Editing Yugoslavia (section)

==Kingdom of Yugoslavia==
{{Main|Kingdom of Yugoslavia}}
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|image2=Banovine Jugoslavia.png|caption2=[[Subdivisions of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Banovinas]] of Yugoslavia, 1929–39. After 1939 the Sava and Littoral banovinas were merged into the [[Banovina of Croatia]].
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The country was formed in 1918 immediately after World War I as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by union of the [[State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs]] and the [[Kingdom of Serbia]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fenwick|first=Charles G.|date=1918|title=Jugoslavic National Unity|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1945848|journal=The American Political Science Review|volume=12|issue=4|pages=718–721|doi=10.2307/1945848|jstor=1945848|s2cid=147372053 |issn=0003-0554}}</ref> It was commonly referred to at the time as a "[[Treaty of Versailles|Versailles]] state".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rutherford |first1=Malcolm |last2=Hibbert |first2=Reginald |last3=Somerville |first3=Keith |date=1995 |title=Notes of the Month |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40396747 |journal=The World Today |volume=51 |issue=8/9 |pages=156 |jstor=40396747 |issn=0043-9134}}</ref> Later, [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|King Alexander I]] renamed the country to ''Yugoslavia'' in 1929.<ref name=":1" />

===King Alexander===
{{see also|6 January Dictatorship}}
On 20 June 1928, Serb deputy [[Puniša Račić]] shot at five members of the opposition [[Croatian Peasant Party]] in the [[National Assembly of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia|National Assembly]], resulting in the death of two deputies on the spot and that of leader [[Stjepan Radić]] a few weeks later.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=73}} On 6 January 1929, [[King of Yugoslavia|King]] [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|Alexander I]] got rid of the [[Vidovdan Constitution|constitution]], [[Nonpartisanism|banned national political parties]], [[Absolute monarchy|assumed executive power]], and renamed the country Yugoslavia.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite web |url =http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1929.htm |title =Chronology 1929 |author =[[Indiana University]] |publisher =indiana.edu |date =October 2002 |access-date =8 February 2014 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150222035557/http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1929.htm |archive-date =22 February 2015 |url-status =live }}</ref> He hoped to curb separatist tendencies and mitigate nationalist passions. He imposed a [[1931 Yugoslav Constitution|new constitution]] and relinquished his dictatorship in 1931.<ref>{{cite web |url =http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1931.htm |title =Chronology 1929 |author =[[Indiana University]] |publisher =indiana.edu |date =October 2002 |access-date =8 February 2014 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140222001410/http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1931.htm |archive-date =22 February 2014 |url-status =live }}</ref> However, Alexander's policies later encountered opposition from other European powers stemming from developments in Italy and Germany, where Fascists and [[Nazism|Nazis]] rose to power, and the [[Soviet Union]], where [[Joseph Stalin]] became absolute ruler. None of these three regimes favored the policy pursued by Alexander I. In fact, Italy and Germany wanted to revise the international treaties signed after World War I,<ref>{{Cite web |title=World War I: Treaties and Reparations |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-i-treaties-and-reparations |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref> and the Soviets were determined to regain their positions in Europe and pursue a more active international policy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Geoffrey C. |title=The Soviet Union and the Origins of the Second World War: Russo-German Relations and the Road to War, 1933-1941 |date=August 7, 1995 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-349-24124-8 |series=The Making of the Twentieth Century |location=London |publication-date=}}</ref>

Alexander attempted to create a centralised Yugoslavia. He decided to abolish Yugoslavia's historic regions, and new internal boundaries were drawn for provinces or banovinas.<ref name="DoniaFine1994">{{cite book |last1=Donia |first1=Robert J. |last2=Fine |first2=John Van Antwerp |title=Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed |date=1994 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231101615 |page=129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stOIQ5GXIDgC&pg=PA129}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Atkeson |first1=Edward B. |title=The New Legions: American Strategy and the Responsibility of Power |date=2011 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781442213777 |page=141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0QFUOVXylsQC&pg=PA141}}</ref> The banovinas were named after rivers.<ref name="DoniaFine1994" /> Many politicians were jailed or kept under police surveillance. During his reign, communist movements were restricted.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roszkowski |first1=Wojciech |last2=Kofman |first2=Jan |title=Biographical Dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-31747-593-4 |pages=3465 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RnKlDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA3465}}</ref>

The king was assassinated in [[Marseille]] during an official visit to France in 1934 by [[Vlado Chernozemski]], an experienced marksman from [[Ivan Mihailov]]'s [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] with the cooperation of the [[Ustaše]], a Croatian fascist revolutionary organisation.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsTmAAAAMAAJ&q=cernozemski+bulgarian|title=Request by the Yugoslav Government Under Article 11, Paragraph 2, of the Covenant: Communication from the Yugoslav Government|last=[[Yugoslavia]]|year=1934|publisher=[[League of Nations]]|pages=8|language=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KfqbujXqQBkC&dq=cernozemski+bulgarian&pg=PA326|title=The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics|last=Banac|first=Ivo|date=1984|publisher=Cornell University Press|pages=326|isbn=978-0-8014-9493-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6B9pAAAAMAAJ&q=tchernozemski+bulgarian|title=Crown of Thorns|last=Groueff|first=Stéphane|date=1987|publisher=Madison Books|pages=224|isbn=978-0-8191-5778-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N5-ixYvhfs8C&dq=1934+imro+bulgarian+Vlado&pg=PA261|title=Balkan Firebrand - The Autobiography of a Rebel Soldier and Statesman|last=Kosta|first=Todorov|date=2007|publisher=Read Books|pages=267|isbn=978-1-4067-5375-2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ViAANnwIYgUC&dq=chernozemski+bulgarian&pg=PA230|title=Violette Noziere: A Story of Murder in 1930s Paris|last=Maza|first=Sarah|date=2011-05-31|publisher=University of California Press|pages=230|isbn=978-0-520-94873-0}}</ref> Alexander was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter II]] and a regency council headed by his cousin, [[Prince Paul of Yugoslavia|Prince Paul]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://digitalna.nb.rs/wb/NBS/Periodika/SD_EA14D129E93A8F6C7A1935AA12C320B4/1934/10/12?pageIndex=00003|title=Краљевски намесници и чланови Народног претставништва положили су јуче заклетву на верност Њ. В. Кралу Петру II|date=12 October 1934|language=sh|work=Време|trans-title=Royal deputies and members of the People's Representative Office took the oath of allegiance to King Peter II yesterday}}</ref>

===1934–1941===
The international political scene in the late 1930s was marked by growing intolerance between the principal figures, by the aggressive attitude of the [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] regimes, and by the certainty that the order set up after World War I was losing its strongholds and its sponsors their strength. Supported and pressured by [[Italian fascism|Fascist Italy]] and [[Nazi Germany]], Croatian leader [[Vladko Maček]] and his party managed the creation of the [[Banovina of Croatia]] (Autonomous Region with significant internal self-government) in 1939.{{cn|date=August 2024}} The agreement specified that Croatia was to remain part of Yugoslavia, but it was hurriedly building an independent political identity in international relations.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

Prince Paul submitted to fascist pressure and signed the [[Tripartite Pact]] in Vienna on 25 March 1941, hoping to continue keeping Yugoslavia out of the war. However, this was at the expense of popular support for Paul's regency. Senior military officers were also opposed to the treaty and launched the [[Yugoslav coup d'état]] when the king returned on 27 March. Army General [[Dušan Simović]] seized power, arrested the Vienna delegation, exiled Prince Paul, and ended the regency, giving 17-year-old [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|King Peter]] full powers. [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] then decided to attack Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, followed immediately by an invasion of Greece where [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]] had previously been repelled.<ref>A. W. Palmer, "Revolt in Belgrade, March 27, 1941", ''History Today'' (March 1960) 10#3 pp 192–200.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.yadvashem.org.il/about_holocaust/month_in_holocaust/april/april_chronology/chronology_1941_april_06.html|title=6 April: Germany Invades Yugoslavia and Greece|website=arquivo.pt|url-status=dead|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091015085557/http%3A//www1.yadvashem.org.il/about_holocaust/month_in_holocaust/april/april_chronology/chronology_1941_april_06.html|archive-date=15 October 2009}}</ref>