May Coup (Serbia)

The May Coup (Serbian: Мајски преврат, Majski prevrat) was a coup d'état in which Serbian King Alexander Obrenović and his wife, Queen Draga, were assassinated inside the Royal Palace in Belgrade on the night of 28-29 May 1903 by the Julian calendar (10-11 June by the Gregorian calendar). This act resulted in the extinction of the House of Obrenović which had been ruling Serbia since the middle of the 19th century. The assassination of the royal couple was organized by a group of army officers led by then-Captain Dragutin Dimitrijević Apis. After the May Overthrow, the Serbian throne passed to the rival House of Karađorđević. The coup had a significant influence on Serbia's relations with other European powers; the house of Obrenović was mostly allied to Austria-Hungary, while the Karađorđević dynasty had close ties both with Russia and France. Both dynasties were receiving financial support from their powerful foreign sponsors.

Along with the royal couple, the conspirators killed the Prime Minister Dimitrije Cincar-Marković and the Minister of the Army Milovan Pavlović.

From the time Serbia was freed from Ottoman Turkish control following the Serbian Revolution in 1804–1835, it emerged as an independent principality, ruled by various factions surrounding the Obrenović and Karađordević dynasties. These, in turn, were sponsored by the rival Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires. The Obrenović family was mostly pro-Austrian while their hereditary enemies, the Karađordević family, were mostly pro-Russian. Each dynasty was financially aided by their powerful foreign sponsors.

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