Popović-Beranac Rista Starački Sava Petković Sava Petrović-Grmija Sekula Vlahović Serafim Smiljanac Spasa Tanović-Metohijski Stamenko Stanišić Stevan Nedić-Ćela Stevan Simić Stevan Pavlović Stojan Koruba Svetozar Ranković-Toza Tasa Konević Temeljko Barjaktarević Todor Stojković Toma Krstić Trajko Brodski-Porečki Trajko–Koporan Čauš Trajko Prizrenac Vanđel Dimitrijević-Skopljanče Vasilije Kostić Velibor Trebinjac Velimir Prelić Velimir Vemić Veljko Petrović-Kičevski Vlada T. Milanović-Voskar Vladimir Kovačević-Vlada Maleški Žika Milosavljević Živko Gvozdić Živojin Balugdžić Živojin Milovanović-Žika
Key people	Milorad Gođevac Vasa Jovanović Golub Janić Jovan Atanacković Jovan Ćirković-Čifa Nikola Spasić Luka Ćelović Ljubomir Kovačević Ljubomir Jovanović Ljubomir Davidović Ljubomir Stojanović Žika Rafajlović Society of Saint Sava
Events	Fight on Šuplji Kamen (May 27, 1904) Fight in Tabanovce (March 27, 1905) Fight on Čelopek (April 16, 1905) Fight in Velika Hoča (May 25, 1905) Fight on Čelopek (1906) Young Turk Revolution (1908)
With the outbreak of the First Balkan War (1912), the organization was put under the supervision of the Serbian Army (see Chetniks in the Balkan Wars)