Yugoslavia

A

Formation of the Yugoslav State

The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo in June 1914 (the Sarajevo Incident) drove the Austro-Hungarian Empire to declare war on Serbia and thus ignited World War I. The subsequent occupation of Serbia by the Central Powers coalition during the war and the formation, by South Slavs in exile, of a committee for national unity paved the way for the creation of a Yugoslav state. The political principles for unity were enunciated in the Corfu Declaration (1917), signed by representatives of the committee and of the Serbian government-in-exile. Essentially, the declaration provided for the establishment of a federated constitutional monarchy under the Karadjordjević line of Serbian kings.

The disintegration of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in the final months of World War I gave tremendous impetus to the South Slav independence movement. In October 1918 representatives from the various South Slav dependencies under Austrian and Hungarian sovereignty assembled at Zagreb. After organizing a provisional government, the delegates approved a resolution for union with Serbia. The national assembly of Montenegro took similar action in November. Alexander, Prince of Serbia, pending recovery of his ailing father, King Peter I Karadjordjević of Serbia, accepted the regency of the provisional government on December 1, 1918. The new state, officially titled the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, was then proclaimed.

As a result of Italian claims over some parts of Dalmatia, the Paris Peace Conference (see Treaty of Versailles) became deadlocked on the question of the western frontiers of the new kingdom. In 1919, during the deadlock, Fiume (now Rijeka), one of the principal disputed areas, was seized by a quasi-official force of Italian troops under the author and nationalist leader Gabriele d'Annunzio. This action and pressure from other Allied powers finally led to direct negotiations between the Italian and provisional Yugoslav governments. With the signing on November 12, 1920, of the Treaty of Rapallo, Italy and Yugoslavia reached an amicable settlement. Mainly in exchange for renunciation of its claims on Dalmatia, Italy obtained Istria and other important territorial concessions. The treaty also provided for the establishment of Fiume as a free city under the administrative control of the League of Nations. This provision did not go into effect, however, and Italy, in 1924, secured formal Yugoslav recognition of its de facto ownership of the port. Meanwhile, the formation from 1920 of the Little Entente, a Czechoslovak-Romanian-Yugoslav alliance aimed primarily at discouraging the resurgence of Habsburg power in central and eastern Europe, led to similar pacts with other nations.

In November 1920, with all major boundary disputes disposed of, the provisional government held elections for a constituent assembly. Despite the bitter opposition of the Croats, who favoured federalist constitutional principles, a centrist-conservative coalition in the assembly, drawing its main support from the Serbs, voted its approval in January 1921 to a constitution providing for a highly centralized form of government. Peter I of Serbia died in August, and his son became king as Alexander I.

B

The Reign of Alexander I

Serbian domination of the government, a multiplicity of political parties, and denial of autonomy to the Croats, Slovenes, and other minority groups engendered intense political strife in the kingdom. Under the guidance of Stjepan Radiç, the Croats and their allies systematically struggled against the centralist system and leadership. The first phase of the struggle ended when, in June 1928, a Montenegrin deputy in the national parliament shot and fatally wounded Radiç and two of his parliamentary colleagues. In retaliation, the Croat Caucus withdrew from the parliament and organized a separatist regime, with headquarters at Zagreb. Civil war seemed imminent, but in January 1929 King Alexander suspended the constitution of 1921, dissolved parliament and all political parties, and assumed dictatorial control of the government. The king, thus hoping to impose national unity, subsequently abolished the traditional provinces and changed the name of the state from the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (“Land of the South Slavs”).

C

Royal Dictatorship

Although the dictatorship rigorously suppressed all opposition to its programme, manifestations of popular discontent became increasingly frequent throughout the kingdom. King Alexander proclaimed termination of the dictatorship on September 3, 1931, and promulgated a new constitution, but the royal dictatorship continued largely as before. While providing for limited parliamentary government, the constitution contained restrictive measures designed to perpetuate domination of the government by the king. A majority of the opposition groups in Yugoslavia consequently boycotted the ensuing parliamentary elections, inaugurating a new stage in the fight against the centralist regime. On October 9, 1934, King Alexander, then in France on a diplomatic mission, was assassinated by a Macedonian terrorist connected with Croatian separatist groups. The king's son, still a youth, succeeded to the Yugoslav throne as Peter II. Control of the government was vested in a tripartite regency council headed by Prince Paul, a cousin of the late king. In the late 1930s the government was forced to take a more conciliatory attitude towards the Croats, finally instituting a federalist system in 1939. Yugoslavia also began to move towards closer relations with the Germany of Adolf Hitler.

D

World War II

When World War II broke out in 1939, the Yugoslav government declared its neutrality, but in March 1941, succumbing to German pressure, the country agreed to adhere to the Tripartite Pact with Germany, Italy, and Japan. Popular indignation at this move soon culminated in a successful coup d'état. The regency was deposed and, with King Peter's backing, the insurgents formed a government dedicated to the maintenance of neutrality.

E

The Occupation of Yugoslavia

The Axis Powers' retribution was swift and merciless. Supported by Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces, German armies invaded Yugoslavia in April. King Peter and the government fled, and the high command of the overwhelmingly outnumbered Yugoslav army surrendered. Retaining their arms, tens of thousands of Yugoslav troops went into hiding. The vanquished kingdom was speedily dismembered. Italy took the Dalmatian region, part of Slovenia, and Montenegro. Germany took the remainder of Slovenia. Serbia was also taken by the Germans, who granted nominal control of most of the region to a puppet government. Hungary seized the western part of the Serbian province of Vojvodina, and Bulgaria seized most of Yugoslav Macedonia. A pro-Fascist puppet state, headed by native nationalists and under Italian protection, was formed in Croatia, which received Bosnia.

For more than two years after the partition of Yugoslavia, great political and military turmoil prevailed in the country. Under the royalist general Draža Mihajlović, the Serbian nationalists, called Chetniks, waged guerrilla warfare against the Croatian puppet state and its foreign protectors. Nationalist Croats, under the auspices of the Ustaše regime, retaliated with a campaign of extermination against the Serbs. Other guerrilla detachments, led by Josip Broz Tito, a Croatian communist, campaigned against the invaders and the Croatian fascists. The two groups differed sharply, not only on political ideology but also on tactics. In December 1941 the Yugoslav government-in-exile recognized Mihajlović as commander-in-chief of the national resistance contingents, a move that further complicated domestic politics.