[December 20] Stephen IV, tsar of Serbia

Sobriquet: "The Mighty"
Local Name: Душан Силни 
Parents: Stephen III, king of Serbia, and Theodora Smilets of Bulgaria
Date of Birth: circa 1308
House: Nemanjic
Spouse(s): Helena, daughter of Sratsimir of Kran and Keratsa Petritsa
Predecessor: Stephen III
Reign: 1346 – 1355
Brief: Stephen IV Dusan was the declared heir to the Serbian throne in 1322 after his father defeated Stephen Constantine in a contest for the throne. During his earlier years, Dusan lived in Constantinople where he learned Greek and Byzantine culture. In his twenties, he fought in two major battles and gained a reputation as a soldier prince. In 1331, Dusan forcibly took the Serbian throne from his father after his father invaded Dusan's lands in Zeta. As king, Stephen IV looked to the east and began preparing for a major invasion of the Byzantine Empire. By 1343, Stephen was king over much of the Balkan states styling himself "King of Serbia, Albania, and the Coast", and in the next year he adopted the title tsar (emperor). He formalized this later that year proclaiming himself "Tsar of the Serbs and Romans", which he followed with a major coronation ceremony the next year. This declaration ended up being the Byzantine Empire's downfall, for in response, the Empire sought the aide of the Ottoman Turks of Anatolia and invited them to invade the Balkans. While the Turks made inroads in Greece, the Serbs captured several northern cities that were near to Constantinople. Stephen then moved west to conquer Bosnia while the Empire recaptured much of their lost land on its borders. Stephen was preparing a renewed assault against the Turks when he died unexpectedly in 1355. His son and successors could not maintain the large empire and it fell to pieces. A daughter, Theodora, married Orhan I, an Ottoman sultan, and is one of the few confirmed links between the Ottomans and European dynasties.

Date of Death: 20 December 1355

Successor: Stephen V

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Zephyrinus, pope of Rome (217)
• Æthelbald, king of Wessex (860)
• Alfonso III, king of León (910)
• Kangxi, emperor of China (1722)

[October 9] Alexander I, king of Yugoslavia

Local Name: Aleksandar (Александар Ујединитељ)
Surnamed: "The Unifier" (Ujedinitelj)
Parents: Peter I, king of Serbia, and Zorka of Montenegro
Date of Birth: 16 Dcember 1888
House: Karadordevic
Spouse(s): Maria, daughter of Ferdinand, king of Romania, and Marie of Edinburgh
Predecessor: Peter I

Reign: 1929 – 1934
Brief: The second son of King Peter I of Serbia, Alexander became the crown prince when his brother was forced to renounce the throne due to mental instability. Alexander came into his own during the First and Second Balkan Wars where he served as the commander of the First Army. In 1914, Alexander was declared regent for his father. As World War I wore on, Alexander and his army were pushed back into Montenegro, Albania, and finally the Greek island of Corfu, but they were able to regroup and push the Central Powers out of the Balkans by the time peace was declared in 1918. In December 1918, Alexander accepted the title of King of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes for his father. Three years later, Alexander was that king. A coup in January 1929 allowed Alexander to take direct control over his government and he renamed the country the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a name the kingdom had been popularly called since 1918. On 9 October 1934, Alexander was on a state visit to France when a gunman shot the king, his chauffeur, and the French foreign minister. All three died by the end of the day. The assassin was immediately cut down with a sword by a mounted French policeman before the crowd beat him to death. Alexander's assassination was one of the first recorded on film.

Date of Death: 9 October 1934

Successor: Peter II

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Clement II, pope of Rome (1047)
• John I, king of Castile (1390)
• Ashikaga Yoshiaki, shogun of Japan (1597)
• Ernst Ludwig, grand duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1937)
• Pius XII, pope of Rome (1958)

[February 11] Milan I, king of Serbia

True Name: Milan Obrenović (Милан Обреновић)
Parents: Miloš Obrenović and Elena Maria Cartargiu

Date of Birth: 22 August 1854

Royal House: Obrenović

Spouse: Natalie, daughter of Piotrj Ivanovich Keşco and Pulcheria Sturdza of Moldavia

Reign: 1868 – 1889

Predecessor: Mihailo III

Summary: Milan had a rough upbringing. He was born in exile in Moldavia, a scion of the Serbian royal family. His parents divorced soon after he was born and his father died when he was six. His mother was a wealthy aristocrat who spared little time for her children, so he was eventually adopted into the household of Prince Mihailo, who became the ruling prince of Serbia in 1860. In 1868, Mihailo was assassinated and Milan became the prince of Serbia with a regency ruling in his name until 1872. Milan was an intelligent and progressive monarch who balanced carefully the intrigues of Austria and Russia in Serbia. At the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, Milan asserted Serbia's independence and in 1882, he was proclaimed the first King of Serbia.


As king, Milan sought to make Serbia more self-reliant. He improved communications across the kingdom and developed Serbia's natural resources. But he also had to tax the people heavily to pay for these improvements. Forced military service made Milan, as well as his Austrian allies, increasingly unpopular. When Serbia lost to the Bulgarians in the 1885 – 1886 war, Serbia became indebted to Austria for saving the kingdom. In an attempt to reassert Serbian independence and nationalism, Milan promulgated a new liberal constitution in 1889 and then, two months later, abdicated without warning, leaving the kingdom to his son, Alexander. In his wake, he left his country in the hands of a minor and a regency heavy in Russian influence. Alexander asserted his own authority in 1893 in a coup d'etat and Milan returned to Serbia the next year. The old constitution was restored in 1894 and Milan became a political manipulator. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Serbian army in 1897 where he improved the Serbian military. But the king and his father had a falling out over Alexander's marriage, and Milan once again left Serbia and settled in Vienna where he died early in 1901.

Date of Death: 11 February 1901

Successor: Alexander I

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Gordian III, emperor of Rome (244)
• Heraclius, emperor of Constantinople (641)
• Gregory II, pope of Rome (731)
• Paschal I, pope of Rome (824)