The assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in the light of archival press articles
The assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in the light of archival press articles

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the circumstances of the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in October 1934 in Marseille, France. The results of research served as a basis for the analysis of the course of events related to the assassination of King Alexander I, including the political context of the murder, its direct background and the earliest consequences for both Yugoslavia and the international scene.Within the broad spectrum of research issues involved in the assassination, there are some worthy of special attention, such as the organisation of King Alexander I’s visit to France, the characteristics of the assassin, the internal situation in Yugoslavia after the monarch’s death, the reactions of other governments to the event, and the investigation launched into the attack, followed by the steps taken in order to internationalise it.The basic research material for the analysis consisted of Serbian and Polish press articles from the interwar period, which constitute not just a reliable source, but often the only source available—yet a truly fascinating one. Moreover, the findings demonstrated in the present article have been verified in relation to the (often insufficient) Polish and international literature in this subject, as well as the archival materials available at the Yugoslavian Archives in Belgrade.The variety of approaches applied made it possible to discuss the circumstances of King Alexander’s assassination in great detail, otherwise unavailable in just one single publication. It also reveals the incompetence of the French police of that time and explains, at least in part, the background of the plot to kill the Yugoslav king.

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