Protic, Stojan

Protić, Stojan

Protić or Protich, Stojan (both: stō`yän prō`tĭch), 1857–1923, Serbian politician. A leader of the Radical party, he edited a radical newspaper, served in parliament, and after 1903 held several important cabinet posts in Radical party governments. As minister of the interior at the outbreak (1914) of World War I, he worded the Serbian reply to the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum. He was influential in bringing about the creation (1918) of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). Protić served (1918–19) as first premier of the new state and adopted a conciliatory attitude toward Croatian and Slovene aspirations for autonomy.