King Alexander's Assassination

King Alexander of Yugoslavia was assassinated along with the French Foreign Minister, Louis Barthou, in Marseille in October 1934 at the beginning of a state visit to France. King Alexander travelled to France strengthen the defencive alliance with that countrz aganist Nazi German. On arrival in Marseille, before doing anything else, the King was to have laid
a wreath at the monument aux morts of the French Orient Army. But within minutes of setting foot on French soil, both he and Barthou were the victims of the bullets of the assassin.

Croatian and Macedonian separatist groups - the Ustaša and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO) under the secret sponsorship of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini planned and carried out the assassination.

 

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