The new Yugoslav state, the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, is in reality a Greater Serbia, with a centralist constitution that ensures that all important decisions are taken by a government in Belgrade dominated by Serbs.

King Alexander’s proclamation of a royal dictatorship in 1929 and the change of the country’s name to Yugoslavia do not improve the lot of the Croats, Slovenes, and Muslims living within its borders, while Alexander has created a police state that requires military support for survival.

Meanwhile, Albania had seen the consolidation of power under Ahmet Zogu, who makes Albania a kingdom and morphs into Zog I, "King of the Albanians."

The great economic crisis of 1929–32 destroys both internal and external stability in the Balkan states, which, as exporters of primary produce, suffer immediately.

From 1929 to 1933 the value of Albanian imports and exports falls by three-fifths and two-fifths, respectively; the corresponding figures for Bulgaria are three-fourths and more than one-half, for Romania three-fifths and one-half, and for Yugoslavia by about two-thirds for each.

The Great Depression outlines starkly the weakness of an agrarian economy in a world dominated by industrial production.

Fascism is on the rise in the Balkans as well as in Italy, Germany, and Spain.

In Romania, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu’s fascist Legionary Movement, dissolved by government fiat in 1933, reappears as Totul Pentru Tara (Everything for the Fatherland) and flourishes, with some support from King Carol II.

The Ustashe, dedicated to achieving Croatian independence from Yugoslavia, model themselves on the Italian Fascists; a Bulgarian Ustashe agent, who had received assistance from Italy and Hungary, assassinates King Alexander during the course of a state visit to France.