Mihailo Markovic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1833. He was a student of Law at the University of Belgrade and became an attorney in 1849. During his years as a lawyer he became very involved in politics. He was, in particular, an outspoken opponent of the Austrian Empire
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At the age of twenty-eight he was expelled from the country for his political activities. Having lost all connections with Serbia, he emigrated to Paris. For the next two years he traveled throughout Europe selling "autographs" (heavily forged signatures).
He returned to Serbia in 1855 and began collaborating with Naum Vešnjak, editor of the newspaper Danas, which became the voice of Serbian public opinion during this period. The articles that Markovic wrote after Vešnjak's death were collected later in several books and lead to his being recognized as one of Serbia's most important writers.