View source for Kingdom of Yugoslavia

{{Short description|Country in Southeast Europe (1918–1941)}}
{{About|the form of Yugoslavia from 1918 to 1941|the country as a whole|Yugoslavia}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs|State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes<br />{{Small|{{No bold|(1918–1929)}}<br />{{Lang|sh-Latn|Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca}}<br />{{Lang|sh-Cyrl|Краљевина Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца}}<br />{{No bold|([[Serbo-Croatian]])}}<br />{{Lang|sl|Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev}}<br />{{No bold|([[Slovene language|Slovene]])}}}} <hr/> Kingdom of Yugoslavia<br />{{Small|{{No bold|(1929–1941)}}<br />{{Lang|sh-Latn|Kraljevina Jugoslavija}}<br />{{No bold|(Serbo-Croatian and Slovene)}}<br />{{Lang|sh-Cyrl|Краљевина Југославија}}<br />{{No bold|(Serbo-Croatian)}}}}
| common_name            = Yugoslavia
| image_flag             = Flag of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.svg
| flag                   = Flag of Yugoslavia#History
| flag_type              = Flag
| flag_caption           =
| image_coat             = Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.svg
| symbol                 =
| symbol_type            = [[Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Greater coat of arms]]
| national_motto         = {{Lang|sh-Latn|Jedan narod, jedan kralj, jedna država}}{{Nbsp|2}}<br />{{Lang|sh-Cyrl|Један народ, један краљ, једна држава}}{{Nbsp|2}}<br />"One People, One King, One State"
| national_anthem        = [[National Anthem of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Himna Kraljevine Jugoslavije]]<br />Химна Краљевине Југославије<br />"National Anthem of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia"<br />{{Center|[[File:Himna Kraljevine Jugoslavije.ogg]]}}
| image_map              = {{Switcher|[[File:Europe-Kingdom of Yugoslavia (orthographic projection).svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Show globe|[[File:Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1930.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Show map of Europe|default=1}}
| image_map_caption      = Location of Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1930 (green) in [[Europe]] (dark grey)
| era                    = [[Interwar period]]{{*}}[[World War II]]
| demonym                = [[Yugoslavs|Yugoslav]]
| government_type        = {{Plainlist|
* [[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary]] [[constitutional monarchy]]<br />{{Nowrap|(1918–1929, 1931–1939)}}
* [[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[Yugoslav National Party|one-party]] [[absolute monarchy]] under [[6 January Dictatorship|royal dictatorship]]<br />(1929–1931)
* [[Federal monarchy|Federal]] [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary]] [[constitutional monarchy]]<br />(1939–1941)}}
| life_span              = 1918–1941
| event_start            = [[Creation of Yugoslavia|Established]]
| date_start             = 1 December
| year_start             = 1918
| event1                 = {{Nowrap|[[Vidovdan Constitution]]}}
| date_event1            = 28 June 1921
| event2                 = [[6 January Dictatorship|6 Jan. Dictatorship]]
| date_event2            = 6 January 1929
| event3                 = [[1931 Yugoslav Constitution|Octroic Constitution]]
| date_event3            = {{Nowrap|3 September 1931}}
| event4                 = [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia#Assassination|King assassinated]]
| date_event4            = 9 October 1934
| event5                 = {{Nowrap|[[Cvetković–Maček Agreement|Sporazum]] in [[Banovina of Croatia|Croatia]]}}
| date_event5            = 25 August 1939
| event6                 = {{Nowrap|[[Yugoslav accession to the Tripartite Pact|Joined]] the [[Axis powers|Axis]]}}
| date_event6            = 25 March 1941
| event7                 = [[Yugoslav coup d'état|Coup d'état]]
| date_event7            = 27 March 1941
| event8                 = [[Invasion of Yugoslavia|Axis invasion]]
| date_event8            = 6 April 1941
| event9                 = [[Yugoslav government-in-exile|Government-in-exile]]
| date_event9            = April 1941
| event_end              = [[Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia|Provisional Government]]
| date_end               = 7 March
| year_end               = 1945
| event_post             = [[Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia|Monarchy abolished]]
| date_post              = 29 November 1945
| p1                     = Kingdom of Serbia
| flag_p1                = State Flag of Serbia (1882-1918).svg
| p2                     = State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
| flag_p2                = Flag of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.svg
| p3                     = Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen{{!}}Kingdom of Hungary (Vojvodina)
| flag_p3                = Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg
| p4                     = Kingdom of Italy{{!}}Kingdom of Italy (Istria, Trieste)
| flag_p4                = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
| p5                     = Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946){{!}}Tsardom of Bulgaria (small portions)
| flag_p5                = Flag of Bulgaria.svg
| p6                     = Kingdom of Romania{{!}}'''1924:'''<br />Kingdom of Romania (villages)
| flag_p6                = Flag of Romania.svg
| s1                     = Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia{{!}}German-occupied Serbia
| flag_s1                = Flag of the German Reich (1935–1945).svg
| s2                     = Italian governorate of Montenegro
| flag_s2                = Flag of Montenegro (1905–1918, 1941–1944).svg
| s3                     = Independent State of Croatia
| flag_s3                = Flag of Independent State of Croatia.svg
| s4                     = Kingdom of Italy
| flag_s4                = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
| s5                     = Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946){{!}}Tsardom of Bulgaria
| flag_s5                = Flag of Bulgaria.svg
| s6                     = Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946){{!}} Kingdom of Hungary
| flag_s6                = Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg
| s7                     = Italian protectorate of Albania (1939–1943){{!}}Italian protectorate of Albania
| flag_s7                = Flag of Albania (1939–1943).svg
| s8                     = Nazi Germany
| flag_s8                = Flag of the German Reich (1935–1945).svg
| s9                     = Yugoslav government-in-exile{{!}}Yugoslav<br />govt.-in-exile
| today                  = {{Flag|Slovenia}}<br />{{Flag|Croatia}}<br />{{Flag|Bosnia and Herzegovina}}<br />{{Flag|Serbia}}<br />{{Flag|Kosovo}}<br />{{Flag|Montenegro}}<br />{{Flag|North Macedonia}}
| flag_s9                = Flag of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.svg
| official_languages     = [[Serbo-Croatian|Serbo-Croato-Slovene]]{{Ref label|scs|a|}}<ref name="Busch2004">{{Cite book |last1=Busch |first1=Birgitta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MlXQ5zKb_VQC&pg=PA26 |title=Language, Discourse and Borders in the Yugoslav Successor States |last2=Kelly-Holmes |first2=Helen |date=2004 |publisher=Multilingual Matters |isbn=978-1-8535-9732-9 |page=26 |quote=the official language of the Kingdom was 'Serbo-Croato-Slovenian' |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426230442/https://books.google.com/books?id=MlXQ5zKb_VQC&pg=PA26 |archive-date=26 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mesić |first=Milan |title=Perspectives of Multiculturalism: Western and Transitional Countries |date=2004 |publisher=FF Press |location=Zagreb |page=322 |quote=a triple-named language, called officially Serbo-Croato-Slovene}}</ref>
| common_languages       = [[German language|German]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Macedonian dialects]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Aromanian language|Aromanian]], [[Megleno-Romanian language|Megleno-Romanian]], [[Romani language|Romani]], [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]]
| capital                = [[Belgrade]]
| largest_city           = capital
| coordinates            = {{Coord|44|48|35|N|20|27|47|E|type:city|display=inline,title}}
| currency               = {{Plainlist|
* [[Yugoslav krone]]<br />(1918–1920)
* [[Yugoslav dinar]]<br />(1920–1941)}}|
| title_leader           = [[List of heads of state of Yugoslavia#Kingdom of Yugoslavia|King]]
| leader1                = [[Peter I of Yugoslavia|Peter I]]
| year_leader1           = 1918–1921
| leader2                = [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|Alexander I]]
| year_leader2           = 1921–1934
| leader3                = [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter II]]{{Ref label|ptr|b|}}
| year_leader3           = 1934–1941
| title_representative   = [[List of Yugoslav regents|Prince Regent]]
| representative1        = [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|Prince Alexander]]
| year_representative1   = 1918–1921
| representative2        = [[Prince Paul of Yugoslavia|Prince Paul]]
| year_representative2   = 1934–1941
| title_deputy           = [[Prime Minister of Yugoslavia|Prime Minister]]
| deputy1                = [[Stojan Protić]]
| year_deputy1           = 1918–1919 (first)
| deputy2                = [[Dušan Simović]]
| year_deputy2           = 1941 (last)
| legislature            = [[Temporary National Representation|Provisional Representation]]<br />(1919–1920)<br />[[Parliament of Yugoslavia|National Assembly]]{{Ref label|c|c}}<br />(1920–1941)
| house1                 = Senate<br />(since 1931)
| house2                 = Chamber of Deputies<br />(since 1931)|
| stat_year1             = 1918
| stat_pop1              = 12,017,323
| ref_pop1               = {{Sfn|Banac|1992|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KfqbujXqQBkC&pg=PA58 58]}}
| stat_year2             = 1931
| stat_pop2              = 13,934,000
| ref_pop2               = <ref>{{Cite book |last1=Myers |first1=Paul F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wvcw5ZhEF64C&pg=PA152 |title=The Population of Yugoslavia |last2=Campbell |first2=Arthur A. |date=1954 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-5986-7845-4 |page=152 |language=en |access-date=30 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930000057/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wvcw5ZhEF64C&pg=PA152 |archive-date=30 September 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| stat_year3             = 1941
| stat_pop3              = 15,839,364
| ref_pop3               = <ref>{{Cite book |url=https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G1945/Pdf/G19454001.pdf |title=Израчунат број становника Југославије за 1941. и 1945. |date=1945 |publisher=Државни статистички уред |language=sr |access-date=30 September 2021}}</ref>
| stat_area3             = 247542
| ref_area3              = <ref>{{Cite book |last=Tomasevich |first=Jozo |title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks |date=1975 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-0857-9 |page=93}}</ref>
| footnote_a             = {{Note|scs}} [[Serbian language|Serbian]] and [[Croatian language|Croatian]], highly mutually intelligible standard languages, were officially considered eastern and western varieties of a common language, contemporarily known as [[Serbo-Croatian]]. [[Slovene language|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 ({{Lang|sh|srbsko-hrvatsko-slovenački}} or {{Lang|sh|srbsko-hrvatsko-slovenski}}; also translated "Serbocroatoslovenian"). In practice it functioned as Serbo-Croatian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Ronelle |title=Entangled Histories of the Balkans: Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies |date=2013 |publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV |isbn=978-9-0042-5076-5 |editor-last=Daskalov |editor-first=Rumen |page=371 |chapter=Language and Identity: The Fate of Serbo-Croatian |quote=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''). |access-date=25 October 2015 |editor-last2=Marinov |editor-first2=Tchavdar |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FGmJqMflYgoC&pg=PA371 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515051608/https://books.google.com/books?id=FGmJqMflYgoC&pg=PA371 |archive-date=15 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wojciechowski |first1=Sebastian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HXYUAQAAIAAJ |title=Nationalisms across the globe: an overview of nationalisms in state-endowed and stateless nations |last2=Burszta |first2=Wojciech J. |last3=Kamusella |first3=Tomasz |date=2006 |publisher=School of Humanities and Journalism |isbn=978-8-3876-5346-0 |volume=2 |page=79 |quote=Similarly, the 1921 Constitution declared Serbocroatoslovenian as the official and national language of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians. |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511084521/https://books.google.com/books?id=HXYUAQAAIAAJ |archive-date=11 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| footnote_b             = {{Note|ptr}} [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter II]], still underage, was declared an adult by a military [[Yugoslav coup d'état|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.
| footnote_c             = {{Note|c}} Unicameral until 1931.
}}

The '''Kingdom of Yugoslavia'''<ref name="Tomasz Kamusella 2008. pp. 228, 297">{{Cite book |last=Kamusella |first=Tomasz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzEqAQAAIAAJ |title=The politics of language and nationalism in modern Central Europe |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-2305-5070-4 |pages=228, 297 |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518085413/https://books.google.com/books?id=mzEqAQAAIAAJ |archive-date=18 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> was a country in [[Southeast Europe|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]]" ({{Literally|Land of the [[South Slavs]]}}) has been its colloquial name as early as 1922 due to its origins.<ref name="Naš rod"> "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.) </ref><ref>{{cite EB1922 |wstitle= Yugoslavia |volume = 32 |last= Seton-Watson |first= Robert |author-link= Robert Seton-Watson |short= 1}}</ref> The official name of the state was changed to "Kingdom of Yugoslavia" by [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|King Alexander I]] on 3 October 1929.<ref name="Naš rod" />

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 [[Austria-Hungary|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 [[Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yugoslavia from a Historical Perspective |url=http://www.yuhistorija.com/doc/yugoslavia%20from%20a%20historical%20perspective.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331215651/http://yuhistorija.com/doc/yugoslavia%20from%20a%20historical%20perspective.pdf |archive-date=31 March 2022 |access-date=7 December 2020 |publisher=YU Historija}}</ref>

The state was ruled by the Serbian [[Karađorđević dynasty|dynasty of Karađorđević]], which previously ruled the Kingdom of Serbia under [[Peter I of Serbia|Peter&nbsp;I]] from 1903 (after the [[May Coup (Serbia)|May Coup]]) onward. Peter I became the first king of Yugoslavia, reigning until his death in 1921. He was succeeded by his son Alexander&nbsp;I, who had been regent for his father. He was known as "Alexander the Unifier" and he renamed the kingdom "Yugoslavia" in 1929.<!-- As mentioned above.(?) --> He was assassinated in [[Marseille]] by [[Vlado Chernozemski]], a member of the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] (IMRO), during his visit to [[French Third Republic|France]] in 1934. The crown passed to his 11-year-old son, [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter]]. Alexander's cousin [[Prince Paul of Yugoslavia|Paul]] ruled as [[Prince regent]] until 1941, when Peter II came of age.<ref>{{Cite web |last=J. B. Hoptner |date=1963 |title=Yugoslavia in Crisis 1934–1941 |url=https://archive.org/details/yugoslaviaincris012757mbp |publisher=Columbia University Press}}</ref> The royal family flew to [[London]] the same year, prior to the country being [[Invasion of Yugoslavia|invaded]] by the [[Axis powers]].

In April 1941, the country was occupied and [[World War II in Yugoslavia|partitioned by the Axis powers]]. A royal [[Yugoslav government-in-exile|government-in-exile]], recognized by the [[United Kingdom]] and, later, by all the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], was established in [[London]]. In 1944, after pressure from the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]], the [[King of Yugoslavia|King]] recognized the government of [[Democratic Federal Yugoslavia]] as the legitimate government. This was established on 2 November following the signing of the [[Tito–Šubašić Agreements|Treaty of Vis]] by [[Ivan Šubašić]] (on behalf of the Kingdom) and [[Josip Broz Tito]] (on behalf of the [[Yugoslav Partisans]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Walter R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNBmAAAAMAAJ |title=Tito, Mihailović, and the Allies, 1941–1945 |date=1973 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-0740-8 |page=288 |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211134033/https://books.google.com/books?id=fNBmAAAAMAAJ |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Formation==
{{Main|Creation of Yugoslavia}}

[[File:SHS slavlje 1918.jpg|left|thumb|Celebrations in [[Zagreb]] during the formation of the ''National Council'' of the [[State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs]], October 1918]]
[[File:Serbian Army enters Zagreb.jpg|left|thumb|[[Royal Serbian Army|Serbian Army]] in [[Zagreb]]'s [[Ban Jelačić Square]] in 1918]]
[[File:SHS 1918 adresa Aleksandru.jpg|left|thumb|Delegation of the National Council of the ''State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs'' led by [[Ante Pavelić (1869–1938)|Ante Pavelić]] reading the address in front of regent Alexander, 1 December 1918]]

Following the [[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand|assassination]] of [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria]] by the [[Bosnian Serb]] [[Gavrilo Princip]] and the outbreak of [[World War I]], [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]] was [[Serbian campaign|invaded and occupied]] by a combined [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgarian]], Austrian and [[German Empire|German]] force on 6 October 1915. This saw the escalation of [[Yugoslavism|South Slavic nationalism]] and calls by [[Yugoslavism|Slavic nationalists]] for the independence and unification of the [[South Slavs|South Slavic nationalities]] of Austria-Hungary along with Serbia and [[Kingdom of Montenegro|Montenegro]] into a single [[State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Austria's Archduke Ferdinand assassinated |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/archduke-ferdinand-assassinated#:~:text=Archduke%20Franz%20Ferdinand%20of%20Austria,War%20I%20by%20early%20August |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607210816/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/archduke-ferdinand-assassinated#:~:text=Archduke%20Franz%20Ferdinand%20of%20Austria,War%20I%20by%20early%20August |archive-date=7 June 2022 |access-date=7 December 2020 |website=History | date=9 February 2010 |publisher=A&E Television Networks}}</ref>

The [[Dalmatia]]n [[Croats|Croat]] politician [[Ante Trumbić]] became a prominent South Slavic leader during the war and led the [[Yugoslav Committee]] that lobbied the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] to support the [[Creation of Yugoslavia|creation of an independent Yugoslavia]].<ref name="Spencer Tucker 2005">Spencer Tucker. ''Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, and Military History''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2005. p. 1189.</ref> Trumbić faced initial hostility from [[Prime Minister of Serbia|Serbian Prime Minister]] [[Nikola Pašić]], who preferred an [[Greater Serbia|enlarged Serbia]] over a unified Yugoslav state. However, both Pašić and Trumbić agreed to a compromise, which was delivered at the [[Corfu Declaration]] on 20 July 1917 that advocated the creation of a united state of [[Serbs]], Croats, and [[Slovenes]] to be led by the Serbian [[House of Karađorđević]].<ref name="Spencer Tucker 2005" />

In 1916, the Yugoslav Committee started negotiations with the [[Serbian Campaign (World War I)#1915|Serbian Government]] in [[exile]], on which they decided on the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, declaring the joint Corfu Declaration in 1917, the meetings were held at the [[Municipal Theatre of Corfu]].<ref name="History of the municipal theatre">[http://www.corfu.gr/en/profil/theatro.htm History of the municipal theatre] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623224051/http://www.corfu.gr/en/profil/theatro.htm |date=23 June 2007}} from Corfu city hall Quote: "The Municipal Theatre was not only an Art-monument but also a historical one. On its premises the exiled Serbian parliament, held meetings in 1916, which decided the creation of the new Unified Kingdom of Yugoslavia."</ref>

In November 1918, the National Council of the [[State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs]] appointed 28 members to start negotiation with the representatives of the government of the Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro on creation of a new Yugoslav state, the delegation negotiated directly with [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|regent Alexander Karađorđević]].<ref>Boban, Ljubo, ''When and how was the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs formed'', Institute of Croatian History, {{Issn|0353-295X}}, volume 26, issue 1, 1993, pp. 187–198</ref> The negotiations would end, with the delegation of the National Council of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs led by [[Ante Pavelić (1869–1938)|Ante Pavelić]] reading the address in front of regent Alexander, who represented his father, King [[Peter I of Serbia]], by which acceptance the kingdom was established.<ref>Budisavljević Srđan, Stvaranje Države Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca (Creating the State of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), Zagreb, 1958, pp. 170–175.</ref>

The name of the new Yugoslav state was Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes ({{Lang-sh-Latn-Cyrl|separator=" / "|Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca|Краљевина Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца}}; {{Langx|sl|Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev}}) or its abbreviated form Kingdom of SCS ({{Lang|sh-Latn|Kraljevina SHS}} / {{Lang|sh-Cyrl|Краљевина СХС}}).

The new kingdom was made up of the formerly independent kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro ([[Podgorica Assembly|Montenegro having been absorbed into Serbia the previous month]]), and of a substantial amount of territory that was formerly part of Austria-Hungary, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The main states which formed the new Kingdom were the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs; [[Vojvodina]]; and the Kingdom of Serbia with the Kingdom of Montenegro.

The creation of the state was supported by [[Pan-Slavism|pan-Slavists]] and Yugoslav nationalists. For the pan-Slavic movement, all of the South Slav (Yugoslav) people had united into a single state. The creation was also supported by the Allies, who sought to [[Dissolution of Austria-Hungary|break up the Austro-Hungarian Empire]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

The newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes participated in the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] with Trumbić as the country's representative.<ref name="Spencer Tucker 2005" /> Since the [[Treaty of London (1915)|Allies had lured]] the [[Kingdom of Italy|Italians]] into the war with a promise of [[Italian irredentism|substantial territorial gains in exchange]], which cut off a [[Slovene minority in Italy (1920–1947)|quarter of Slovene ethnic territory]] from the remaining three-quarters of Slovenes living in the Kingdom of SCS, Trumbić successfully vouched for the inclusion of most [[Slavs]] living in the former Austria-Hungary to be included within the borders of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Nevertheless, with the [[Treaty of Rapallo (1920)|Treaty of Rapallo]]<ref name="Spencer Tucker 2005" /> a population of half a million South Slavs,<ref name="HehnP_Low_Dishonest_Decade">Hehn, Paul N. (2005) [https://books.google.com/books?id=nOALhEZkYDkC&pg=PA45&dq=%22the+treaty+left+half+a+million+Slavs+inside+Italy+while+only+a+few+hundred+Italians&lr=&sig=ACfU3U1d_etPPJL-3k8nsYws4mfuun44sQ A Low Dishonest Decade: Italy, the Powers and Eastern Europe, 1918–1939.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915190736/https://books.google.com/books?id=nOALhEZkYDkC&pg=PA45&dq=%22the+treaty+left+half+a+million+Slavs+inside+Italy+while+only+a+few+hundred+Italians&lr=&sig=ACfU3U1d_etPPJL-3k8nsYws4mfuun44sQ |date=15 September 2015}}, Chapter 2, ''Mussolini, Prisoner of the Mediterranean''</ref> mostly Slovenes, were subjected to forced [[Italianization]] until the [[Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy|fall of Fascism in Italy]]. At the time when [[Benito Mussolini]] was willing to modify the Rapallo borders in order to annex the independent state of [[Rijeka]] to [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Italy]], Pašić's attempts to correct the borders at [[Postojna]] and [[Idrija]] were effectively undermined by the regent Alexander who preferred "good [[Italy–Yugoslavia relations|relations]]" with Italy.<ref>Čermelj, L. (1955). [http://sistory.si/SISTORY:ID:12218 Kako je prišlo do prijateljskega pakta med Italijo in kraljevino SHS] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506020815/https://sistory.si/SISTORY:ID:12218 |date=6 May 2022}} (How the Friendsjip Treaty between Italy and the Kingdom of SHS Came About in 1924), ''Zgodovinski časopis'', 1–4, p. 195, Ljubljana</ref>

[[File:Mihajlo Pupin.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mihajlo Pupin]], [[Serbs|Serbian]] physicist and physical chemist. He influenced the final decisions of the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] when the borders of the Kingdom were drawn.]]

The Yugoslav kingdom bordered Italy and [[First Austrian Republic|Austria]] to the northwest at the Rapallo border, [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] and [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]] to the north, Bulgaria to the east, [[Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg)|Greece]] and [[Principality of Albania|Albania]] to the south, and the [[Adriatic Sea]] to the west. Almost immediately, it ran into disputes with most of its neighbours. [[Slovene Lands|Slovenia]] was difficult to determine, since it had been an integral part of Austria for 400 years. The Vojvodina region was disputed with Hungary, [[Vardar Macedonia|Macedonia]] with Bulgaria, Rijeka with Italy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stiftung |first=Friedrich Ebert |date=2013 |title=Serbian-Bulgarian Historical Ties |url=https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/belgrad/10635.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121055031/http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/belgrad/10635.pdf |archive-date=21 January 2022 |access-date=7 December 2020 |publisher=ISAC Fund}}</ref>

A [[1920 Carinthian plebiscite|plebiscite]] was also held in the [[Duchy of Carinthia|Province of Carinthia]], which opted to remain in Austria. [[Austrians]] had formed a majority in this region although numbers reflected that some [[Carinthian Slovenes|Slovenes]] did vote for Carinthia to become part of Austria. The Dalmatian port city of [[Zadar]] and a few of the Dalmatian islands were given to Italy. The city of Rijeka was declared to be the [[Free State of Fiume]], but it was soon occupied, and in 1924 [[Treaty of Rome (1924)|annexed]], by Italy, which had also been promised the Dalmatian coast during World War I, and Yugoslavia claiming [[Istria]], a part of the former [[Austrian Littoral]] which had been annexed to Italy, but which contained a considerable population of Croats and Slovenes.

The formation of the [[Vidovdan Constitution]] in 1921 sparked tensions between the different [[Ethnic groups in Yugoslavia|Yugoslav ethnic groups]].<ref name="Spencer Tucker 2005" /> Trumbić opposed the 1921 constitution and over time grew increasingly hostile towards the Yugoslav government that he saw as being centralized in the favor of Serb hegemony over Yugoslavia.<ref name="Spencer Tucker 2005" />

==Economy==

=== Farming ===
[[File:Strojna mlatev pšenice v Šmarci pri Vavpetiču okoli leta 1930.jpg|thumb|Slovene farmers threshing wheat (1930s)]]

Three-quarters of the Yugoslav workforce was engaged in agriculture. A few commercial farmers existed, but most were subsistence peasants. Those in the south were especially poor, living in a hilly, infertile region. No large estates existed except in the north, and all of those were owned by foreigners. Indeed, one of the first actions undertaken by the new Yugoslav state in 1919 was to break up the estates and dispose of foreign, and in particular [[Hungarian people|Hungarian]] landowners. Nearly 40% of the rural population was surplus (i.e., excess people not needed to maintain current production levels), and despite a warm climate, Yugoslavia was also relatively dry. Internal communications were poor, damage from World War I had been extensive, and with few exceptions agriculture was devoid of machinery or other modern farming technologies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Farming as a Way of Life: Yugoslav Peasant Attitudes |url=https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=halpern_joel |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625043803/https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=halpern_joel |archive-date=25 June 2021 |access-date=7 December 2020}}</ref>

The 1931 census revealed that 34% of Yugoslav peasants owned less than five acres of land; another 34% owned between five-twelve acres of land; 29% owned fifty acres; and 3% owned more than fifty acres.{{sfn|Calic|2019|p=91}} The interwar era saw the emergence of a class known as the worker-peasants who engaged in seasonal work, working part of the year on the farm and another part in industry, usually mining.{{sfn|Calic|2019|p=92}} About 90% of Yugoslav farmers owned their own land, which explained why so many were unwilling to break with their rural lifestyle completely.{{sfn|Calic|2019|p=92}} More than half of industrial workers belonged to the worker-peasant category.{{sfn|Calic|2019|p=92}} In 1931, the Social Ministry reported: that in Yugoslavia there is a constant stream of laborers coming and going from agriculture to industry and vice versa. What has developed is a new class of workers-we call them industrialized peasants-who are regularly employed industry without having broken their ties to agriculture".{{sfn|Calic|2019|p=92}} The Great Depression hurt Yugoslavia very badly with most people living a lower standard of living in 1940 than they had in 1920.{{sfn|Calic|2019|p=107}} Between 1925-1933, the income of peasants fell by two-thirds.{{sfn|Calic|2019|p=107}}

=== Manufacturing ===
Manufacturing was limited to [[Belgrade]] and the other major population centers, and consisted mainly of small, comparatively primitive facilities that produced strictly for the domestic market. The commercial potential of Yugoslavia's [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] ports went to waste because the nation lacked the capital or technical knowledge to operate a shipping industry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Adriatic Sea |url=https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/sites/maritimeaffairs/files/docs/body/case_study_adriatic_sea_en.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027045805/https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/sites/maritimeaffairs/files/docs/body/case_study_adriatic_sea_en.pdf |archive-date=27 October 2020 |access-date=7 December 2020 |publisher=European Commission}}</ref> On the other hand, the mining industry was well developed due to the nation's abundance of mineral resources, but since it was primarily owned and operated by foreigners, most production was exported. Yugoslavia was the third least industrialized nation in Eastern Europe after [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] and [[Albania]].

Yugoslavia was rich in deposits of coal, iron, copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, chrome, manganese and bauxite, and mining was one of the most important industries in the kingdom. The backwardness of Yugoslavia prevented the mining industry from becoming the basis of an industrial society. The lack of electricity was a major problem. In 1934, the estimated per capita electricity consumption was approximately 90 kilowatt-hours per year in Belgrade, compared to 253 kWh/year in Budapest and 367 kWh/year in Paris. The lack of a manufacturing basis led to the situation where raw materials were exported from Yugoslavia to more developed nations, usually Britain, France or Germany, and Yugoslavs had to buy the products from those nations made with their raw materials. Despite these limitations, industry did begin to grow in Yugoslavia with 2,193 factories being opened between 1919-1938. The majority of the factories were opened in Slovenia, which had 47% of the factories, followed by Croatia at 37% and Serbia at 24%. The least industrialized regions were Kosovo and Macedonia, which 14% of the factories that were opened.{{sfn|Calic|2019|p=93}}

=== Debt ===
[[File:Königreich der Serben, Kroaten und Slowenen 1921.JPG|thumb|Bond of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes for the liquidation of the agro-debts from Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued 18 June 1921]]

Yugoslavia was typical of Eastern European nations in that it borrowed large sums of money from the West during the 1920s. When the [[Great Depression]] began in 1929, the Western lenders called in their debts, which could not be paid back. Some of the money was lost to graft, although most was used by farmers to improve production and export potential. Agricultural exports, however, were always an unstable prospect as their export earnings were heavily reliant on volatile world market prices. The Great Depression caused the market for them to collapse as global demand contracted heavily and the situation for export-oriented farmers further deteriorated when nations everywhere started to erect trade barriers. Italy was a major trading partner of Yugoslavia in the initial years after World War I, but ties fell off after [[Benito Mussolini]] came to power in 1922. In the grim economic situation of the 1930s, Yugoslavia followed the lead of its neighbors in allowing itself to become a dependent of [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Great Depression |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Balkans/The-Great-Depression |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027053332/https://www.britannica.com/place/Balkans/The-Great-Depression |archive-date=27 October 2020 |access-date=7 December 2020 |publisher=Britannica}}</ref>

=== Education ===
Although Yugoslavia had enacted a compulsory public education policy, it was inaccessible to many peasants in the countryside. Official literacy figures for the population stood at 50%, but it varied widely throughout the country. Less than 10% of Slovenes were illiterate, whereas over 80% of Macedonians and Bosnians could not read or write. Approximately 10% of initial elementary school students went on to attend higher forms of education, at one of the country's three universities in [[University of Belgrade|Belgrade]], [[University of Ljubljana|Ljubljana]], and [[University of Zagreb|Zagreb]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tomich |first=Vera |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8QRcyAEACAAJ |title=Education in Yugoslavia and the New Reform: The Legal Basis, Organization, Administration, and Program of the Secondary Schools |date=1963 |publisher=U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education |page=102 |access-date=7 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228235403/https://books.google.com/books?id=8QRcyAEACAAJ |archive-date=28 February 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Political history==

===Early politics===
[[File:NikolaPasic--serbiaherpeopleh00petruoft.png|thumb|upright|Between 1918 and 1926, [[Nikola Pašić]] held the position of [[Prime Minister of Yugoslavia]] three times.]]
Immediately after 1 December proclamation, negotiations between the [[National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs]] and the Serbian government resulted in agreement over the new government which was to be headed by [[Nikola Pašić]]. However, when this agreement was submitted to the approval of the regent, Alexander Karađorđević, it was rejected, producing the new state's first governmental crisis. Many regarded this rejection as a violation of parliamentary principles, but the matter was resolved when the regent suggested replacing Pašić with [[Stojan Protić]], a leading member of Pašić's Radical Party. The National Council and the Serbian government agreed and the new government came into existence on 20 December 1918.{{Sfn|Lampe|2000|p=112}}<ref>Gligorijević, Branislav (1979) ''Parliament i političke stranke u Jugoslaviji 1919–1929'' Institut za savremenu istoriju, Narodna knjiga, Belgrade, {{OCLC|6420325}} {{Page needed|date=July 2015}}</ref>

In this period before the election of the Constituent Assembly, a [[Temporary National Representation|Provisional Representation]] served as a parliament which was formed by delegates from the various elected bodies that had existed before the creation of the state. A realignment of parties combining several members of the Serbian opposition with political parties from the former Austria-Hungary led to the creation of a new party, The Democratic Party, that dominated the Provisional Representation and the government.

Because the Democratic Party led by [[Ljubomir Davidović]] pushed a highly centralized agenda a number of Croatian delegates moved into opposition. However, the radicals themselves were not happy that they had only three ministers to the Democratic Party's 11 and, on 16 August 1919, Protić handed in his resignation. Davidović then formed a coalition with the Social Democrats. This government had a majority, but the quorum of the Provisional Representation was half plus one vote. The opposition then began to boycott the parliament. As the government could never guarantee that all of its supporters would turn up, it became impossible to hold a quorate meeting of the parliament. Davidović soon resigned, but as no one else could form a government he again became prime minister. As the opposition continued their boycott, the government decided it had no alternative but to rule by decree. This was denounced by the opposition who began to style themselves as the Parliamentary Community. Davidović realized that the situation was untenable and asked the King to hold immediate elections for the Constituent Assembly. When the King refused, he felt he had no alternative but to resign.

The Parliamentary Community now formed a government led by Stojan Protić committed to the restoration of parliamentary norms and mitigating the centralization of the previous government. Their opposition to the former governments program of radical land reform also united them. As several small groups and individuals switched sides, Protić now even had a small majority. However, the Democratic Party and the Social Democrats now boycotted parliament and Protić was unable to muster a quorum. Hence the Parliamentary Community, now in government, was forced to rule by decree.

For the Parliamentary Community to thus violate the basic principle around which they had formed put them in an extremely difficult position. In April 1920, widespread worker unrest and a railway strike broke out. According to Gligorijević, this put pressure on the two main parties to settle their differences. After successful negotiations, Protić resigned to make way for a new government led by the neutral figure of Milenko Vesnić. The Social Democrats did not follow the Democratic Party, their former allies, into government because they were opposed to the anti-communist measures to which the new government was committed.

The controversies that had divided the parties earlier were still very much live issues. The Democratic Party continued to push its agenda of centralization and still insisted on the need for radical land reform. A disagreement over electoral law finally led the Democratic Party to vote against the government in Parliament and the government was defeated. Though this meeting had not been quorate, Vesnić used this as a pretext to resign. His resignation had the intended effect: the Radical Party agreed to accept the need for centralization, and the Democratic Party agreed to drop its insistence on land reform. Vesnić again headed the new government. The Croatian Community and the Slovenian People's Party were however not happy with the Radicals' acceptance of centralization. Neither was Stojan Protić, and he withdrew from the government on this issue.

In September 1920 a peasant revolt broke out in Croatia, the immediate cause of which was the branding of the peasants' cattle. The Croatian community blamed the centralizing policies of the government and of minister [[Svetozar Pribićević]] in particular.

===Constituent assembly to dictatorship===
[[File:Scs kingdom provinces 1920 1922 en.png|thumb|right|200px|Provinces of the Kingdom in 1920–1922]]
[[File:Scs kingdom oblasts 1922 1929 en.png|thumb|right|200px|[[Oblasts of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]]]]
One of the few laws successfully passed by the Provisional Representation was the electoral law for the constituent assembly. During the negotiations that preceded the foundation of the new state, it had been agreed that voting would be secret and based on universal suffrage. It had not occurred to them that universal might include women until the beginning of a movement for women's suffrage appeared with the creation of the new state. The Social Democrats and the Slovenian People's Party supported women's suffrage but the Radicals opposed it. The Democratic Party was open to the idea but not committed enough to make an issue of it so the proposal fell. Proportional Representation was accepted in principle but the system chosen ([[d'Hondt method|d'Hondt]] with very small constituencies) favored large parties and parties with strong regional support.

The election was held on 28 November 1920. When the votes were counted the Democratic Party had won the most seats, more than the Radicals – but only just. For a party that had been so dominant in the Provisional Representation, that amounted to a defeat. Further it had done rather badly in all former Austria-Hungarian areas. That undercut the party's belief that its centralization policy represented the will of the Yugoslav people as a whole. The Radicals had done no better in that region but this presented them far less of a problem because they had campaigned openly as a Serbian party. The most dramatic gains had been made by the two anti-system parties. The [[Croatian Peasant Party|Croatian Republican Peasant Party]]'s leadership had been released from prison only as the election campaign began to get underway. According to Gligorijević, this had helped them more than active campaigning. The Croatian community (that had in a timid way tried to express the discontent that Croatian Republican Peasant Party mobilized) had been too tainted by their participation in government and was all but eliminated. The other gainers were the communists who had done especially well in the wider [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] region. The remainder of the seats were taken up by smaller parties that were at best skeptical of the centralizing platform of the Democratic Party.

The results left Nikola Pašić in a very strong position as the Democrats had no choice but to ally with the Radicals if they wanted to get their concept of a centralized Yugoslavia through. Pašić was always careful to keep open the option of a deal with the Croatian opposition. The Democrats and the Radicals were not quite strong enough to get the constitution through on their own and they made an alliance with the Yugoslav Muslim Organization (JMO). The Muslim party sought and got concessions over the preservation of Bosnia in its borders and how the land reform would affect Muslim landowners in Bosnia.

The Croatian Republican Peasant Party refused to swear allegiance to the King on the grounds that this presumed that Yugoslavia would be a monarchy, something that it contended only the Constituent Assembly could decide. The party was unable to take its seats. Most of the opposition though initially taking their seats declared boycotts as time went so that there were few votes against. However, the constitution decided against 1918 agreement between the [[State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs]] and the [[Kingdom of Serbia]], which stated that a 66% majority that 50% plus one vote would be needed to pass, irrespective of how many voted against. Only last minute concessions to [[Džemijet]], a group of Muslims from [[Vardar Macedonia|Macedonia]] and Kosovo, saved it.

[[File:Proglašenje Vidovdanskog ustava 1921.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Vidovdan Constitution]]]]
On 28 June 1921, the [[Vidovdan Constitution]] was passed, establishing a [[unitary state|unitary]] monarchy. The pre–World War I traditional regions were abolished and 33 new administrative ''[[Oblasts of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes|oblasts]]'' (provinces) ruled from the center were instituted. During this time, King Peter I died (16 August 1921), and the prince-regent succeeded to the throne as King [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|Alexander I]].

Ljubomir Davidović of the Democrats began to have doubts about the wisdom of his party's commitment to centralization and opened up negotiations with the opposition. This threatened to provoke a split in his party as his action was opposed by Svetozar Pribićević. It also gave Pašić a pretext to end the coalition. At first the King gave Pašić a mandate to form a coalition with Pribićević's Democrats. However, Pašić offered Pribićević too little for there to be much chance that Pribićević would agree. A purely Radical government was formed with a mandate to hold elections. The Radicals made gains at the expense of the Democrats but elsewhere there were gains by Radić's Peasant's Party.

Serb politicians around Radic regarded Serbia as the standard bearer of Yugoslav unity, as the state of [[Piedmont (Italy)|Piedmont]] had been for Italy, or [[Prussia]] for the [[German Empire]]; a kind of "[[Greater Serbia]]". Over the following years, Croatian resistance against a Serbo-centric policy increased.

In the early 1920s, the Yugoslav government of prime minister [[Nikola Pašić]] used police pressure over voters and ethnic minorities, confiscation of opposition pamphlets<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=31 March 1923 |title=Yugoslavia: Balkan Politics |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,846181,00.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220082638/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,846181,00.html |archive-date=20 February 2008 |magazine=[[Time Magazine]]}}</ref> and other measure to [[rigged election|rig elections]]. This was ineffective against the [[Croatian Peasant Party]] (formerly the Croatian Republican Peasant Party), whose members continued to win election to the Yugoslav parliament in large numbers,<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=23 February 1925 |title=Yugoslavia: Elections |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719894,00.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112220024/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719894,00.html |archive-date=12 January 2008 |magazine=[[Time Magazine]]}}</ref> but did harm the Radicals' main Serbian rivals, the Democrats.

[[Stjepan Radić]], the head of the Croatian Peasant Party, was imprisoned many times for political reasons.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=6 April 1925 |title=Yugoslavia: The Opposition |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,720153,00.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220081455/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,720153,00.html |archive-date=20 February 2008 |magazine=[[Time Magazine]]}}</ref> He was released in 1925 and returned to parliament.

In the spring of 1928, Radić and [[Svetozar Pribićević]] waged a bitter parliamentary battle against the ratification of the [[Nettuno Convention]] with Italy. In this they mobilised nationalist opposition in Serbia but provoked a violent reaction from the governing majority including death threats. On 20 June 1928, a member of the government majority, the Serb deputy [[Puniša Račić]], shot five members of the Croatian Peasant Party, including their leader Stjepan Radić, after Radić refused to apologize for earlier offense in which he accused Račić of stealing from civilian population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Newman |first=John Paul |date=2017 |title=War Veterans, Fascism, and Para-Fascist Departures in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 1918–1941 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318166421 |journal=Fascism |volume=6 |doi=10.1163/22116257-00601003 |doi-access=free |page=63}}</ref> Two died on the floor of the Assembly while the life of Radić hung in the balance.

The opposition now completely withdrew from parliament, declaring that they would not return to a parliament in which several of their representatives had been killed, and insisting on new elections. On 1 August, at a meeting in Zagreb, they renounced 1 December Declaration of 1920. They demanded that the negotiations for unification should begin from scratch. On 8 August Stjepan Radić died.

===6 January dictatorship===
{{Main|6 January Dictatorship}}
[[File:Banovine Jugoslavia.png|thumb|200px|In 1929, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was subdivided into [[Banovinas of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia|nine banovinas]]. This became eight in 1939, when two were merged to form the [[Banovina of Croatia]].]]
[[File:Locator map Croatia Banovina in Yugoslavia 1939-1941.svg|thumb|200px|In 1939, the [[Banovina of Croatia]] was founded, aimed at solving the "[[Croatian question]]". It was formed from the [[Sava Banovina]] and [[Littoral Banovina]], with small parts ceded from the [[Drina Banovina|Drina]], [[Zeta Banovina|Zeta]], and [[Danube Banovina|Danube]] banovinas.]]

On 6 January 1929, using as a pretext the political crisis triggered by the shooting, King Alexander abolished the Constitution, prorogued the Parliament and introduced a personal dictatorship (known as the "January 6 Dictatorship", ''Šestosiječanjska diktatura'', ''Šestojanuarska diktatura'') with the aim of establishing the [[Yugoslavism|Yugoslav ideology]] and single [[Yugoslavs|Yugoslav nation]].{{Sfn|Troch|2017}}{{Sfn|Grgić|2018}}{{Sfn|Nielsen|2009}} He changed the name of the country to "Kingdom of Yugoslavia", and changed the internal divisions from the 33 oblasts to nine new ''[[banovinas of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia|banovinas]]'' on 3 October. This decision was made following a proposal by the British ambassador to better decentralize the country, modeled on [[Czechoslovakia]].{{Sfn|Pavlović|2012|p=512}} A Court for the Protection of the State was soon established to act as the new regime's tool for putting down any dissent. Opposition politicians [[Vladko Maček]] and [[Svetozar Pribićević]] were arrested under charges by the court. Pribićević later went into exile, whereas over the course of the 1930s Maček would become the leader of the entire opposition bloc.

Immediately after the dictatorship was proclaimed, Croatian deputy [[Ante Pavelić]] left for exile from the country. The following years Pavelić worked to establish a revolutionary organization, the [[Ustaše]], allied with the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] (IMRO) against the state.

In 1931, Alexander decreed [[1931 Yugoslav Constitution|a new Constitution]] which made executive power the gift of the King. Elections were to be by universal male suffrage. The provision for a secret ballot was dropped, and pressure on public employees to vote for the governing party was to be a feature of all elections held under Alexander's constitution. Further, half the upper house was directly appointed by the King, and legislation could become law with the approval of one of the houses alone if also approved by the King.

That same year, Croatian historian and anti-Yugoslavist intellectual<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bartulin |first=Nevenko |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K0VWAgAAQBAJ |title=The Racial Idea in the Independent State of Croatia: Origins and Theory |date=2013 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |isbn=978-9-0042-6282-9 |page=124 |access-date=8 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727052857/https://books.google.com/books?id=K0VWAgAAQBAJ |archive-date=27 July 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Milan Šufflay]] was assassinated in Zagreb. As a response, [[Albert Einstein]] and [[Heinrich Mann]] sent an appeal to the [[International League of Human Rights]] in Paris condemning the murder, accusing the Yugoslav government. The letter states of a "horrible brutality which is being practiced upon the Croatian People". The appeal was addressed to the Paris-based ''[[Ligue des droits de l'homme]]''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Realite sur l'attentat de Marseille contre le roi Alexandre |url=http://francecroatie.free.fr/Histoire/1934.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326055101/http://francecroatie.free.fr/Histoire/1934.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2009}}</ref> (Human Rights League).<ref name="NYT04.06.31">''[https://www.nytimes.com/1931/05/06/archives/einstein-accuses-yugoslavian-rulers-in-savants-murder-charges-the.html?sq=sufflay%2520einstein&scp=1&st=cse Einstein accuses Yugoslavian rulers in savant's murder] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713012534/https://www.nytimes.com/1931/05/06/archives/einstein-accuses-yugoslavian-rulers-in-savants-murder-charges-the.html?sq=sufflay%2520einstein&scp=1&st=cse |date=13 July 2018}}'', [[New York Times]]. 6 May 1931. [http://crostamps.com/nyt/nyt.htm mirror] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708205730/http://crostamps.com/nyt/nyt.htm |date=8 July 2011}}</ref> In their letter Einstein and Mann held the Yugoslav King Alexander explicitly responsible for these circumstances.<ref name="NYT04.06.31" /><ref name="RaditchTimes">{{Cite news |date=23 August 1931 |title=Raditch left tale of Yugoslav plot |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10A17F63C591B728DDDAA0A94D0405B818FF1D3&scp=4&sq=Sufflay&st=cse |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019192657/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10A17F63C591B728DDDAA0A94D0405B818FF1D3&scp=4&sq=Sufflay&st=cse |archive-date=19 October 2012 |access-date=6 December 2008 |work=New York Times |page=N2}} [http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/raditch.pdf mirror] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170114082311/http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/raditch.pdf |date=14 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nevada Labor. Yesterday, today and tomorrow |url=http://www.nevadalabor.com/bulletins06a.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216132530/http://www.nevadalabor.com/bulletins06a.html |archive-date=16 February 2012 |access-date=3 September 2012 |publisher=Nevadalabor.com}}</ref>

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".

On 9 October 1934, the king was assassinated in [[Marseille]], France, by [[Bulgaria]]n Veličko Kerin (also known by his revolutionary [[nom de guerre|pseudonym]] [[Vlado Chernozemski]]), an activist of IMRO, in a conspiracy with Yugoslav exiles and radical members of banned political parties in cooperation with the Croatian extreme nationalist Ustaše organisation.

===Yugoslav regency===
{{Main|Yugoslav regency}}
Because Alexander's eldest son, [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter II]], was a minor, a regency council of three, specified in Alexander's will, took over the new king's royal powers and duties. The council was dominated by the 11-year-old king's first cousin once removed [[Prince Paul of Yugoslavia|Prince Paul]].

Prince Paul decided to appoint well-known economist [[Milan Stojadinović]] as prime minister in 1935. His solution to solving the economic problems left over from the [[Great Depression]] was to make trade deals and get closer to [[Fascist Italy]] and [[Nazi Germany]]. The JRZ had majority support from Slovenes, Bosniaks, and Serbs. The only part missing was the support from Croats. This is why [[Milan Stojadinović]] called the JRZ regime a "Three-Legged Chair", Stojadinović wrote in his memoirs: "I called our party the three-legged chair, on which it was possible to sit when necessary, although a chair with four legs is far more stable" - the fourth leg being the Croats, whose support was mostly behind the HSS.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haynes |first=Rebecca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ILRJ2ChennYC |title="'Leader' or 'Devil'? Milan Stojadinović, Prime Minister of Yugoslavia, and his Ideology" |date=27 May 2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-8451-1697-2 |access-date=17 April 2024}}</ref>  [[Prince Paul of Yugoslavia|Prince Paul]] did not like this at first, but let him continue as long as it fixed the economy. Paul was concerned with rising tensions in Europe, especially with the Anschluss and the Munich Agreement Therefore, Paul ousted [[Milan Stojadinović]] replacing him with [[Dragiša Cvetković]] for being a Germanophile.

In the late 1930s, internal tensions continued to increase with Serbs and Croats seeking to establish ethnic federal subdivisions. Serbs wanted [[Vardar Banovina]] (later known within Yugoslavia as Vardar Macedonia), [[Vojvodina]], Montenegro united with the Serb lands, and Croatia wanted Dalmatia and some of Vojvodina. Both sides claimed territory in present-day [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] populated also by [[Bosnian Muslims]]. The expansion of [[Nazi Germany]] in 1938 gave new momentum to efforts to solve these problems and, in 1939, Prince Paul appointed [[Dragiša Cvetković]] as prime minister, with the goal of reaching an agreement with the Croatian opposition. Accordingly, on 26 August 1939, [[Vladko Maček]] became vice premier of Yugoslavia and an autonomous [[Banovina of Croatia]] was established with its own parliament.

These changes satisfied neither Serbs, who were concerned with the status of the Serb minority in the new Banovina of Croatia and who wanted more of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Serbian territory, nor the Croatian nationalist Ustaše, who were also angered by any settlement short of full independence for a [[Greater Croatia]] including all of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

===Downfall===
{{Main|Invasion of Yugoslavia}}
{{Multiple image
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| image1 = Axis occupation of Yugoslavia 1941-43.png
| caption1 = Occupation and partition of Yugoslavia, 1941–1943
| image2 = Axis occupation of Yugoslavia 1943-44.png
| caption2 = Occupation and partition of Yugoslavia, 1943–1944
}}

Fearing an invasion by the [[Axis powers]], Yugoslavia [[Yugoslav accession to the Tripartite Pact|signed the Tripartite Pact]] on 25 March 1941, pledging cooperation with the Axis. Massive anti-Axis demonstrations followed in [[Belgrade]].

On 27 March, the regime of Prince Paul was overthrown by a [[Yugoslav coup d'état|military coup d'état]] with British support. The 17-year-old [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter II]] was declared to be of age and placed in power. General [[Dušan Simović]] became his Prime Minister. Yugoslavia withdrew its support for the Axis ''de facto'' without formally renouncing the Tripartite Pact. Although the new rulers opposed [[Nazi Germany]], they also feared that if Germany attacked Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom was not in any real position to help. Regardless of this, on 6 April 1941, the Axis powers launched the [[invasion of Yugoslavia]] and quickly conquered it. The royal family, including Prince Paul, escaped abroad and were kept under [[house arrest]] in [[Kenya Colony|British Kenya]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 January 2012 |title=Prince Paul of Yugoslavia exonerated of war crimes |url=http://www.27mart.com/images/File/the_times.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317193254/http://www.27mart.com/images/File/the_times.pdf |archive-date=17 March 2016 |access-date=14 September 2012 |website=[[The Times]]}}</ref>

Yugoslavia was soon divided by the Axis into several entities. [[Nazi Germany|Germany]], [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]], and [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] annexed some border areas outright. A [[German question#Later influence|Greater Germany]] was expanded to include most of [[Slovenia]]. Italy added the [[Governorship of Dalmatia]], part of Macedonia and Kosovo, [[Italian governorate of Montenegro|Montenegro]], southerly part of Croatia, and more than a third of [[Province of Ljubljana|western Slovenia]] to the [[Italian Empire]]. An expanded [[Croatia]] was recognized by the Axis as the [[Independent State of Croatia]] (''[[Independent State of Croatia|Nezavisna Država Hrvatska]]'', NDH). On paper, the NDH was a kingdom and the [[Tomislav II of Croatia, 4th Duke of Aosta|4th Duke of Aosta]] was crowned as [[Tomislav II of Croatia, 4th Duke of Aosta|King Tomislav II of Croatia]], but in reality the King was merely a figurehead and the real power was held by ''[[Poglavnik]]'' [[Ante Pavelić]]. The [[rump state|rump]] territory became a military administration of Germany run by military governors and a Serb civil government led by [[Milan Nedić]]. Nedić attempted to gain German recognition of [[Serbia (1941–1944)|Territory of Serbia]] as a successor state to Yugoslavia and claimed [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|King Peter II]] as Serbia's monarch. Hungary [[Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories|occupied several northern regions]].

Following the July 1943 [[fall of the Fascist regime in Italy]], Tomislav II abdicated from his Croatian throne and Pavelić assumed direct control over the NDH, annexing the Italian [[Governorate of Dalmatia]] in the process. After the [[Operation Achse|invasion of Italy by the Axis powers]] in September 1943, the Italian governorates in Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Slovenia were occupied by the Germans and placed under direct German control.

===Exile of the king===
[[Peter II of Yugoslavia|King Peter II]], who had escaped into exile, was still recognized as King of the whole state of Yugoslavia by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. From 13 May 1941, the largely [[Serbs|Serb]] guerilla force, [[Chetniks]] ("Yugoslav Army of the Fatherland", ''Jugoslovenska vojska u otadžbini'', or JVUO) resisted the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia and supported Peter II. This [[resistance movement]], which was both anti-German and anti-communist, was commanded by Royalist General [[Draža Mihailović]]. For a long time, the Chetniks were supported by the British, the United States, and the Yugoslav royal government in exile of King Peter II.

However, over the course of the war, effective power changed to the hands of [[Josip Broz Tito]]'s [[Communist Party of Yugoslavia|Communist]] [[Partisans (Yugoslavia)|Partisans]]. In 1943, Tito proclaimed the creation of the [[Democratic Federative Yugoslavia]] (''Demokratska federativna Jugoslavija''). The Allies gradually recognized Tito's forces as the stronger opposition forces to the German occupation. They began to send most of their aid to Tito's Partisans, rather than to the Royalist Chetniks. On 16 June 1944, the [[Treaty of Vis|Tito–Šubašić agreement]] was signed which merged the ''de facto'' and the ''de jure'' government of Yugoslavia.

In early 1945, after the Germans had been driven out, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formally restored, however real political power was held by Tito's Communist Partisans. On 29 November, King Peter II was deposed (and the monarchy abolished) by Yugoslavia's Communist Constituent Assembly while he was still in exile. On 2 December, the Communist authorities claimed the entire territory as part of the [[Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia]]. The new Yugoslavia covered roughly the same territory as the Kingdom had, now a federal republic ruled by the Communist Party rather than a unitary monarchy.

==Foreign policy==
{{Main|Foreign relations of Yugoslavia}}

===Pro-Allied government===
The Kingdom nourished a close relationship with the [[Allies of World War I]]. This was especially the case between 1920 and 1934 with Yugoslavia's traditional supporters of [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and [[French Third Republic|France]].

====Little Entente====
From 1920, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia had formed the ''[[Little Entente]]'' with [[Czechoslovakia]] and [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]], with the support of [[French Third Republic|France]]. The primary aim of the alliance was to prevent [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] from regaining the territories it had lost after the First World War. The alliance lost its significance in 1937 when Yugoslavia and Romania refused to support Czechoslovakia, then threatened by Germany, in the event of military aggression.

====Balkan alliances====
In 1934, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia formed a ''[[Balkan Bloc]]'' with [[Second Hellenic Republic|Greece]], [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]], and Turkey that was intent on keeping balance on the [[Balkan peninsula]]. The alliance was formalized and entrenched on 9 February 1934 when it became the "[[Balkan Entente]]". In 1934, with the assassination of King Alexander I by [[Vlado Chernozemski]] in [[Marseille]] and the shifting of Yugoslav foreign policy, the alliance crumbled.

====Tensions with Italy====
The [[Kingdom of Italy]] had territorial ambitions against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Relations between Italy and the kingdom's predecessors, the [[Kingdom of Serbia]] and the [[State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs]] became sour and hostile during World War I, as Italian and Yugoslav politicians were in dispute over the region of [[Dalmatia]] which Italy demanded as part of Italy. These hostile relations were demonstrated on 1 November 1918, when Italian forces sunk the recently captured Austro-Hungarian battleship [[SMS Viribus Unitis]] being used by the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.

Italian Fascist dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] accepted the extreme Croatian nationalist [[Ustase]] movement of [[Ante Pavelić]] to reside in Italy and use training grounds in Italy to prepare for war with Yugoslavia. Hungary also permitted such Ustase training camps as well.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tomasevich |first=Jozo |title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration |date=October 2002 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-7924-1 |page=33 |language=en}}</ref> Mussolini allowed Pavelić to reside in Rome.

=====Friendship agreement=====
In 1927, in response to the growing Italian expansionism, the royal government of Yugoslavia signed an agreement of friendship and cooperation with the United Kingdom and [[French Third Republic|France]].

===1935–1941===
{{Original research section|date=November 2012}}
[[File:Yugoslavia-Stamp-1939-King Peter II.jpg|thumb|upright|1939 Yugoslav postage stamp featuring King [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter II]]]]
Officially, the last words of King Alexander had been "Save Yugoslavia, and the friendship with France". His successors were well aware of the need to try and do the first, but the second, maintaining close ties with France, was increasingly difficult. There were several reasons for this. By the mid-1930s, France, internally divided, was increasingly unable to play an important role in Eastern Europe and support its allies, many of whom had suffered badly from the economic crisis of that period. By contrast, Germany was increasingly willing to get into barter agreements with the countries of south east Europe. In the process those countries felt it was against their interests to closely follow France. An additional motive to improve relations with Italy and Germany was Italy's support of the Ustase movement. As Maček intimated Italy would support Croatian secession from Yugoslavia, First Regent Prince Paul judged closer relations with Italy were inevitable. In an effort to rob the HSS from potential Italian support, a treaty of friendship was signed between the two countries in 1937. This diminished the Ustasa threat somewhat since Mussolini imprisoned some of their leaders and temporarily withdrew financial support. In 1938, Germany, annexing Austria, became a neighbour of Yugoslavia. The feeble reaction of France and Britain, later that year, during the Sudeten Crisis convinced Belgrade that a European war was inevitable and that it would be unwise to support France and Britain. Instead, Yugoslavia tried to stay aloof, this in spite of Paul's personal sympathies for Britain and Serbia's establishment's predilections for France. In the meantime, Germany and Italy tried to exploit Yugoslavia's domestic problems, and so did Maček. In the end, the regency agreed to the formation of the [[Banovina of Croatia]] in August 1939. This did not put an end to the pressures from Germany and Italy, and Yugoslavia's strategic position deteriorated by the day. It was increasingly dependent on the German market, about 90% of its exports went to Germany, and in April 1939 Italy invaded and annexed Albania. In October 1940 it attacked Greece, by when France had already been eliminated from the scene, leaving Britain as Yugoslavia's only potential ally – given that Belgrade had not recognized the Soviet Union. London however wanted to involve Yugoslavia in the war, which it rejected.

From late 1940, Hitler wanted Belgrade to unequivocally choose sides. Pressure intensified, culminating in the signing of the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941. Two days later, Prince Paul was deposed in a coup d'état and his nephew Peter II was proclaimed of age, but the new government, headed by General Simović, assured Germany it would adhere to the Pact. Hitler nonetheless ordered the [[invasion of Yugoslavia]]. On 6 April 1941, Belgrade was bombed; on 10 April, the Independent State of Croatia was proclaimed; and on 17 April, the weak Yugoslav Army capitulated.

===1941–1945===
After the invasion, the Yugoslav royal government went into exile and local Yugoslav forces rose up in resistance to the occupying [[Axis powers]]. Initially the monarchy preferred [[Draža Mihailović]] and his Serb-dominated [[Chetniks|Četnik]] resistance. However, in 1944, the [[Tito–Šubašić agreement]] recognised the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia as [[Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia|a provisional government]], with the status of the monarchy to be decided at a later date. Three regents{{Snd}}[[Srđan Budisavljević]], a Serb; [[Ante Mandić]], a Croat; and [[Dušan Sernec]], a Slovene{{Snd}}were sworn in at Belgrade on 3 March 1945. They appointed the new government, to be headed by Tito as prime minister and minister of war, with Šubašić as foreign minister, on 7 March.<ref>Josef Korbel, ''Tito's Communism'' (University of Denver Press, 1951), 22.</ref>

On 29 November 1945, while still in exile, [[King of Yugoslavia|King]] [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter II]] was deposed by the [[constituent assembly]]. The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was internationally recognized as Yugoslavia and Peter II became a [[pretender]].
{{Clear}}

==Demographics==
{{Main|Demographics of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia}}
{{See also|Demographics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia}}

===Ethnic groups===
{{Main|Ethnic groups in Yugoslavia}}
[[File:Passport of Kingdom of Yugoslavia.jpg|thumb|[[Yugoslav passport|Passport of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia]]]]
The small middle class occupied the major population centers and almost everyone else were peasants engaged in subsistence agriculture. The largest ethnic group were [[Serbs]] followed by [[Croats]] and [[Slovenes]], as three constitutive peoples of the Kingdom, while [[Montenegrins (ethnic group)|Montenegrins]], [[Bosnian Muslims]] and [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]] were not recognized as distinctive ethnic groups; further historical minority groups included [[Germans of Yugoslavia|Germans]], [[Italians of Croatia|Italians]], [[Hungarians]], [[Slovaks]], [[Jews]] and [[Rusyns]]. Religion followed the same pattern with half the population following [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]], around 40% [[Roman Catholicism]] and most of the rest [[Sunni Islam]]. Beside "[[Serbo-Croato-Slovene]]" (which includes [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], then recognized as a southern dialect of Serbian), the most widely spoken languages by number of speakers were [[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[German language|German]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]] and [[Rusyn language|Rusyn]].

In a multiethnic, multireligious and multilinguistic society, ethnic tensions and regional interests commonly surfaced in both politics and daily life, especially between the two largest and most influential groups who monopolized all political power in the country, the Serbs and Croats. Other quarrels were those between Serbs and Macedonians, as the Yugoslav government had as its official position that the latter were ethnic Serbs from "[[Old Serbia]]" ({{Langx|sh|Stara Srbija}}). In the early 20th century the international community viewed the Macedonians predominantly as regional variety of [[Bulgarians]] on linguistic basis and cultural similarities, but during the [[Paris Peace Conference of 1919]], the Allies sanctioned the Serbian control of Vardar Macedonia and its view, that Macedonian Slavs were in fact Southern Serbs.<ref>''Nationalism and Territory: Constructing Group Identity in Southeastern Europe, Geographical perspectives on the human past'', George W. White, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, {{ISBN|0-8476-9809-2}}, p. 236.</ref> [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]n politicians later interpreted the decision as punishment for it being a [[Central Powers|Central Power]] during [[World War I]] and as sanctioned [[Serbian irredentism]].

Rights of the Muslim minority were never enshrined in law but concessions were made to accommodate for religious relativism. Some regions of the country were allowed to exist as enclaves of [[Islamic law]].<ref name="Schlesinger1988">{{Cite book |last=Schlesinger |first=Rudolf B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPi4AAAAIAAJ |title=Comparative law: cases, text, materials |date=1988 |publisher=Foundation Press |isbn=978-0-8827-7615-6 |page=328 |quote=Some countries, notably the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, had preserved enclaves of Islamic law (relating to personal...).. |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804083119/https://books.google.com/books?id=UPi4AAAAIAAJ |archive-date=4 August 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Aside from [[Vlachs]], the Yugoslav government awarded no special treatment to non-Slavic ethnic minorities in terms of respect for their language, culture, or political autonomy.

Until 1929, Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were the constitutional nations, when they were merged into a single "Yugoslav" nationality. With the language of the country being institutionalized and mandatory, ethnic minorities were expected to gradually assimilate into the Yugoslav [[panethnic]] identity.

=== Persecution of Albanians ===
{{Main articles|Yugoslav colonization of Kosovo}}

From the end of [[World War I]] to the beginning of [[World War II in Yugoslavia]], ethnic [[Albanians]] in Yugoslavia were subject to persecution. The discrimination faced by the Albanians existed in the forms of [[deportation]]s, [[mass killing]]s, [[Capital punishment|executions]], [[imprisonment]], etc.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=United States Department of State |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRFO-3fkkQQC&dq=Albanians+massacred+1919&pg=PA740 |title=Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States |date=1947 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=740–741 |language=en |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> The Yugoslav authorities attempted to [[Yugoslav colonization of Kosovo|colonize Kosovo]] to change its ethnic character.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pond |first=Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlgHH1dUKj0C |title=Endgame in the Balkans: Regime Change, European Style |date=2007 |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |isbn=978-0-8157-7161-6 |page=101 |language=en |access-date=1 January 2020}}</ref> There were a number of massacres that took place in Kosovo<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Pllana |first1=Nusret |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kATHAQAACAAJ&q=1330 |title=Der Terror der Besatzungsmacht Serbien gegen die Albaner |last2=Kabashi |first2=Emin |date=2001 |publisher=Arkivi Shtetëror i Kosovës |isbn=978-9-9514-0400-6 |edition=1918-1921, sont tues beaucoup d'albanais ainsi que leurs maisons brulees. Dans la prefecture de Peja 1563 personnes tuees et 714 maisons brulees; a Mitrovica 1330 personnes et 42 maisons brulees |page=33 |language=sq |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Statistics of the Rugova Massacre |url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/1919_statistics-rugova-massacre/index.htm |website=www.albanianhistory.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sherifi |first=Remzije |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f8ktAQAAIAAJ&q=massacre+Keqekoll%C3%AB |title=Shadow Behind the Sun |date=2007 |publisher=Sandstone |isbn=978-1-9052-0713-8 |page=35 |language=en |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvwVAQAAMAAJ&q=massacre+Prapashtica |title=Studia Albanica |date=1981 |publisher=L'Institut |page=74 |language=fr |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> and Montenegro,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Elsie |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=adWLDwAAQBAJ&dq=Albanians+massacred+1919&pg=PT292 |title=Kosovo, A Documentary History: From the Balkan Wars to World War II |last2=Destani |first2=Bejtullah D. |date=30 January 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-7867-2354-3 |language=en |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> some of which were reported by [[Sherman Miles]] to the [[United States Department of State]] in May 1919.<ref name=":0" /> During the [[interwar period]], between 90,000 and 300,000 Albanians were deported from Yugoslavia.<ref name="Rama">{{Cite book |last=Rama |first=Shinasi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJaDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA107 |title=Nation Failure, Ethnic Elites, and Balance of Power: The International Administration of Kosova |date=2019 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-0300-5192-1 |page=107 |ref=Rama |access-date=27 March 2020}}</ref>

==Lists of rulers==
{{Main|List of heads of state of Yugoslavia#Kingdom of Yugoslavia}}
===Kings===
* [[Peter I of Serbia|Peter I]] (1 December 1918 – 16 August 1921; [[Prince regent]] Alexander ruled in the name of the King)
* [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|Alexander I]] (16 August 1921 – 9 October 1934)
* [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter II]] (9 October 1934&nbsp;– 29 November 1945; in exile from 13/14 April 1941)
** Regency headed by [[Prince Paul of Yugoslavia|Prince Paul]] (9 October 1934&nbsp;– 27 March 1941)

===Prime Ministers 1918–1941===
* [[Stojan Protić]]: 1918–1919
* [[Ljubomir Davidović]]: 1919–1920
* [[Stojan Protić]]: 1920
* [[Milenko Vesnić]]: 1920–1921
* [[Nikola Pašić]]: 1921–1924
* [[Ljubomir Davidović]]: 1924
* [[Nikola Pašić]]: 1924–1926
* [[Nikola Uzunović]]: 1926–1927
* [[Velimir Vukićević]]: 1927–1928
* [[Anton Korošec]]: 1928–1929
* [[Petar Živković]]: 1929–1932
* [[Vojislav Marinković]]: 1932
* [[Milan Srškić]]: 1932–1934
* [[Nikola Uzunović]]: 1934
* [[Bogoljub Jevtić]]: 1934–1935
* [[Milan Stojadinović]]: 1935–1939
* [[Dragiša Cvetković]]: 1939–1941
* [[Dušan Simović]]: 1941

===Prime Ministers-in-exile 1941–1945===
* [[Dušan Simović]]: 1941–1942
* [[Slobodan Jovanović]]: 1942–1943
* [[Miloš Trifunović (politician)|Miloš Trifunović]]: 1943
* [[Božidar Purić]]: 1943–1944
* [[Ivan Šubašić]]: 1944–1945
* [[Josip Broz Tito]]: 1945

==Subdivisions==
{{Main|Subdivisions of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia}}

The [[Country subdivision|subdivisions]] of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia existed successively in three different forms. From 1918 to 1922, the kingdom maintained the pre–World War I subdivisions of Yugoslavia's predecessor states. In 1922, the state was divided into thirty-three ''oblasts'' (provinces). In 1929, after the establishment of the [[January 6 Dictatorship]], a new system of nine ''banovinas'' (regions) was implemented by royal decree. In 1939, as an accommodation to Yugoslav [[Croats]] in the [[Cvetković-Maček Agreement]], a single [[Banovina of Croatia]] was formed from two of these ''banovinas'' (and from sections of others).{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

==Sport==
{{Main|Sport in Yugoslavia}}
The most popular sport in the Kingdom was [[association football]]. The [[Football Association of Yugoslavia|Yugoslav Football Association]] was founded in Zagreb in 1919. It was based in Zagreb until the 6 January Dictatorship, when the association was moved to Belgrade. From 1923, a [[Yugoslav First League|national championship]] was held annually. The national team played its first match at the [[1920 Summer Olympics]]. It also participated in the [[1930 FIFA World Cup|inaugural]] [[FIFA World Cup]], finishing fourth.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Other popular sports included [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia Water Polo Championship|water polo]], which was dominated nationally by the Croatian side [[VK Jug]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

The Kingdom participated at the Olympic Games from 1920 until 1936. During this time, the country won eight medals, all in gymnastics and six of these were won by [[Leon Štukelj]], a [[Slovenes|Slovene]] who was the most nominated gymnast of that time.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

==See also==
* [[List of Finance Ministers of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia]]
* [[1923 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes parliamentary election]]
* [[Republic of Prekmurje]]
* [[Slovene March (Kingdom of Hungary)]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Works cited ===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Banac |first=Ivo |author-link=Ivo Banac |title=The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics |date=1992 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-9493-2 |edition=2nd printing |location=Ithaca, New York}}
* {{cite book|last=Calic|first=Marie-Janine|title=A History of Yugoslavia|date=2019|publisher=Purdue University|location=West Lafayette|isbn=978-1-55753-838-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lampe |first=John R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZ1x7gvwx_8C |title=Yugoslavia as History: Twice There Was a Country |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5217-7401-7 |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001205328/https://books.google.com/books?id=AZ1x7gvwx_8C |archive-date=1 October 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Troch |first=Pieter |date=2017 |title=The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/839236 |url-status=live |journal=Fascism |volume=38 |issue=2 |doi=10.1080/00905990903517819 |s2cid=153840603 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803094334/https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/839236 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |access-date=25 May 2020 |hdl-access=free |pages=227–244 |hdl=1854/LU-839236}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Grgić |first=Stipica |date=2018 |title=Pantheon on a tablecloth: Yugoslav dictatorship and the confrontation of national symbols in Croatia (1929–1935) |journal=The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity |volume=46 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/00905992.2017.1357029 |s2cid=158362422 |pages=458–470}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Nielsen |first=Christian Axboe |date=2009 |title=Policing Yugoslavism: Surveillance, Denunciations, and Ideology during King Aleksandar's Dictatorship, 1929–1934 |journal=East European Politics and Societies |volume=23 |issue=1 |doi=10.1177/0888325408326789 |s2cid=145765948 |pages=34–62}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Pavlović |first=Marko |date=2012 |title=Jugoslovenska kraljevina prva evropska regionalna država |url=http://www.maticasrpska.org.rs/stariSajt/casopisi/drustvene_nauke_141.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Zbornik Matice srpske za društvene nauke |location=Novi Sad |publisher=Matica srpska |volume=141 |issn=0352-5732 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015224634/http://www.maticasrpska.org.rs/stariSajt/casopisi/drustvene_nauke_141.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2020 |access-date=27 April 2020 |pages=503–521 |editor=Časlav Ocić}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |title=Histoire du peuple serbe |date=2005 |publisher=L'Age d'Homme |isbn=978-2-8251-1958-7 |editor-last=Bataković |editor-first=Dušan T. |editor-link=Dušan T. Bataković |location=Lausanne |language=fr |trans-title=History of the Serbian People}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hadži-Jovančić |first=Perica |date=2020 |title=Losing the Periphery: The British Foreign Office and Policy Towards Yugoslavia, 1935–1938 |journal=Diplomacy & Statecraft |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=65–90|doi=10.1080/09592296.2020.1721060 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Pavlowitch |first=Stevan K. |author-link=Stevan K. Pavlowitch |title=Unconventional Perceptions of Yugoslavia 1940–1945 |date=1985 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-8803-3081-7 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pavlowitch |first=Stevan K. |author-link=Stevan K. Pavlowitch |title=The Improbable Survivor: Yugoslavia and its Problems 1918–1988 |date=1988 |publisher=Ohio State University Press |isbn=978-0-8142-9486-4 |location=Columbus}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pavlowitch |first=Stevan K. |author-link=Stevan K. Pavlowitch |title=Hitler's New Disorder: The Second World War in Yugoslavia |date=2008 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-2317-0050-4 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Petranović |first=Branko |author-link=Branko Petranović |title=The Yugoslav Experience of Serbian National Integration |date=2002 |publisher=East European Monographs |isbn=978-0-8803-3484-6 |location=Boulder}}
* {{Cite book |last=Petranović |first=Branko |author-link=Branko Petranović |title=Istorija Jugoslavije 1918–1978 |date=1980 |publisher=Nolit |location=Beograd}}
* {{Cite book |last=Petranović |first=Branko |author-link=Branko Petranović |url=https://znaci.org/00001/93.htm |title=Istorija Jugoslavije 1918–1988 |date=1988 |publisher=Nolit |volume=1 |location=Beograd}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Radojević |first=Mira |date=2012 |title=On the problem of democracy and parliamentarianism in Yugoslavia between the two world wars |journal=Историјски записи |volume=85 |issue=3–4 |pages=99–110}}
* {{Cite book |last=Radivojević |first=Todor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOE7MwEACAAJ |title=Kraljevina Jugoslavija s ilustrovanom geografskom čitankom: za četvrti razred srednjih škola |date=1935 |publisher=T. Jovanović i Vujić |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503181142/https://books.google.com/books?id=jOE7MwEACAAJ |archive-date=3 May 2016 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ramet |first=Sabrina P. |title=The Three Yugoslavias: State-building and Legitimation, 1918–2005 |date=2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0-2533-4656-8}}
* {{Cite book |last=Trifunovska |first=Snežana |title=Yugoslavia Through Documents: From Its Creation to Its Dissolution |date=1994 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |isbn=0-7923-2670-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Vujević |first=Pavle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TfgCOgAACAAJ |title=Kraljevina Jugoslavija: geografski i etnografski pregled |date=1930 |publisher=Štamparija "Davidović" Pavlovića i druga |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617123816/https://books.google.com/books?id=TfgCOgAACAAJ |archive-date=17 June 2016 |url-status=live}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021145008/http://geocities.com/dagtho/yugconst19310903.html |date=21 October 2009 |title=Full text of the 1931 Constitution}}

{{Oblasts of the SCS Kingdom}}
{{Banovine}}
{{Former Monarchies}}
{{Yugoslavia timeline}}
{{Yugoslavia topics|collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

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