Nikola Pašić (, ; 18 December 1845 – 10 December 1926) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat who was a leading political figure for almost 40 years. He was the leader of the People's Radical Party and, among other posts, was twice a mayor of Belgrade (1890–91 and 1897), several times Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia (1891–92, 1904–05, 1906–08, 1909–11, 1912–18) and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918, 1921–24, 1924–26). He was an important politician in the Balkans, who, together with his counterparts, like Eleftherios Venizelos in Greece, managed to strengthen their emergent national states against foreign influence and interference, most notably those of Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire. Early life Pašić was born in Zaječar, Principality of Serbia. According to Slovenian ethnologist Niko Zupanič, Pašić's ancestors migrated from the Tetovo region in the 16th century and founded the village of Zvezdan near Zaječar. Pašić himself said that his ancestors settled from the area of the Lešok Monastery in Tetovo. Jovan Dučić concluded that Pašić hailed from Veliki Izvor near Zaječar, and that Pašić's ancestry in Tetovo had been long lost. Bulgarian ethnologist Stilian Chilingirov stated that Pashić's roots were from the village of Veliki Izvor, founded during the 18th century by refugees from the Ottoman Bulgarian village of Golyam Izvor in Teteven area in today Bulgaria. Ljubomir Miletić also claimed that Pašić's grandfather settled in Veliki Izvor from Teteven area, which was refuted by Serbian authors. claiming his parents were both born in Zaječar. However, the village of Veliki Izvor, was really founded by refugees from the village of Golyam Izvor, Teteven area. Carlo Sforza mentioned that Pašić "was lucky in another respect, he belonged to the Shopi community". Pašić completed elementary school in Zaječar, and finished his gymnasium work in Negotin and Kragujevac. In the fall of 1865, he enrolled in the Belgrade Higher School and in 1867 received a state scholarship to study railroad engineering at the Polytechnical School in Zürich. Historian Gale Stokes wrote that Pašić was a "serious student" who "went beyond the required subjects of his specialization". According to Stokes, Pašić's early socialist ideals were shaped by German experiences rather than Marxist or Russian populist, as his studies were focused on German history and contemporary events which were taught by Germanophile professors. He graduated as an engineer but, apart from his brief participation in the