King Zivko I

King Zivko I, full name: Zivko Stefan Karadordevic. (12th of July, 1863-17th of August, 1945) was the king of Serbia from between 1889-1945. He was the king of Serbia during the first and second world wars. Zivko's son was Feiron I, the future emperor of Serbia.

Zivko is credited for being the last king of Serbia, because ever since his abdication and execution, there has not been a single person who has taken the title of "King of Serbia".

Zivko was born on the 12 of July, 1863, in the city of Belgrade, Serbia, to Prince Mihailo Karadrordevic III of Serbia. Zivko was very high tempered, getting mad at the smallest things and shouting at his servants usually, causing him to usually make rash decisions fueled by anger.

Zivko studied at the University of Belgrade Until the age of 24, when he graduated. Zivko had a son in 1887, during his university studies, who eventually became the future emperor of Serbia, Feiron Karadodrevic.

Zivko became prince of Serbia when his brother, Milan Karadordevic, died unexpectedly without an heir in 1889.

Principality of Serbia:

Zivko was crowned Zivko I of Serbia on the 13th of April, 1889, at the age of 25. Zivko started enacting new policies, which made him more and more authoritarian. By the age of 33, in 1897, Zivko had his first assassination attempt on him. He was walking to his car to attend to a special festival in Belgrade, when a member of the crowd tried shooting the prince.

The bullet grazed the skin of his arm, but didn't manage to lodge itself into his arm. Zivko was rushed to the hospital and recovered physically a week later, but his mental health wouldn't heal until a decade later. He was heavily impacted by the assassination attempt and wouldn't make a public appearance again until 1901.

Zivko started making reforms to Serbia, which eventually ended up in him establishing the Kingdom of Serbia, on the 27th of February, 1907.

Kingdom of Serbia:

Zivko was the King of Serbia from his coronation on the 1st of March, 1907, to his abdication on the 17th of May, 1945. During those years, Zivko grew Serbia, but also destroyed it in the process.

Zivko's first crisis during his reign was his pneumonia, which he caught on the 14th of June, 1913. Zivko recovered from it on the 28th however, but came very close to dying.

Zivko was a ruler during the first world war, being in the frontlines even from early 1915 to late 1915. Zivko had to escape his country in 1916, having to live in Taranto, Italy from the 25th of June, 1916 to the 18th of September, 1917. On the 19th of September, Zivko finally decided to go back, reaching Serbia's new frontlines on the 16th of October, 1917.

Expansion of Serbia:

After the war, the Austro-Hungarian empire was divided between many new and old states, including Serbia and the new independent Republics of Yermania and Croatia. Zivko wanted to expand Serbia, to create one large orthodox nation in the balkans.

Zivko started the Serbo-croatian war, which lasted from September 1927 to February 1929. The war ended up in a Serbian victory, but it did show to all of his generals that he was not a very good military commander.

Zivko demanded the immediate annexation of Yermania into the Kingdom of Serbia on the 18th of May, 1929. Many people were opposed to the annexation, including Draza II and the president of Yermania itself. Yermania was annexed into the Kingdom in late June of 1929.

The Kingdom got into a big rebellion with the Yermanians from February 1930 to March 1931, which showed Zivko did have at least some military competance, especially during his counter attack against Draza II's rush to Belgrade.

Rising tensions:

As Zivko started annexing new territories into his kingdom, the nations around Serbia started growing hateful against it, especially Italy, because of Serbia's annexation of Albania in 1923.

Zivko had also had small border conflicts with the Russian republic, which almost resulted in an entire conflict during June of 1935, but it was resolved after Zivko met up with the Russian president to discuss the conflicts.

In 1938, after the Anschluss of Austria by Nazi Germany, Zivko started growing mistrustful of Germany, to the point that by the start of 1939, 40 000 troops were stationed on the border between Nazi Germany and Serbia. However, after a non-aggression pact was secured on the 15th of April, 1939, the number decreased to 5 000 by August 1939.

On the 15th of July, 1939, Zivko had another failed assassination attempt on him, where a member of the Ustasha revolutionary group tried shooting him in his car, but the car went too fast and he missed. The assassin war rumored to have been supported by Fascist Italy, almost causing a war on the 29th of July, but Italy confirmed that they had no involvement in it.

Second World War:

Zivko declared war on Italy on the 19th of August, 1940, which dragged Hitler into declaring war on Serbia on the 22nd of August. Serbia initially did well against the poorly equipped and poorly trained Italian forces, managing to win in the battle of Venice on the 8th of November, 1940.

Zivko was also present during a huge morale boosting victory at the first battle of Vilach, on the 11th of January, 1941. After the German defeat at Graz on the 7th of February, 1941, the Serbian offensive started slowing down due to the mud that was settling in. The Serbs started running out of resources, but despite that, Zivko told the generals to continue the advance into Austria, but on the 23rd of June, 1941, they met a stopping point, when they lost the battle of Eisenstadt, which followed into a stalemate.

Zivko's physical health started deteriorating by this point, becoming slower and started having an arched back. Even then, Zivko still attended the battle of Trento on the 3rd of February, 1942.

Heavy Losses and the defeat of Serbia:

By March of 1942, Serbia's resources were at an extreme low, causing heavy losses to happen in the fronts. By November of 1942, Serbia's troops were pushed back to the border, where an extremely long stalemate started.

Serbia roughly recovered some of their resources when the allies started landing men in the balkans during March of 1943. On the 26th of July, 1943, the stalemate was broken, causing Serbia's lines to fall back all the way to Bosnia.

On the 18th of April, 1944, the allies landed on Normandy and Brittany, where they started pushing into northern French lands, which gave the Serbs a chance to recover for a bit, pushing the Germans all the way back to Istria. The allies however, reached a stalemate on the 23rd of June, 1944, eventually finally peacing out of the war with the Germans on the 7th of July, 1944.

Now that the Germans were only fighting the Serbs, they started pouring in resources and men into the front, causing more heavy losses for Serbia to happen. On the 18th of February, 1945, The nazis encircled a big army of around 25 000 troops in the city of Sarajevo, causing a huge fatal blow to the Serbian military.

On the 16th of May, 1945, Belgrade was captured, marking the end of the kingdom of Serbia and the new establishment of SFR Yugoslavia. Zivko was brought into a small remote house, 2 kilometers away from Belgrade, at 6:40 AM in the morning of the 17th of May, 1945. There, he would sign a treaty at 7:30, which made him abdicate, but also made him the premier of SFR Yugoslavia at first.

Trial and execution:

The reason why he was made premier was unclear at the time, but Zivko thought it was because if they deposed him just like that, Serbia would start a rebellion. Zivko's reasoning was not far off, however, but the true reasoning was that they wanted a ruler that they could somewhat trust while they rebuilt Yugoslavia.

Zivko was eventually woken up at 6:10 AM abruptly, on the 11th of June, where he was told that he would be arrested, because the reich didn't need him anymore. On the 13th of June, Zivko was at the mercy of the tribunal of Belgrade, which eventually declared him guilty of treason, usurpation and crimes against humanity, on the 15th of August, 1945.

He was sentenced to death by hanging and on the 17th of August, 1945, was waken up at 8 AM. He got to eat a final luxurious meal, before he was lead up to the scaffold at 10 AM. He was then promptly executed and his body was buried next to his father's tomb at 11 PM.

Legacy:

Zivko is known for being the last King of Serbia, a king who grew his country, but payed the price after trying to pick a fight with the wrong countries. Zivko has also been called a "traitor" by some extremely radical monarchists, because he "turned to the side of the socialists" even though it was against his will that he became premier.

Zivko's military legacy has been described as: "Extremely rash decisions, but with good intentions."

All-in-all, Zivko is credited for being the last King of Serbia and the last ruling king of the house of Karadordevic, until the establishment of the Yugoslav empire.