Following World War I, Kragujevac became a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
In the period before the Second World War, the city continued its cultural and economic development with the founding of the Gundulić Theatre and the Kragujevac Academic Theatre as well as a number of new factories.

Following the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia, the city came under direct Nazi occupation.
After a joint Partisan-Chetnik attack on German forces in nearby Gornji Milanovac, Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel calculated that 50 people were to be shot for every German soldier wounded and 100 people were to be shot for every German soldier killed.
Franz Böhme therefore ordered the deaths of nearly 2,800 men and boys between 19 and 21 October 1941 in the Kragujevac massacre.
The dead included a class from the city's First Gymnasium; today, a monument to the executed pupils is the symbol of the city.
The massacre inspired a poem titled Krvava Bajka (A Bloody Fairy Tale) by Desanka Maksimović.

The city was liberated from Nazi Germany on 21 October 1944.

In the post-war period, Kragujevac continued to develop its industry.
Its main products were passenger cars, trucks and industrial vehicles, hunting arms, industrial chains, leather, and textiles.
The biggest industry was Zastava Automobiles, which at one point employed tens of thousands people.

The first product of the Zastava Automobiles car company, the FIAT 750, was manufactured in 1955 under a licence to Fiat Automobiles (now FCA).
In the following three decades, more than five million passenger cars (FIAT 750, Zastava 1300, Zastava 101, Zastava 128, Zastava Yugo, Yugo Florida, Fiat 500L) were manufactured and marketed in 74 countries worldwide.
Perhaps most infamous among the automobiles produced is the Yugo, also marketed as the Zastava Korral.

The city's industry greatly suffered under international economic sanctions during the Milošević era in the 1990s, and some parts were reduced to rubble by the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
Following World War I, Kragujevac became a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the period before the Second World War, the city continued its cultural and economic development with the founding of the Gundulić Theatre and the Kragujevac Academic Theatre as well as a number of new factories.
Following the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia, the city came under direct Nazi occupation. After a joint Partisan-Chetnik attack on German forces in nearby Gornji Milanovac, Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel calculated that 50 people were to be shot for every German soldier wounded and 100 people were to be shot for every German soldier killed. Franz Böhme therefore ordered the deaths of nearly 2,800 men and boys between 19 and 21 October 1941 in the Kragujevac massacre. The dead included a class from the city's First Gymnasium; today, a monument to the executed pupils is the symbol of the city. The massacre inspired a poem titled Krvava Bajka (A Bloody Fairy Tale) by Desanka Maksimović.
The city was liberated from Nazi Germany on 21 October 1944.
In the post-war period, Kragujevac continued to develop its industry. Its main products were passenger cars, trucks and industrial vehicles, hunting arms, industrial chains, leather, and textiles. The biggest industry was Zastava Automobiles, which at one point employed tens of thousands people.
The first product of the Zastava Automobiles car company, the FIAT 750, was manufactured in 1955 under a licence to Fiat Automobiles (now FCA). In the following three decades, more than five million passenger cars (FIAT 750, Zastava 1300, Zastava 101, Zastava 128, Zastava Yugo, Yugo Florida, Fiat 500L) were manufactured and marketed in 74 countries worldwide. Perhaps most infamous among the automobiles produced is the Yugo, also marketed as the Zastava Korral.
The city's industry greatly suffered under international economic sanctions during the Milošević era in the 1990s, and some parts were reduced to rubble by the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
Kragujevac