Alexander I of Yugoslavia (Alexander the Liberator)

Alexander I (16 December 1888 [O.S. 4 December] – February or March 1945), also known as Alexander the Unifier, served as a prince regent of the Kingdom of Serbia from 1914 and later became King of Yugoslavia from 1921 to 1941.

Alexander spent his early youth in Geneva with his father, who was then in exile from Serbia, and in 1899 went to Saint Petersburg, where he entered the Imperial Russian Page Corps in 1904. In 1909, however, when his elder brother renounced his right of succession, Alexander became heir apparent. He would then joined his family in Serbia.

A distinguished commander in the Great Balkan War of 1912–13, Alexander was appointed regent of Serbia by his ailing father and during the First World War served as commander in chief of Serbia’s armed forces, entering Belgrade in triumph on 31 October 1918. As prince regent, he proclaimed the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes on 1 December 1918.

The instability of the new state was demonstrated by an assassination attempt on 28 June 1921, the day that Alexander swore an oath to uphold the constitution. Nevertheless, on 16 August, he succeeded his father as king and on 8 June 8 1922, he married Marie, a daughter of King Ferdinand I of Romania. Later Alexander attempted to consolidate the rival nationality groups and political parties into a unified state.

During the 1920s mounting political tensions forced numerous changes in government ministers and culminated in the murder of several Croat deputies by a Montenegrin deputy during a Skupština session. The Croat members then withdrew from the Skupština; and, because Alexander could neither negotiate a satisfactory compromise for restructuring the body nor form an effective government, he dissolved it, abolished the constitution of 1921, and established a royal dictatorship.

Continuing his efforts to unify his subjects, Alexander changed the name of the country to Yugoslavia (October 3, 1929), outlawed all political parties based on ethnic, religious, or regional distinctions, reorganized the state administratively, and standardized legal systems, school curricula, and national holidays. He also tried to relieve the peasantry’s financial difficulties, eased relations with Bulgaria, and engaged Yugoslavia in the Little Entente (with Czechoslovakia and Romania) and the Balkan Entente, an alliance with Greece, Turkey, and Romania. In the process Alexander created a police state that required military support for survival. When a new constitution was promulgated, the dictatorship was, in effect, given a legal foundation. Although Alexander’s acts were at first well received, demands for a return to democratic forms intensified by 1932, when a major economic crisis resulting from the worldwide depression added to political dissatisfaction.

Croat opposition to the new régime was strong and, in late 1932, the Croatian Peasant Party issued the Zagreb Manifesto which sought an end to Serb hegemony and dictatorship. The government reacted by imprisoning many political opponents including the new Croatian Peasant Party leader Vladko Maček. Despite these measures, opposition to the dictatorship continued, with Croats calling for a solution to what was called the "Croatian question". In late 1934, Alexander released Maček from prison and introduced democratic reforms. This was done to reach a final ground between the ethnic groups of Yugoslavia.

On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany. By 17 April 1941, the country was fully occupied and was soon carved up by the Axis. King Alexander would be killed early on in the war. Although circumstances are unclear, it is believed that he was captured while attempting to flee Belgrade from the advancing German and Italian armies and executed. Alexander's eldest son, Peter, became King of Yugoslavia as Peter II. Peter and his brothers were rescued by the Partisans and he was taken under the wing of Josip Broz Tito.