Ilija Plamenac (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Пламенац; 1821 – 6 March 1916)[1] was a Montenegrin vojvoda and military commander during the Montenegrin–Ottoman Wars of 1862[2] and 1876–1878.

[5] During this time, he witnessed Njegoš's negotiations with Herzegovinian vizier Ali-paša Rizvanbegović in Dubrovnik, during the Battle of Grahovo in 1836.

Prince Nikola acquiesced to their demands, with the condition of a general amnesty for all those from the villages involved in the attack on Skadarska Krajina.

The Battle of Krnjice ended in a victory for Montenegro and was used as casus belli by the Ottomans leading to the Montenegrin–Ottoman War of 1862 which raged from April to August.

During the war, Ilija Plamenac was stationed near the border with Skadarska Krajina in a unit led by vojvoda Mašo Đurović.

His goal was to negotiate property laws, the occupation of several de jure Montenegrin villages, and the building of forts near Montenegro after the Montenegrin-Ottoman war of 1862.

Plamenac arrived in Constantinople in mid 1866, and handed a memorandum on Montenegrin-Ottoman territorial issues to Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha, the Foreign Minister.

After Ilija's success in the Battle at Maljat in October 1876, the two sides signed a truce that lasted until April 1877 when the Russo-Turkish War started.

Following the liberation of Nikšić, the troops under Plamenac moved to Virpazar, from where they intended to cross the mountain of Sutorman and take hold of the area between Bar and Ulcinj.

In early November 1877, Plamenac took the region of Mrkojevići with heavy casualties for the Ottomans, and from there staged an attack on Možura hill, north of Ulcinj.

[3] In the aftermath of the war, Plamenac became commander of the Littoral and Skadarska Krajina, two regions acquired by Montenegro following the Congress of Berlin.

After this, he would go on to write his memoirs, mostly centered on refuting claims of cowardice and poor leadership in the Battle of Fundina laid out against him by his former compatriot Marko Miljanov.

[4] Ilija Plamenac received the Ottoman Order of the Medjidie Third Class from Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha following their successful negotiations in 1866.