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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 organised 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 allied to Austria-Hungary, while the Karađorđević dynasty had close ties both with Russia〔C. L. Sulzberger, ''The Fall of Eagles'', p.202〕 and France. Both dynasties were receiving financial support from their powerful foreign sponsors.〔Sulzberger, p.202〕 Along with the royal couple, the conspirators killed the Prime Minister Dimitrije Cincar-Marković and the Minister of the Army Milovan Pavlović. ==Historical background== 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.〔Sulzberger, p.201〕 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. After the assassination of Prince Mihailo Obrenović on 29 May 1868 (Old Style), his cousin, Milan Obrenović, became the newly elected Serbian prince. Milan was married to Natalie Keshko, a Moldavian boyar's daughter. He was an autocratic ruler and very unpopular among the people. During his rule, Serbia reemerged as〔Serbia in the Middle Ages〕 an independent country and gained territory at the 1878 Congress of Berlin. Since Russia gave its support to Bulgaria at the Treaty of San Stefano, King Milan relied on Austria-Hungary as his ally. He proclaimed himself King in 1882. His military defeat in the war against Bulgaria and the Timok Rebellion, led by elements of the People's Radical Party, were serious blows to his popularity. The situation was not any better in his private life. After ten years of marriage, quarrels between the King and the Queen were fiercer and more frequent. King Milan was not a faithful husband and Queen Natalija was greatly influenced by Russia. In 1886, the couple, mismatched both personally and politically, separated. Queen Natalija withdrew from the kingdom, taking with her the ten-year-old Prince Alexander (later King Alexander I). While she was residing in Wiesbaden in 1888, King Milan was successful in recovering the Crown Prince, whom he undertook to educate. As a reply to the Queen's remonstrances, Milan exerted considerable pressure upon the metropolitan and obtained a divorce which was later declared illegal. On 3 January 1889, Milan adopted the new constitution which was much more liberal than the existing 1869 Constitution. Two months later, on March 6, Milan suddenly abdicated the throne in favor of his son. No satisfactory reason was given for this step. Upon abdication, former King Milan put up a Regency to rule in the name of young King Alexander and retired to Paris to live as an ordinary citizen. Members of the Regency were Jovan Ristić, General Kosta Protić and General Jovan Belimarković. The Radicals were forgiven and allowed to return to political life. The Radical Sava Grujić formed a new government, which was succeeded by the Government of Nikola Pašić, the leader of the Radical Party. After King Milan's pro-Austrian policy, the Radical-led Government became closer to the Russian Empire. In the summer of 1891, Prince Alexander and Pašić visited Russian Tzar Alexander III Romanov. Romanov promised that Russia would not allow Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that Russia would support Serbian interests in "Old Serbia" and Macedonia. Alexander's mother, former Queen Natalija, while in the process of divorcing Milan, was banished from Belgrade upon Alexander's request and went to the French coastal resort Biarritz, together with her lady-in-waiting and the future queen Draga Mašin. After the death of the Regent Protić on 4 June 1892, a conflict emerged between Pašić, who wanted the vacant position in the Regency for himself, and the Regent Ristić, who disliked Pašić. In 1892, Ristić transferred the government to the Liberal Party, the party he had always been linked with, and appointed Jovan Avakumović as the new Prime Minister. This step and the subsequent conduct of the Liberal politicians caused serious discontent in the country. On the 1st (13th)of April 1893, Prince Alexander, by a successful stratagem, imprisoned the Regents and the Ministers in the palace and, declaring himself of age, called the Radicals to office. In quick succession the new Prime Ministers were Radicals Lazar Dokić, Sava Grujić, Đorđe Simić and Svetozar Nikolajević. One of the guardsmen that helped Alexander imprison the Regents and the Ministers was then-Colonel Laza Petrović. At the beginning of his reign, King Alexander was prescribing a program of Government in matters of the military, the economical and the financial life of the state. He disapproved an unprincipled party competition and in order to suppress the Radicals, on 9 January, he invited his father back to Serbia. The Radical Government immediately resigned and moved into opposition. The influence of ex-King Milan in state affairs could be seen immediately after his return to Serbia. King Alexander tried to keep a policy of neutral governments but he did not have much success. Therefore, on 9 May 1894 he conducted another coup, abolished the Constitution from 1888 and put into force the old one from 1869. Milan's return to Serbia did not last long because he quickly got into a conflict with his son. A week after his departure, Queen Natalija was allowed to return to Serbia.〔 Natalija invited Alexander to come to Biarritz. When he visited his mother, he met Draga - who was 12 years older than him - and immediately fell in love with her. Natalija knew about this affair but did not pay much attention to it believing that it would only be a short-lived adventure. In the meantime, the progressivist Stojan Novaković formed a new government. On his father's command, King Alexander paid a visit to Vienna where, as a sign of Austro-Serbian friendship, he awarded the Austrian Minister of Finance Béni Kállay, who was also the Minister for Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was not well received in Serbia because of the Austro-Hungarian tendency to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「May Coup (Serbia)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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