His Majesty Knightly King Alexander I the Unifier
(16. December 1888. – 9. October 1934.)
His Majesty Knightly King Alexander I the Unifier was born in Cetinje on December 16, 1888. He served as the Regent and Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Serbia (1914-1918), Regent and Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (1918-1921), then as King of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (1921-1929), and King of Yugoslavia (1929-1934).
He was the second son of King Peter I and Princess Zorka, daughter of Montenegrin King Nikola I Petrović and Queen Milena. His baptismal godfather, represented by an emissary, was Russian Tsar Nicholas II Romanov. He spent his childhood in Montenegro and completed his elementary education in Geneva. He continued his education at the military school in Saint Petersburg, and then in Belgrade, upon King Peter I’s ascension to the throne in 1903.
In 1909, he became the Crown Prince of Serbia after his older brother, Prince Đorđe, renounced his inheritance rights to the throne. Many prominent politicians and officers in Serbia had long considered Đorđe unfit to become king due to his impulsive nature and unstable personality prone to incidents. Đorđe committed a tragic incident in 1909 when he kicked his servant in the stomach, causing his death a few days later. This incident led to a major scandal in Serbian public and intense coverage in the Austro-Hungarian press, forcing Prince Đorđe to renounce his right to the throne.
Crown Prince Alexander nearly died of typhoid fever in 1910 and consequently suffered from stomach problems for the rest of his life. The treatment for typhoid began on October 19 and concluded on November 26. Some members of the medical council were doctors: Svetislav Simonović, Roman Sondermajer, Demosten, and Svetislav Nikolajević. The official state newspaper of Serbia, “Novine srpske”, reported almost daily on his symptoms and treatment during that period. On Alexander’s birthday that year, December 16, 1910, King Peter I awarded the medical council the Order of Karađorđe’s Star.
As Crown Prince, Prince Alexander reorganised the army, preparing it for the final showdown with the Ottoman Empire.
In the First Balkan War (1912), Crown Prince Alexander, as commander of the First Army, led victorious battles at Kumanovo and Bitola, and then in 1913, in the Second Balkan War and the Battle of Bregalnica.
In World War I, he was the Supreme Commander of the Serbian army in the battles at Cer and Kolubara in 1914, where the Serbian army completely defeated the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy’s forces. Attacked again in 1915 by Austro-Hungary, Germany, and Bulgaria, the Kingdom of Serbia collapsed in the unequal struggle. Disregarding his health, he withdrew with his army across Albania. He was the last to leave the port from where the army was transported to Corfu.
After recovery and replenishment, the Serbian army under his supreme command achieved a great victory on the Thessaloniki Front at Kajmakčalan in 1916. He led the final operations of the Thessaloniki Front breakthrough in the autumn of 1918, with an excellent command cadre including Voivodes Živojin Mišić, Stepa Stepanović, and Petar Bojović.
Due to his exceptional courage and merits, he was known among the people as Knightly King the Unifier.
At the request of the Slavic peoples of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy, he was called to free them and unite them with the Kingdom of Serbia. The National Council in Zagreb proclaimed unification on November 24, 1918. The decision to unite was preceded by an ultimatum from the Dalmatian government on November 16, 1918, according to which immediate unification with Serbia was to be declared from Split if not done from Zagreb within five days. The act of unification was carried out at 8 o’clock in the evening on December 1, 1918, in the salon of the Krsmanović House on Terazije.
He married Princess Maria of Romania on June 8, 1922. This marriage connected him through European courts to the medieval Nemanjić dynasty, thereby uniting two great Serbian dynasties. Three sons were born in this marriage — Peter, Tomislav, and Andrej.
He was one of the first victims of fascism and Nazism in Europe. During a visit to France, where he had travelled to solidify a defensive alliance against Nazi Germany, he was assassinated in Marseille on October 9, 1934, by Croatian Ustaše and the Macedonian organization VMRO, with the backing of Italy, Germany, and Hungary. King Alexander’s death profoundly shook the entire Yugoslavia, and his body was escorted by hundreds of thousands of people all the way to Oplenac, where he was buried in the endowment of King Peter I. The National Assembly and Senate of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia posthumously bestowed upon him the title of Knightly King Alexander I the Unifier.