{"id":170403,"date":"2026-04-29T14:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=170403"},"modified":"2026-04-29T14:37:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:37:55","slug":"the-second-vojvoda-in-serbian-history-stepa-stepanovic-dedicated-his-whole-life-to-the-homeland-and-refused-a-pension-because-it-was-too-big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/the-second-vojvoda-in-serbian-history-stepa-stepanovic-dedicated-his-whole-life-to-the-homeland-and-refused-a-pension-because-it-was-too-big\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SECOND VOJVODA IN SERBIAN HISTORY: Stepa Stepanovi\u0107 dedicated his whole life to the homeland, and refused a pension because it was “too big”!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stepa Stepanovi\u0107, due to his merits for the first Allied victory in the “Great War” \u2013 the Battle of Cer \u2013 became only the second man in Serbia <\/a>to receive the rank of Voivode. He is also credited with the rapid breakthrough of the Salonika Front and the expulsion of Bulgaria from the war. From his post-war life, this story has remained recorded.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voivode Stepa Stepanovi\u0107 went into his long-deserved retirement two years after the magnificent breakthrough of the Salonika Front and the end of the First World War. Apart from the family home in Kumodra\u017e where his brothers lived and worked in agriculture, the voivode did not own any other property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having refused many gifts and privileges, after his retirement he lived in the house of his father-in-law Veselin Milanovi\u0107 in \u010ca\u010dak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contemporaries recorded that Stepa Stepanovi\u0107 did not tolerate any privileges. He lived and worked under the motto “everything is given to the homeland, and nothing is taken from it”. Then perhaps the story of the voivode’s first pension, which was recorded by the newspapers of the time, is not surprising \u2013 Stepa Stepanovi\u0107 did not even receive his first pension!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the postman came to hand it over, the voivode simply sent him back with an order to reduce the pension because it was\u2026 too large!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What actually happened?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a Serbian voivode and distinguished warrior in all previous wars, Stepa Stepanovi\u0107 was entitled to a state pension of 3,000 dinars at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Rascals! Rascals! They want to ruin the state! Return the money, boy! Let them at least halve it, what would I do with so much money!?” Stepa Stepanovi\u0107 was recorded as saying and sent the confused postman back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three thousand dinars was a large sum at that time. For example, a pair of the best oxen could be bought for a thousand dinars, and even seven eggs for one dinar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so the voivode returned the pension. He considered that such a sum was not appropriate for him. He only received it when they halved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He lived as a modest man for the rest of his life. He built a tomb for himself in the \u010ca\u010dak cemetery, left his wife money for funeral expenses, and prepared a uniform, shoes and decorations with which he would be buried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voivode Stepa Stepanovi\u0107 died on April 27, 1929. They say that the last thing he said was: “Go forward!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

ATTEMPTED ROBBERY OF A BETTING SHOP NEAR BUJANOVAC: A masked man barged in with an automatic rifle, then shot at the machines!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEW INTIMIDATION OF SERBS IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA: \u201cKLA\u201d graffiti appeared on the wall of a family house in Vitina!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THIRD SUSPECT RELEASED: Indictment filed against two people for the bomb attack on Zdravko \u010coli\u0107\u2019s house!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TWO PEOPLE ARRESTED IN MONTENEGRO: Suspected of enabling the escape of the son of the former president of the Supreme Court!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANOTHER MASTERPIECE RETURNS TO SERBIA: The Ministry of Culture purchased a legendary painting by Paja Jovanovi\u0107!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DISTRIBUTING MORE THAN 400,000 \u201cSTUDENTS WIN\u201d STICKERS: Students in blockade launched an action in 54 cities across Serbia!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: <\/strong>Dnevno.rs, Photo: <\/strong>Serbian Shop<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stepa Stepanovi\u0107, due to his merits for the first Allied victory in the “Great War” \u2013 the Battle of Cer \u2013 became only the second man in Serbia to receive the rank of Voivode. He is also credited with the rapid breakthrough of the Salonika Front and the expulsion of Bulgaria from the war. From […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":170405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[634,554,2032,113,3396,5545,5546,5547,5137],"class_list":["post-170403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-istorija","tag-istorija-srbije","tag-prvi-svetski-rat","tag-srbija","tag-srbija-u-velikom-ratu","tag-stepa-stepanovic","tag-vojvoda-stepa","tag-vojvoda-stepa-stepanovic","tag-znameniti-srbi","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170403"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208778,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170403\/revisions\/208778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}