Analyzing 1934 the Assassination of Alexander of Yugoslavia

1934 Assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia

On the day that the shot that killed King Alexander rang in the air in the streets of Marseilles in France, a cameraman was there recording everything on tape. The King was in a car together with the French foreign minister. The gunman, Vlado Chernozemski shot two people, the driver and the king. The French foreign minister, a man by the name Louis Barthou was also shot mistakenly during the assassination by a French policeman. As the assassin tried to escape the scene, he was surrounded by a crowd and beaten to death. Before his assassination, King Alexander I was the head of state and government of the kingdom of Yugoslavia, a nation that was carved out of the Austrian and Ottoman empires at the end of World War I, during the Paris Peace conference. Before being renamed to Yugoslavia by the king, the country was officially known as Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. However, tensions were very high in the country because the communities living there were deeply divided along ethnic lines. The most dominant ethnic group were the serbs and the country's top positions were dominated by their dynasty, the Karageorgevics (Cavendish, n.d). In this study, I will explore the circumstances surrounding the death of Alexander I of Yugoslavia and the historical significance of the same.

King Alexander, the Dictator

Rise of the Dictator

After many years of violence and infighting, about eight years since he took over power after the death of his father, King Alexander abolished the constitution and renamed the country Yugoslavia, giving himself and his appointees all the powers of government. Moreover, in the new constitution that was drafted after the abolition of the first one, he gave himself powers to appoint almost 50% of the members of the upper chamber of the country's parliament. Many historians have argued that the actions of King Alexander to elevate state over everything else were fascist in nature. Also, many have argued that his many foreign trips at this time (including his trip to Marseilles where he was assassinated) were owing to the fact that he was trying to convince western European powers that Yugoslavia was stable. However, despite his efforts or lack thereof, the Croats (who were the second most populous ethnicity in the country) started a string of terror activities within the country, including shootings and bombings. King Alexander chose to arrest the leading political figures of Croatian origin in the country. This led to increased tension within the country which might have led to plans to eliminate the king (Alexander I of Yugoslavia, n.d).

Cause of Violence and Terrorism

Troubles in Yugoslavia

The phrase terrorism was first mentioned during the proceedings at the Third Conference held in the Belgian capital, Brussels in 1930. The term referred to violence against persons or the destruction of property with the aim of propagating social ideas or political agendas. One of the most concerted efforts against terrorism begun after the assassination of King Alexander by a lone gunman in Marseilles, France (Lennon & Walker, 2015). Many efforts were put in to stop the internal fighting in Yugoslavia and to convince the warring factions to stop fighting each other.

The argument that King Alexander's actions were fascists rests upon the methods he used to maintain his power, for instance: there was widespread discrimination against other ethnic groups in the country such as Croats and Slovenians; the king also relied on police brutality; extreme anticommunism; and lastly, those who were perceived to be against the state were arbitrarily detained for many days without trial. The country was dubbed as "Yugoslavia Versailles" or the prison of nations as it was made up of individuals from different ethnicities who had their own ideas about nationhood. However, many foreign powers thought that the country could be reformed and needed not to be split (Wheeler, 1989). France leaning on King Alexander I can be explained as an attempt to reform the kingdom and maintain its unity at the same time, however, many argue that it was a justification of King Alexander's dictatorship (Drapac, 2005).