Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
(1918–1929)
*Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca*
Краљевина Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца
(Serbo-Croatian)
*Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev*
(Slovene)
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
(1929–1941)
*Kraljevina Jugoslavija*
(Serbo-Croatian and Slovene)
Краљевина Југославија
(Serbo-Croatian)
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes; (1918–1929); Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca; Краљевина Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца; (Serbo-Croatian); Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev; (Slovene) Kingdom of Yugoslavia; (1929–1941); Kraljevina Jugoslavija; (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene); Краљевина Југославија; (Serbo-Croatian)
1918–1941
	Flag Greater coat of arms
	Motto: Jedan narod, jedan kralj, jedna država ; Један народ, један краљ, једна држава ; "One People, One King, One State"
	Anthem: Himna Kraljevine Jugoslavije; Химна Краљевине Југославије; "National Anthem of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia";
	Location of Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1930 (green) in Europe (dark grey)
Capital and largest city	Belgrade; 44°48′35″N 20°27′47″E / 44.80972°N 20.46306°E
Official languages	Serbo-Croato-Slovene[a]
Common languages	German, Hungarian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian dialects, Romanian, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, Romani, Ladino
Demonym(s)	Yugoslav
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy; (1918–1929, 1931–1939); Unitary one-party absolute monarchy under royal dictatorship; (1929–1931); Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy; (1939–1941);
King
• 1918–1921	Peter I
• 1921–1934	Alexander I
• 1934–1941	Peter II[b]
Prince Regent
• 1918–1921	Prince Alexander
• 1934–1941	Prince Paul
Prime Minister
• 1918–1919 (first)	Stojan Protić
• 1941 (last)	Dušan Simović
Legislature	Provisional Representation; (1919–1920); National Assembly[c]; (1920–1941)
• Upper house	Senate; (since 1931)
• Lower house	Chamber of Deputies; (since 1931)
Historical era	Interwar period • World War II
• Established	1 December 1918
• Vidovdan Constitution	28 June 1921
• 6 Jan. Dictatorship	6 January 1929
• Octroic Constitution	3 September 1931
• King assassinated	9 October 1934
• Sporazum in Croatia	25 August 1939
• Joined the Axis	25 March 1941
• Coup d'état	27 March 1941
• Axis invasion	6 April 1941
• Government-in-exile	April 1941
• Provisional Government	7 March 1945
• Monarchy abolished	29 November 1945
Area
1941	247,542 km2 (95,577 sq mi)
Population
• 1918	12,017,323
• 1931	13,934,000
• 1941	15,839,364
Currency	Yugoslav krone; (1918–1920); Yugoslav dinar; (1920–1941);
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Kingdom of Serbia
	State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
	Kingdom of Hungary (Vojvodina)
	Kingdom of Italy (Istria, Trieste)
	Tsardom of Bulgaria (small portions)
	1924:; Kingdom of Romania (villages)
German-occupied Serbia
Italian governorate of Montenegro
Independent State of Croatia
Kingdom of Italy
Tsardom of Bulgaria
Kingdom of Hungary
Italian protectorate of Albania
Nazi Germany
Yugoslav; govt.-in-exile
Today part of	Slovenia; Croatia; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Serbia; Kosovo; Montenegro; North Macedonia
	^ Serbian and Croatian, highly mutually intelligible standard languages, were officially considered eastern and western varieties of a common language, contemporarily known as Serbo-Croatian. Slovene was considered a dialect of the common language despite low mutual intelligibility with Serbo-Croatian. 'Serbo-Croato-Slovene' was declared the single official language (srbsko-hrvatsko-slovenački or srbsko-hrvatsko-slovenski; also translated "Serbocroatoslovenian"). In practice it functioned as Serbo-Croatian.; ^ Peter II, still underage, was declared an adult by a military coup. Shortly after his assumption of royal authority, Yugoslavia was occupied by the Axis and the young King went into exile. In 1944, he accepted the formation of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. He was deposed by the Yugoslav parliament in 1945.; ^ Unicameral until 1931.;

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia^[9] was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" (lit. 'Land of the South Slavs') has been its colloquial name as early as 1922 due to its origins.^[10]^[11] The official name of the state was changed to "Kingdom of Yugoslavia" by King Alexander I on 3 October 1929.^[10]

The preliminary kingdom was formed in 1918 by the merger of the provisional State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (itself formed from territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, encompassing what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina and most of what are now the states of Croatia and Slovenia) and Banat, Bačka and Baranja (that had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary) with the formerly independent Kingdom of Serbia. In the same year, the Kingdom of Montenegro also proclaimed its unification with Serbia, whereas the regions of Kosovo and what is today North Macedonia had become parts of Serbia prior to the unification.^[12]

The state was ruled by the Serbian dynasty of Karađorđević, which previously ruled the Kingdom of Serbia under Peter I from 1903 (after the May Coup) onward. Peter I became the first king of Yugoslavia until his death in 1921. He was succeeded by his son Alexander I, who had been regent for his father. He was known as "Alexander the Unifier" and he renamed the kingdom "Yugoslavia" in 1929. He was assassinated in Marseille by Vlado Chernozemski, a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), during his visit to France in 1934. The crown passed to his 11-year-old son, Peter. Alexander's cousin Paul ruled as Prince regent until 1941, when Peter II came of age.^[13] The royal family flew to London the same year, prior to the country being invaded by the Axis powers.

In April 1941, the country was occupied and partitioned by the Axis powers. A royal government-in-exile, recognized by the United Kingdom and, later, by all the Allies, was established in London. In 1944, after pressure from the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the King recognized the government of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia as the legitimate government. This was established on 2 November following the signing of the Treaty of Vis by Ivan Šubašić (on behalf of the Kingdom) and Josip Broz Tito (on behalf of the Yugoslav Partisans).^[14]

^ Busch, Birgitta; Kelly-Holmes, Helen (2004). Language, Discourse and Borders in the Yugoslav Successor States. Multilingual Matters. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-8535-9732-9. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015. the official language of the Kingdom was 'Serbo-Croato-Slovenian'
^ Mesić, Milan (2004). Perspectives of Multiculturalism: Western and Transitional Countries. Zagreb: FF Press. p. 322. a triple-named language, called officially Serbo-Croato-Slovene
^ Tomasevich, Jozo (1975). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks. Stanford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-8047-0857-9.
^ Banac 1992, p. 58.
^ Myers, Paul F.; Campbell, Arthur A. (1954). The Population of Yugoslavia. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-5986-7845-4. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^ Израчунат број становника Југославије за 1941. и 1945 (PDF) (in Serbian). Државни статистички уред. 1945. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
^ Alexander, Ronelle (2013). "Language and Identity: The Fate of Serbo-Croatian". In Daskalov, Rumen; Marinov, Tchavdar (eds.). Entangled Histories of the Balkans: Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies. Koninklijke Brill NV. p. 371. ISBN 978-9-0042-5076-5. Archived from the original on 15 May 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015. Now, however, the official language of the new state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, bore the unwieldy name Serbo-Croato-Slovene (srbsko-hrvatsko-slovenački or srbsko-hrvatsko-slovenski).
^ Wojciechowski, Sebastian; Burszta, Wojciech J.; Kamusella, Tomasz (2006). Nationalisms across the globe: an overview of nationalisms in state-endowed and stateless nations. Vol. 2. School of Humanities and Journalism. p. 79. ISBN 978-8-3876-5346-0. Archived from the original on 11 May 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015. Similarly, the 1921 Constitution declared Serbocroatoslovenian as the official and national language of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians.
^ Kamusella, Tomasz (2009). The politics of language and nationalism in modern Central Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 228, 297. ISBN 978-0-2305-5070-4. Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Kraljevina Jugoslavija! Novi naziv naše države. No, mi smo itak med seboj vedno dejali Jugoslavija, četudi je bilo na vseh uradnih listih Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev. In tudi drugi narodi, kakor Nemci in Francozi, so pisali že prej v svojih listih mnogo o Jugoslaviji. 3. oktobra, ko je kralj Aleksander podpisal "Zakon o nazivu in razdelitvi kraljevine na upravna območja", pa je bil naslov kraljevine Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev za vedno izbrisan." (Naš rod ("Our Generation", a monthly Slovene language periodical), Ljubljana 1929/30, št. 1, str. 22, letnik I.)
^ Seton-Watson, Robert (1922). "Yugoslavia" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 32 (12th ed.).
^ "Yugoslavia from a Historical Perspective" (PDF). YU Historija. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
^ J. B. Hoptner (1963). "Yugoslavia in Crisis 1934–1941". Columbia University Press.
^ Roberts, Walter R. (1973). Tito, Mihailović, and the Allies, 1941–1945. Rutgers University Press. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-8135-0740-8. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2015.

[Busch2004-1] Busch, Birgitta; Kelly-Holmes, Helen (2004). Language, Discourse and Borders in the Yugoslav Successor States. Multilingual Matters. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-8535-9732-9. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015. the official language of the Kingdom was 'Serbo-Croato-Slovenian'

[2] Mesić, Milan (2004). Perspectives of Multiculturalism: Western and Transitional Countries. Zagreb: FF Press. p. 322. a triple-named language, called officially Serbo-Croato-Slovene

[3] Tomasevich, Jozo (1975). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks. Stanford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-8047-0857-9.

[FOOTNOTEBanac1992[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidKfqbujXqQBkCpgPA58_58]-4] Banac 1992, p. 58.

[5] Myers, Paul F.; Campbell, Arthur A. (1954). The Population of Yugoslavia. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-5986-7845-4. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

[6] Израчунат број становника Југославије за 1941. и 1945 (PDF) (in Serbian). Државни статистички уред. 1945. Retrieved 30 September 2021.

[7] Alexander, Ronelle (2013). "Language and Identity: The Fate of Serbo-Croatian". In Daskalov, Rumen; Marinov, Tchavdar (eds.). Entangled Histories of the Balkans: Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies. Koninklijke Brill NV. p. 371. ISBN 978-9-0042-5076-5. Archived from the original on 15 May 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015. Now, however, the official language of the new state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, bore the unwieldy name Serbo-Croato-Slovene (srbsko-hrvatsko-slovenački or srbsko-hrvatsko-slovenski).

[8] Wojciechowski, Sebastian; Burszta, Wojciech J.; Kamusella, Tomasz (2006). Nationalisms across the globe: an overview of nationalisms in state-endowed and stateless nations. Vol. 2. School of Humanities and Journalism. p. 79. ISBN 978-8-3876-5346-0. Archived from the original on 11 May 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015. Similarly, the 1921 Constitution declared Serbocroatoslovenian as the official and national language of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians.

[Tomasz_Kamusella_2008._pp._228,_297-9] Kamusella, Tomasz (2009). The politics of language and nationalism in modern Central Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 228, 297. ISBN 978-0-2305-5070-4. Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015.

[Naš_rod-10] "Kraljevina Jugoslavija! Novi naziv naše države. No, mi smo itak med seboj vedno dejali Jugoslavija, četudi je bilo na vseh uradnih listih Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev. In tudi drugi narodi, kakor Nemci in Francozi, so pisali že prej v svojih listih mnogo o Jugoslaviji. 3. oktobra, ko je kralj Aleksander podpisal "Zakon o nazivu in razdelitvi kraljevine na upravna območja", pa je bil naslov kraljevine Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev za vedno izbrisan." (Naš rod ("Our Generation", a monthly Slovene language periodical), Ljubljana 1929/30, št. 1, str. 22, letnik I.)

[11] Seton-Watson, Robert (1922). "Yugoslavia" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 32 (12th ed.).

[12] "Yugoslavia from a Historical Perspective" (PDF). YU Historija. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2020.

[13] J. B. Hoptner (1963). "Yugoslavia in Crisis 1934–1941". Columbia University Press.

[14] Roberts, Walter R. (1973). Tito, Mihailović, and the Allies, 1941–1945. Rutgers University Press. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-8135-0740-8. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2015.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]