Eastern Europe; key historical events
Includes
Austria (see also Germany); excludes Poland, Russia
See
also Greece/Turkey
See
also Italy
See
also Poland
See
also Russia/USSR
Click
here for map of Budapest 1905.
Albania from 1910 – see
Appendix 1
Austria from 1882 – see Appendix
2
Bulgaria from 1861 – see Appendix
3
Czechia and Slovakia from
1916 – see Appendix 4
Hungary from 1873 – See Appendix
5.
Romania and Moldovan from 1868
– see Appendix 6
Former Yugoslavia (Serbia) from 1875 – see Appendix
7
Colour key:
People
Austro-Hungary
war 1848-67
Seven
Years War 1756-63
See appendices below for events in eastern Europe
after 1876
8/7/1876. The Austrian
and Russian
foreign Ministers, Andrassy and Gorchakov, met at the Reichstadt
in Bohemia to discuss the future of the Balkans on the conclusion of the
current conflict.
8/6/1867, The Hapsburg Emperor, Francis Joseph
I, was crowned Apostolic King of Hungary at Buda.
15/3/1867. Austria and Hungary
buried their differences and agreed to joint rule, sharing defence, foreign,
and financial matters but with separate parliaments. However the Czechs,
annoyed by the minor role they were given in this arrangement, walked out of
the Parliament on 22/8/1868.
3/10/1866, A peace treaty was
concluded between Austria and
Italy. Austria surrendered Venetia to
Italy.
23/8/1866. The Treaty of Prague was signed, ending the war between Austria and Prussia.
24/6/1866, The Italians fighting the Austrians were defeated at Custozza.
10/3/1864, Maximilian II, King of Bavaria,
died.
23/12/1861, The two states of Moldavia and Walachia (the Danubian
Principalities) were united as Romania.
12/8/1860, King Danilo I
of Montenegro was assassinated. He was succeeded by his 19-year-old nephew, Nicholas I.
10/11/1859, A peace
treaty signed at Zurich ended the war between France, allied to Piedmont, and
Austria. The effects of the treaty were crucial in the unification of Italy.
Under its terms, Lombardy passed from Austria to Piedmont, with the exception
of the Quadrilateral forts (see 24/6/1859) which were retained by Austria.
Piedmont compensated France 60 million lire for the cost of the war
with Austria. Plebiscites were held in various territories to determine which
State they would join.
10/7/1859, The Treaty of Villafranca
was signed.
24/6/1859, At the Battle of Solferino,
Lombardy, Italy,
the French under Napoleon III defeated the Austrians.
4/6/1859, The Battle of Magenta.
France defeated Austrian forces and captured Milan.
30/5/1859, Battle of Palestro;
Austria defeated by Piedmont.
20/5/1859, Italian Wars of independence, Austria defeated by
Piedmont.
See Italy for War of Italian Independence against Austria
3/5/1859. France declared war on Austria.
5/1/1858, Joseph Radedtsky, Austrian Field-Marshal and
national hero, died in Milan aged 91.
2/12/1854, Austria formed a strategic alliance with Britain
and France.
13/8/1849, The Hungarian General, Gorgey, surrendered unconditionally to the Russian
Commander in Chief, Field Marshall Paskevic.
The Hungarian leader, Kossuth,
who had urged the continuation of the conflict right up to the end, escaped to
Turkey.
28/7/1849, Hungary’s Diet passed the Nationalities Law, granting the non-Magyar
peoples of Hungary substantial rights in the use of their native languages,
also regional autonomy. This was a last-ditch effort by the Diet to win over
the loyalty of the peasants and make them more willing to fight against
Austria; a string of Hungarian defeats, and the entry of Russia on Austria’s
side, had demoralised the Hungarian Army and created a shortage of recruits.
17/6/1849, Russian troops invaded Hungary.
21/5/1849, Buda Castle was stormed by Austrian forces.
13/4/1849, The Hungarian Diet proclaimed a Republic,
with Lajos
Kossuth
as President.
5/1/1849, Franz Joef’s Austrian troops arrived in Buda, to
occupy Buda and Pest, and suppress the Hungarian Revolution.
2/12/1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated in
favour of his nephew, Francis Joseph.
7/9/1848. The Congress in Vienna,
which opened on 22/7/1848, abolished serfdom, and the feudal system of
land tenure. This greatly benefited the Czechs, who since the Battle of the
White Mountains, 1620, had become a peasant nation, with only the beginnings of
a middle class by 1800. After serfdom was abolished, the system of peasant
ownership of land allowed national wealth to be built up, and personal liberty
enabled an educational system to be established.
23/3/1848. Hungary proclaimed its independence from Austria. On 5/1/1849 Budapest surrendered to the
Austrians.
15/3/1848, The Hungarian
revolution began in Budapest.
6/11/1846. Following uprisings in March 1846, the small
republic of Cracow was annexed to Austrian-controlled
Galicia, losing its independence.
2/3/1835, Francis II, last Holy
Roman Emperor, died. He was
succeeded, as Emperor of Austria only, by his 4-year-old son, Ferdinand I.
18/8/1830, Birth of Franz-Joseph I,
Emperor of Austria who invaded Serbia, ultimately starting World War One.
5/11/1817. Serbia was granted partial autonomy by the Ottoman
Turks.
1815, A second Serbian rebellion
against Turkish rule.
28/10/1813. British troops occupied Ragusa (Dubrovnik).
28/5/1812, The Treaty
of Bucharest was signed.
20/2/1811, Austria declared
itself bankrupt.
14/10/1809. Austria signed
the Peace of Schonbrunn, ceding its Illyrian provinces to France. Austria
lost Galicia, Salzburg, and Istria.
8/10/1809, Metternich was appointed Austrian Foreign Minister.
26/12/1805. Austria
abandoned the Third Coalition by signing the Peace of Pressburg with France.
Austria was forced to surrender Venetia to the Kingdom of Italy, newly
founded by Napoleon. Austria also
surrendered Tyrol to Bavaria and its remaining Swabian lands to Wurttemberg and
Baden.
See France-Germany for more events of
Napoleonic Wars
20/10/1805. The outnumbered French army
of Napoleon defeated an Austrian army
at Ulm. Napoleon had already realised he
cold not gain control of the English Channel, or overcome British naval
supremacy, so before the Battle of Trafalgar he had directed his forces
eastwards, against Austria. Austria had to submit to the Treaty of Pressburg, by which Venetia
was ceded to the French Kingdom of Italy and the States of the Lower Rhine were
forced into the Confederation of the Rhine, a French dependency. The Electors
of Bavaria and Wurttemberg became Kings independent of Austria, and Austria had
to pay Napoleon
a war contribution of 40 million francs.
1804, A Serbian rebellion against Turkish rule
under Karageorge
(Black
George, or George Petrovitch) regained the district of
Belgrade. However the ottoman Turks soon regained control of the region.
29/11/1780. Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, died in
Vienna.
13/5/1779, At the Peace
of Teschen, Austria made peace with Frederick of Prussia. Austria received a small part of Bavaria, the
Innvertiel, and renounced all claims to
the Bavarian inheritance.
2/11/1766, Joseph Radetsky, Austrian Field Marshal, was
born in Trebnitz, near Tabor.
15/2/1763, Austria, seeing hope for a decisive victory over
Prussia recede with peace between Russia and Prussia, made peace with Prussia
at Hubertusberg this day. Frederick
evacuated Saxony but retained Silesia. Austria
had failed to destroy Prussia before Prussian power was consolidated.
10/2/1763. The end
of the Seven Years War. France ceded
Canada to Britain at the Treaty
of Paris. See 26/7/1758 and 13/9/1759. The same treaty gave Florida to
Britain in exchange for Britain returning Cuba, which it had invaded on
12/8/1762, to Spain; Spain also regained Louisiana and the Philippines. Britain
gained all of America east of the Mississippi. Britain also gained Minorca,
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Tobago, St Vincent, Grenada, Dominica, and Senegal,
as well as becoming pre-eminent in India; Britain therefore became the world’s
major colonising power. Frederick of Prussia retained Silesia, which set
Prussia on the road to also becoming a major European power.
29/10/1762, The Austrians
were defeated at the Battle of Freiburg.
The war was making Austria
bankrupt and Austria was questioning whether the war was worth it for the
recovery of one province. Austria and
Prussia agreed on an armistice on 24/11/1762 for the winter of 1762/3.
See also France-Germany for Seven Years War
9/10/1762, The
Austrians under Daun
were defeated by Prussia at Schweidnitz.
16/8/1762, The
Austrians under Daun
were defeated by Prussia at Reichenbach.
21/7/1762, The
Austrians under Daun
were defeated by Prussia at Burkersdorf.
22/5/1762, Peace was
formally agreed between Russia and Prussia (Treaty of Hamburg). Russian forces
began to return home.
16/12/1761 The
Russians under Pyotr
Aleksandrovitch Rumyantsev captured the Prussian port and fort of
Kolberg. It had been a bad year for Frederick of Prussia, with French forces
making progress eastwards in south western Germany, and the Austrians under Laudon
capturing Schweidnitz on 1/10/1761, ensuring they could over-winter in Silesia.
Frederick
had failed to prevent the Russian Army, 50,000 strong, joining up with the
72,000-strong Austrian Army on 23/8/1761. Frederick’s
biggest concern was that since the change of monarch and the resignation of Pitt in Britain, he could no longer
rely on British support. Without a major change of fortune, Prussia faced
certain defeat in 1762.
3/11/1760 Frederick of Prussia won the Battle of Torgau against the Austrians but
failed to follow up this success and achieve his objective of capturing Dresden.
25/10/1760, George II died suddenly at 8am, in
Kensington, London, aged 76. His successor George
III was inclined to concentrate on British, not Hanoverian,
interests, and disliked William Pitt, Earl of
Chatham, who had promoted the Anglo-Prussian Alliance. Without
British help, Prussia could not continue fighting.
26/7/1760, The Austrians under Laudon captured Glatz from
Prussia.
23/6/1760, The Austrians under Laudon defeated the Prussians at
Landshut.
14/9/1759, The
Austrians under Daun
took Dresden from the Prussians.
19/8/1759, The
Battle of Lagos. Choiseul had managed to extricate France from much of its
commitment to support Austria, so the French could commit more resources to
fighting Britain. Choiseul planned an invasion, with landings
from London to Scotland. To transport this invasion the French Mediterranean
fleet was ordered to sail from Toulon to join the Atlantic fleet at Brest. On
its way northwards past Portugal, the French fleet was attacked by Admiral Edward
Boscawen off Lagos, Portugal, and scattered. Meanwhile Edward Hawke
was blockading the French port of Brest (see 9/11/1759).
12/8/1759, Frederick, who had
been unable to prevent the Austrians under Daun and the Russians under Saltykov
joining forces, was heavily defeated by them at Kunersdorf. Frederick
lost 18,000 men in six hours. The Russians did not capitalise on this victory,
but Daun
then marched on Dresden.
1/8/1759, At the
Battle of Minden (Seven Years War), six British-Allied army regiments defeated
a larger French force, in north-west Germany.
23/7/1759. 70,000
Russians under Saltykov
defeated 26,000 Prussians under von Wedel at Zullichau.
9/7/1759, The
French, under the Duc de Broglie, took Minden on the River Weser.
13/4/1759, Ferdinand of Brunswick, who had
enjoyed success against the French in southwest Germany, was defeated at
Bergen, near Frankfurt am Main, by the Duc de Broglie.
14/10/1758, The Austrians
under Daun
launched an unexpected counter-attack against the Prussians at Hochkirk;
Prussian losses were 9,500 against 7,500 for the Austrians. Daun
began an advance on Dresden, but fell back to Pirna when he heard of Frederick’s
march on Lusatia. However the Austrian victory at Hochkirk raised French
morale; they had been inclined to abandon the war against Prussia.
25/8/1758, Frederick of Prussia moved
around Fermor’s
east flank and his 36,000 men attacked the Russians at Zorndorf (Sarbinowo).
Prussian losses were 13,500, against Russian casualties of 42,000 (21,000
killed).
Frederick now left Christoph von Dohna to pursue the defeated
Russians; Frederick
moved south to assist his brother, Prince Henry, against the Austrians under Daun
at Dresden.
20/8/1758, Frederick’s forces
arrived at Frankfurt on Oder, ready to attack the Russians besieging Kustrin.
15/8/1758, Russian
forces under Fermor
began a siege of the Prussians at Kustrin.
23/6/1758, Emmerlich’s Anglo-Hanoverian
army, 40,000-strong, defeated 70,000 men under the Comte de Clermont at Krefeld.
This victory enabled Emmerlich to hold all of northern Germany
against France, despite French victories further south in Hesse and Thuringia.
16/4/1758, Frederick of Prussia defeated
the Austrians at Schweidnitz, Silesia.
27/3/1758, An
Anglo-Hanoverian force under Ferdinand of Brunswick crossed the Rhine at
Emmerlich, near the Dutch frontier (see 23/6/1758).
22/1/1758, William Fermor,
Scottish emigrant to Russia who had taken the place of Apraksin (see 30/8/1757) in
September 1757, took the East Prussian capital, Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) from
Prussia. However a spring thaw melted the snow and made the roads impassable,
temporarily immobilising Fermor.
5/12/1757, Frederick of Prussia, now confronted by an Austrian army which had
invaded Silesia and seized Breslau, defeated them this day at Leuthen and recovered Breslau, capital
of Silesia. Frederick’s
43,000 men attacked the 72,000 Austrians under Charles of Lorraine with a
sudden cavalry charge followed by a heavy artillery bombardment. Frederick’s
losses amounted to 6,000, against 22,000 lost by Charles, including 12,000 taken
prisoner. Meanwhile the Swedes, who had invaded Prussian Pomerania in September
1757 (without Russian approval), were also forced back into Swedish Pomerania,
where they held against the Prussians at Stralsund. With the Russians under Apraksin
also having retreated (see 30/8/1757), the was began to turn in Prussia’s
favour.
22/11/1757, In Silesia,
Austria took Breslau (Wroclaw) from Prussia.
11/11/1757, In
Silesia, Austria took Schweidnitz (Swidnica) from Prussia.
5/11/1757, Frederick, faced by a French Army advancing from Thuringia
towards Berlin, won a major victory against them at Rossbach. 21,000 Prussian
troops faced 41,000 French and allied
men but the cautious tactics of the French commander Soubise were at odds with his
more aggressive ally Saxe-Hildburghausen, and the Prussian cavalry
forces were more mobile, under the leadership of Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz.
In two hours fighting, the Prussian lost 550 men against allied losses of
7,000. Encouraged by this victory the British repudiated Klosterzeven (see
26/7/1757) and sent troops to reinforce the Hanoverians.
7/9/1757, Prussian
forces under Fredrick
Francis of Brunswick-Bevern were defeated at Moys (Zgorzelec) in
Silesia by the Austrians.
30/8/1757, A Russian
army of 90,000, having crossed Poland and entered Prussia, heavily defeated the
Prussians under Hans
von Lehwaldt at Gross-Jagersdorf, west of Gumbinnen. Unexpectedly
the Russian commander, Apraksin, then withdrew. The health of the Russian Empress
Elizabeth, who hated Prussia, was becoming uncertain and her
successor, the future Peter III, liked Frederick and opposed the fight
against Prussia. Therefore Apraksin risked the displeasure of his future
master if he continued his aggression in Prussia.
26/7/1757, A French
Army of 100,000 defeated the Hanoverian, Prussian and British allied forces
under William
Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, a younger son of King George II of England. This
was at Hastenbeck, south west of Hanover. On 8/9/1757 the French forced Cumberland
to sign the Convention of Klosterzeven, which stipulated the disbandment of Cumberland’s
forces in Germany.
18/6/1757, Frederick, ruler of Prussia, sought
to turn back an advancing Austrian army, 50,000 strong under von Daun,
but was heavily defeated at Kolin this day.
Frederick
had to give up Bohemia and raise the siege of Prague.
6/5/1757, The
Battle of Prague. Frederick’s Prussian Army of 64,000 routed an
Austrian Army of 66,000 under Browne and Prince Charles of Lorraine. This
defeat came before the Austrians could be reinforced by more troops under Leopold Joseph,
Graf von Daun. 14,000 Austrians were killed, 16,000 escaped to join von Daun,
and the rest fled into Prague itself where they were besieged by Frederick.
1/5/1757, Austria
and France signed the Second Treaty of Versailles, allying themselves for an
offensive against Prussia. Under this Treaty, Austria would regain Silesia
(from Prussia) but would cede the Austrian Netherlands (to be divided between King Louis XV
of France and his Spanish Bourbon cousin Philip Duke of Parma). Philip’s
Italian possessions would revert to Austrian rule. France would garrison
105,000 of its troops in Prussia, in addition to supplying 30,000 men to the
Austrian Army (increased from an earlier figure of 24,000). France would
provide an annual subsidy to Austria of 12,000,000 livres. Meanwhile on
11/1/1757 France had concluded a secret treaty with Russia whereby France
agreed to help Russia in the event of any attack on Russia by Turkey
(contravening a long-standing detente between France and Turkey). In return for
this Russia would supply 80,000 men against Prussia. Allparties swore not to
make separate peaces with Prussia, which was to be partitioned between the
Allies.
16/10/1756, The army of
Saxony capitulated to Frederick of Prussia at the fortress of
Pirma. See 18/4/1857. Most of the Saxon
Army joined with Prussia.
1/10/1756, The Battle of
Lobositz (midway between Dresden and Prague).
The Prussians defeated the Austrians. Russia would have marched to help
Austria against Prussia, but this would entail Russian troops crossing Poland.
Although France would nominally have welcomed this, as it would relieve the
French from helping Austria, and Poland was allied to France, in secret the
French would not welcome any Russian influence upon Poland.
10/9/1756, Frederick entered
the Saxon capital, Dresden, with his army of70,000. The Saxon Army, 20,000,
fell back to Pirna to the south east. Prussia assured Poland of it’s good
intentions but was not believed; Poland was also friendly with France.
Meanwhile an Austrian army under Ulysses von Browne, of 32,000 men, was moving
from Bohemia to unite with the Saxons. To counter this threat, Frederick
moved into Bohemia, towards Lobositz (see 1/10/1756).
29/8/1756. Frederick II of Prussia invaded Saxony, setting off a European war. Britain
was allied with Prussia, against Austria and France, see 16/1/1756, and
1/7/1756. Austria wanted to regain its province of Silesia, taken by Frederick II of Prussia during the War of the
Austrian Succession (1740-48). Frederick , believing in attacking first,
invaded Saxony to detach it from the Franco-Austrian alliance.
25/12/1745, The Peace of Dresden concluded
the Second Silesian War. Frederick of Prussia retained Silesia, and
recognised Francis as ruler
of Austria.
15/12/1745, Frederick invaded
Bohemia, and occupied most of Saxony. On
this day his chief general, Leopold of
Anhalt-Dessau, defeated the Austrians and Saxons at Kesselsdorf, near
Dresden.
4/6/1745, The Austrians
attacked Silesia, allied with troops from Saxony, but were defeated by Prussia at Hohenfriedburg.
28/7/1742, Maria Theresa of Austria made peace with
Prussia; ceding control of all of Silesia to Prussia.
11/6/1742, The Peace of Breslau concluded the First
Silesian War. Austria ceded most of
Silesia along with Glatz to Prussia, retaining only the principalities of
Troppau and Teschen. In return Frederick
promised his neutrality.
17/5/1742, The Prussian cavalry defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Chotusitz.
10/4/1741, The German Emperor crossed
the Silesian frontier, advanced as far as Breslau, and this day defeated an
Austrian Army near Mollwitz. This was during the War of the Austrian
Succession.
8/2/1741. Neisse and Brieg still held
out but the Prussians stormed and occupied Glogau on 9/3/1741. At the Battle of
Mollwitz, 10/4/1741, the Prussians narrowly won the day. Europe realised
that Prussia was now a major military power and France sent an envoy, Marshal
Belleisle, to negotiate an alliance with Frederick. The ‘Silesian adventure’ now became the War
of the Austrian Succession. France supported the Elector of Bavaria. Sweden
was supposed to stop Russia attacking Prussia but on 3/9/1742 the Swedes
were heavily defeated by the Russians at Wilmanstrand, and Sweden capitulated
in 1742 at Helsingfors, the Swedish capital. At the Peace of Dresden,
25/12/1745 Frederick
recognised the Elector
of Bavaria as ruler of Austria in return for his acquiring Silesia.
The war of the Austrian Succession ended on 18/10/1748 with the Peace of Aachen
(Aix la Chapelle).
16/12/1740. Without a declaration of
war. Frederick II of Prussia invaded Silesia, an Austrian province. He
occupied Silesia quite easily, besieging the few towns of Glogau, Breig, and
Neisse still held by the Austrians. In
February 1741 Austria prepared to
reconquer Silesia.
See also events in Germany
20/10/1740, Emperor Charles VI died unexpectedly. Maria Theresa, aged 23, became
ruler of Austria. Frederick II of Prussia, taking advantage of
Austria having a young female ruler, prepared to invade the wealthy Austrian
provoince of Silesia. Meanwhile Bavaria and Saxony also had claims on
Austrian lands (their claims supported by France), and Spain wanted the Italian
provinces of Austria. Hungary supported Austria.
22/8/1717. Austrian forces took Belgrade from the Ottoman Turks.
13/5/1717, Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, was born in Vienna.
30/4/1711, The Peace
of Szatmar effected a reconciliation between the absolutist Hapsburg Austrian monarchy
and the Hungarians.
6/7/1686. The Austrians took Buda from the Ottoman Turks
and annexed Hungary.
11/9/1683. The
conquering armies of Islam under Vizier Kara Mustafa were defeated at the gates
of Vienna. The Turks had been besieging Vienna since July 1683. Relief
came under Poland’s King John III and Charles, Duke of Normandy. The
Ottoman Sultan ordered Mustafa to commit suicide.
1/4/1683, Poland
made a treaty of mutual defence with the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I,
against the threat from Ottoman Turkey
14/3/1647, The Treaty of Ulm. Elector Maximillian I of Bavaria
made an agreement with France to end his alliance with Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor.
6/3/1645, Battle of
Jankow, Bohemia.
9/6/1642, Battle of Schweidnitz, Moravia.
30/5/1635, The Peace
of Prague was signed, ending the Thirty Years War.
8/11/1620, Protestant Bohemian forces were defeated by the
Catholics under Maximillian at the
Battle of the White Mountain (Thirty Years War)
3/7/1620, The Treaty of Ulm was signed.
5/8/1619, In the Thirty Years War, Bohemian forces defeated
the Austrians at the Battle of
Vestonice.
10/6/1619, In the Thirty Years War, Protestant forces were
defeated at the Battle of Zablati.
23/5/1618, The
defenestration of Prague. Rebel
nobles hurled the Holy Roman Emperor’s
advisers from the windows of Hradcany Castle (they survived due to
landing in a refuse heap), triggering
the Thirty Years War (Reformation). Rebel Protestant Bohemian nobles were
in protest against their Catholic King, who had been elected as Holy Roman
Emperor Ferdinand
II. The conflict this started
spread to involve other European powers, who were eager to cash in on the
weakened state of a severely-split Germany.
6/5/1600, Prince Sigismund Bathory of Transylvania lost
the city of Suceava to Michael the Brave of Hungary. The districts of Transylvania, Moldovia, and
Wallachia became united for the first
time as Romania, but the union dissolved a year later when Michael the
Brave was killed.
29/8/1526, The Battle
of Mohacs. The Turkish army under Suleiman I
defeated the Hungarians under King Loius II,
who was killed whilst retreating. Suleiman
took Buda, whilst Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and John Zapolya, Prince of
Transylvania, disputed over the succession. As a result of this dispute, Dubrovnik achieved independence,
although it recognised Turkish overlordship. The Hapsburgs now ruled Bohemia and
Hungary.
6/4/1490, Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, died suddenly, aged
50. He was succeeded by Ladislas II of Bohemia.
17/6/1462, Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula,
massacred an Ottoman army, killing 15,000, near Targoviste, capital of
Wallachia.
22/7/1456, John Hunyadi,
King of the Hungarians, defeated an invading Ottoman Turkish army at Belgrade.
This halted the ambitions of Sultan Mahomet II to occupy Vienna and then
Rome, which Mahomet
regarded as still the ‘capital of Europe’.
27/3/1443, Matthius Corvinus, King of Hungary, second son
of John
Hunyadi, was born.
15/6/1389. Serbia was
crushed by the Ottoman Turks (see 20/12/1355). At a battle in Kosovo, at
the ‘field of the blackbirds’, the entire Serbian nobility was wiped out. The
Ottomans had already invaded Bulgaria.
20/12/1355. Stephen
Urosh of
Serbia died whilst on route to attack Constantinople. Under his reign
Serbia had expanded greatly, conquering Macedonia, Epirus, and Thessaly, as well
as maintaining his father’s conquest of Bulgaria. However, see 15/6/1389.
26/8/1346. John the Blind, King of Bohemia, was killed at Crecy whilst
assisting the French. Born on 10/8/1296, son of Count Henry III of Luxembourg
(later Emperor
Henry III), he married (1310) the heiress of the Kingdom of Bohemia,
thereby becoming its King in 1311. He acquired Silesia from Poland. In 1334 he
married Beatrix
of the House of Bourbon, thereby allying with France. He had been blind from
1340.
1/11/1339, Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, was born.
10/8/1296, John the Blind, King of Bohemia,
was born, see 26/8/1346.
10/7/1290, Ladislaus IV, King of Hungary,
was murdered.
25/8/1278, Ottokar II, King of Bohemia, was killed in the
Battle of Durnkrut. Ottokar II had previously lost a battle with Rudolf I of
Hapsburg (Habichtsburg, or Hawk’s castle, a town now in Switzerland)
in 1276; refusing to accept this defeat, he prepared to attack again. However Rudolf
launched a pre-emptive strike, with 2,000 horsemen, and the support of Ladislav of
Hungary. This battle paved
the way for the rise of the Hapsburg Dynasty.
6/8/1272, Stephen V, King of Hungary, died.
11/4/1241, The Mongols defeated King Bela IV of Hungary at Mohi.
9/4/1241. The Mongols defeated an
army of Teutonic Knights at the
Battle of Liegnitz, Silesia.
2/2/1207, Terra Mariana, comprising present-day Estonia and
Latvia, was established as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire.
1155, The Margravate of Austria was made a Duchy after 180 years of rule by the
Babenberg family
28/9/990. King Wenceslas of Bohemia, the Good King Wenceslas of the Christmas carol,
died in Stara Boleslav.
976, The start of modern-day Austria, as a
Margravate on the Danube granted by Holy Roman Emperor Otto II to the Franconian Count Leopold (Luipold); Leopold’s Babenberg family ruled the Margravate until 1246.
925, Start of the
Kingdom of Croatia.
4/7/907. The Bavarians suffered a disastrous defeat by the
Hungarians.
2/5/907, King Boris I of Bulgaria died.
9/4/809, The Bulgars captured Sofia.
3,500 BCE, Earliest
copper mines sunk, in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.
Appendix 1
– Albania from 1910
7/3/1997. Albania dissolved
into chaos, and military firearms
depots were looted.
31/3/1991, Albania had its first multi-party elections.
9/3/1991. Albanian
troops fired on 4,000 people trying to board a boat to flee to Italy. In Yugoslavia,
a crowd of at least 70,000 fought with riot police in Belgrade. The crowd was demanding an end to Communist control of
the media. One 18 year old youth was killed by a rubber bullet and over 70
others were injured. Police used live ammunition and water cannon as well as
rubber bullets. The crowd marched on parliament and the television centre.
13/7/1990, 4,500
Albanian refugees arrived at the Italian port of Brindisi.
11/4/1985. In Albania, Communist leader Enver Hoxha
died, aged 78,after 41 years in power. He was succeeded as Head of the Albanian
Communist Party by Ramiz Alia.
1967, Albania declared
itself an atheist State; most churches and mosques were closed.
30/5/1950. Yugoslavia
and
11/1/1946. General
Enver
Hoxha’s “Democratic Front” won 95% of the vote in
2/1/1946. King Zog of Albania was deposed in his absence.
He was born Ahmed
Bey Zogu, a member of the Zogolli family. The Zogolli led a powerful
Moslem faction in the mountains of
10/11/1945, The
Communist Enver
Hoxha established a Republican government in Albania, recognised by
the UK, USA, and the USSR.
15/10/1944, Sali Berisha,
President of Albania, was born.
For more events of World War Two in Europe see France-Germany
10/1942, In Albania the Balli Kombetar,the national resistance
movement to Axis occupation, was formed. Led by Ali Klissura and Midhat
Frasheri, it was a liberal-Communist organisation. It wished to include Kosovo
in a future independent Albania; however the other A;lbanian resistance
movement, the Communist resistance (under pressure from their Yugloslav
backers) did not desire Kosovo to be part of Albania. Under Allied insoistence
these two resistance groups joined forces in 1943. After World War Two ended
the leaders of Balli Kombetar were
mostly purged as Enver Hoxha strove to eliminate all internal dissent to his
regime.
1/9/1928. Zogu was proclaimed King Zog I of
24/12/1924. Albania
was declared a republic.
4/6/1924,
Anti-government forces in Albania took Shkoder.
25/12/1912, Italy
sent troops to
Appendix 2
– Austria from 1882
15/10/2017, Elections in Austria produced gains
for the far-right party, over issues of immigration.
22/5/2016, In Austrian Presidential elections, Mr Norbert Hofer of the far-Right lost to Mr Alexander Van der Bellen of the Greens by
the narrow margin of 0.6%. The result was connected to rising concern about
migration into Europe from Asia and Africa.
26/4/2008, Police arrested Josef Fritzl in Amstetten, Austria, after he
held women and children for years in a dungeon below his home. He was jailed
for life in March 2009.
20/2/2006, British historian David Irving was sentenced to three years in
prison by an Austrian court for Holocaust denial.
11/11/2000, A fire on a funicular railway in the Austrian ski resort of Kaprun killed 155 holidaymakers.
8/6/1986, Kurt
Waldheim was elected president of Austria, amid controversy over his
alleged collaboration with the Nazis in World War Two. He was inaugurated on 8/7/1986.
21/12/1975,
Left wing terrorists, including Carlos The
Jackal, kidnapped delegates of an OPEC conference in Vienna. They
killed three hostages, extorted US$ 3 million, and vanished into the Middle
East.
22/6/1956, In Austria, following the general election of 13/5/1956, Julius Raab
formed a coalition government of the People’s Party and the Socialists.
15/5/1955. Austria became de jure
an independent state within its 1937 borders under the Austrian State Treaty, signed by the USA, USSR, France, and Britain
(see 7/1/1946). All the four-power occupation forces were withdrawn by
25/10/1955. On 5/11/1955 Austria
declared itself constitutionally to be permanently neutral.
30/12/1954, Archduke
Eugen, Austrian field marshal, died aged 91.
7/1/1946. Austria was
established as a de facto independent state, divided into four zones of
military occupation, as was
For more events of World War Two in
Europe see France-Germany
11/8/1939, The Axis Conference opened at
22/4/1937. The Austrian Chancellor, Schuschnigg, met Mussolini.
21/5/1936, In Austria, Kurt
Schusnigg was made leader of the Fatherland Front, the only
permitted Party.
1/4/1936. Austria introduced conscription.
4/7/1935, Austria, encouraged by Mussolini, abolished anti-Hapsburg laws and
restored some imperial property.
14/3/1935, Anton
Rintelen was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in
the July Putsch.
30/4/1934, Chancellor
Dollfuss became dictator of Austria.
17/2/1934. A Socialist revolt in Austria was brutally crushed.
30/1/1934. All Austrian political parties were banned except the
'Fatherland Front'.
10/11/1933. Dollfuss
declared martial law in
29/3/1933, Austrian Nazis staged a large demonstration, in defiance of Chancellor
Dollfuss. Meanwhile Germany instituted a punitive 1,000 Mark tourist
tax on any German visiting Austria, which severely damaged the Austrian tourist
industry.
7/3/1933. Chancellor
Dollfuss suspended the Austrian Parliament.
27/7/1932, Archduchess
Gisela of Austria died, aged 76.
20/5/1932, Engelbert
Dolfuss, Austrian Chancellor, formed a coalition government of
Christian Socialists and Agrarians.
13/9/1931, In Austria, an attempted Fascist coup by the
Heimwehr under Dr
Pfrimer failed.
9/11/1930. Social Democrats won elections to the Austrian Parliament.
30/4/1929, Ernst
Streeruwitz was appointed Chancellor of Austria.
5/12/1928, Wilhelm
Miklas was elected President of Austria, succeeding Michael Hainish.
15/7/1927. Vienna faced
a General Strike as Socialists rioted. The left wing was upset that
Austrian courts were much more lenient on offences committed by right-wing
offenders, even up to murder.
15/10/1926, Ignaz
Seipel formed a Christian
Socialist Government in Austria, replacing Rudolf Ramek.
9/12/1920, Michael
Hainish elected first President of Austria.
10/9/1919, The Treaty
of St Germain was signed by the Allies with Austria at the Paris Peace Conference. Austria had to pay large reparations to
the Allies, and recognise the independence of Yugoslavia, Poland,
Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
10/6/1919, Austria protested against the terms of the Paris Peace
Conference.
11/5/1919, The population of Vorarlberg,
the westernmost
12/11/1918, The Republic of Austria was declared, ending the Hapsburg Dynasty, as Emperor Charles
abdicated.
For main
European events of World War One see France-Germany
21/11/1916. Emperor Franz Josef,
ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire since 1848, died.
He was succeeded by his 29-year old grandson, Charles I.
23/7/1914. Austria determined that the government of Serbia
was involved in the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on 28/6/1914, and sent
an ultimatum to the President of Serbia, Narodna Odbrana, drafted so as to prepare for
war with Serbia. The terms were designed to be too humiliating for Serbia to
accept. In fact Serbia accepted most of the terms, but insisted that an
Austro-Serbian judicial enquiry into the assassination would be subject to
Serbian law, and Austria rejected this condition. See 28/7/1914. Austria’s real issue with Serbia was that
it blocked potential Austrian territorial expansion southwards into the
Balkans, to give Austria domination of the Aegean Sea.
5/12/1912, Italy, Germany and Austria renewed their Triple
alliance for a further six years.
15/11/1908. Austria sent troops to the Serbian frontier.
7/10/1908.
10/1/1907, Austria passed a Bill giving the vote to all males aged 24 and
over.
16/9/1903, Franz
Joseph of Austria proposed to bring Hungarian Army regiments in
under a unified military command. This provoked opposition from the Magyars.
23/6/1902. Germany, Austro-Hungary, and
14/12/1897, Kurt
Schusnigg, Austrian politician, was born.
4/10/1892, Engelbert Dolfuss, Austrian dictator, was
born.
6/5/1891. The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria, and Italy was
renewed.
20/5/1882. Austria formed a Triple Alliance with Germany and
Italy; this threatened Russia.
Appendix 3
– Bulgaria from 1861
14/10/1991 Communist rule ended in Bulgaria.
15/12/1989, In Bulgaria, 50,000 demonstrators outside
Parliament demanded the end of Communist rule.
26/11/1989. The
Bulgarian government voted to disband the secret police.
3/11/1989. Political unrest in Bulgaria.
1/2/1950, In Bulgaria, Viko Chervenkov became Prime Minister on the
death of Vasil
Kolarov
21/11/1946, Bulgarian
Communist Georgi
Dimitrov returned from Moscow to become President of Bulgaria.
16/9/1946, King Simeon and the Queen Mother left Bulgaria.
15/9/1946, The Bulgarian People’s Republic was proclaimed.
10/9/1946, A referendum in Bulgaria gave a 92% vote in favour
of a Republic.
8/9/1946. Communists
took control in Bulgaria.
For more events of World War Two in Europe see France-Germany
28/8/1943, Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria, died.
2/9/1940, To bring
19/5/1934. In
1930, The Balkan
Entente was set up. It included Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia; it
was essentially a defensive alliance against the expansionist aims of Bulgaria,
which was seeking to regain territories lost to Greece and Yugoslavia under the
Treaty of Neuilly (1919). In the 1930, as authoritarian regimes gained power in
all members of the Balkan Entente, the entire region moved politically closer
to Germany and Italy.
13/1/1928. Allied military control in
4/1/1926, In Bulgaria a moderate Government took power, and
offered an amnesty to all political prisoners except Communists.
14/6/1923, ex-Prime Minister Stamboliski of Bulgaria was shot
whilst trying to ‘escape’. On 9/6/1923 he had been ejected in a coup, after his
policies had antagonised the military.
27/11/1919. Bulgaria signed the Treaty of Neuilly, recognising the independence of
3/10/1918, Tsar Ferdinand of
17/10/1915. Russia and
16/10/1915. The Allies blockaded Bulgarian ports.
15/10/1915. Britain declared war on Bulgaria.
14/10/1915. Bulgaria and
Serbia each declared war on the other.
12/10/1915. The
22//9/1915. Bulgaria mobilised its army and declared war
on Serbia.
For main
European events of World War One see France-Germany
6/9/1915. Bulgaria signed a military accord with
29/6/1913. Bulgaria signed a defensive pact with
Austro-Hungary.
13/2/1912, Bulgaria and Serbia signed an agreement forming
the Balkan League.
21/2/1909, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria visited Russia to
obtain the financial aid he needed to pay Ottoman Turkey an indemnity for
Bulgarian independence.
22/9/1908, Bulgaria
declared its independence from Ottoman Turkey.
18/9/1885, Eastern Rumelia, formerly
a province of Turkey,
proclaimed its unity with Bulgaria to its north.
3/1/1879, Sofia was designated the capital of Bulgaria.
4/1/1878, Sofia was captured by Russian troops from the
Ottoman Empire.
26/2/1861, Ferdinand I,
King of Bulgaria, was born.
Appendix 4
– Czechia and Slovakia from 1916
21/10/2017, Elections in the Czech
Republic produced gains for the Populist Right.
26/9/2000, Anti-globalisation protests in Prague. Some 15,000
protestors turned violent during the IMF and World Bank Summits.
26/1/1993. Vaclav Havel became the first president of the new Czech
Republic. He was a centre-right candidate, opposed by Communists and the
extreme-right Republican Party.
1/1/1993. Czechoslovakia split into the Czech and Slovak Republics, in a ‘velvet divorce’.
25/11/1992, The Czechoslovak
National Assembly voted for the country to split into the Czech Republic and
Slovakia, on 1 January 1993.
20/7/1992, Vaclav Havel resigned as President of Czechoslovakia.
This was after a proclamation of sovereignty by Slovakia, which was to split
the country in two.
18/11/1991,
Gustav Husak, former
President of Czechoslovakia and Communist Party leader, who crushed the Prague
Spring in 1968, died in Prague aged 78.
15/2/1991, The
Visegrad Agreement was signed; the leaders of Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, and Poland agreed to move
towards free-market systems.
10/6/1990, In
Czechoslovakia, Vaclav
Havel’s Civic Forum Party and its Slovak allies won 170 out of the
300 seats. Tough economic reforms lay ahead.
29/12/1989, (1) The Czechs elect playwright Vaclav
Havel as President.
(2) Alexander Dubcek, the reformist leader sacked in 1968 was elected
leader of Czechoslovakia’s federal assembly.
17/11/1989, In
Czechoslovakia, students protesting peacefully in Prague were severely beaten
by riot police. This sparked a revolution which toppled the Communist
government on 29/12/1989. Protestors grew from 200,000 on 19/11/1989 to an
estimated 500,000 on 20/11/1989.
14/11/1989. Czechoslovakia lifted travel restrictions.
17/5/1989, The Communist Government of Czechoslovakia freed
playwright Vaclav Havel after he
served just three months of a nine month sentence.
21/2/1989. Czech writer Vaclav Havel
was jailed for anti-government demonstrations.
19/1/1989, Police in Prague
used tear gas and water cannon to break up a large demonstration commemorating
te 20th anniversary of the death of Jan Palach, a student who burnt
himself to death in protest at the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
The 1989 protests were led by Vaclav Havel, a dissident writer who led the
Charter 77 human rights movement.
23/12/1979. In Czechoslovakia, playwright Vaclav Havel was convicted of subversion.
13/3/1977, Czech secret
police tortured to death the leader of the Charter
77 Movement, Jan Potocka.
7/1/1977, Civil Rights
campaigners in Czechoslovakia published their Charter 77, following the signing by the Czechoslovak Government of
the International Convention on Human Rights in 1976. In practice, many civil
rights such as freedom of expression had been suppressed following the
‘normalisation’ that followed the Soviet
invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The Charter’s signatories included Jiri Hajek,
who was Czechoslovak Foreign Minister in 1968, and the writer Vaclav Havel.
The signatories were greatly harassed by the Communist administration, but the
Charter contributed to the downfall of Communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989,
when Havel
became President.
26/6/1970, Dubcek was expelled from the Czech Communist Party.
15/12/1969. Dubcek was made Czechoslovak Ambassador to Turkey. He was
expelled from the Czech Communist party on 26/6/1970.
17/4/1969, Alexander Dubcek was replaced as First Secretary of the Czech
Communist Party.
19/1/1969, A 21-year-old
student, Jan
Palach, set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square, Prague, in protest
at the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
16/10/1968, The Czechoslovak
Government signed, under duress, an agreement that Warsaw Pact troops would
remain in the country indefinitely.
13/9/1968, Press censorship was reimposed in Czechoslovakia.
27/8/1968. Russian patrols
watched the streets of Prague after a failed anti – Communist uprising. Tanks
had first entered Czechoslovakia on 20/8/1968. The Soviets overthrow President
Dubcek, and 175,000 troops, mostly Russian, occupied the major
cities of Czechoslovakia. Prague was put under curfew. 20 people were reported
dead and at least 200 injured, many of them students, after the anti-Soviet
protests.
22/8/1968, Soviet tanks
entered Prague.
21/8/1968, President Dubcek was arrested and taken to Moscow.
He returned to Czechoslovakia on 27/8/1968, having agreed to Soviet demands.
20/8/1968. (+8,505) Russia
sent tanks into Czechoslovakia. Dubcek had said on 18/7/1968 he would not go back on his progressive
policies, see 5/4/1968.
29/7/1968, President Dubcek met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in the village of Cierna nad Tisou (on the Czech-USSR border). Brezhnev agreed that Czechoslovakia could follow ‘its own road to Socialism’
and Dubcek promised ‘Socialist solidarity’. The meeting closed on 1/8/1968.
18/7/1968, Dubcek said he would not go back on his progressive
policies, see 20/8/1968.
5/4/1968, In
Czechoslovakia, Dubcek
began a programme of reform which was to lead to a measure of political
democracy and restoration of personal freedoms, see 5/1/1968 and 20/8/1968.
23/3/1968, President Dubcek was summoned to an emergency Warsaw Pact meeting to
try and stop his liberal policies in Czechoslovakia.
13/3/1968. Dubcek
abolished press censorship in Czechoslovakia.
5/1/1968. Alexander
Dubcek
became the Czech leader, replacing Novotny. Czech
discontent at oppressive government from Prague and economic exploitation by
the USSR led to criticism of the Communist leader of Czechoslovakia, Novotny
(see 25/2/1948), at a Workers Union Congress in June 1967, and to student
demonstrations in October 1967. See
5/4/1968.
21/9/1963, Vilian Siroky, Czechoslovak Prime Minister,
was dismissed.
29/11/1954, General Elections in Czechoslovakia. All
candidates were Communist-controlled.
3/9/1948, Eduard Benes, Czech President until the Communist take-over,
died. See 6/6/1948.
6/6/1948, In Prague, President Benes
resigned. He had been attempted to
maintain a neutral government in Czechoslovakia but the Communist, Klement
Gottwald succeeded in introducing a Russian-oriented political
system. Benes died three months later
(3/9/1948), a broken man.
10/3/1948, Ian Masaryk, Czech politician, died in Prague under suspicious
circumstances after the Communists gained control.
25/2/1948. Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia. In Czech
elections in May 1946 the Communists, under Gottwald, secured 114 of the 300
seats and became leader of a coalition government. However
by 1948 the Communists were losing popularity in Czechoslovakia, because Gottwald had declined Marshall Aid and because he
was appointing his own supporters to senior positions in the police force. A new Czech election was due in May 1948;
before this could take place Gottwald organised what was effectively a
Communist Revolution, backed by the workers militia and the police; there were
no Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia at this time. Gottwald died in March 1953 and was succeeded
as Communist dictator by Novotny, who ruled until early 1968. See 5/1/1968.
18/4/1947, Tiso was executed, see 22/5/1945.
26/5/1946. The Communists
gained power in
22/5/1945, Tiso, President of ‘Slovakia’, was arrested whilst in hiding in
Austria. He was tried for wartime
collaboration in a Czechoslovak court and sentenced to death in April
1947. Some Czechoslovaks pressed for a
reprieve but the national government wanted the death sentence and he was
executed, see 26/10/1939 and 18/4/1947.
16/3/1939, Slovakia
became a German protectorate.
14/3/1939, Josef Tiso proclaimed the independent people’s
republic of Slovakia, see 26/10/1939.
8/10/1938. Ruthenia granted autonomy.
6/10/1938. Slovakia granted autonomy.
In Britain 30 Tory MPs protested at Chamberlain’s appeasement, uneasy that one
country had been allowed to win by force against another.
14/9/1937, Thomas Masaryk, the first president of
5/10/1936. Vaclav
Havel,
Czech playwright, human rights campaigner, and President, was born.
14/12/1935, Thomas Masaryk, first President of Czechoslovakia, resigned aged 85.
He was succeeded by Edward Benes.
5/11/1935, In Czechoslovakia, Milan Hodza,
Agrarian Party, formed a government.
16/2/1933, Fearing German aggression, Czechoslovakia, Romania
and Yugoslavia formed the Little Entente, with a Permanent Council,
27/10/1929, Elections in Czechoslovakia were won by the
Republican Party of Agricultural and Smallholder Peoples.
27/5/1927, Tomas Masaryk was re-elected President of Czechoslovakia.
3/2/1926. Czech became the
official language of
27/11/1921, Alexander Dubcek, Czechoslovak politician, was born in Uhrovek.
23/4/1921, Czechoslovakia and Romania formed an alliance.
22/1/1919, Czechoslovakia occupied Teschen (Tesin).
14/11/1918. Tomas Masaryk was elected first President of
Czechoslovakia.
30/10/1918. The
28/10/1918, Czechoslovakia declared its independence.
14/10/1918, The
Czechoslovak National Council, meeting in Paris, organised a provisional
Government headed by Thomas Masaryk as President.
30/9/1918. Slovak Nationalist parties in Hungary voted to join
with Czechoslovakia. However the Slovaks soon found the Czech
government more centralist than they
expected, or desired, and pressure grew for Slovak separation from
16/9/1916. A provisional
‘government of
For main
European events of World War One see France-Germany
28/5/1884, Eduard Benes, Czech politician and founder of modern
Czechoslovakia, was born in Kozlany, Bohemia.
7/3/1850, Thomas Masaryk, the first
President of Czechoslovakia in 1918, was born in Hodonin, Moravia.
Appendix 5
– Hungary from 1873
16/6/1991. The Soviet Army finally left Hungary
after 47 years.
15/2/1991, The
Visegrad Agreement was signed; the leaders of Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, and Poland agreed to move
towards free-market systems.
26/2/1990. Soviet
troops began withdrawing from Hungary. By July 1991, all 73,500 should have
gone.
7/10/1989. The Hungarian Communist party changed its name to the Socialist Party.
27/9/1989. Hungary abolished its restrictive emigration laws.
16/9/1989. Hungary
opened its border with Austria to refuges fleeing the East on 11/9/1989. At
least 16,000 East German refugees cross from Hungary into Austria.
10/9/1989, Hungary
began accepting many refugees from East Germany. Hungary opened its border
with Austria, providing a route to the West. The East German Government
condemned the move as ‘treachery’.
23/8/1989, Hungary
removed all border restrictions with Austria.
15/3/1989. 15,000 Hungarians marched in Budapest,
calling for democracy.
11/2/1989, Political Parties were allowed in Hungary.
17/6/1958. Ex-Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy
was executed after a secret trial, two years after the suppressed
Hungarian Revolution.
10/12/1956, Martial law was declared in Hungary.
9/11/1956. The UN told the USSR to leave Hungary.
4/11/1956, 16 Soviet divisions moved into Hungary, with 2,000 tanks, to suppress
the Hungarian Revolution.
28/10/1956, Imre Nagy
ordered a cease fire by security forces.
27/10/1956, Prime
Minister Imre
Nagy formed a new Hungarian Government, see 5/11/1956.
25/10/1956. In Poland, thousands demonstrated in favour
of the new regime in Hungary. Hungarian security forces fired on
demonstrators near the Hungarian Parliament, killing some 600 people.
24/10/1956, The Hungarian Government declared martial
law and Soviet tanks appeared in Budapest.
23/10/1956. Anti Communist
uprising began in Hungary, see 5/11/1956. Protests were against the pro-Soviet
regime which had replaced the reforming regime of Imre Nagy. Stalin's statue in Budapest was
torn down and the return of Nagy only served to inflame matters further.
The uprising was crushed on 26/10/1956.
5/7/1953, In
Hungary, Matyas
Rakosi was replaced as Prime Minister by Imre Nagy. This led to a more
relaxed regime.
14/8/1952, In
Hungary, Matyas
Rakosi, Secretary of the |Hungarian Workers Party, was also
appointed Prime Minister.
7/9/1950. All religions were dissolved in Hungary.
26/12/1948, In
Hungary, the Protestant and Jewish communities accepted compensation payments
for the government nationalisation of their religious schools. However the
Hungarian Catholic Church, under the authority of Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty,
refused to accept this measure. On this day Mindszenty was arrested, and on
8/2/1949 sentenced to life imprisonment.
14/6/1948, In
Hungary the Social Democrats, under force-majeure, reluctantly agreed to merge
with the Communists
to form the Hungarian Workers Party.
31/8/1947. The Communists won Hungarian elections.
1/2/1946. Hungary
declared itself a republic.
21/1/1945, Russia
and
4/11/1945. General
election in Hungary. Communists won just 17% of the vote, with the
Smallholders Party winning with 60% of the vote. Zoltan Tildy of the Smallholders
Party formed a coalition government.
24/10/1945. In
Hungary, key industries and the banking sector were nationalised, as part of
the Kosice
Programme.
18/6/1945, In Hungary, as part of
the Kosice
Programme, the expulsion of all Germans and Magyars who had not been
anti-Fascists was ordered. They had mostly left by the end of 1946. Large Hungarian estates were expropriated
and converted into State farms.
8/5/1945, The Second
World War officially ended in Europe, at one minute past midnight. Some 400,000
Hungarians had been killed, and excesses such as rapes by Soviet troops,
summary arrests, and deportations to Soviet labour camps continued after this
date. Total property damage at 22 billion pre-War Pengo amounted to five times
national income for 1938 and about 40% of the country’s total wealth. All
bridges over the rivers Danube and Tisza had been destroyed. A quarter of
Hungary’s housing stock had been damaged or destroyed, along with half its
industrial buildings. Half of all agricultural livestock and a third of
agricultural machinery was lost; along with radical Soviet land reform that
caused the 1945 harvest to be just 30% of per-War levels. The economy collapsed
amidst rampant inflation, with food obtainable only by bartering objects likely
to retain some value.
11/4/1941. Hungary regained the Bacska region from
Yugoslavia.
30/8/1940, The
Second Vienna Award restored the
territory of Northern Transylvania to Hungary, from Romania. However Hungary,
although succeeding in breaking the power of the ‘Little Entente’ against it
(the nations of Czechoslovakia, Romania, Serbia), had only managed to regain
some of its lost territories (from the pre-World War One era) by becoming
almost totally dependent on the Nazi economy and politics of Germany.
11/4/1939. Hungary
left the
4/4/1939, Hungary
annexed further territory in eastern Slovakia, giving it a common frontier with
Poland.
16/3/1939, Hungary
annexed Ruthenia, another part of
24/2/1939, Hungary
joined the Anti-Comintern Pact.
2/11/1938, The First
Vienna Award returned 12,000 square kilometres of Slovakia, a strip along the
Hungarian-Slovakian frontier, to Hungarian rule (see 20/9/1938). There was,
however, disappointment in Hungary that a common frontier with Poland had not
been attained.
20/9/1938, The
Hungarian leaders, Imredy and Kanya, were summoned to Germany.
Hitler
told them he had no objections to Hungary’s desires to regain Slovakia and
Ruthenia, so long as Hungary actively took part in the destruction of
Czechoslovakia.
16/10/1937. Fascists
formed a Nazi party in
4/2/1934, Hungary
established diplomatic relations with the USSR.
5/4/1927, Hungary
signed a ‘Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation’ with the Italian leader, Mussolini. Hungary needed
allies, and Italy strengthened its influence in the Danube Basin.
1/1/1927. Hungary
reformed its currency with a new unit, the Pengo, equivalent to 12,500 paper
Crowns. The country had suffered rampant inflation in the early 1920s, and the
League of Nations now helped with economic reconstruction.
31/1/1923, Hungary was admitted to the League of Nations.
18/9/1922.
1/4/1922, Ex-Emperor Charles of Hungary died in Madeira
(see 29/10/1921).
14/12/1921, A
(somewhat dubious) plebiscite resulted in the retention by Hungary of the
Sopron district, which would otherwise have gone to Austria.
29/10/1921, Ex-Emperor Charles was expelled from Hungary
after he mounted a further failed coup bid; he moved to Madeira where he died
on 1/4/1922.
7/3/1921, In Hungary, ex-Emperor Charles attempted a coup.
4/6/1920. At Versailles, the Treaty of Trianon cut Hungary to
25% of its former size. See maps at http://www.dvhh.org/history/1900s/Trianon-index.htm
The population of Hungary was cut from 21 million in
1914 to under 8 million after this Treaty.
1/3/1920, Nicholas Horthy was elected Regent of Hungary,
pending a possible restoration of the monarchy.
14/11/1919, Romanian forces withdrew from Budapest, Hungary,
which they had occupied since 4/8/1919.
For main
European events of World War One see France-Germany
7/11/1919, The Allied War Council demanded the withdrawal of
Romanian troops from Hungary.
1/8/1919, In
Hungary, the Socialist regime of Bela Kun was overthrown.
22/3/1919. Bela
Kun declared Hungary a Soviet Republic.
24/11/1918, The
Communist Party of Hungary (Kommunistik Magyarorszagi Partja) was founded, and
soon after, started publishing its own newspaper, Voros Ujsag (Red News)
16/11/1918, Hungary was proclaimed an independent Republic.
13/11/1918, Charles,
the former Austro-Hungarian Emperor, formally renounced any participation in
the Government of Hungary.
17/10/1918.
10/1/1913, Gustav Husak, First Secretary of the Hungarian
Communist Party, was born.
7/6/1896, Imre Nagy, Prime Minister of Hungary 1953-55
and 1956, was born.
1/1/1873, The
cities of Pest, Buda and Obuda were merged to form Budapest.
Appendix 6
– Romania and Moldova from 1868
6/3/1994, A referendum in Moldova showed the electorate
opposed to possible unification with Romania.
26/12/1990, Exiled
King Michael
of Romania, who fled his country in 1947 at gunpoint for
Switzerland, attempted to return to Romania. He landed at Bucharest Airport in
a private jet with his wife and daughter. However he was stopped by police who
disputed the validity of his travel documents, and sent back to Geneva. The Romanian authorities did not wish to
see a Royalist revival, and said Michael could return after the forthcoming
elections.
28/10/1990. In Moldavia, troops kept ethnic Moldavians and
Gaugaz Turks apart.
2/9/1990, Transdnistria
declared its independence from the Moldovan SSR; no other country recognised
this.
14/6/1990, In
Bucharest, Romania, street battles erupted between students demanding democracy
and miners supporting the interim regime of Ilescu.
21/5/1990, Ion Iliescu elected President of Romania,
in Romania’s first post-Communist free elections.
18/2/1990, Demonstrators
in Romania stormed the headquarters of the provisional government, demanding
the resignation of President Ion Iliescu and Prime Minister Petre Roman.
2/1/1990. All 40 members of the Romanian
Politburo were arrested.
25/12/1989, President Ceausescu and his wife were tried and shot. On 27/12/1989 the Romanian press was freed.
22/12/1989. A Romanian revolution overthrew President Nicolae Ceausescu. Ceausescu’s son Nicu
was arrested, and the Queen cancelled Nicolae’s
honorary knighthood. Ion Iliescu took over
as President.
20/12/1989. President Nicolae Ceausescu declared a state of emergency. His last public appearance with his wife Elena
was in Bucharest on 21/12/1989. As he addressed the crowd of 100,000, in
University Square, there were catcalls of ‘murderers of Timisoara’. Ceausescu was hustled back indoors and Romanian
television ceased broadcasting the event. This was the signal for a general uprising that afternoon, and the
Securitate began firing indiscriminately into the crowd. Many were wounded or
killed but the crowd sensed the army was now with them, except for diehard
factions of the Securitate.
17/12/1989. In the town of Timisoara,
in Transylvania, Romania, troops fired on 10,000 demonstrators, killing 2,000. Ethnic Hungarians within
Romania were protesting against the suppression of the Hungarian language in
schools, also books in Hungarian.
24/11/1989. President Ceausescu was re-elected as
leader of Romania. However in Czechoslovakia the Communist leadership resigned.
14/4/1988, President
Caesescu of Romania announced plans to demolish 8,000 villages and forcibly resettle their
population in urban areas.
9/12/1967. Nicolae Ceausescu became President of Romania.
1964, Construction work began on
the Iron Gates Dam on the Danube, between Yugoslavia and Romania.
24/9/1952, Romania adopted a revised Constitution, making the
Workers Party the only legitimate one.
18/3/1950, Former engine factory foreman Nicolae Ceausescu, the protege
of Romanian General Secretary Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, was made a Major
General of the Romanian Army, despite having no prior military experience. Ceausescu
would continue his rise to power and succeed Gheorghiu-Dej in 1965.
13/4/1948, The Romanian Constitution
was redrafted, on Soviet lines.
30/12/1947. King
Michael of Romania abdicated, and a Communist republic was set up.
28/7/1947, In Romania the National
Peasant Party, the most popular Party, was dissolved.
2/3/1945, At Soviet
insistence, Petru Groza was appointed Prime Minister of Romania and formed a
pro-Soviet government.
For more events of World War Two in Europe see France-Germany
7/9/1940, The Germans
imposed the Treaty of
6/9/1940, King Carol II of Romania abdicated in favour
of his son Michael,
by pro-Nazi Ion
Antonescu.
18/7/1938, Marie, Queen of Romania, died.
16/2/1933, Fearing German aggression, Czechoslovakia, Romania
and Yugoslavia formed the Little Entente, with a Permanent Council,
8/6/1930, King Carol II returned from exile to take the
throne of
20/7/1927, King Ferdinand of Romania died, aged 61. He was succeeded by his nephew, 5-year
old Michael
I.
25/10/1921, King Michael of Romania was born, son of King Carol II.
23/4/1921, Czechoslovakia and Romania formed an alliance.
3/3/1921, Poland
signed an alliance with Romania. This resulted in a decline in previously-close
Hungarian-Polish relations.
4/8/1919, Romanian
forces occupied Budapest, Hungary (until 14/11/1919).
11/1/1919.
26/1/1918, Nicolae Ceausescu, dictator of Romania, was
born (died 1989).
6/12/1915. Germany occupied Bucharest, capital of
For main
European events of World War One see France-Germany
3/1907, Romania brutally suppressed a revolt in Moldova.
20/7/1868, Miron Cristea,
Prime Minister of Romania, was born.
Appendix 7
– Former Yugoslavia (Serbia)
from 1875
26/5/2011, Former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic was arrested in
Serbia, for crimes of genocide.
28/2/2009, Former Serbian President Milan Milosevic was acquitted of war crimes by
the International Criminal Tribune for the Former Yugoslavia.
21/7/2008, Radovan Karadic, Serbian leader during the break-up of Yugoslavia,
wanted for war crimes against the Bosnians, was captured and sent to The Hague
for trial.
17/2/2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. The EU and NATO backed Kosovo, but Russia
opposed it.
3/6/2006, Montenegro declared independence from Serbia.
11/3/2006, Former President Slobodan
Milosevic died, see 13/2/2002.
23/7/2004, The historic Mostar Bridge, destroyed on 9/11/1993, and subsequently
restored, was reopened by Charles, Prince of
Wales.
13/2/2002, The trial of former President Milosevic (born 20 August 1941) began in
The Hague, under a UN war crimes
tribunal. He was accused of presiding over the deaths of 250,000 non-Serbs in
Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. He
died on 11 March 2006, with the trial still underway.
7/5/2001, In Banja Luka, the second
largest city in Bosnia, Muslims attempted to reconstruct the Ferhadja
Mosque. However a mass riot by Serb
Nationalists ensued, and 300 elderly Bosnian Muslims were beaten and stoned to
death.
1/4/2001, Former President Milosevic surrendered to police special
forces, to be tried at The Hague for war crimes.
23/1/2001, The UN War Crimes prosecutor Del Ponte demanded that Serbia hand over
ex-President Milosovic.
1/11/2000, Yugoslavia’s new
democratic government joined the UN, after 8 years of the country being
ostracised from the UN under President Milosevic.
5/10/2000, President Slobodan
Milosevic of Yugoslavia resigned
after widespread demonstrations across Serbia and the withdrawal of Russian support. He had lost the elections of
24/9/2000 but failed to acknowledge defeat; crowds stormed the parliament
building and TV station in Belgrade in protest. Finally the election winner, Vojislav
Kostunica, was able to take office.
10/12/1999, Franjo Tudjman, President of Croatia, died.
19/8/1999, In Belgrade,
thousands of demonstrators demanded the resignation of President Slobodan Milosevic.
12/6/1999, The UN and NATO
peacekeeping force KFOR entered Kosovo.
10/6/1999, NATO suspended air
strikes against the Serbs after Slobodan Milosevic agreed to
withdraw his forces from Kosovo.
9/6/1999, In the Kosovo War,
Yugoslavia and NATO signed a peace treaty.
7/5/1999, In Yugoslavia,
three Chinese Embassy workers were killed and twenty wounded when a NATO
aircraft mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
24/3/1999. NATO
launched air strikes against Yugoslavia.
This was the first attack by NATO on a sovereign country. In Kosovo, there was escalating violence
between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, and President Slobodan Milosevic was accused of ethnic cleansing, driving thousands of
Albanians from their homes. NATO’s Operation Allied Force was
to curb Serbian military activities.
20/3/1999, Serbs launched an
offensive in Kosovo.
22/3/1996. The
War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague
made its first indictment; three Muslims and a Croat were charged with torture,
rape, and murder of Serbs.
19/3/1996, Sarajevo was
reunited when Bosniak authorities took control of the last district occupied by
Sertbs.
29/2/1996, The siege of Sarajevo ended.
2/1/1996, UN troops entered Bosnia on a peacekeeping mission.
14/12/1995, The
Dayton Peace Accord was signed in
Paris, ending the Yugoslav conflict.
4/12/1995, NATO troops landed
in the Balkans.
25/11/1995, A ceasefire was declared in the
Republics of former Yugoslavia, following a peace agreement signed at Dayton,
Ohio. Bosnia would be a united
Republic comprising the Muslim-Croat areas and the Serb Republic, unifying the
city of Sarajevo. Individuals charged with war crimes were banned from holding
public office.
16/11/1995, The
UN tribunal charged Radovan Karadic and Ratko Mladic with genocide
during the Bosnian War.
1/11/1995, Participants in the
Yugoslav War began negotiations at the Wright
-Patterson air force base, Ohio, USA.
30/8/1995. UN forces attacked
key Serb positions in Bosnia.
The NATO campaign continued into October.
28/8/1995, Serbian mortar
bomb near Sarajevo market killed 37 civilians.
5/8/1995, Croatian forces
captured the town on Knin.
4/8/1995, Croatians
launched Operation Storm, against Serbian forces in Krajina, compelling them to
retreat to Bosnia.
11/7/1995. Bosnian Serbs
marched into Srebrenica as Dutch UN
peacekeepers left. Later; large numbers of Bosniak men and boys were massacred.
3/6/1995. UN rapid
intervention force sent to Bosnia.
5/8/1994. NATO air strike
on Bosnian Serb positions near Sarajevo.
10/4/1994. NATO air strikes
against the Serbs around Gorazde.
28/2/1994. Four Serbian
planes shot down by US F-16 pilots over Bosnia, for violating the US-imposed
no-fly zone there.
9/2/1994, The Vance-Owen
peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina was announced.
5/2/1994. 70 killed and 200
injured in a Serb mortar attack on Sarajevo
marketplace.
17/12/1993. Warring parties in
Bosnia agreed to a ceasefire from the 23rd December to the 3rd
January. However despite the ceasefire, on 25/12/1993, Serb gunmen fired over
1,300 rounds into Sarajevo, killing
6 civilians.
9/11/1993. The historic 16th
century Mostar Bridge was demolished
by a barrage of shells from Croat forces fighting Muslims.
13/6/1993. Serb shells hit a
hospital in the Muslim town of Gorazde,
killing 50 people.
18/4/1993. The Muslim town
of Srebrenica surrendered to Serb
forces.
7/4/1993. The former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia joined the United Nations.
1/4/1993. Britain agreed to
send aircraft to enforce the no-fly zone over Bosnia.
19/3/1993. UN relief convoy reached
Srebrenica, Yugoslavia.
25/2/1993. The USA announced
it was to drop food and medicine to Muslims besieged by Serbs in Bosnia.
14/1/1993. The UK aircraft carrier
Ark Royal set sail for the Adriatic as part of British reinforcements
for peacekeeping troops in Bosnia. Also today the first British
soldier was killed, shot by a sniper, in Bosnia, whilst escorting an ambulance.
29/10/1992. The Muslim town of
Jajce fell to the Serbs.
3/8/1992. Reports from Bosnia told of Nazi-style concentration
camps and ethnic cleansing.
30/5/1992. The UN agreed wide-ranging sanctions against what
was left of Yugoslavia as the Belgrade –Serbian government suppressed other
races and attempted to establish a ‘greater Serbia’ by force. When in January 1992 the EC recognised Croatian
and Slovenian independence, a third of Croatia was occupied by Serb forces. A
new phrase entered the language – ‘ethnic
cleansing’, as Bosnian Muslims and other non-Serbs were forcibly expelled
from villages overrun by Serb forces. Images of concentration camps reminded
people, of the horrors of World War Two as pictures of skeletal Bosnian
detainees behind barbed wire reached the West. By mid-July 1992 the Bosnian
capital Sarajevo had been under
siege for over 100 days, shelled by Serb gunners in the hills above the city,
and snipers roamed freely in the streets. Civilian casualties were appalling,
and by the end of September 1992 relief efforts stalled. Winter loomed, and
with it the spectre of mass starvation in the heart of Europe.
7/4/1992. The EC and USA
recognised Bosnia-Hercegovina’s independence.
6/4/1992, Serbian troops
began the siege of Sarajevo, after
Serbs in Bosnia objected to Bosniaks and Croats seeking independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina
from Serbia.
21/2/1992, The UN Security
Council approved Resolution 743 and decided to send peacekeeping troops to
Yugoslavia.
15/1/1992. As the old Yugoslavia broke up,
the EC recognised Slovenian and Croatian independence.
8/1/1992, Bosnian Serbs declared their own Republic within
Bosnia and Hercegovina in protest
at Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats decision to seek recognition from the EC.
7/12/1991, After a 67-day
siege, Serbian forces bombarded the centre of Dubrovnik.
23/11/1991. Croats in Vukovar surrendered to Serb forces.
Serbs now planned to attack the 150,000 Croats in Osijek region. Capture of Osijek would give the Serbs
control of the fertile eastern plains of Croatia.
26/10/1991. The Yugoslav army
was besieging Dubrovnik and shelling
its historic centre.
8/10/1991, The Croatian
Parliament cut all remaining ties with Yugoslavia.
2/10/1991, The Yugoslav Army
bombarded Dubrovnik.
8/9/1991, Macedonia
became independent from Yugoslavia.
26/8/1991. Yugoslav
Federal forces and Serb guerrillas launched a fierce attack on Vukovar in eastern Croatia. The city of
50,000 people was roughly half Serb and half Croat. Yugoslav planes bombed Vinkovici,
20 miles from Vukovar.
29/7/1991, Yugoslavia edged further into civil
war. The country’s ethnic mix in
1991 was 36% Serb, 20% Croatian, 9% Moslem, 8% Slovene, 8% Albanian, 6%
Macedonian, 3% Montenegrin, 2% Hungarian. The two richest republics, Slovenia
and Croatia, seceded, against the wishes of the militarily strongest republic,
Serbia. Two helicopters were shot down over the Slovenian capital, Llubljana,
where Federal tanks were on the streets. Airports and borders were closed. An
EC delegation went to Belgrade to warn that all EC aid will be cut off if the
Federal, Yugoslav, army did not return to barracks in Slovenia and elsewhere.
27/7/1991. A
week of violence in Yugoslavia left 50 dead.
11/7/1991. Violence between Serbs and Croats continued to escalate, especially in eastern Croatia where Serb and Croat
villages and even houses were mixed together.
25/6/1991, Slovenia and
Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia. The European Community and the
USA said they would not recognise this move.
12/5/1991. Serbs in
Croatia voted for union with Serbia.
On 20/5/1991 Croatia voted overwhelmingly for independence from Serbia.
Croatia formally declared independence on 30/5/1991. This was the beginning of a bloody conflict
that ended with the disintegration of
Yugoslavia.
2/5/1991. Clashes between Serbs
and Croats left 35 dead.
31/3/1991, In Yugoslavia,
troops moved to control fighting between Serbs and Croats.
23/12/1990. Slovenia voted
in a referendum to secede from Yugoslavia.
10/12/1990, In the Serbian
Republic, the Communist Party won free elections.
9/12/1990, Slobodan Milosevic became President of Serbia.
17/8/1990. Armed Serb
Nationalists seized Croatian territory near the town of Knin.
8/5/1989, Slobodan Milosevic became President of Serbia.
1/3/1989, A curfew was
imposed in Kosovo; protests continued at alleged intimidation of the Serb
minority.
27/2/1989, Belgrade imposed emergency powers in Kosovo as Yugoslavia’s Serbs attempted to resist secession
by ethnic Albanians.
15/9/1988. The Federation of Yugoslavia looked
increasingly fragile as 200,000 Serbs protested in Belgrade against persecution
of them in the province of Kosovo by ethnic Albanians. Kosovo was the home of Serbian culture, and had a
Serbian king for two centuries. By 1988 it was populated by 1.7 million ethnic
Albanians and only 200,000 Serbs. Serbs make up 40% of Yugoslavia’s 23 million
population. Serbians organised more mass anti-Albanian demonstrations on
25/9/1988.
4/5/1980. Joseph Tito, President of Yugoslavia since 1953, died, aged
87, after a long illness. He was born in Kumrovec, near Zagreb, Croatia, on
7/5/1892; one of 15 children in a peasant family. He became a metal worker and
an active trade unionist. In World War One he fought on the Carpathian and
Bukovinan fronts before being seriously wounded, in 1916, by a howitzer,
captured, with his entire brigade, and incarcerated in the Urals. After 1917 he
joined the Bolshevik Revolution and fought in the Red Guard during the Russian
Civil War. On returning to Croatia he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia
(CPY), for which he was imprisoned for 5 years. In August 1936 he was nominated
General Secretary of the CPY Politburo, escaping the Stalinist purges that saw
off most of his contemporaries. Yugoslavia was initially neutral in World War
Two, but Hitler
invaded it after the overthrow of the pro-Axis Prince Paul. Tito
led a successful guerrilla campaign against the Nazis and by 1943 was able to
form a provisional government with himself as President, also as Secretary of
Defence and Marshall of the Armed Forces. His rule was generally popular; he
was seen as a patriot and war hero, and he gave Yugoslavia prosperity and
stability until his death in 1980. His funeral was attended by 140 state
delegations; only the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005 had more delegations
and news coverage.
23/6/1978, Josip Broz Tito was nominated Yugoslav President for life.
29/7/1971. Tito was re-elected
president of Yugoslavia.
3/11/1970. Peter
II, King of
Yugoslavia, died.
2/6/1956, President Tito of Yugoslavia visited Moscow,
USSR, as relations improved between the two countries.
15/12/1955, Bulgaria was admitted to the United Nations.
15/10/1953 , Italy and
15/3/1953, Tito visited
14/1/1953. Marshall Tito was elected President of
Yugoslavia. He had been leader of Yugoslavia since 1945.
23/10/1951, Fatmir Sejdiu, President of Kosovo, was born.
30/5/1950. Yugoslavia and
28/6/1948. Yugoslavia ceased to be
a Soviet satellite.
19/4/1946, The USSR recognised the Republic of Yugoslavia.
31/1/1946, Yugoslavia introduced a new Constitution, creating
six constituent Republics; Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia,
Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia. However these were subordinated to the
centre, on the model of the USSR.
29/11/1945. King Peter of Yugoslavia was ousted from power
and a
12/11/1945. Marshall Tito’s National Front Party secured
an overwhelming majority in general elections.
15/5/1945, The last
Nazi fighters in Yugoslavia ceased resistance.
For more events of World War Two in Europe see France-Germany
2/12/1944, Ibrahim Rugova,
president of Kosovo, was born.
29/11/1943, The Jacje Congress began (ended
30/11/1943). Delegates from various regions of Yugoslavia met in the Bosnian
town of Jacje, which had been taken by Tito’s partisans from the Nazis in September
1942. The Congress was organised by the AVNOJ (Anti-Fascist National Liberation
Committee), and decided on various aspects of Yugoslavia’s post war governance
and leadership.
5/5/1941, Natalija
Obrenovic, Queen of Serbia, died.
6/3/1936, Yugoslavian Prime Minister
Milan Stojadinović
survived an assassination attempt when a Macedonian deputy shot at him on the
floor of the Chamber. Stojadinović was unhurt as another deputy
struck the assailant's arm and caused the shots to go wild.
9/10/1934, Alexander (1888 – 1934), King of
Yugoslavia since 1921, was assassinated by Croatian terrorists from the Ustase
Movement in
16/2/1933, Fearing German aggression, Czechoslovakia, Romania
and Yugoslavia formed the Little Entente, with a Permanent Council,
1930, The Balkan
Entente was set up. It included Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia; it
was essentially a defensive alliance against the expansionist aims of Bulgaria,
which was seeking to regain territories lost to Greece and Yugoslavia under the
Treaty of Neuilly (1919). In the 1930, as authoritarian regimes gained power in
all members of the Balkan Entente, the entire region moved politically closer
to Germany and Italy.
3/10/1929. The name of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was changed to
21/5/1929, King Alexander
I of Yugoslavia used his dictatorial powers to ban the Croat Party
and other political factions.
6/1/1929, King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
became dictator.
11/11/1927, France and
6/9/1923, King Peter of Yugoslavia was born.
16/8/1922, Peter I of Yugoslavia died, aged 77, and was
succeeded by his 33-year old son, Alexander I.
13/7/1922, Montenegro joined
16/8/1921. King Peter of Yugoslavia died at
5/6/1921, Italy and Yugoslavia signed an agreement over
control of Fiume.
12/11/1920, The first
Treaty of Rapallo was signed, between
For main
European events of World War One see France-Germany
4/12/1918. The proclamation of the Kingdom of the Serbs,
Croats, and Slovenes, or
29/11/1918. King Nicholas of Montenegro was deposed and
his country was united with
24/11/1918, Serbia
took control of the Backsa, Baranya and western Banat regions from Hungary.
29/10/1918, Croatia declared its independence.
17/10/1918. Yugoslavia became independent
from Austro-Hungary.
20/7/1917, The Pact of Corfu proclaimed the Union of South
Slavs, or
15/12/1915, Serbian
troops retook Belgrade from the Austrians.
14/10/1915. Bulgaria and
Serbia each declared war on the other.
22//9/1915. Bulgaria mobilised its army and declared war
on Serbia.
For main
European events of World War One see France-Germany
16/8/1915, The Allies promised the Kingdom of Serbia, should
victory be achieved over Austria-Hungary and its allied Central Powers, the
territories of Baranja, Srem and Slavonia from the Cisleithanian part of the
Dual Monarchy, along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and eastern Dalmatia from the
Krka River to Bar.
2/4/1913, Montenegro rejected demands from five European
nations (Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia) to withdraw
its troops from Albania.
13/2/1912, Bulgaria and Serbia signed an agreement forming
the Balkan League.
1911, The secret organisation ‘Ujedinjenje ili Smrt’ (Unification of
Death), commonly known as the ‘Black Hand’ was formed by Serbian nationalist
Army officers. Its objective was the political unificastion of all Serbian
peoples in the Balkans; this organisation was behind the assassination of
Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, the event that precipitated World War One.
28/8/1910. Montenegro declared independence from Turkey under
King
Nicholas I, 69, who ruled for 9 years.
24/2/1909. Serbia made demands on
28/10/1908, Enver Hoxha, Stalinist dictator of Yugoslavia from the end of World War
Two till his death in 1985, was born. He declared the country atheist in 1967.
1/9/1903, Macedonian rebels blew up a Hungarian steamer,
killing 29.
31/8/1903, Unrest continued in the Balkans, with atrocities
committed by all sides.
15/6/1903, The Serbian Assembly elected Prince Peter, 59, to succeed Alexander I,
who had been assassinated on 11/6/1903 along with his wife and several
courtiers.
11/6/1903, King Alexander I of
11/2/1901, Death of Milan, father of King Alexander I of Serbia.
7/5/1892, Josip Broz
(Marshal Tito), Yugoslav Communist President, was born in Kumrovec,
near Klanjec, on the border of Croatia and Slovenia.
6/3/1889, King Milan Obrenovic IV of Serbia abdicated
aged 34 and went to live in paris. He was succeeded by his 13-year-old son Alexander I.
6/3/1878, Serbia was formally constituted an independent
kingdom.
29/7/1875. The peasants of the two mountain provinces of
Bosnia and Hercegovina put up resistance to the Ottoman Turks. The Bosnians wanted to join Serbia but the
Hercegovinians wanted to join Montenegro. See 16/9/1875.