Polity · 1882 – 1918
Kingdom of Serbia
塞尔维亚王国
Polity · 1882 – 1918 · Century precision · 44.82° N, 20.46° E
The Kingdom of Serbia was the Balkan monarchy proclaimed in 1882 when Milan Obrenović took the crown over the principality Berlin had recognised in 1878 with Niš, Pirot, Toplica and Vranje added to the south. Friendly to Vienna at first, the kingdom turned to St Petersburg and Paris after the 1903 officers' coup murdered the last Obrenović and brought Peter Karađorđević to the throne. The Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 doubled the realm with Sandžak, Kosovo and Vardar Macedonia and made Belgrade the capital of South Slav hopes. Franz Ferdinand's assassins gave Vienna its pretext in 1914; Serbia held the Cer and Kolubara lines, was overrun in 1915, carried its army through Albania to Corfu, and broke the Salonika front in 1918. Victory united the kingdom with Vojvodina and Montenegro and, in December 1918, with the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes under the Karađorđević crown.
Key facts
- Milan Obrenović was proclaimed king in 1882, raising the Berlin-recognised Principality to a kingdom
- The 1903 coup replaced the Obrenović with the Karađorđević dynasty and turned policy toward Russia and France
- The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 annexed Sandžak, Kosovo and Vardar Macedonia and doubled the kingdom
- The First World War began with Austria-Hungary's 1914 attack; Serbia was overrun but its army survived Corfu
- In December 1918 Serbia merged with Vojvodina, Montenegro and the new SHS State into Yugoslavia
Record
Notable figures
- Milan I of Serbia
- Peter I of Serbia
- Nikola Pašić
Sources
Single source — details may be incomplete.
Reuse this data: open dataset (GeoJSON / CSV, CC BY 4.0)