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Alexander I of Yugoslavia

Alexander I (Serbo-Croatian: Aleksandar I Karađorđević / Александар I Карађорђевић, pronounced [aleksǎːndar př̩ʋiː karad͡ʑǒːrd͡ʑeʋit͡ɕ];[1] 16 December 1888 [O.S. 4 December] – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier,[2][3] was King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 16 August 1921 to 3 October 1929 and King of Yugoslavia from 3 October 1929 until his assassination in 1934. His reign of 13 years is the longest of the three monarchs of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

For other people with similar names, see Alexander of Yugoslavia (disambiguation) and Alexander of Serbia (disambiguation).

Alexander I
Aleksandar I Karađorđević
Александар I Карађорђевић

3 October 1929 – 9 October 1934

16 August 1921 – 3 October 1929

24 June 1914 – 16 August 1921

16 December 1888 [O.S. 4 December]
Cetinje Royal Palace, Cetinje, Montenegro

9 October 1934(1934-10-09) (aged 45)
Marseille, France

Oplenac, Topola, Serbia
(m. 1922)

 Kingdom of Serbia
 Kingdom of Yugoslavia

1904–21
(end of active service)

Born in Cetinje, Montenegro, Alexander was the second son of Peter and Zorka Karađorđević. The Karađorđević dynasty had been removed from power in Serbia 30 years prior, and Alexander spent his early life in exile with his father in Montenegro and then Switzerland. Afterwards he moved to Russia and enrolled in the imperial Page Corps. Following a coup d'état and the murder of King Alexander I Obrenović in 1903, his father became king of Serbia. In 1909, Alexander's elder brother, George, renounced his claim to the throne, making Alexander heir apparent. Alexander distinguished himself as a commander during the Balkan Wars, leading the Serbian army to victory over the Ottomans and the Bulgarians. In 1914, he became prince regent of Serbia. During the First World War, he held nominal command of the Royal Serbian Army.


In 1918, Alexander oversaw the unification of Serbia and the former Austrian provinces of Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He ascended to the throne upon his father's death in 1921. An extended period of political crisis followed, culminating in the assassination of Croat leader Stjepan Radić. In response, Alexander abrogated the Vidovdan Constitution in 1929, prorogued the parliament, changed the name of the country to Kingdom of Yugoslavia and established a royal dictatorship. The 1931 Constitution formalised Alexander's personal rule and confirmed Yugoslavia's status as a unitary state, further aggravating the non-Serb population. Policital and economic tensions escalated on the outbreak of the Great Depression, which devastated the predominantly rural country. In foreign affairs, Alexander supported the Balkan Pact with Greece, Romania and Turkey, and sought to improve relations with Bulgaria.


In 1934, Alexander embarked on a state visit to France in order to secure support for the Little Entente against Hungarian revanchism and Italy's imperialist designs. During a stop in Marseille, he was assassinated by Vlado Chernozemski, a member of the pro-Bulgarian Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, which received assistance from the Croat Ustaše led by Ante Pavelić. French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou also died in the attack. Alexander was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son, Peter II, under the regency of his first cousin Prince Paul.

The song "Don Juan" by British synth duo (the B-side to their 1988 single "Domino Dancing") contains the phrase "King Zog's back from holiday, Marie Lupescu's grey and King Alexander is dead in Marseille".(21)

Pet Shop Boys

In 's historical novel, "Wide Is The Gate" (novel 4 in the Lanny Budd series published 1941) the assassination is attributed to the Nazi German government. The novel claims funds and a forged passport were obtained by the Croatian assassin from the head of German foreign policy department.

Upton Sinclair

A heavily fictionalized version of the assassination serves as the opening to the book The Second Assassin by Christopher Hyde. The gunman is changed to a Croatian, while an Irish hitman kills both him and Barthou using a rifle, undetected in the confusion. It is described as masterminded by Nazi Germany to get rid of both Alexander and Barthou while they are together.

In 's poem "Па ща си ти?" ("What are you?")[86] is depicted a case when crown prince Alexander asks the question to a little girl from Skopje and when she answers 'I'm Bulgarian' he slaps her in the face. The poem emphasizes the suffering of the Macedonian Bulgarians under Serbian rule.[87]

Ivan Vazov

TV series Alexander of Yugoslavia directed by [88]

Zdravko Šotra

Gligorijević, Branislav (2010). . Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva. p. 1186.

Kralj Aleksandar I Karađorđević (1–3)

Crampton, Richard (1997). . London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415164238.

Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century – And After

DiNardo, Richard L. (2015). . Santa Barbara: Praeger. ISBN 978-1440800924.

Invasion: The Conquest of Serbia, 1915

Hastings, Max (2013). Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914. London: William Collins.

Kovrig, Bennett (January 1976). "Mediation by Obfuscation: The Resolution of the Marseille Crisis, October 1934 to May 1935". The Historical Journal. 19 (1): 191–221. :10.1017/S0018246X00018367. S2CID 153681564.

doi

Seton-Watson, Robert (January 1935). "King Alexander's Assassination: Its Background and Effects". International Affairs. 14 (1): 20–47.

Marković, Marko (2003). Povijest Crne legije: Jure i Boban (in Croatian).

Passmore, Kevin (2003). Women, gender, and fascism in Europe, 1919–45. Manchester University Press.  0719060834.

ISBN

(2006). The First World War – A New Illustrated History. Pocket Books. ISBN 074323961X.

Strachan, Hew

British Pathé

Wedding of King Alexander I and Princess Maria at Belgrade (1922)

The first recorded sound movie of speech of the king Alexander I (Under of Yugoslav Sky, 1933 – Yugoslav Film Archive)

Newsreel footage of the Assassination of King Alexander

The Funeral of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia at Belgrade (1934), British Pathé

The Official Website of the Serbian Royal Family

Royal Mausoleum Oplenac

in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Newspaper clippings about Alexander I of Yugoslavia

Media related to Alexander I of Yugoslavia at Wikimedia Commons