text: order of karađorđe 's star the order of karađorđe 's star ( serbian : orden , cyrillic : ) is serbia 's highest civilian and military decoration . it originated in the kingdom of serbia , and was initially awarded exclusively to serbian citizens in return for services rendered to the serbian monarchy , the serb people and the serbian state , though it is now bestowed upon serbs and non - serbs alike . during the balkan wars and world war i , the order was mostly awarded for acts of bravery on the battlefield . the post - war kingdom of yugoslavia retained the order , and it was awarded by the yugoslav government - in - exile until the end of world war ii , in some cases to individuals who collaborated with the axis powers . following the war , the monarchy was outlawed and a communist government came to power . along with other monarchist symbols , the order was suppressed during the administration of josip broz tito , and replaced with communist decorations such as the order of the people 's hero . following the breakup of yugoslavia , serbia ceased using many of the awards and decorations established during the communist period , though it was not until 2010 that the serbian government officially reinstated the order of karađorđe 's star as serbia 's highest decoration . during the cold war , it had been awarded by the karađorđević family in exile . the first person to receive it following its reinstatement as a state order was the tennis player novak djokovic , in february 2012 . history the order of karađorđe 's star was instituted by the royal decree of king peter i on 1 january 1904 , commemorating his recent accession to the serbian throne , as well as the one - hundredth anniversary of the first serbian uprising . it was meant to replace the order of the cross of takovo and the order of miloš the great , two decorations that had been awarded by the rival obrenović dynasty , which ruled serbia prior to the may 1903 coup d 'état that reinstated peter 's karađorđević dynasty after several decades in exile . the first award was disagreeable to the and their supporters because it was named after takovo , the village where obrenović dynasty founder miloš obrenović had launched the second serbian uprising . the order of miloš the great had to be replaced as it was named after obrenović himself . initially , the order of karađorđe 's star was categorized as a senior state award , and organized into four classes . the grand cross of karađorđe 's star , the highest class , consisted of a badge of the order on a sash and breast star ; a grand officer of karađorđe 's star was decorated with a badge and a slightly smaller breast star ; a commander of karađorđe 's star was only awarded a badge ; and the recipient of the order 's fourth class , the officer of karađorđe 's star , would receive a small triangular chest ribbon . the order was usually awarded for services to the karađorđević dynasty , the serbian state or the serb people , while karađorđević princes received a grand cross at baptism . recipients included both soldiers and civilians , though until 1906 only serbian citizens were permitted to receive the award . during the balkan wars ( 1912 – 13 ) , the serbian government introduced the war merit order of karađorđe 's star to reward acts of " conspicuous gallantry of commissioned officers in the field " , as well as the battlefield victories of the royal serbian army 's senior officers ; non - commissioned officers ( ncos ) and soldiers in the field were ineligible . in june 1915 , at the height of world war i , serbia instituted a sub - division of the war merit order , called the military order , which was awarded to ncos and men for bravery in combat . the war merit order was divided into two classes : the 1st division gold cross and the 2nd division silver cross . one of the recipients of the military order was the highly decorated female soldier savić , and another was flora , the only british woman to openly serve as a soldier in the war . several senior serbian military leaders were recipients of the war merit order , including prince regent alexander , and field marshals živojin mišić and stepa stepanović . foreign recipients included american general john j. pershing , the british field marshal douglas haig , the french generals joseph joffre , maurice sarrail , philippe pétain , and louis franchet d 'espèrey , and the romanian king ferdinand i. the kingdom of yugoslavia retained the order after world war i. in 1939 , it was awarded to the city of belgrade . during world war ii , peter ii bestowed the order upon a number of chetniks on the recommendation of chetnik leader draža mihailović . some of the decorated chetnik commanders included pavle đurišić , dobroslav jevđević , momčilo đujić and uroš drenović . these decorations proved controversial both during and after the war , as many of the commanders cooperated with germany and italy against the communist partisans for several years . such a discrepancy can best be seen in the case of đujić , who was given the order for displaying " gallantry in the face of the enemy " , and subsequently celebrated receiving it at an italian general 's headquarters . in jevđević 's case , the order was given in 1943 for his services to the serb population of herzegovina during a series of ustaše massacres , but mihailović had news of the award suppressed because jevđević had visited rome to plan an anti - communist offensive with the italians and his forces had carried out several massacres of non - serbs over the previous several years . after the war , yugoslavia came under the rule of communist dictator josip broz tito , and karađorđević - era medals and orders were replaced by non - royal decorations , such as the order of the people 's hero . in the 1990s , the republika srpska instated its own decoration also called the order of karađorđe 's star , though this is not to be confused with the medal historically awarded by serbia and the karađorđević dynasty . in 2010 , the government of serbia decided to reinstate the order as an official state award , though the karađorđević 's had continued giving the award in exile over the previous sixty years . in february 2012 , tennis player novak djokovic became the first person to receive the order after it was reinstated . the most recent recipient of the order is the military medical academy , in april 2014 . design the order comes in either gold or silver depending on class , and the obverse features a white enameled cross pattée with gilt rays protruding from each of the arms . the rays are intersected diagonally by a pair of sabres when the recipient is awarded an order " with swords " . orders from the royal period contain a blue medallion at the centre depicting a serbian cross with a fire - steel at each corner , with the words " for faith and freedom , 1804 " etched into the small circle in the middle of the cross . the reverse of these orders contains a red medallion depicting a white eagle , with the words " peter i , 1904 " written around it . the bravery medals awarded from june 1915 forward are almost identical to the orders awarded before that date , save for the crossed swords being present on all of them regardless of class . such orders also lacked the phrase etched into the obverse of the older ones and the date 1904 on the reverse , which marked the centenary of the first serbian uprising . instead , they merely had king peter 's name on the obverse beside the year when the order was bestowed . the orders themselves were originally manufactured by foreign makers of decorations and medals , such as france 's arthus - bertrand and switzerland 's ; during the interwar period ( 1919 – 39 ) they were produced domestically .