With the Turkish bombardment of Belgrade in 1862, he stopped his studies and joined the Serbian army.

After that, he received a scholarship from the Serbian government to study philosophy in Vienna, Munich, Paris, and London.

Before finishing his studies at Oxford, in 1866 he was back in Serbia, recalled by the Minister of Education, to take over the Department of Philosophy at the Grandes écoles.

[4] He was a professor of philosophy at Belgrade's Grandes écoles, Secretary of the Serbian Learned Society (from 1873 to 1882), President of the National Assembly (from 1880 to 1885),[4] Minister of Education (1886-1887), envoy of Rome, Youth Editor of Srbadije and poet.

He participated in the Serbian-Turkish wars of 1876–1878, and for that reason, he was promoted to Major, and later to Lieutenant-Colonel.