Serbia

Flag of Serbia

**Serbia** Officially the **Kingdom of Serbia** is one of the equally matched powers of the Balkans. Serbia is officially a Constitutional Monarchy with a government similar to that of Great Britain, however the influence of the Chetniks has forced the nation into a state of near-military dictatorship, it is ruled by the house of Karađorđević, Serbia fought in the Fourth Balkan war as one of the many powers fighting against Bulgarian hegemony and is gained large amounts of territory from the war. The Current Kingdom of Serbia was established on the 18th of October 1936 in the aftermath of the elections and Chetnik coup. Serbia did not join the Second Weltkrieg as weirdly the Balkans were peaceful during the whole war, this was despite calls to invade Illyria however the IMRO caused enough issues to prevent Serbian entry into the war. Serbia despite its authoritarian government aligns with the Entente given the danger of Danubian and Bulgarian invasion into the region. However this has caused controversy amongst the right about allying themselves with the Ottoman State.

## History

Serbia in 1936 was in the same position it was in since 1919, a weak unstable republic with nationalistic agitation all across the nation. The elements of nationalism ran rampant in Serbian society however the republic was able to survive the Black Monday Crisis with relative ease given the relative isolation of the Serbian economy. However this didn't stop the wave of Syndicalist support that gripped the world and Serbia was no different from its neighbors in this regard. With the election oncoming the Chetniks began to make plans incase of a socialist victory in the Serbian elections to coup the government as calls for a monarchy to return were beginning to grow louder. The Election of 1936 in October would see the victory of the Socialists and the beginning of the short lived Kaclerović Presidency. The Chetniks were horrified and the plan was activated only a few days later on the 8th of October. On that day the commander of the old royal guard, Petar Živković, would surround and storm the Skupština. The President was taken hostage but he would call for relief. However the relief he called for joined the coup and Petar Živković would be entrenched as the new Prime Minister of Serbia. The heir to the Serbian Throne, Peter II, was called back from Canada and reinstated as monarch of Serbia as the monarchy was officially restored with Petar Živković serving as regent. However a collection of officers wished to restore Peter to complete authority, but he would decline to support this wishing for the country to govern itself not wishing to get assassinated for trying to remove the Chetniks or get removed by the people like his father. Serbia's nationalist government would end up negotiating with Greece and Romania to attack Bulgaria in 1937 after their respective internal crises had been dealt with. With this the Fourth Balkan war would begin and Bulgaria would make the fatal mistake of focusing on Romania witch was perceived to be the bigger threat. Serbia would launch its own offensive called the Niš offensive witch would see much of Serbia's old land taken in the span of a few days. This was surprising to the Serbian leadership at just how quick the Bulgarian army caved in, however analysts point out that this is very likely due to the Sveno Coup in Bulgaria witch shattered the Bulgarian leadership witch it hadn't recovered from. Serbian forced would then attack Sofia and with the capital having fallen the Bulgarian nation collapsed and the new provisional government would sign the Treaty of Bucharest in witch Serbia would take back all land lost in the First Weltkrieg. However the local Macedonian population did not like the Nationalist government witch suppressed them and the Macedonian Insurrection would occur with the IMRO fighting against the Serbian government. This insurrection would continue into 1941 with most of Serbia's resources being sapped by the rebellion preventing Serbia from attacking Danubia. This in turn prevented Romania from attacking not wishing to try and take Transylvania without Serbian support. This would prove to be a wise decision as Danubia's entry into the Weltkrieg would end up showing its true military strength after much reform. While Russia would attempt to cater Serbia into attacking Danubia this would prove futile as Serbia needed to focus on rebuilding its economy after years of mobilization. This policy would continue into 1946 long after the signing of the Treaty of Minsk. Serbia would end up looking towards the Entente for support but soon instability would strike again with Petar Živković's death in 1947. This would see power transferred to the National Populist Milan Stojadinović who oversees a regime that acts like an Orthodox version of Integralisim. However the calls to remove the Chetnik government for its failure to secure the independence of the South Slavs in Illyria have grown as the people wish for the return of democracy. Meanwhile Bulgaria looks to retake its territory as tensions rise in the new Kalterkrieg.

## Military

The Serbian Military has received a large portion of funding in recent years compared to the rest of the government. The Army is in near complete control over the government and is quite large for its size. However its is not the largest in the Balkans with both Bulgaria and Romania having larger. Serbia due to being landlocked is the only Balkan nations that has no naval force. Serbia does have a small underfunded Air Force that will not be able to prevent much from happening in the event of war.