Petar Živković

Petar Živković (Петар Живковић) (January 1 1879 –
February 3 1947) was a Yugoslav soldier and political figure. He was Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from January 7 1929 until April 4 1932.

Živković was born in Negotin, present-day Serbia. A soldier at the Serbian court, Živković helped to overthrow the House of Obrenović, with the assassination of King Aleksandar. He later became a member of the White Hand, which opposed the Serbian nationalism of the Black Hand. In 1921, Alexander I of Yugoslavia appointed Živković commander of the Palace Guards; in 1929 he was appointed prime minister. He held the office as a member of the Yugoslav Radical Peasants' Democracy, or JRSD, which was soon the only legal party in Yugoslavia, due to Živković's electoral "reforms." He resigned as prime minister in 1932, and shortly thereafter founded the Yugoslav National Party, becoming its president in 1936.

Meanwhile, Alexander I had been assassinated, in 1934; his cousin Pavle Karađorđević took office as regent for the 11-year-old Peter II. Upon Pavle's 1941 signing of the Tripartite Pact, Živković left Yugoslavia, ahead of the Nazi invasion (see Balkans Campaign). He became part of the Yugoslav government in exile, dying in Paris in 1947, aged 68.

References

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