III.

History

The South Slavs (or Yugoslavs) are one of the five major ethnic groups of the Balkan Peninsula, incorporating the Serb, Croat, Slovene, and Montenegrin peoples. Although the movement for political unification of these people dated from at least the early 19th century, the South Slavs had historically been separated and controlled by various neighbouring powers, such as Turkey, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Political entities in the period leading up to World War I included the independent states of Serbia and Montenegro; Bosnia and Herzegovina under the sovereignty of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; Croatia and Slavonia, a semi-autonomous dependency of Hungary and later an Austrian Crown land; and Dalmatia, a possession of Austria. Banat, Carniola, Istria, and Macedonia were also significant regions. But despite these divisions and profound ethnic and cultural differences among the South Slavs, the desire for statehood remained strong.

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.

F.

Yugoslav Liberation

In 1942 Tito's partisans, having won de facto control of part of Bosnia, founded a provisional government. This government, the Council for National Liberation, later accused the Chetniks of collaboration with the enemy. Armed clashes between the two factions occurred frequently thereafter.

The Council for National Liberation extended its military operations in Yugoslavia throughout 1943, building up an army of more than 100,000 soldiers and conquering more than 100,000 sq km (40,000 sq mi) of Yugoslav territory. British and American military missions joined the Liberation army in late 1943. In December the council, refusing to recognize the authority of the government-in-exile, established a national parliament. The rupture between the royal and provisional governments was healed, mainly through British mediation, in the summer of 1944. By the terms of the settlement, the provisional regime received representation in the government-in-exile, and Tito, who had been elevated to the rank of marshal, replaced Mihajlović as the official head of the Yugoslav army. In September 1944 Allied armies, operating in conjunction with Tito's forces, launched an offensive against the German army of occupation in Yugoslavia. German troops were cleared from Belgrade and most of their other Yugoslav strongholds before the end of October.

The following month, after various conferences in Moscow among representatives of the Soviet, the British, and the two Yugoslav governments, plans were announced for the merger of the royal Yugoslav government and the Council for National Liberation. Features of the projected regime included local autonomy for the various ethnic groups and a regency council, which would exercise King Peter's powers pending determination by plebiscite of his status. A new government was formed in March 1945, with Marshal Tito as premier and with communists in other key positions; it promulgated a programme of generally mild social and economic reforms. The monarchy was abolished in August, and the king remained in exile.

G.

The Tito Regime

Elections for a constituent assembly were held in November 1945. Moderate political groups, officially prohibited from running candidates, boycotted the polls. The candidates of the communist-led United National Front secured the endorsement of 80 per cent of the eligible electorate. On November 29 the newly elected constituent assembly, regarding the vote as a mandate against the monarchy, proclaimed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. The United States, British, and Soviet governments recognized the republic in the course of the next few weeks. Following adoption of a new constitution in January 1946, the constituent assembly reconstituted itself as the national parliament. A new Cabinet, with Marshal Tito as premier and with substantially increased communist representation, was formed in February.

Shortly after the war ended, the Tito government nationalized various sectors of the economy, imposed restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church, and liquidated uncooperative opposition groups. Newspapers critical of the policies of the Tito government were suppressed. Trade unions became semi-official arms of the government. Mihajlović was captured and indicted for treason and collaboration with the enemy. He and eight other Chetnik leaders were convicted and executed in July 1946. Archbishop (later Cardinal) Aloysius Stepinac, Roman Catholic primate of Yugoslavia, was tried on charges of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released from prison in 1951, but was thereafter confined to the village of Krašić until his death in 1960.

Yugoslavia adopted a new constitution in 1953, making Tito the Yugoslav president, and another in 1963, changing the country's name to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Over the next several decades some political adjustments were made in the government, many concerning the devolution of various governmental functions to the constituent republics. Nevertheless, during this period Tito's control over the country remained undiminished.

H.

Agriculture and Industrial Expansion

Agriculture was a persistent problem for Tito's government. Intermittent and serious food shortages necessitated grain shipments from both the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The shortages resulted from severe droughts and from conflict between the peasants and government over collectivization. The government attempted to form large collective farms immediately after the war, and in 1953 the maximum size of private holdings was reduced to 10 hectares (25 acres). The party congress in 1959 again called for reorganization of agricultural land into larger socialized units, but collectivization was never forced, and at no time was more than about 13 per cent of the land collectivized. About 70 per cent of the private farms were smaller than 5 hectares (smaller than 13 acres) and were poorly cultivated. Most of the food for the cities came from the socialized farms.

The government was much more interested in developing industry than land. Post-war spending to rebuild and modernize industry averaged about US$1 billion annually. The five-year economic plans generally emphasized development of heavy industry at the expense of consumer-goods industries and agriculture. In the late 1950s economic controls were decentralized, and greater responsibilities were assigned to the trade unions, which already had more power than in other communist states.

In 1965 and 1966 further economic reforms produced what has been called an economic revolution. The relatively small amount of control held by the central government was decreased, and more responsibility was assigned to the individual enterprises and to the workers' unions. Unsubsidized competition among enterprises was called for.

Total industrial production in 1957 had increased by 70 per cent over that of 1953, and by 1966 had more than doubled the 1957 figure. In addition, the portion of the gross national income accumulated and distributed by the central government was rapidly being cut from 70 to 30 per cent. By 1967 prices had been stabilized, savings were increasing steadily, and labour productivity had risen by about 7 per cent. In the 1960s the government abolished visa requirements and attempted to reduce the persistent unfavourable balance of trade by attracting tourists to the Dalmatian coast. Hotels and restaurants, many privately owned, increased.

I.

Relations with the USSR

As the Cold War began between communist and the Western countries in the late 1940s, Yugoslavia allied itself with the USSR and rejected participation in the US-sponsored European Recovery Program. In 1947 Yugoslavia joined the communist nations in establishing the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform), which succeeded the Third International (Comintern) that had been dissolved in 1943. The headquarters of the new organization was in Belgrade. Early in 1948, however, Tito refused to accept orders from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and the USSR, through Cominform, retaliated. In a meeting in Bucharest in June, which Yugoslavia boycotted, Cominform denounced Tito and the Yugoslav Communist party, accusing them of major deviations from orthodox communist policy. A Yugoslav party congress reaffirmed its loyalty to the USSR but re-elected Tito, whom the Soviet leaders had hoped to overthrow. The success of Yugoslav national communism hampered Soviet efforts to control the Communist bloc and set a precedent for independence followed in some degree by other communist countries.

The Soviet-Yugoslav struggle became sharper in 1949, as the USSR and other communist states denounced treaties of friendship with Yugoslavia and banned the country from membership in the newly formed Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon, or CEMA). In the Korean War, Yugoslavia, in contrast with all other communist states, joined in the United Nations (UN) embargo on furnishing arms to North Korea and communist China. In 1953 Yugoslavia joined Greece and Turkey in treaties to form a Balkan Entente, which declined as relations among the communist nations improved.

Shortly after Stalin's death in 1953 the USSR, followed by the other communist states, resumed diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia, but Yugoslavia did not rejoin Cominform or enter Comecon. In 1954 Yugoslavia participated in the Soviet anniversary celebrations in Moscow, and Soviet leaders joined in the Yugoslav celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Russian rescue of Belgrade from the Germans. Along with professions of mutual friendship, however, Tito stressed Yugoslav obligations to the West. The visit of Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev to Belgrade in 1956 was followed by an agreement on cultural exchanges, a Soviet loan of US$84 million, and the cancellation of Yugoslavia's debt of US$90 million.

In the next few years Yugoslav relations with the USSR vacillated. Khrushchev and Tito exchanged cordial visits in 1956; however, early in 1957, at the 40th Soviet anniversary celebrations, Yugoslavia joined other communist states in a peace manifesto but did not participate in their declaration of solidarity. In 1958 mutual trade declined, and subsequently in 1962 cordial reciprocal visits were resumed, with Tito addressing the Supreme Soviet in Moscow. By 1963 trade with the USSR and the other communist states was increasing, but 70 per cent of Yugoslav trade was with the West and neutral countries. In 1964 Yugoslavia became an affiliate member of Comecon and participated in its commissions on trade, metallurgy, and chemicals. In addition, Yugoslavia agreed to cooperate with Romania in constructing a great navigation and hydroelectric project at the Iron Gate on the River Danube. On the other hand, by the 1960s Yugoslav ties with the West had caused bitter souring of relations with communist China and Albania.

J.

Developing Relations with the West

After World War II ended in 1945, Yugoslav relations with the West generally improved. In 1949 Yugoslavia secured financial help from the US Export-Import Bank and from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and also signed a trade treaty with the United Kingdom. In the same year, Yugoslavia was elected to the United Nations Security Council, against bitter communist opposition. The United States continued to furnish aid, particularly in years of grain shortages, and by 1952 was also furnishing military supplies.

From the end of World War II until 1954 Yugoslavia was greatly interested in neighbouring Trieste, where Tito's forces had joined US and UK troops in 1945 to drive out the Germans. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1947 a free territory was set up under the UN with the United States and the United Kingdom administering a zone including the city of Trieste, and Yugoslavia administering a smaller zone (Zone B). After a long period of controversy, a settlement in 1954 gave Yugoslavia Zone B and some rights in the city of Trieste.

K.

Tito and the Non-aligned Nations

In 1954 Tito took the first step in forming a group of neutral or non-aligned nations. His first trip to India was followed by another in 1955, and the Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru made a return visit in 1956. In 1956 Nehru and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt visited Tito at his Brioni resort. In 1961 Tito arranged a conference of non-aligned states in Belgrade, with 21 African and Asian states and Cuba in attendance. Yugoslavia, India, and Egypt were the leading nations of the non-aligned group in its early years.

In the United Nations, Yugoslavia generally voted with the communist states but, as noted above, deserted them on the Korean issue and voted for the enlargement of the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, which the USSR opposed. Yugoslavia also condemned the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact armies in 1968.

L.

Tito's Last Years

The late 1960s and early 1970s were marked by improved Yugoslav relations with other countries, regardless of their political orientation. In 1971 Tito and Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev met in Belgrade and signed a declaration reaffirming Yugoslavia's political independence but calling for strengthening of ties between the two nations. That policy was reflected by subsequent friendly Soviet-Yugoslav visits; at the same time, Tito cultivated good relations with the European Common Market, the United States, and China. At the 1979 meeting of the non-aligned nations in Havana, Tito led the moderates in opposing the pro-Soviet stance of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Domestically Tito's final years were much less successful. The economy suffered from inflation, unemployment, strikes, and, usually, a huge foreign trade deficit, despite devaluation of the dinar and commercial agreements with both East and West. Tension between Croats and Serbs, marked by riots, hijacking, and assassinations, provoked severe repression. Thousands of Croats and others accused of subversive nationalism, liberalism, or pro-Soviet leanings were purged from the party, fired, or imprisoned.

M.

Yugoslavia After Tito

Tito died on May 4, 1980, after a long illness. With his death, one-person rule came to an end in Yugoslavia. In keeping with the constitution of 1974, the country instituted a system of collective leadership, with top government and party offices rotated annually. A series of austerity plans made little headway in reviving the economy, which staggered under the weight of foreign debt that exceeded US$15 billion; with inflation and unemployment rising, the standard of living declined steadily throughout the 1980s.

The weakness of the economy and of government leadership stimulated the growth of ethnic conflict, as separatist movements in the individual republics and provinces threatened the viability of the nation. In the 1980s, tensions ran high in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, which had become autonomous in 1968 after rioting to protest against Serbian control. Seeking more independence and calling for a separate republic, the majority population of ethnic Albanians clashed with Serbians and Montenegrins throughout the decade; efforts by the Serbian government to impose its authority over Kosovo contributed to strained relations between Yugoslavia and Albania. Towards the end of the 1980s, Serbia reasserted its control over Kosovo and the autonomous province of Vojvodina, ending their autonomy.

In January 1990 the League of Communists of Yugoslavia agreed to surrender its monopoly on political power. Nationalist and conservative groups received strong support in elections in the spring of 1990, Yugoslavia's first free multi-party balloting since World War II. In December 1990, Serbs elected communist leader and outspoken nationalist Slobodan Milošević as their president. Milošević was to play a large role in the wars which ensued in the Balkans. He began by placing Kosovo under martial rule in 1990 and severely restricting the formerly autonomous province's privileges and rights; Vojvodina was deprived of its autonomy at the same time. In May 1991 a constitutional crisis arose when Serbia and its allies blocked the installation of a Croat to head Yugoslavia's collective presidency. After the parliaments of Croatia and Slovenia passed declarations of independence on June 25, the federal government ordered the Serb-dominated army to suppress the secessionists. A ten-day war was fought in Slovenia, but ended with a Serb defeat. The war in Croatia, which pitted federal troops and spontaneously formed Serb militias against Croatian forces, lasted seven months, ending in January 1992 with a ceasefire; Croatia lost control of more than one-third of its territory, and famous ancient cities such as Dubrovnik were largely destroyed. These secessions and the declaration of independence by the Yugoslav republic of Macedonia in September 1991 marked the end of the de facto existence of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The similar declaration by Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1992, and the ensuing fighting, marked the outbreak of the Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian War. On April 27, 1992, Serbia and Montenegro, the remaining republics, agreed to unite and announced the formation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which they declared to be the legal successor of the Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This move tacitly acknowledged the independence of the four breakaway republics which were all recognized by the international community.

The status of the self-proclaimed Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was less clear. On September 22, almost four months after imposing wide-ranging sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted by 127 to 6 (with 26 abstentions) that their federation could not automatically assume the seat of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and excluded it from the General Assembly. It was, however, given the option of reapplying for membership in it own right, but a move in October by then federal Prime Minister Milan Panić to follow up on this option led to a political crisis in the federation and to his ultimate political downfall. The UN termed the federation the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) but it was also variously described as the federation of Serbia and Montenegro and the Federal Republic of Serbia and Montenegro. In 2003 it became recognized by the UN as Serbia and Montenegro; the vestiges of the former Yugoslavia being voted out of existence.

For details of the history of the region since 1992, see entries for the individual republics Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatia; Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of; Montenegro; Serbia; Serbia and Montenegro; and Slovenia.