a very ambitious foreign policy, aimed at the liberation of all the South-Slavic peoples. In 1861. Prince Mihailo founded Ministry of War (led by French colonel Hyppolyte Mondain), doubled the size of the Regular Army (to 3,529 men) and declared the foundation of the Serbian People's Militia (), which conscripted all the men aged 20–50 for the compulsory military service. People's Militia was divided into the First (men under the age of 35) and the Second class, organized into territorial battalions (62 in number) and regiments (17, one in each county). Ther were also 17 squardons of cavalry, 17 pioneer units of 60 men each, and 6 artillery batteries (1,200 men). Conscripts were expected to provide their own weapons and clothing. Military service was without pay, and militiamen were expected to provide their own weapons and clothing. In 1862. Serbian People's Militia existed on paper only: less than a half of the militiamen had serviceable rifles. Hovever, in 1863. Serbia received some 31.000 (or 39.200) old percussion muskets from Russia (Russian musket model 1845): these muskets vere converted to rifles in Kragujevac and became the standard weapon of the People's Militia. The first Serbian military factories In order to modernize Serbian army, in 1848. Serbian Government built the first Cannon Foundry () and State Arsenal in Belgrade, with the main production facilities in Kragujevac. In 1850. government founded Artillery School in Belgrade, which was the foundation of the Serbian Military Academy. After the Russian defeat in Crimean War (1853-1856), Serbia was made a joint protectorate of Russia, Austria, France and United Kingdom by the treaty of Paris (1856). In 1855. the Cannon Foundry in Kragujevac opened a rifle-production department, working on adaptation of old flintlock muskets to percussion system, with the capacity od 60 muskets a day. The same year two machines for making Minnie balls were imported from Belgium, and in 1857. Kragujevac Foundry installed the machines for production of copper percussion caps, making Serbia finally independent in the production of percussion rifle ammunition. In 1858. a new production line with 28 skilled workers under the guidance of Mihailo Cvejić was set up for converting some 15.000 old flintlock muskets to percussion system: in the first year only some 1,800 rifles were converted, then the production increased to 1.000 addapted rifles a month, so by 1863. Serbian army had some 15.000 converted percussion muskets. References Rifles of Serbia Coordinates