King of Yugoslavia (1921–34). Of the Karageorgević dynasty of Serbia, he tried to overcome the ethnic, religious, and regional rivalries in his country by means of a personal dictatorship (1929), supported by the army. In the interest of greater unity, he changed the name of his kingdom, which consisted of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, to Yugoslavia in 1929. In 1931 some civil rights were restored, but they proved insufficient to quell rising political and separatist dissent. He was assassinated by a Croatian terrorist.