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Kingdom of Serbia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Kingdom of Serbia (Serbian: Краљевина Србија, Kraljevina Srbija) was a state that existed in the Balkans from 1882 to 1918. It was recognised as the Principality of Serbia by the Congress of Berlin in 1878.
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It fought several wars, including the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885, and the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 (the First Balkan War in 1912–13, and the Second Balkan War in 1913). It won the first Allied victory of World War I in 1914, but de facto ceased to exist in 1915, due to a combined invasion by Austro-Hungarian, German, and Bulgarian troops, culminating in its almost total defeat during the Battle of Kosovo. After the war's end, it united with the Kingdom of Montenegro and the short lived State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The Kingdom was the object of a trade embargo by Austria-Hungary in 1906, known as Pig War. Austria-Hungary intended to cripple the Kingdom's economy, but the embargo instead led to an end to Serbia's dependence on the Austro-Hungarian market for its livestock exports. The measure was counterproductive and Serbia's exports actually rose from £2.864 mln in 1906 to £3.259 in 1907, while in 1905 they had been £2.879 mln. [1]
Despite its relatively short 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 deposed in a bloody military coup. 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 and the Kingdom of Serbia ceased to exist.
The largest cities in the Kingdom of Serbia were (with population figures from ca. 1910-1912):
- Belgrade - 100,000
- Prizren - 60,000
- Bitola - 54,000
- Skopje - 50,000
- Niš - 25,000
- Veles - 24,000
- Priština - 20,000
- Prilep - 20,000
- Ohrid - 18,000
- Kragujevac - 15,500
- Tetovo - 14,000
- Leskovac - 13,700
- Šabac - 12,800
- Požarevac - 12,000
- Mitrovica - 12,000
- Vranje - 12,000
- Pirot - 10,000
 The Principality of Serbia in 1878. |
 The Kingdom of Serbia in 1913, following the Balkan Wars. |
 The Kingdom of Serbia in 1918 (27 November – 1 December), following its unification with Syrmia (24 November) and Vojvodina (Banat, Bačka and Baranja, 25 November) as well as with the Kingdom of Montenegro at the Podgorica Assembly (27 November). |
