Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, also known as Paul Karađorđević ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Pavle Karađorđević, Павле Карађорђевић, English transliteration: ''Paul Karageorgevich''; 27 April 1893 – 14 September 1976), was
prince regent
A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...
of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...
during the minority of
King Peter II. Paul was a first cousin of Peter's father,
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
.
Early life
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia was the only son of
Prince Arsen of Serbia, younger brother of
King Peter I, and of Princess and Countess
Aurora Pavlovna Demidova
Princess Aurora Pavlovna Demidova di San Donato (2/3 November 1873 in Kiev – 28 June (OS: 16 June) 1904 in Turin) was a Russian noblewoman and by birth a member of the Demidov, House of Demidov.
Early life
Aurora was born as the eldest daught ...
, a granddaughter on one side of the
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
philanthropist
Aurora Karamzin
Eva Aurora Charlotta Karamzin (née Stjernvall) (1 / 7 August 1808 Ulvila – 13 May 1902 Helsinki) was a Finnish philanthropist. Her better-known names are Princess Aurora Demidova and Aurora Karamzin, titles that were acquired after her firs ...
and her Russian husband Prince and Count
Pavel Nikolaievich Demidov
Pavel (called Paul) Nikolaievich Demidov (russian: Павел Николаевич Демидов; 6 September 1798 Saint Petersburg - 25 March 1840 Mainz) was a Russian nobleman of the Demidov dynasty, philanthropist and industrialist. His fat ...
and on the other of the Russian Prince
Peter Troubetzkoy
Prince Pyotr Petrovich Troubetzkoy (1822–1892) was a Russian diplomat, administrator and general.
Troubetzkoy was born in Tulchyn, Tulcin in 1822.
His first wife was his cousin, Princess Varvara Yourievna Trubetskoy family, Trubetskoy.
In 18 ...
and his wife,
Elisabeth Esperovna, by birth a Princess
Belosselsky-Belozersky. The House of Karađorđević was in exile with Serbia being ruled by their archenemies, the
House of Obrenović
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
. Paul grew up in Geneva and was raised as a lonely and abandoned child in the household of his uncle, Petar Karađorđević. The long and bloody vendetta between the Houses of Obrenović and Karađorđević that started in 1817 ended in 1903 when a military coup d'etat saw the last Obrenović king,
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
overthrown and hacked to death in his bedchamber. Petar Karađorđević returned to Serbia to become King
Petar I. Paul followed his uncle and arrived in Serbia for the first time in 1903. In 1912, he made the decision to attend the University of Oxford, which was most unusual as the Serbian elite preferred to be educated in either Paris or St. Petersburg.
Paul was educated at
Christ Church,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, where he was a member of the exclusive
Bullingdon Club – a dining club notorious for its wealthy members, grand banquets and boisterous rituals. Cultivated like his closest friends
Prince George, Duke of Kent
Prince George, Duke of Kent, (George Edward Alexander Edmund; 20 December 1902 – 25 August 1942) was a member of the British royal family, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary. He was a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and Geo ...
, and
Sir Henry Channon, his outlook on life was said to be
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
. Paul often said that he "felt like an Englishman". Channon called Paul "the person I have loved most".
For a time, Paul and Channon lived together in a house in London together with another of Channon's lovers
Lord Gage.
A cultured and easy-going bon vivant who inspired much affection from his friends, Paul when not associating with the British aristocracy collected paintings by Monet, Titian and van Gogh.
Despite the fact that it was the Austrian empire that declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914, Paul only joined the Royal Serbian Army in November 1914, serving for six months before returning to Britain in May 1915. Paul returned to service with the Royal Serbian Army, which was now in exile in Greece in January-April 1917 before again returning to Britain. His military record during both of his tours of duty was described as "undistinguished" as Paul found he was not cut out to be a soldier. Paul argued that he could be at most service to Serbia by being in London, where he served as a lobbyist for Serbia.
Paul lived in London from 1919 to 1924 and only infrequently visited Belgrade. During his time in London, he was the proverbial "life of the party" who enjoyed socialising with the British elite at parties in London or in various country houses. In 1923 he married
Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark
Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark ( el, Όλγα; 11 June 1903 – 16 October 1997) was a Greek princess who became princess of Yugoslavia as the wife of Prince Paul, Regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Princess Olga was a daughter of P ...
, a sister of
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent. The
Duke of York (the future
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...
), was the best man at his wedding in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
.
In January 1924, he returned to Yugoslavia. Paul's cousin, King Alexander, seems to have in mind installing him in some sort of vice-regal position in Zagreb to govern the Croats, but whatever the plans may have been turned out to be moot. Alexander enjoyed Paul's company, finding him to be a witty conversationalist with a "breath of vision" and a "cool intellect". However, the king decided that Paul was too sympathetic towards Croat complaints about the unitary state created by the 1921 constitution, and decided not to give him the position in Zagreb, much to Paul's frustration.
Through careful never to openly criticise the constitution, Paul sympathised with the Croat demand to turn Yugoslavia into a federation, and felt that many Serb politicians were being unrealistic in expecting that Croat discontent would just dissolve of its own accord if given enough time. Paul found his palace at Dedinje to be gloomy, causing him to relocate to a villa in Slovenia, where he felt more at home, and where he took up his time with his ever expanding art collection and raising his family. Besides for art, Paul's interests were reading, fishing and hunting. Whenever there was a major art show in London, Paris, Munich, Florence, Rome and Vienna, Paul almost invariably was present both to admire the art and purchase paintings for his collection.
Appointment as Regent of Yugoslavia
On 9 October 1934
Vlado Chernozemski
Vlado Chernozemski ( Bulgarian: Владо Черноземски; born Velichko Dimitrov Kerin, bg, Величко Димитров Керин; 19 October 1897 – 9 October 1934), was a Bulgarian revolutionary. Also known as "Vlado the Chauff ...
assassinated Paul's first-cousin,
King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I ( sr-Cyrl, Александар I Карађорђевић, Aleksandar I Karađorđević, ) ( – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier, was the prince regent of the Kingdom of Serbia from 1914 and later the King of Yug ...
, in
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, and Prince Paul took the
regency
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
, as Alexander had stipulated in his Will that on his death a council of regents chaired by Paul should govern until Alexander's son
Peter II came of age. Late on the afternoon of 9 October, Paul received a telephone call with the news that king had been assassinated, and that he was to go to the royal palace at once. Alexander had survived two previous assassination attempts, and had hinted that if he should die, that Paul was to serve as regent. Upon arriving at the royal palace, Paul was met by the prime minister,
Nikola Uzunović
Nikola Uzunović ( sr-cyr, Никола Узуновић; 3 May 1873 – 19 July 1954) was a Serbian politician who served as Prime Minister of Yugoslavia on two occasions.
Early life
Born in the city of Niš, as Nicola Uzun to a family of Aro ...
, and the commander of the Royal Guard, General
Petar Živković
Petar Živković ( sr-cyr, Петар Живковић; 1 January 1879 – 3 February 1947) was a Serbian military officer and political figure in Yugoslavia. He was Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 7 January 1929 until 4 Apr ...
. The three men opened up the safe that contained the royal will whose terms stated that Paul was to serve as the regent until the new king Peter II came of age in September 1941.
Prince Paul, far more than Alexander, was
Yugoslav rather than Serb in outlook, and unlike Alexander, he was inclined much more toward democracy. In its broadest outline, his domestic policy worked to eliminate the heritage of the
Alexandrine dictatorship's centralism, censorship, and military control, and to pacify the country by solving the Serb-Croat problem. Paul wanted to achieve a Serb-Croat reconciliation, but also felt for a considerable period of time that he had the duty to hand over the kingdom to Peter more or less unchanged when he reached his maturity, and thus was unwilling to entertain constitutional changes. Trifković wrote that: "By both instinct and personal development, Pavle was averse both to autocratic rule and militarism."
As Prince Regent, Paul possessed very broad powers, but he was much less inclined to exercise these powers, leading Yugoslavia in the years 1934–41 to be labelled "a dictatorship without a dictator". Paul had been thrust into a position of power that he did not want by Alexander's assassination (which was why Alexander had chosen him in his will to serve as a regent, knowing he would never try to seize the throne from his son), and throughout his regency he gave the impression that ruling Yugoslavia was a burden to him.
A French diplomat described Paul as a man whose "incontestable qualities of character, balance, and taste...
Oxonian
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
dilettantism and charm, which he exercised on his visitors, were useless in the present circumstances and in a country where arguments of might are the only ones which count". British historian D. C. Watt noted that Paul's "nerves tended to betray him under stress and that he was by nature inclined to yield to pressure rather than withstand it". Married to a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
princess and intensely
Anglophile
An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents.
Etymology
The word is derived from the Latin word ''Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "frien ...
and
Hellenophile, Paul distrusted
Fascist Italy and
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
The heavy losses taken by
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
made Paul very averse to engaging in another war and led him to favoring neutralist policies despite Yugoslavia's alliance with France. During the First World War, Serbia had proportionally taken the
heaviest losses; one out of five Serbs who were alive in 1914 were dead by 1918. The French police investigation of King Alexander's assassination had established firm evidence that the assassins had been armed by the governments of Italy and Hungary, which was shared with Yugoslavia. Furthermore, the forged Czechoslovak passports that had allowed the assassins to travel to France had come from Hungary, and the assassins had telephoned
Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and served as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, l ...
, who was living in Rome at the time. However, the French premier
Pierre Laval
Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932 and 7 June 1935 to 24 January 1936. He again occu ...
-who was seeking an alliance with Italy-made it very clear to Paul that France would not support Yugoslavia if it chose to make an issue of Italian involvement in the assassination of the king, saying that the most Yugoslavia could do was to blame Hungary. The way that the French were prepared to disregard Yugoslav concerns about the regicide for the sake of better relations with Italy soured Paul on the French alliance.
Stojadinović years
On 24 June 1935, Paul appointed
Milan Stojadinović
Milan Stojadinović ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Стојадиновић; 4 August 1888 – 26 October 1961) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and economist who served as the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 1935 to 1939. He also served as Forei ...
Prime Minister with a mandate to deal with the Great Depression and find a solution to the "Croat question". Stojadinović believed that the solution to the Great Depression were closer economic ties with Germany, which had more people than what it could feed and lacked many of the raw materials necessary for a modern industrial economy. As Germany needed both food and raw materials such as iron, bauxite, copper and manganese, Yugoslav exports of both agricultural products and of minerals to the ''Reich'' bloomed from 1935 onward, leading to an economic revival and to placing Yugoslavia in the German economic sphere of influence.
Yugoslavia had signed a treaty of alliance with France in 1927, while the
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
was still
occupied by France, and during Franco-Yugoslav staff talks, it was promised that France would take the offensive into western Germany if Germany should start another war. As long as the Rhineland remained a demilitarized zone, there was always the possibility of the French launching an offensive into western Germany, which reassured Yugoslavia. The American historian
Gerhard Weinberg
Gerhard Ludwig Weinberg (born 1 January 1928) is a German-born American diplomatic and military historian noted for his studies in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. Weinberg is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History ...
wrote that the demilitarized status of the Rhineland the Treaty of Versailles had imposed was "the single most important guarantee of peace in Europe" for as long as the Rhineland was demilitarized, it was impossible for Germany to attack any of France's allies in Eastern Europe without exposing itself to the risk of a devastating French offensive into western Germany.
The
remilitarization of the Rhineland
The remilitarization of the Rhineland () began on 7 March 1936, when German military forces entered the Rhineland, which directly contravened the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties. Neither France nor Britain was prepared for a milit ...
on 7 March 1936 meant that Germany started building the West Wall along its border with France, which ended any hope of a French offensive into western Germany. On 15–20 June 1936, the chiefs of staff of the
Little Entente
The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (since 1929 Yugoslavia) with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revanchism and the prospect of a Hab ...
(
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
and Yugoslavia) met in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
to discuss their plans now that the Rhineland was re-militarized. The gloomy conclusion of the Bucharest meeting was that France was not a factor in Eastern Europe, and henceforward there were only two great powers in Eastern Europe, namely the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and Germany, and the victory of either in another war would mean the end of their independence.
Despite his pro-British and pro-French feelings, Paul believed in the aftermath of the remilitarization of the Rhineland that Yugoslavia needed to tilt its foreign policy towards Germany. Likewise, the
Hoare–Laval Pact of 1935 and British attempts to improve Anglo-Italian relations such as the
"Gentlemen's Agreement" of 1937 and the
Easter Accords of 1938 caused Paul to believe the British were willing to sacrifice Yugoslavia for the sake of better relations with Italy. Stojadinović, who openly admired Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, made a major diplomatic push with the tacit support of the Prince Regent for better relations with the fascist states in the winter of 1936-37.
Without informing France, Czechoslovakia or Romania, Stojadinović signed an agreement with Italy on 25 March 1937 that badly weakened the Little Entente. Just before Stojadinović had signed the treaty, Paul let the British minister in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
,
Ronald Campbell, know of what was being planned. Paul seems to have believed that if Yugoslavia was seen as falling within the Italian sphere of influence, that might prompt a British response to pull Yugoslavia in the other direction. The agreements with Italy very much alarmed the French who sent out Marshal
Maurice Gamelin
Maurice Gustave Gamelin (, 20 September 1872 – 18 April 1958) was an army general in the French Army. Gamelin is remembered for his disastrous command (until 17 May 1940) of the French military during the Battle of France (10 May–22 June 1940 ...
to visit Belgrade in September 1937, followed by the Foreign Minister
Yvon Delbos
Yvon Delbos (7 May 1885 – 15 November 1956) was a French Radical-Socialist Party politician and minister.
Delbos was born in Thonac, Dordogne, and entered a career as a journalist, and became a member of the Radical-Socialist Party. He sub ...
in December 1937, who in both cases sought reassurances that Yugoslavia was not abandoning its alliance with France. Stojadinović's foreign policies were unpopular, at least with the Serbs. When President
Edvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1945 to 1948. He also led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile 1939 to 1945 ...
of Czechoslovakia visited Belgrade, he was greeted by enthusiastic crowds cheering him, which was seen as a sign that public opinion was still attached to the traditional alliances. Stojadinović, supported by Paul, believed that an Anglo-German rapprochement was the best way to save the peace, accepting that an international order established by the Treaty of Versailles was doomed, and that the best way of saving the peace would be to make concessions to the ''Reich'' without letting Germany dominate Europe too much. At a Little Entente summit at King Carol II's summer residence at
Sinaia
Sinaia () is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Muntenia. The town was named after the Sinaia Monastery of 1695, around which it was built. The monastery, in turn, is named after t ...
in August 1937, Paul and Stojadinović pressed Beneš to end Czechoslovakia's alliance with the Soviet Union, complaining it upset the Germans too much. At the same time, Yugoslav diplomats tried to effect a German-Czechoslovak rapprochement, telling the Germans that Beneš had only signed the alliance with the Soviet Union out of fear, and suggested that if the Germans stopped making threats against Czechoslovakia, then perhaps Beneš could be persuaded to abrogate the alliance. Through Paul had supported Stojadinović up to this point, in about late 1937 he started to express concern about the prime minister who spoke of having Yugoslavia join the Axis powers as he felt that Stojadinović was alienating Yugoslavia's traditional allies too much.
During the Sudetenland crisis, Stojadinović leaned in a pro-Axis position while Campbell reported that much of the Yugoslav officer corps sympathized with Yugoslavia's ally Czechoslovakia, and implied that a coup d'etat was possible if Stojadinović declared neutrality. Terrance Shone, the first secretary at the British legation in Belgrade reported that Serbian public opinion was very pro-Czechoslovak and expected Yugoslavia to go to war if its ally were attacked. Paul was described as being relieved by the Munich Agreement, which ended the possibility of a war that would had placed his country in a dilemma.
![PabloKarađorđevićEn1932](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/PabloKara%C4%91or%C4%91evi%C4%87En1932.jpeg)
In January 1939, Stojadinović had told the Italian Foreign Minister Count
Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 19 ...
of his wish to turn his
Yugoslav Radical Union
The Yugoslav Radical Union (Serbian language, Serbian: ''Jugoslovenska radikalna zajednica'', Југословенска радикална заједница; sl, Jugoslovanska radikalna skupnost, Croatian language, Croatian: ''Jugoslavenska rad ...
into the only legal party, saying he wanted to establish a fascist dictatorship that carries out a pro-Italian foreign policy "to find a balanced situation and security within the framework of the
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
* Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
". Stojadinović and Ciano discussed the possibility of dividing up Albania, a plan immediately vetoed by Paul who complained that in his opinion Yugoslavia already had too many Albanians (whose loyalty to Yugoslavia was questionable) and adding more would be unhelpful. At the same time, the Croat deputies in the ''skupshtina'' (parliament) called on foreign powers to intervene to give the Croats "liberty of choice and destiny", accusing Stojadinović of being a tyrant.
Danzig crisis: Countdown to war
On 4 February 1939, Paul dismissed Stojadinović as prime minister and at that point the Yugoslav tilt towards the Axis was stopped. After dismissing Stojadinović, Paul rejected an Italian appeal to support the Italian annexation of
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
. On 15 March 1939,
Germany occupied the Czech half of the rump state of
Czecho-Slovakia (as Czechoslovakia had been renamed in October 1938), turning it into the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...
. The fact that despite the way that
Emil Hácha
Emil Dominik Josef Hácha (12 July 1872 – 27 June 1945) was a Czech lawyer, the president of Czechoslovakia from November 1938 to March 1939. In March 1939, after the breakup of Czechoslovakia, Hácha was the nominal president of the newly pro ...
and the rest of the leaders of Czecho-Slovakia had endeavored to carry out a slavishly pro-German foreign policy, nonetheless saw the ''Reich'' extinguish its independence came as a considerable shock to Paul.
Later, when the
Italians annexed Albania on Easter weekend 1939, Paul declined to make a protest, which severely strained relations with Yugoslavia's
Balkan Pact
The Balkan Pact, or Balkan Entente, was a treaty signed by Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia on 9 February 1934 ally
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, which protested most vehemently against the annexation of a Muslim-majority nation with which the Turks had historically close ties. The Italian annexation of Albania led to Italy controlling both sides of the
Strait of Otranto
The Strait of Otranto ( sq, Ngushtica e Otrantos; it, Canale d'Otranto; hr, Otrantska Vrata) connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. Its width at Punta Palascìa, east of Salento is less than . The st ...
, and thus allowed the Italians to cut Yugoslavia off from access to the rest of the world. On 12 May 1939, Britain and Turkey issued a joint declaration promising "to ensure the establishment of security in the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
". As Paul was about to make a state visit to Italy, he found the statement from the Turkish ambassador in Belgrade suggesting that Yugoslavia work with Turkey in the spirit of the Anglo-Turkish declaration to resist any further Italian advances in the Balkans very poorly timed and made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with the Turkish proposal.
![MIguelBenesCarolIIPabloDeYugoslavia1936](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/MIguelBenesCarolIIPabloDeYugoslavia1936.jpeg)
Paul backed a plan floated by Turkish Foreign Minister
Şükrü Saracoğlu
Mehmet Şükrü Saracoğlu (; 17 June 1887, Ödemiş – 27 December 1953, Istanbul) was a Turkish politician, the fifth Prime Minister of Turkey and the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs during the early stages of World War II. He signe ...
for
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
to join the Balkan Pact and, in a letter, urged
King Carol II of Romania
Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I in 1914. He was the first of t ...
to cede part of the
Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
region as the price of Bulgaria joining the Balkan Pact. In his letter, Paul stressed the importance of stopping Italy from invaded more Balkan nations, which required getting the Bulgarians out of the Italian sphere of influence (
King Boris III of Bulgaria
Boris III ( bg, Борѝс III ; Boris Treti; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier) , was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until hi ...
was married to the daughter of King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Victor Emmanuel III (Vittorio Emanuele Ferdinando Maria Gennaro di Savoia; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. He also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–1941) and K ...
). He wrote that he wanted the Bulgarians "off my back" to allow the Yugoslavs and Greeks to focus on countering the Italians, who were now building up their forces in their new
colony of Albania. Unlike the
Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...
, whom Paul felt would never abandon their claims against Yugoslavia, the Bulgarians were felt to be more tractable.
After Germany and Italy, Hungary was the nation that Paul worried about the most as he noted that Danube river valley ran down from the Hungarian plain straight to Belgrade. At the same time, Yugoslavia began staff talks with Greece with the aim of resisting an Italian invasion of either nation. A major problem for Yugoslavia was the lack of modern weapons together with the money to pay for them. Watt wrote that "Paul's tactics were aimed at winning credits and securing arms deliveries wherever he could, in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
or
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
". After talking to
Raymond Brugère
Charles Henri Raymond Brugère (25 January 1885 – 30 August 1966) was a French diplomat.
Diplomat
Brugère was born in Orléans, the son of General Joseph Brugère and Louise Thieclin. He graduated with a degree in the law. Brugère joined t ...
, the French minister in Belgrade, the latter promised the prince regent that he would fly to Paris personally to lobby for Yugoslavia.
On 29 June 1939, it was that announced that the
Bank Seligmann of Paris was going to make a loan of 600 million francs to Yugoslavia that was to be spent on weapons for the
Yugoslav military. The Germans had broken the Yugoslav diplomatic codes and were well aware of Paul's attempts to play off the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
against the
Allied powers to secure the best deal for Yugoslavia; Paul's salvation in 1939 rested with the fact that Germany was about to invade
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and needed raw materials from Yugoslavia like bauxite and copper to keep the German armaments industry going. After Hitler had the decision to launch ''Fall Weiss'' (Case White), the invasion of Poland, the ''Reich'' wanted two things from Yugoslavia, namely an agreement to supply Germany with all the necessary raw materials and that Yugoslavia not only refuse to join the British-inspired "peace front", but also formally align its diplomacy with the Axis powers.
In 1939, Prince Paul, as acting head of state, accepted an official invitation from
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and spent nine days in Berlin. During his visit to Berlin, a massive effort was made to persuade Paul to not join the "peace front" that was meant to "contain" Germany. Paul was greeted by Hitler at the train station in Berlin, was made the guest of honor at a reception and dinner at the Reich Chancellery, visited the Potsdam military base, saw a gala performance of Wagner at the Berlin opera, and reviewed two major military parades meant to impress upon him the power of the ''Reich''. For the first part of his trip, Paul stayed at
Bellevue Palace, an old imperial palace and then for the last three days, at Goring's estate at
Carinhall. Despite all the pomp, Paul during his visit to Germany repeatedly refused the demands made by his hosts to sign an economic agreement that would have turned Yugoslavia into a German economic colony or some overt pro-Axis gesture like pulling Yugoslavia out of the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
and signing the
Anti-Comintern Pact
The Anti-Comintern Pact, officially the Agreement against the Communist International was an anti-Communist pact concluded between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan on 25 November 1936 and was directed against the Communist International (Com ...
. The German foreign minister
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945.
Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
called Paul a "log" (a German slang term meaning somebody who is very stupid) while Hitler was very angry that despite all the lavish hospitality the only concession Paul made was to slightly readjust the exchange rate between the ''
Reichsmark
The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...
'' and the
Dinar
The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread.
The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...
. In return for readjusting the exchange rate, Paul forced the Germans to finally deliver some of the aircraft that Yugoslavia had paid for in advance in 1938, but the Germans kept finding excuses not to deliver. During his visit to Berlin, Paul repeatedly refused to have Yugoslavia leave the League of Nations and sign the Anti-Comintern Pact.
While he was in Germany, Paul dispatched General
Petar Pešić on a secret mission to Paris and London to find out what were the Anglo-French plans in the event of a war. Pešić told
Lord Gort
Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, (10 July 1886 – 31 March 1946) was a senior British Army officer. As a young officer during the First World War, he was decorated with the Victoria Cross for his acti ...
of the British General Staff and French Marshal
Maurice Gamelin
Maurice Gustave Gamelin (, 20 September 1872 – 18 April 1958) was an army general in the French Army. Gamelin is remembered for his disastrous command (until 17 May 1940) of the French military during the Battle of France (10 May–22 June 1940 ...
that Yugoslavia would declare neutrality if Germany invaded Poland but would be willing to enter the war for the Allieds the moment that the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
and the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...
came under Allied operational control. Pešić argued that from the Allied viewpoint that Yugoslav neutrality could be advantageous in the sense that Yugoslavia at present could not stop the German
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
from occupying the country if Hitler so desired, which would allow the Germans to exploit all of the crucial raw materials of Yugoslavia, but if Yugoslavia remained neutral and entered the war when the Allies could support it, then raw materials would be permanently denied to the Germans.
Pešić found that the French, who preferred that fighting take place in anywhere but France, were far more interested in having Yugoslavia enter the conflict if the
Danzig Crisis
The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...
led to a war than were the British. From Gamelin, he learned the French were already planning on having the
Army of the Levant commanded by
Maxime Weygand
Maxime Weygand (; 21 January 1867 – 28 January 1965) was a French military commander in World War I and World War II.
Born in Belgium, Weygand was raised in France and educated at the Saint-Cyr military academy in Paris. After graduating in 1 ...
land at
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
to march up the Balkans to link up with the Yugoslavs and the Romanians to aid the Poles. In May 1939, Yugoslavia changed its diplomatic codes, which stopped both the Italians and Germans from reading the Yugoslav codes. The same month, when Romanian Foreign Minister
Grigore Gafencu
Grigore Gafencu (; January 30, 1892 – January 30, 1957) was a Romanian politician, diplomat and journalist.
Political career
Gafencu was born in Bârlad. He studied law and received his Ph.D. in law from the University of Bucharest. During W ...
visited Belgrade, Paul spoke to him of his wish for both Yugoslavia and Romania to have closer ties with Britain.
Despite repeated pressure from both the German and Italian ministers in Belgrade, Paul refused their demand for Yugoslavia to leave the League of Nations as a symbolic move to show that Yugoslavia was now associated with the Axis states. As Germany and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
had both left the League of Nations in 1933 while Italy had left the League in 1937, the Axis powers always attached immense symbolic importance to having other nations leaving the League as showing diplomatic alignment with them.
![Beograd Beli dvor na Dedinju](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Beograd_Beli_dvor_na_Dedinju.jpg)
In June 1939, Paul warned the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
ambassador to Yugoslavia that the ''
Forschungsamt'' (research office – German cryptanalytic intelligence agency) was reading all of the diplomatic cables going into and out of Belgrade, including the American ones, and the ambassador should be careful what information he cabled back to
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
. On 15 July 1939, Paul left Belgrade to visit London with a stop over in Paris to see Pešić.
![Knez Pavle Karadjordjevic i princeza Jelisaveta](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Knez_Pavle_Karadjordjevic_i_princeza_Jelisaveta.jpg)
From Pešić, Paul learned that he had the impression that on one hand, the French were keen to start a second front in the Balkans in the event of war while on the other hand that the French Navy would play only a defensive role, guarding convoys from
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
to France. In London, Paul advocated that Britain launch a "
preemptive war
A preemptive war is a war that is commenced in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived imminent offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending (allegedly unavoidable) war ''shortly before'' that attack materializes. It ...
" against Italy, saying that if Italy were knocked out, then Yugoslavia would definitely move closer to Britain. Paul ordered that the Yugoslav National Bank's gold reserves be transferred to London as a sign of his faith in Britain.
He told his British hosts that Yugoslavia was not ready to join the "peace front" yet but was moving in that direction. Paul also told Foreign Secretary
Lord Halifax
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 19 ...
that Paul would use his influence with the more hesitant Balkan Pact nations, Romania and Greece, to try to bring them into the "peace front". During the same visit, he was installed as a
Knight of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...
, the most important British order of chivalry, by
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...
, which greatly offended Hitler, who complained that Paul's heart was with the British. During his talks with Lord Halifax in London, Paul received elusive replies to his demands for a British "preemptive war" against Italy as Paul contended that as long as the ''
Regia Marina
The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the Italian constitutional referendum, 1946, birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' ch ...
'' existed, there was always the possibility of Yugoslavia being cut off from Britain and France. Both Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
and Lord Halifax regarded Italian Prime Minister
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
as the more moderate and reasonable of the fascist leaders and that, despite signing the
Pact of Steel
The Pact of Steel (german: Stahlpakt, it, Patto d'Acciaio), formally known as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy, was a military and political alliance between Italy and Germany.
The pact was initially drafted as a t ...
in May, he might still be "peeled off" from his alliance with Germany. Paul's fears of the ''Regia Marina'' were confirmed in June 1940 when Italy entered the war and caused the British to start supplying Egypt via the long way around Africa on the Cape of Good Hope route as the danger of Italian air and naval attacks made crossing the central Mediterranean too dangerous, the only exception being supply convoys for Malta.
Fearful of being cut off, Paul advocated to Halifax that if Britain ended up declaring war on Germany as a result of the latter invading Poland, then Britain should immediately launch air and naval attacks to destroy the ''Regia Marina'' and the ''
Regia Aeronautica
The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...
'' regardless if Italy was neutral or not. It was Paul's belief that even if Mussolini declared neutrality at first, he would inevitably that he would come into the war on Germany's side at some point. Paul very much wanted an Anglo-French landing at the Greek city of Thessaloniki in the event of war, as he believed that to be the only way that Yugoslavia could resist a German invasion. Paul also expressed his hope that the British would include the Soviet Union the proposed "peace front" as the best way of deterring Germany from invading Poland. While Paul was visiting London, Yugoslav Finance Minister Vojin Đuričić was in Paris and signed there on 14 July an agreement with Prime Minister
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier (; 18 June 1884 – 10 October 1970) was a French Radical-Socialist (centre-left) politician, and the Prime Minister of France who signed the Munich Agreement before the outbreak of World War II.
Daladier was born in Carpentr ...
for France to sell Yugoslavia anti-aircraft guns, trucks, howitzers, anti-tank guns, machine guns, tanks and tank transporters.
As the Danzig Crisis pushed Europe to the brink of war,
Vladko Maček
Vladimir Maček (20 June 1879 – 15 May 1964) was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political fig ...
of the
Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party ( hr, Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that t ...
became convinced of the necessity of "throwing a bridge across the abyss which separated Serb from Croat". Paul supported Prime Minister
Dragiša Cvetković
Dragiša Cvetković ( sr-cyr, Драгиша Цветковић; 15 January 1893 – 18 February 1969) was a Yugoslav politician active in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He served as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1939 to 1941. ...
's efforts to reach an understanding with Maček, despite his wish to hand over Yugoslavia unchanged to King Peter when he reached his majority, since Paul felt that an end to the Serb-Croat dispute was the best way to allow Yugoslavia to survive the coming storm. On 20 August 1939, the
Cvetković-Maček Agreement set up the
Banovina of Croatia to be ruled by a ''ban'' (governor) responsible to the king and a ''sabor'' (parliament) in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
. The central government retained control of the monarchy, foreign affairs, national defence, foreign trade, commerce, transport, public security, religion, mining, weights and measures, insurance and education policy, but Croatia was to have its own legislature in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
with a separate budget. The ''sporazum'' (agreement) granted broad autonomy to Croatia, and partitioned
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
and
Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...
as the government agreed to Maček's demand for all of the Croats in Yugoslavia to live under the authority of the Croatian ''banovina''. The ''sporazum'' was popular with moderate Croat opinion, but it was extremely unpopular with the
Bosnian Muslims
The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...
, who objected to the partition of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Likewise, Serbs was outraged by that the ''sporazum'' had "abandoned" the ''
prečani'' Serbs in Bosnia and the ''
Krajina Krajina () is a Slavic toponym, meaning ' frontier' or 'march'. The term is related to ''kraj'' or ''krai'', originally meaning 'edge'Rick Derksen (2008), ''Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon'', Brill: Leiden-Boston, page 244 a ...
'' region to Croat rule. The charge that Paul and Cvetković had "sold out" to the Croats with the ''sporazum'' made them unpopular with the Serbs, and if it did not cause the
coup d'état of 26 March 1941, it certainly was an essential prerequisite for the coup. Finally, the
Slovenes
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovene as their n ...
demanded for a similar degree of autonomy to be granted to them.
On 26 August 1939, as the Danzig Crisis moved towards its climax, Paul, in a letter to Lord Halifax, once again urged that Britain launch a "preemptive war" against Italy if Germany invaded Poland. Paul warned if Germany conquered Poland, Italy would sooner or later enter the war, and if that happened, the Italian forces in Albania with support from Bulgaria would be used to threaten the other Balkan states. Paul concluded in that case "a rot throughout the Balkans" would follow as the other Balkan states together with Turkey would turn towards Germany to protect them from Italy. Sir
Ronald Campbell, the British minister in Belgrade, in a cable to Lord Halifax wrote that Paul was "in the last stages of despair". Halifax wrote on the margin on Paul's letter that he was suffering from
manic-depression again. Brugère, who very much liked Paul, proved more sympathetic and, in a dispatch to Paris, urged for France to land a force at Thessaloniki if Germany invaded Poland. The French proved supportive of the idea of landing at Thessaloniki, but Allied strategy was determined by an Inter-Allied War Council, and the British were stoutly opposed to the French plans for a "second front" in the Balkans. The news of the
Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact was an especially bitter blow for Paul, as it ensured that the two strongest powers in Eastern Europe would be working together, and it ended the regent's hopes of an Anglo-French alliance, which might finally rid Yugoslavia of the constant Italian efforts to undermine national unity.
Second World War
When the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke out in September 1939 by the
German invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...
, Yugoslavia declared its neutrality. During the
Phoney War
The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germa ...
, Paul arranged for Yugoslavia to step up deliveries of copper to Germany in exchanges for promises that Germany would finally deliver arms that Yugoslavia had paid for in advance but for which Germany kept finding excuses not to deliver. Germany also wanted for Yugoslavia to refuse to join the British-inspired "peace front" and even for it to formally align its diplomacy with the Axis powers. In his sympathies, Paul preferred for France and Britain to win the war, but he was markedly afraid of the Wehrmacht. Paul repeatedly pressed for a revival of the
Salonika Front
The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of German ...
strategy of
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
by arguing that if French and British forces landed at Thessaloniki, which would place them in a position to aid Yugoslavia, he might lean more towards the Allies. During the Phoney War, a popular if erroneous rumour in Croatia that Paul was planning to enter the war on the Allied side and send Croat regiments to man the
Maginot Line
The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...
in France increased support for Croat separatism.
Such was Paul's desperation for a counterbalance to Germany that he even turned towards the Soviet Union. Vasily Strandtman, the Russian
chargé d'affaires
A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...
at the legation in Belgrade in 1914, finally closed the legation in October 1939 under strong pressure from the Yugoslav government. In May 1940, an economic agreement was signed with the Soviet Union, and in June 1940, Yugoslavia finally established diplomatic relations with Moscow, being one of the last European states to recognize the Soviet Union. In December 1940 and again in March 1941, Paul attempted to have Yugoslavia buy modern military equipment from the Soviet Union.
On 4 March 1941, Paul met with
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
at the
Berghof high up in the Bavarian Alps. Hitler told Paul that he already decided to invade Greece and in exchange for the Wehrmacht being granted transit rights through Yugoslavia was willing to assign Thessaloniki to Yugoslavia after the expected conquest of Greece. Paul refused the offer and said that as his wife was Greek, he could not permit Yugoslavia to be used as a base for aggression against Greece. Paul also admitted that his sympathies were with Britain and stated to sign the Tripartite Pact would lead to his overthrow. General
Franz Halder
Franz Halder (30 June 1884 – 2 April 1972) was a German general and the chief of staff of the Oberkommando des Heeres, Army High Command (OKH) in Nazi Germany from 1938 until September 1942. During World War II, he directed the planning and i ...
, the chief of the Germany Army Staff who attended the meeting, wrote in his diary: "No positive results. No intention to join the Tripartite Pact". On 6 March 1941, Paul called a meeting of the Yugoslav Crown Council at which Pešić stated his opinion as a soldier that the Royal Yugoslav Army could not stop a German invasion, and the best that could be hoped for was to hold out for six weeks in the mountains of Bosnia. The next day, Yugoslav Foreign Minister
Aleksandar Cincar-Marković approached Victor von Heeren, the German minister in Belgrade, and said that Yugoslavia was willing to sign the Tripartite Pact if no transit rights allowing the Wehrmacht to invade Greece from Yugoslavia were granted and said that Paul could not in good conscience allow Yugoslavia to be used as a base for war against his wife's homeland.
On 25 March 1941, the
Yugoslav government signed the Axis
Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. It was a defensive milit ...
with significant reservations, as three notes were appended. The first note obliged the Axis powers to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Yugoslavia. In the second note, the Axis powers promised not to ask Yugoslavia for any military assistance, and in the third note, they promised not to ask permission to move military forces across Yugoslav territory during the war. Nonetheless, the signing of the pact did not sit well with several elements of the
Royal Yugoslav Army
The Yugoslav Army ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslovenska vojska, JV, Југословенска војска, ЈВ), commonly the Royal Yugoslav Army, was the land warfare military service branch of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (originally Kingdom of Serbs ...
. On 27 March 1941, two days after Yugoslavia had signed the Tripartite Pact, Yugoslav military figures with British support
forcibly removed Paul from power and declared King Peter II of age. German and Italian forces
invaded the country ten days later.
Exile
![Garter-encircled Coat of Arms of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Garter-encircled_Coat_of_Arms_of_Prince_Paul_of_Yugoslavia.png)
For the remainder of the war, Prince Paul was kept, with his family, under
house arrest
In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...
by the British in
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
. Paul and his family arrived at
Oserian, the former home of
Lord Erroll on the shores of
Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, outside the town of Naivasha in Nakuru County, which lies north west of Nairobi. It is part of the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name ''Nai'posha'', meaning "rough wate ...
on 28 April 1941.
The Oserian was in a state of disrepair as the earl had been murdered earlier in 1941 and Princess Olga called it "a complete nightmare".
Paul and his family were under house arrest, being forbidden to leave grounds of the Oserian.
The British newspapers vilified Paul by depicting him as a Nazi sympathizer despite his Anglophile tendencies.
His sister-in-law, the
Duchess of Kent
Duchess of Kent is the principal courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, the wife of Prince Edward. He inherited the dukedom ...
, and her husband, the
Duke of Kent
Duke of Kent is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of peerage of Great Britain, Great Britain and the peerage of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom, most recently as a Royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom, royal dukedom ...
, appealed to
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
in the hope of allowing Paul and his wife,
Princess Olga
Olga ( orv, Вольга, Volĭga; (); russian: Ольга (); uk, Ольга (). Old Norse: '; Lith: ''Alge''; Christian name: ''Elena''; c. 890–925 – 969) was a regent of Kievan Rus' for her son Sviatoslav from 945 until 960. Following ...
, to take refuge in Britain. However, Churchill rejected the request in no uncertain manner since he viewed Paul as a traitor and war criminal. After the Duke of Kent's death in 1942, Churchill relented to King George's insistence and allowed Olga to fly to London to comfort her sister but without her husband, who had been extremely close to the late Duke. One of Paul's old friends, the South African Prime Minister,
Jan Smuts
Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...
, lobbied Churchill to release Paul, who was finally freed in 1944 and was allowed to settle in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
.
Smuts granted Paul and his family asylum. Smuts lost the 1948 South African general election to
D. F. Malan of the National Party, which was less sympathetic towards Paul being in South Africa.
Paul lived in South Africa until 1949, when he moved to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
Paul always spent his summers at his villa in Tuscany, the
Villa Demidoff
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
, where his neighbor was his old friend, the wealthy American art historian and art dealer,
Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large ...
.
Berenson had long maintained his home at his Tuscan villa, ''I Tatti''. As Berenson was one of the richest and most influential figures in the art world, Paul was able to continue with adding to his art collection.
The British art historian
John Pope-Hennessy
Sir John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy (13 December 1913 – 31 October 1994), was a British art historian. Pope-Hennessy was Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1967 and 1973, and Director of the British Museum between 1974 and 1976. ...
, who once had lunch with Berenson and Paul, wrote: "I found Princess Olga’s guttural manner rather disconcerting, but Prince Paul I liked from the beginning".
The postwar
Communist authorities in Yugoslavia had Prince Paul proclaimed an enemy of the state, barred him from ever returning to Yugoslavia and confiscated all of his property in Yugoslavia. He died in Paris on 14 September 1976, aged 83 and was buried at the
Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery
The Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery ( French ''Cimetière du Bois-de-Vaux'') is the principal burial ground of Lausanne in Switzerland.
Laid out by the architect Alphonse Laverrière between 1922 and 1951, the cemetery lies to the south of the town and ...
in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
.
Princess Elizabeth, his only daughter, obtained information from the British
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
files in the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
in London and published them in Belgrade in the 1990 edition of the Serbian-language biography of her father. The original book, ''Paul of Yugoslavia: Britain's Maligned Friend'', was written by Neil Balfour, the first being published by Eaglet Publishing in London in 1980.
Prince Paul was rehabilitated by the Serbian courts in 2011 and on 6 October 2012 was reburied at the family crypt of
Oplenac
The St. George's Church in Oplenac ( sr-cyrl, Црква Светог Ђорђа на Опленцу, Crkva Svetog Đorđa na Oplencu), also known as Oplenac (Опленац), is the mausoleum of the Serbian and Yugoslav royal house of Karađorđ ...
, near
Topola
Topola ( sr-cyrl, Топола, ) is a town and municipality located in the Šumadija District of central Serbia. It was the place where Karađorđe, a Serbian revolutionary, was chosen as the leader of the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottom ...
in central Serbia, together with his wife Olga and son
Nikola
Nikola () is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek ''Nikolaos'' (Νικόλαος). It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montene ...
.
Prince Paul was the father of
Princess Elizabeth,
Prince Alexander, and
Prince Nikola, and was the grandfather of the American author
Christina Oxenberg
Christina Oxenberg (born December 27, 1962) is an American writer, humorist, and fashion designer. She has written seven books, and her writing has been featured in magazines and publications like '' Allure'', ''The Sunday Times'', ''Huffington ...
and American actress
Catherine Oxenberg
Catherine Oxenberg (born September 22, 1961) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Amanda Carrington on the 1980s prime time soap opera ''Dynasty''. Oxenberg is the daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and Howard Oxe ...
.
In 1967, the diaries of the Conservative MP
Henry "Chips" Channon
Sir Henry Channon (7 March 1897 – 7 October 1958), often known as Chips Channon, was an American-born British Conservative politician, author and diarist. Channon moved to England in 1920 and became strongly anti-American, feeling that Amer ...
were published but were heavily censored, as homosexuality was still illegal in Britain, and many of the people named in the diaries were still alive, which exposed the publishers to the risk of libel suits.
In February 2021, the first part of the uncensored version of Channon's diaries were published, which caused a stir as Channon wrote of having homosexual relations with numerous well-known men (among them the playwright
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...
), and it was strongly implied that Paul had been Channon's lover.
The Serbian historian Srdja Trifković wrote that Paul a tragic figure: "Prince Pavle of Yugoslavia is a figure both unique and uniquely tragic in modern Serbian history. His was the story of a perennial outsider; a sophisticated art-lover thrust into the murky world of Balkan politics; an incorrigible Anglophile forced into unsavory deals with England's enemies; a gentleman in a world of perfidious rogues. Always at pains to square the demands of personal integrity with those of the 'art of the possible', he was ultimately unloved in Belgrade, mistrusted in Berlin and scorned in London."
Art collections
Prince Paul, together with
King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I ( sr-Cyrl, Александар I Карађорђевић, Aleksandar I Karađorđević, ) ( – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier, was the prince regent of the Kingdom of Serbia from 1914 and later the King of Yug ...
, collected, donated and dedicated a large number of art works to Serbia and the Serbian people, including foreign masterpieces. There are especially significant Italian, French and Dutch/Flemish pieces. Most of the works are in the
National Museum of Serbia
The National Museum of Serbia ( sr, / ) is the largest and oldest museum in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the central zone of Belgrade on a square plot between the Republic Square, formerly Theatre Square, and three streets: Čika Ljubina ...
, including work by artists such as
Rubens,
Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...
,
Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
,
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...
,
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...
and
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
.
Honours
Ancestry
References
Sources
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*
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External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul Of Yugoslavia
Yugoslav princes
Karađorđević dynasty
Regents
Extra Knights Companion of the Garter
Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
1893 births
1976 deaths
Leaders ousted by a coup
World War II political leaders
Serbian art collectors
Serbian philanthropists
Serbian people of Russian descent
Russian people of Finnish descent
Russian people of Swedish descent
Royalty from Saint Petersburg
Burials at the Mausoleum of the Royal House of Karađorđević, Oplenac
Royal reburials
Yugoslav anti-communists
Recipients of the Order of the Yugoslav Crown
Serbian exiles
Collars of the Order of the White Lion
Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
Bullingdon Club members