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Kingdom of Serbia Краљевина Србија Kraljevina Srbija
1882–1918
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem:  "Боже правде" / "Bože pravde" (English: "God of Justice")
The Kingdom of Serbia in 1914
Capital	Belgrade
Common languages	Serbian
Religion	Serbian Orthodoxy
Government	Constitutional monarchy
King
• 1882–1889	Milan I
• 1889–1903	Alexander I
• 1903–1918	Peter I
Prime Minister
• 1882–1883	Milan Piroćanac (first)
• 1912–1918	Nikola Pašić (last)
Legislature	National Assembly
Historical era	New Imperialism, World War I
• Proclamation	6 March 1882
• Creation of Yugoslavia	1 December 1918
Currency	Serbian dinar
ISO 3166 code	RS
Preceded by Succeeded by Principality of Serbia Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Today part of	Serbia  North Macedonia  Kosovo  Montenegro

The Kingdom of Serbia (Serbian: Краљевина Србија / Kraljevina Srbija) was created when Milan I, ruler of the Principality of Serbia, was proclaimed king in 1882.

Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynasty (replaced by the Karađorđević dynasty for a short time). The Principality, suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, de facto achieved full independence when the last Ottoman troops left Belgrade in 1867. The Congress of Berlin in 1878 recognized the formal independence of the Principality of Serbia, and in its composition Nišava, Pirot, Toplica and Vranje districts entered the South part of Serbia.

In 1882, Serbia was elevated to the status of kingdom, maintaining a foreign policy friendly to Austria-Hungary. Between 1912 and 1913, Serbia greatly enlarged its territory through engagement in the First and Second Balkan Wars—Sandžak-Raška, Kosovo Vilayet and Vardar Macedonia were annexed. At the end of World War I in 1918 it united with Vojvodina and the Kingdom of Montenegro, and towards the end of 1918 it joined with the newly created State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to form the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as Kingdom of Yugoslavia) under the continued rule of the Serbian Karađorđević dynasty.

Principality of Serbia

King Milan I of Serbia

The Principality of Serbia was a state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian revolution which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Despite brutal oppression and retaliation by the Ottoman authorities, the revolutionary leaders, first Karađorđe and then Miloš Obrenović, succeeded in their goal to liberate Serbia after centuries of Turkish rule.

At first, the principality included only the territory of the former Pashaluk of Belgrade, but in 1831–1833 it expanded to the east, south, and west. In 1867 the Ottoman army left the Principality, securing its de facto independence.^[1] Serbia expanded further to the south-east in 1878, when it won full international recognition at the Congress of Berlin. In 1882 it was raised to the level of the Kingdom of Serbia.

Serbo-Bulgarian War, 1885

The Kingdom of Serbia in 1913

The Serbo-Bulgarian War erupted on November 14, 1885 and lasted until November 28 of the same year. The war ended in defeat for Serbia, as it had failed to capture the Slivnitsa region which it had set out to achieve. Bulgarians successfully repelled the Serbs after the decisive victory at the Battle of Slivnitsa and advanced into Serbian territory taking Pirot and clearing the way to Niš.

When Austria-Hungary declared that it would join the war on the side of Serbia, Bulgaria withdrew from Serbia leaving the Serbo-Bulgarian border precisely where it had been prior to the war. The peace treaty was signed on February 19, 1886 in Bucharest. As a result of the war, European powers acknowledged the act of Unification of Bulgaria which happened on September 6, 1885.

Politics

In 1888 People's Radical Party led by Sava Grujić and Nikola Pašić came to power and a new constitution, based on the liberal Constitution of Belgium was introduced. The lost war and the Radical Party's total electoral victory were some of the reasons why King Milan I abdicated in 1889. His son Alexander I assumed the throne in 1893 and in 1894 dismissed the constitution.

May Coup, 1903

King Alexander I of Serbia and his unpopular wife Queen Draga were assassinated inside the Royal Palace in Belgrade on the night of 28–29 May 1903. Other representatives of the Obrenović family were shot as well. This act resulted in the extinction of the House of Obrenović, which had been ruling Serbia since 1817.

Peter I

Peter I after the coronation on September 21, 1904

After the May Coup the Serbian Skupština invited Peter Karadjorjević to assume the Serbian crown as Peter I of Serbia. A constitutional monarchy was created with the military Black Hand society operating behind the scenes. The traditionally good relations with Austria-Hungary ended, as the new dynasty relied on the support of the Russian Empire and closer cooperation with Kingdom of Bulgaria.

In April 1904 the Friendship treaty and in June 1905 the customs union with Bulgaria were signed. In response Austria-Hungary imposed a Tariff War (Pig war) of 1906-1909. After the 1906 elections the People's Radical Party came to power. In 1908 Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia, where Serbia had hoped to expand its territory.

Bosnian Crisis

The Bosnian Crisis of 1908–1909 (also referred to as the Annexation crisis) erupted into public view when on October 5, 1908, Kingdom of Bulgaria declared its complete independence from Ottoman Empire and on October 6, 1908, when Austria-Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was populated mainly by South Slavs.

Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Britain, Kingdom of Italy, Serbia, Principality of Montenegro, German Empire and France took an interest in these events. In April 1909, the 1878 Treaty of Berlin was amended to accept the new status quo and bringing the crisis to an end. The crisis permanently damaged relations between Austria-Hungary on the one hand and Russia and Serbia on the other. The annexation and reactions to the annexation were some of the contributing causes of World War I.

Ten Years War

Between 1912 and 1922 Serbia was involved in a number of wars that brought it to the brink of total destruction and ended with its victory and expansion. Victorious in the First and Second Balkan Wars, it gained significant territorial areas of the Central Balkans and almost doubled its territory.

Balkan Wars and expansion

Territorial expansion of the Kingdom of Serbia in 1913

Negotiations between Russia, Serbia and Bulgaria led to the Serbian-Bulgarian Treaty of Alliance of March 1912, which aimed to conquer and to divide the Ottoman held Macedonia. In May, a Serbian-Greek alliance was reached and in October 1912, a Serbia-Montenegro alliance was signed.^[2]

After the war started, Serbia, together with Montenegro, conquered Pristina and Novi Pazar. At the Battle of Kumanovo Serbians defeated the Ottoman army and proceeded to conquer Skopje and the whole of Kosovo vilayet. The region of Metohija (known as the Dukagjini Valley to ethnic-Albanians) was taken by Montenegro. At Bitola and Ohrid Serbian army units established contact with the Greek army.

Populations of ethnic Serbs and Albanians tended to shift following territorial conquests. As a result of the multi-ethnic composition of Kosovo, the new administrations provoked a mixed response from the local population. While Albanians did not welcome Serbian rule,^[3] the non-Albanian population (largely Serbs but other Southern Slavs too) considered this a liberation.

On November 29, 1913 the Drač County of the Kingdom of Serbia was established on the part of the territory of Albania captured from the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War. Serbian Drač County had four districts (Serbian: срез): Drač (Durrës), Lješ (Lezhë), Elbasan and Tirana.^[4][5]

After the First Balkan War of 1912, Kosovo and north-western Macedonia was internationally recognised as a part of Serbia^[6] and northern Metohija as a part of Montenegro at the Treaty of London of May 1913.^[7]

The old disagreements regarding the territory of Macedonia among the members of the Balkan League and primarily Serbia and Bulgaria, led to the Second Balkan War. Here, Serbia and Greece fought against Bulgaria in 1913.

The final borders were ratified at the Treaty of Bucharest of 1913. Serbia came to control the land which became known as Vardar Macedonia, and today stands independent as the Republic of North Macedonia but land-locked Serbia was prevented from gaining access to the Adriatic Sea by the newly established Principality of Albania, while many ethnic Albanians remained within the new Serbian borders. As the result of these wars, Serbia's population increased from 2.9 million to 4.5 million and territory increased by 81%.

In a report to Rome, Lazër Mjeda, Archbishop of Skopje, estimated that 25,000 Albanians were killed by Serbian forces during and after the conflict.^[8]

Assassination in Sarajevo

The Kingdom of Serbia in Europe, 1914

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo (then part of Austria-Hungary) brought the tensions between Austria-Hungary and Serbia to a head. Behind the assassination in Sarajevo was the secret Serbian officers organization Black Hand.^[9] The assassins were supported by an "underground railroad" of Serbian civilians and military officers that provided transportation and hid them; members of the Serbian military that trained them, encouraged them, and provided weapons, maps, and other information. After the assassination, the conspirators were arrested in Bosnia-Herzegovina and tried in Sarajevo in October 1914.

The political objective of the assassination was to break the southern Slav provinces off from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered a chain of international events that embroiled Russia and the major European powers in the conflict.

World War I

On July 28, 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia.

In 1915 Serbia was occupied by foreign troops after a combined invasion by Austro-Hungarian, German, and Bulgarian troops. The 135,000 soldiers of the Serbian Army retreated through Albania and were evacuated to the Greek island of Corfu, and in spring, 1916, they became part of a newly formed Salonika Front. In 1916, the Kingdom of Montenegro was conquered by Austria-Hungary.

At the end of the war and collapse of Austria-Hungary, Serbia went through radical changes within days. On November 28, 1918, it absorbed the Kingdom of Montenegro at the Podgorica Assembly.^[10][11]

On December 1, 1918, Serbia united with the newly created State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to form a new southern Slav state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.^[12] The new country continued to be ruled by the Serbian monarchy when in August 1921 Prince Alexandar I became king.

Kings

During its existence, the Kingdom was ruled by two dynasties: the House of Obrenović and the House of Karađorđević. King Milan Obrenović ruled from 6 March 1882 to 6 March 1889, when he abdicated the throne. He was succeeded by his son, Aleksandar Obrenović, who ruled from 6 March 1889 to 11 June 1903, when he was killed by a group of officers. The slaughter of the royal couple (the king and Queen Draga) by the Black Hand shocked Europe. This opened the way for the descendants of Karađorđe (Karageorge), regarded by Serbs throughout the Balkans as the man who threw off the Turkish yoke, to return to the throne. Petar Karađorđević was initially reluctant to accept the crown, disgusted as he was by the coup d'état. However, he finally did accept and was the Kingdom's sovereign from 15 June 1903 to 1 December 1918, the day that the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed.

Cities

Part of a series on the
History of Serbia
By century 9th 10th
Prehistory Paleolithic Mesolithic Neolithic Bronze Age Iron Age
Pre-Roman Illyrians Autariatae Dardani Triballi Moesi Scordisci Dacians
Early Roman Illyricum Pannonia Pannonia Inferior Dalmatia Moesia Moesia Superior Dacia Dacia Aureliana
Late Roman Moesia Prima Dacia Mediterranea Dacia Ripensis Dardania Praevalitana Pannonia Secunda Diocese of Moesia Diocese of Dacia Diocese of Pannonia Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum
Early Middle Ages White Serbia around 600 AD Principality of Serbia Duklja, Travunia, Zachlumia, Narentines, Raška, Bosnia 7th–10th century Catepanate of Ras around 969–976
High Middle Ages Duklja (Zeta) 11th–12th century Theme of Sirmium 1018–1071 Grand Principality 1071–1217 Kingdom of Serbia 1217–1346 King Dragutin's realm 1282–1325 Empire · Fall 1346–1371 Prince Lazar's Serbia 1371–1402 Despotate of Serbia 1402–1537
Early Modern Serbia under Turkish rule 1459–1804 Jovan Nenad / Radoslav Čelnik 1526–1530 Banate of Lugoj and Caransebeș 16th–17th Habsburg occupation 1686–1699 Great Serb Migrations 1690 and 1737–1739 Military Frontier 1702–1882 Habsburg Serbia 1718–1739 Koča's frontier 1788–1791
Serbia 1804–1918 Revolution 1804–1815 Principality of Serbia 1815–1882 Serbian Vojvodina 1848–1849 Serbia and Banat 1849–1860 Kingdom of Serbia 1882–1918
Serbia since 1918 Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1918–1941 Axis occupation 1941–1944 Federal unit of Yugoslavia 1944–1992 Federal unit of FRY (S&M) 1992–2006 Republic of Serbia 2006–present
Serbia portal
v t e

The largest cities in the Kingdom of Serbia were (with population figures from c. 1910–1912):

• 
  Belgrade - 100,000


• 
  Prizren - 60,000


• 
  Bitolj - 54,000


• 
  Skoplje - 50,000


• 
  Niš - 25,000


• 
  Veles - 24,000


• 
  Priština - 20,000


• 
  Prilep - 20,000


• 
  Kragujevac - 18,500


• 
  Ohrid - 18,000


• 
  Leskovac - 14,300


• 
  Tetovo - 14,000


• 
  Požarevac - 13,600


• 
  Šabac - 12,800


• 
  Mitrovica - 12,000


• 
  Vranje - 10,500


• 
  Pirot - 10,000

Transport

Serbia was geographically located in the path of several trade routes linking Western and Central Europe with Middle East. Morava Valley was in the strategically important terrestrial route that linked Central Europe with Greece and Constantinople. During the 19th century major efforts were made to improve the transport in this connections. At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Austria-Hungary helped Serbia to gain new territories, conditioning Serbia, however, to sign a new convention. The convention obliged Serbia to construct the railway line from Belgrade to Vranje and Turkish and Bulgarian borders in three years. In addition, the obligation to sign commercial contracts was imposed on Serbia, as well as a claim to carry out regulation works in Đerdap. Serbian Government approved this treaty by adopting the Law on Proclamation of the Convention. Consequently, Serbian Railways were formed in 1881. The regular traffic on the railway line Belgrade–Niš started in 1884.^[13]

Maps

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  The Principality of Serbia in 1878
  

  
  

  
  


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  Serbia 1882–1912
  

  
  

  
  


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  Short-lived territorial expansion of Serbia 1912-1913, following the First Balkan War
  

  
  

  
  


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  Territorial expansion of Serbia 1913-1915, following the Second Balkan War
  

  
  

  
  


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  Serbia boundaries following Balkan Wars.
  

  
  

  
  


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  Border changes after the Balkan Wars
  

  
  

  
  


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  Serbia in 1918 (27 November - 1 December, during de facto military demarcation), following its annexation of Syrmia (24 November), Banat, Bačka and Baranja (25 November) and the Kingdom of Montenegro (27 November)
  

  
  

  
  

See also

• History of Serbia

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

Media related to Kingdom of Serbia at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Timeline of Yugoslav statehood
	Pre–1918	1918–1929	1929–1945	1941–1945	1945–1946	1946–1963	1963–1992	1992–2003	2003–2006	2006–2008	2008–
Slovenia	Part of Austria-Hungary including the Bay of Kotor See also Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia 1868–1918 Kingdom of Dalmatia 1815–1918 Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1878–1918	Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918–1929) Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929–1945) See also State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs 1918 Republic of Prekmurje 1919 Banat, Bačka and Baranja 1918–1919 Free State of Fiume 1920–1924 1924–1945 Italian province of Zadar 1920–1947		Annexed bya Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany	Democratic Federal Yugoslavia 1945–1946 Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia 1946–1963 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1963–1992 Consisted of the Socialist Republics of Slovenia (1945–1991) Croatia (1945–1991) Bosnia and Herzegovina (1945–1992) Serbia (1945–1992) (included the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo) Montenegro (1945–1992) Macedonia (1945–1991) See also Free Territory of Trieste (1947–1954) j			Republic of Slovenia Ten-Day War
Dalmatia				Independent State of Croatia 1941–1945 Puppet state of Nazi Germany. Parts annexed by Fascist Italy. Međimurje and Baranja annexed by Hungary.				Republic of Croatiab Croatian War of Independence
Slavonia
Croatia
Bosnia								Bosnia and Herzegovinac Bosnian War Consists of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995–present), Republika Srpska (1995–present) and Brčko District (2000–present).
Herzegovina
Vojvodina	Part of the Délvidék region of Hungary			Autonomous Banatd (part of the German Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia)				Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Consisted of the Republic of Serbia (1992–2006) and Republic of Montenegro (1992–2006)	State Union of Serbia and Montenegro	Republic of Serbia Included the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and, under UN administration, Kosovo and Metohija	Republic of Serbia Includes the autonomous province of Vojvodina
Serbia	Kingdom of Serbia 1882–1918			Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia 1941–1944 e
Kosovo	Part of the Kingdom of Serbia 1912–1918			Mostly annexed by Albania 1941–1944 along with western Macedonia and south-eastern Montenegro							Republic of Kosovog
Metohija	Kingdom of Montenegro 1910–1918 Metohija controlled by Austria-Hungary 1915–1918
Montenegro				Protectorate of Montenegrof 1941–1944						Montenegro
North Macedonia	Part of the Kingdom of Serbia 1912–1918			Annexed by the Kingdom of Bulgaria 1941–1944				Republic of North Macedoniah
aPrekmurje annexed by Hungary. b See also SAO Kninska Krajina (1990) → SAO Krajina (1990–1991); and SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia (1990–1991), SAO Western Slavonia (1990–1991) and the Republic of Serbian Krajina (1990–1995), all replaced by the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (1996–1998). c See also Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia; and the Serbian Autonomous Oblasts (SAOs) of Bosanska Krajina, North-East Bosnia, Romanija and Herzegovina (1991–1992), which all combined to form the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995). dBačka was reannexed by Hungary (1941–1944), while Syrmia was annexed by the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1944). e See also Republic of Užice. f Annexed by Fascist Italy (1941–1943) and Nazi Germany (1943–1944). Smaller part annexed by the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1944).							g Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the Brussels Agreement. Kosovo has been recognized as an independent state by 113 out of 193 United Nations member states, 10 of which have subsequently withdrawn recognition. h North Macedonia was known as the Republic of Macedonia until 2019. It is known in the United Nations as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia because of a naming dispute with Greece. j Free Territory was established in 1947. Its administration was divided into two areas (Zone A) and (Zone B). Free Territory was de facto taken over by Italy and SFRY in 1954.

Coordinates: 44°49′N 20°28′E / 44.817°N 20.467°E / 44.817; 20.467