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King Alexander I Karađorđević: A Life in Fifteen Minutes

From the WWI Salonika front to the 1934 Marseille assassination
  • 16 December 1888
    Alexander is born in Cetinje, the fourth child of Prince Petar Karadjordjević and Princess Ljubica-Zorka (née Petrović, daughter of Prince Nikola I Petrović).
  • 1894
    The family moves to Geneva, where he completes primary school.
  • 1899
    He enters the Imperial School of Jurisprudence (Pravovedenie) in St Petersburg.
  • 1903
    Alexander returns to Serbia to continue his studies and joins the 6th Regiment of the Serbian Army the same year.
  • 1905
    He is admitted to the Page Imperial Corps in Russia.
  • 1909
    After his elder brother Đorđe renounces his claim, Alexander becomes heir apparent.
  • 1912
    In the First Balkan War, Alexander commands the First Army, defeats the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Kumanovo in October 1912, and wins further victories at Prilep and Bitola.
  • 1913
    In the Second Balkan War (29 June – 10 August), Crown Prince Alexander leads the First Serbian Army to victory over Bulgarian forces.
  • 24 June 1914
    With King Petar I in failing health, Alexander becomes Regent of the Kingdom of Serbia and Commander-in-Chief of the Serbian Army.
  • 28 June 1914
    The First World War breaks out. As supreme commander, Alexander leads Serbia through its early wartime victories and the “Albanian Golgotha,” later directing the Allied breakthrough on the Salonika Front that liberated Serbia and other regions of the future Yugoslav state.
  • 1 December 1918
    Crown Prince Alexander Karadjordjević proclaims a new state — the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes — under the Karadjordjević dynasty.
  • 1919
    Regent Alexander declares that the country will now turn to internal reconstruction, with land reform — abolishing the feudal and colonial residues in the newly liberated territories — as the first priority.
  • 1920
    The royal government issues a decree suspending all activities of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.
  • 28 June 1921
    A constitution is promulgated establishing the kingdom as a constitutional, parliamentary, hereditary monarchy. On the same day, the Yugoslav communist Spasoje Stejić attempts to assassinate Regent Alexander.
  • 16 August 1921
    Following the death of King Petar I, Regent Alexander formally accedes to the throne as king.
  • 1921
    At Alexander I’s initiative, the Little Entente military alliance is established between Czechoslovakia, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and Romania.
  • 1922
    King Alexander I marries Maria of Hohenzollern, daughter of King Ferdinand of Romania. They have three sons: Petar, Tomislav and Andrej.
  • 6 January 1929
    Faced with a prolonged political crisis, the king abolishes the constitution and dissolves parliament. Under the Law on Royal Power and Supreme State Administration, he assumes all state authority. Later that year, the country is renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
  • 1931
    Alexander I promulgates a new constitution, the so-called “Imposed Constitution,” formally ending his period of personal rule.
  • 1934
    At Alexander I’s urging, the Balkan Pact is established between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece and Turkey, with the aim of safeguarding peace in the Balkans and the territorial integrity of its members.
  • 9 October 1934
    Alexander I is assassinated in Marseille, France, in a plot organised by Ustaše separatists and the Macedonian VMRO.
  • 18 October 1934
    After several days of mourning ceremonies and requiem services in Belgrade, Alexander I is laid to rest in St George’s Church at Oplenac.

https://muzej-jugoslavije.org/en/biography-of-king-alexander-i-karadjordjevic/

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