‘‘Goudi coup’’ and the ideology of the Serbian military elite

Abstract

The article, based on the documents of the Russian State Military Historical Archive and the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, reveals the features of the political development of the Kingdom of Serbia after the toppling of the Obrenović dynasty on May 29, 1903. The conflict in the officer corps of the country and the significant interference of officers in politics became the determining factors in the state development of the country in 1903–1914. The author shows how the events on the Balkan Peninsula (the Annexation crisis of 1908–1909, the Goudi coup in Greece, the Young Turk Revolution) affected strengthening of the political role of the Serbian military elite in the state life of the country, leading to the formation of the officer organization ‘‘Unification or Death’’ (‘‘The Black Hand’’) in 1911, whose activities are connected with the Sarajevo assassination on June 15 (28), 1914.