Otto von Habsburg-King of Yugoslavia

What if they offered him the crown with the argument, that he as the heir of the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire (which included many Southern Slavic people) might be a suitable candidate to "rule" the multiethnic Yugoslavia. Could he unite Slovenes,Croats, and Serbs etc. under his royal banner ? He might find support with the hundreds of thousands ethic Germans in Yugoslavia (pre WW2) as well.
 
The "problem" is that the creation of Yugoslavia was seen as a reward for Serbia and thus it was only natural for the king of Serbia to take over. Also considering how low European opinion on the Habsburgs was before WW2 was over (during which they were slowly redeemed thanks to their general opposition to Hungary and the Nazis), I think it's very unlikely.

Also the general timing would be weird in general... Simply because Otto was just 6 when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was founded and all possible points where the Karađorđević dynasty could've been toppled either were during a low in Habsburg popularity or resulted in the FSR Yugoslavia. Or do you mean after the collapse of Communism..?

So ultimately... I'm sorry, I can't see it.
 
Why Yugoslavia would take Habsburg as king when them have already own dynasty? And Yugoslavia is successor state of Serbia. Not way that Austrian heir would step to throne of Yugoslavia aka Greater Serbia.
 
A foreign monarch would be considered for Yugoslavia if and only if the native dynasties of Serbia and Montenegro somehow both completely disappear (which is near ASB). And even if that happens, the new King of Yugoslavia would be an Italian prince, a Russian Grand Duke, a Hohenzollern from Romania, one of the British or French royals...or it would be a republic. All those have a much better chance than Otto.

After WWI and the massacres committed in the name of the Habsburg dynasty, a Habsburg is probably the last person of the world who could be expected to become King of Yugoslavia. Trying to impose him onto Serbia and Montenegro would be a bit like trying to impose the Kaiser's son as King of France. He'd have a 0% approval rating in half of the country, and even the other half wouldn't really like him much.

To have Otto or his ancestors end up on on the throne of some kind of Yugoslavia, you'd need a pre-1900 PoD. Maybe a pre-1800 one.
 
A foreign monarch would be considered for Yugoslavia if and only if the native dynasties of Serbia and Montenegro somehow both completely disappear (which is near ASB). And even if that happens, the new King of Yugoslavia would be an Italian prince, a Russian Grand Duke, a Hohenzollern from Romania, one of the British or French royals...or it would be a republic. All those have a much better chance than Otto.

After WWI and the massacres committed in the name of the Habsburg dynasty, a Habsburg is probably the last person of the world who could be expected to become King of Yugoslavia. Trying to impose him onto Serbia and Montenegro would be a bit like trying to impose the Kaiser's son as King of France. He'd have a 0% approval rating in half of the country, and even the other half wouldn't really like him much.

To have Otto or his ancestors end up on on the throne of some kind of Yugoslavia, you'd need a pre-1900 PoD. Maybe a pre-1800 one.

Yes, well argued . I lay wrong with that assumption.
 
PoD pre-1848. Perhaps Napoleon during his redrawing of the map of Europe gives Dalmatia and some other lands to a Habsburg prince in return for the loss of other territory and the utter humiliation they've endured. When Napoleon is defeated and the Habsburgs are rewarded with their land back, but lose out on a Holy Roman Empire and have to console themselves with the new title of Emperor of Austria in order to remain emperors and not mere kings, this all goes according to OTL. BUT that ATL Habsburg prince in Dalmatia, perhaps Britain feels its better to have less direct Austrian rule in the Balkans near their Ionian Islands and a weak Ottoman Empire. A proto-Croatian-Slovenian state takes shape under the name Dalmatia, or Illyria, or Croatia, or United Kingdoms of Croats and Slovenes. Over time history realigns with OTL in a rhyming fashion and things like 1848 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1878 and the Balkan Wars of the 1910s all will occur mostly on time. An independent Croatia will probably be the one to take over administration of Bosnia/Hercegovina "for" the Turks just as Austria-Hungary did. Will they annex it like Austria thereby upsetting the Serbs? Will they split the region with the Serbs peacefully? Will Croatia and Serbia unite, and with Montenegro? If so, who is king? Marriage to unite the dynasties? World War I butterflied away... but the root cause is still there, it has to occur eventually from some other dispute, what is the next likely cause?
 
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About the only, marginal chance of this happening is if we happen to redefine the meaning of Yugoslavia. Say, the breakaway state of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs doesn't wind up as part of Serbia (there were some shenanigans there OTL; still very difficult, but I suppose it's within the realm of possibilit) and manages to keep both ySerbia and Italy away, retaining much of their core territories, albeit somewhat reduce. That alone is very, very difficult, the territories weren't any more up to continuing WWI than anyone else, but I suppose both Serbia and Italy would've been exhausted. Near-ASB, but by some miracle they manage to pull a Turkey and survive.

The resulting nation renames itself Yugoslavia (the name was bandied about at the time, along with several others). It's a divided mess of split loyalties and ethnicities that, much like Austria-Hungary, keeps stumbling onward for year after year. Ultimately, in some desperate bid to give the nation some semblance of unity, they try appointing the last Habsburg heir to the throne, leading to a Habsburg restoration. Whether that works is anyone's guess, but it's likely to make enemies of everyone in the neighbourhood ... of course, our hypothetical Yugoslavia already has enemies everywhere, so that's not much of a change.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I don't actually consider this likely and unless we're dealing with a very, very good writer, I'd punt such a TL to the ASB section.
 
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