GROWTH AND EVAPOURATION OF YUGOSLAVIA

GENESIS AND DOWNFALL OF YUGOSLAVIA
Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin, Slovene, Macedonian(literally in English: “South Slavia” or “Land of South Slavs”) is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.It was formed with the union of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, while the regions of Kosovo, Vojvodina and Macedonia were parts of Serbia.

The first country to be known by this name was the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which before 3 October 1929 was known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was established on 1 December 1918 by the union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of
Serbia. It was invaded by the Axis powers in 1941, and because of the events that followed, was officially abolished in 1945.On April 17, 1941, Yugoslavia fell prey to Nazi occupation and was reorganised into four provinces under foreign policy; the country was re-established as
Democratic Federal Yugoslavia in 1945, in addition with the seizing of territory from Italy.

The second country with this name was the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, proclaimed in 1943 by the Yugoslav Partisans resistance movement in World War II. It was renamed to the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946, when a communist government was established. In 1963, it was renamed again to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). This was the largest Yugoslav state, as Istria and Rijeka were added to the new Yugoslavia after the end of World War II. The constituent Socialist Republics(SR) that made up the country, were :
SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro, SR Serbia (including the autonomous provinces of SAP Vojvodina and SAP Kosovo and Metohija, later simply SAP Kosovo) and SR Slovenia. Starting in 1991, the SFRY disintegrated in the Yugoslav Wars which followed the secession of most of the republic’s constituent entities.
The last country to bear the name was the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) established on March 27, 1992. It was a federation on the territory of the two remaining (non-secessionist) republics of Serbia (including the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo) and
Montenegro. On February 4, 2003, it was renamed to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and officially abolished the name “Yugoslavia”.

On June 3 and June 5, 2006 respectively, Montenegro and Serbia declared independence, thereby ending the Yugoslav state.Kosovo announced it’s independence in 2008.

FORMATION OF KINGDOM OF YUGOSLAVIA
In 1916 the Serbian Parliament in exile decided the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at a meeting inside the Municipal Theatre of Corfu. The kingdom was formed on 1 December 1918 under the name “Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes”.

On 1 December 1918 the new kingdom was proclaimed by Alexander Karadordevic, Prince-Regent for his father, Peter I of Serbia. The new Kingdom was made up of the formerly independent kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro (which had unified ), as well as a substantial amount of territory that was formerly part of Austria-Hungary, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The lands previously in Austria-Hungary that formed the new state included Croatia, Slavonia and Vojvodina from the Hungarian part of the Empire, Carniola, part of Styria and most of Dalmatia from the Austrian part, and the crown province of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The creation of the state was supported by Pan-Slav nationalists and Serbian nationalists ( very much like Pan-Germanism ). Pan-Slavism was a mid 19th century movement aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled and oppressed for centuries by the three great empires, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Venice. It was also used as a political tool by both the Russian Empire and its successor the Soviet Union.For the Pan-Slavic movement, all of the South Slav or “Yugoslav” people had united into a single state and hoped that the peoples would unite as Slavs and abandon past differences. For Serbian nationalists, for the first time, the long-desired goal of uniting all the Serb people from across the Balkans into one state was achieved.

The Yugoslav kingdom bordered Italy and Austria to the northwest, Hungary and Romania to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece and Albania to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the west.

A plebiscite was also held in the Province of Carinthia, which opted to remain in Austria. The Dalmatian port city of Zadar (Italian: Zara) and a few of the Dalmatian islands were given to Italy. The city of Rijeka was declared to be the Free State of Fiume, but it was soon occupied, and in 1924 annexed, by Italy. Tensions over the border with Italy continued, with Italy claiming more of the Dalmatian coast, and Yugoslavia claiming Istria, part of the former Austrian Littoral which had been annexed to Italy, but which contained a considerable population of Croats and Slovenes.

The new government tried to integrate the new country politically as well as economically, a task made difficult because of the great diversity of languages, nationalities, and religions in the new state, the different history of the regions, and great differences in economic development among regions.For this reason King Alexander I banned national political parties in 1929, assumed executive power and renamed the country Yugoslavia. The king Alexander Karadordevic hoped to curb these separatist tendencies and mitigate nationalist passions. However, Alexander’s policies soon encountered opposition from other European powers stemming from developments in Italy and Germany, where Fascists and Nazis rose to power, and the Soviet Union, where Stalin became absolute ruler. None of these three regimes favored the policy pursued by Alexander I.

Not long after that, on 6 January 1929, using as a pretext the political crisis triggered by the shooting, King Alexander abolished the Constitution, prorogued the Parliament and introduced a personal dictatorship (known as the January 6th Dictatorship, Šestojanuarska diktatura). He also changed the name of the country to Kingdom of Yugoslavia and changed the internal divisions from the 33 oblasts to nine new banovinas on 3 October.Many politicians were jailed or kept under tight police surveillance. The effect of Alexander’s dictatorship was to further alienate the Non-Serbs from the idea of unity.

Croat opposition to the new régime was strong and, in late 1932, the Croatian Peasant Party issued the Zagreb Manifesto sought an end to Serb hegemony and dictatorship. Belgrade reacted by imprisoning many political opponents including the new Croatian Peasant Party leader Vladko Macek. Despite these measures, opposition to the dictatorship continued, with Croats calling for a solution to what was called the Croatian question. In late 1934, the king planned to release Macek from prison, introduce democratic reforms, and attempt find common ground between Serbs and Croats.

However, on 9 October 1934, the king was assassinated in Marseille, France by Velicko Kerin,an experienced marksman a Macedonian activist of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, in a conspiracy with Yugoslav exiles and radical members of banned political parties in cooperation with the Croatian extreme nationalist and separatist Ustaše.Since Alexander’s eldest son, Peter II,was a minor( 11 years ), a regency council of three, specified in Alexander’s will, took over the role of king. The council was dominated by the king’s cousin Prince Paul.

THE 1930’s IN YUGOSLAVIA
In the late 1930s, internal tensions continued to increase with Serbs and Croats seeking to establish ethnic federal subdivisions. Serbs wanted Vardar Banovina (later referred by as  Macedonia), Vojvodina, Montenegro united with Serb lands while Croatia wanted Dalmatia and some of Vojvodina. Both sides claimed territory in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina populated by Bosniak Muslims. The expansion of Nazi Germany in 1938 gave new momentum to efforts to solve these problems and, in 1939, Prince Paul appointed Dragiša Cvetkovic as prime minister, with the goal of reaching an agreement with the Croatian opposition. Supported and pressured by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, Croatian leader Vladko Macek and his party managed the creation of the Croatian banovina (administrative province) on 26 August 1939. The agreement specified that Croatia was to remain part of Yugoslavia, but it was hurriedly building an independent political identity in international relations.

These changes satisfied neither Serbs who were concerned with the status of the Serb minority in the new Banovina of Croatia and who wanted more of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Serbian territory. The Croatian nationalist Ustaše were also angered by any settlement short of full independence for a Greater Croatia including all of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

DOWNFALL OF THE KINGDOM
Fearing an invasion of the World War II Axis Powers, Regent Prince Paul signed the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941, pledging cooperation with the Axis. Because of Paul’s unpopular decision massive demonstrations took place in Belgrade.

On 27 March, the regime of Prince Paul was overthrown by a military coup d’état with British support. The 17-year-old Peter II was declared to be of age and placed in power. General Dušan Simovic became his Prime Minister. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia withdrew its support for the Axis de-facto without formally renouncing the Tripartite Pact. Although the new rulers opposed Nazi Germany, they also feared that if German dictator Adolf Hitler attacked Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom was not in any real position to help. Regardless of this, on 6 April 1941, the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) launched the invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and quickly conquered it. The royal family, including Prince Paul, escaped abroad and were interned by the British in Kenya.

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was soon divided by the Axis into several entities. Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria annexed some border areas outright. A Greater Germany was expanded to include most of Slovenia. Italy added the Governorship of Dalmatia and more than a third of western Slovenia to the Italian Empire. An expanded Croatia was recognized by the Axis as the Independent State of Croatia .On paper, the NDH was a kingdom and the 4th Duke of Aosta was crowned as King Tomislav II of Croatia. The rump Serbian territory became a military administration of Germany run by military governors and a Serb civil government led by Milan Nedic. Nedic attempted to gain German recognition of Serbia as a successor state to Yugoslavia and claimed King Peter II as Serbia’s monarch. Puppet states were also set up in Montenegro and southern Yugoslavia.

EXILE OF THE KING AND DISSOLUTION OF THE KINGDOM
King Peter II, who had escaped into exile, was still recognized as King of the whole state of Yugoslavia by the Allies. From 13 May 1941, the largely Serbian “Yugoslav Army of the Fatherland” (Jugoslovenska vojska u otadžbini, or JVUO, or Chetniks) resisted the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia. This anti-German and anti-communist resistance movement was commanded by Royalist General Draža Mihailovic. For a long time, the Chetniks were supported by the British, the United States, and the Yugoslavian royal government in exile of King Peter II.

However, over the course of the war, effective power changed to the hands of Josip Broz Tito’s Communist Partisans. In 1943, Tito proclaimed the creation of the Democratic Federative Yugoslavia (Demokratska federativna Jugoslavija). The Allies gradually recognized Tito’s forces as the stronger opposition forces to the German occupation. They began to send most of their aide to Tito’s Partisans, rather than to the royalist Chetniks. On 16 June 1944, the Tito–Šubašic agreement was signed which merged the de facto and the de jure government of Yugoslavia.

In early 1945, after the Germans had been driven out, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formally restored on paper. But real political power was held by Tito’s Communist Partisans. On 29 November, King Peter II was deposed by Yugoslavia’s Communist Constituent Assembly while he was still in exile. On 2 December, the Communist authorities claimed the entire territory as part of the Democratic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The new Yugoslavia covered roughly the same territory as the Kingdom had, but it was no longer a monarchy.

YUGOSLAVIA DURING WORLD WAR II
As official views had it, the last words of King Aleksandar had been, Save Yugoslavia, and the friendship with France’. His successors were well aware of the need to try and do the first, but the second, maintaining close ties with France, was increasingly abandoned. There were several reasons for this. By the mid 1930s France, internally divided, was increasingly unable to play an important role in Eastern Europe and support its allies, many of whom had suffered badly from the economic Crisis of that period. By contrast, Germany was increasingly willing to get into barter agreements with the countries of south east Europe. in the process those countries felt it was against their interests to closely follow France. An additional motive to improve relations with Italy and Germany was the fact that Italy supported the Ustase movement. As Macek intimated Italy would support Croatian secession from Yugoslavia, First Regent Prince Paul judged closer relations with Italy were inevitable. In an effort to rob the HSS from potential Italian support a treaty of friendship was signed between the two countries in 1937. This in fact diminished the Ustasa threat somewhat since Mussolini jailed some of their leaders and temporarily withdrew financial support. In 1938 Germany, annexing Austria, became a neighbour of Yugoslavia. The feeble reaction of France and Britain, later that year, during the Sudeten Crisis convinced Belgrade that
a) a European war was inevitable, b) it would be unwise to support France and Britain. Instead, Yugoslavia tried to stay aloof, this in spite of Paul’s personal sympathies for Britain and Serbia’s establishment’s predilections for France. In the mean time, Germany and Italy tried to exploit Yugoslavia’s domestic problems, and so did Macek. In the end, the regency agreed to the formation of the Banovina hrvatska in August 1939.

This did not put an end to the pressures from Germany and Italy, while Yugoslavia’s strategic position deteriotated by the day. It was increasingly dependent on the German market (about 90% of its exports went to Germany), while in April 1939 Italy invaded and annexed Albania. In October 1940 it attacked Greece. by that time, France had already been eliminated from the scene, leaving Britain as Yugoslavia’s only potential ally – given that Belgrade had not recognized the Soviet Union. London however wanted to involve Yugoslavia in the war, which it rejected. From late 1940 Hitler wanted Belgrade to unequivocally choose sides, and pressure intensified, culminating in the signing of the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941. Two days later Prince Paul was deposed in a coup d’état, his nephew Peter II was proclaimed of age, but the new government,headed by gen. Simovic assured Germany it would adhere to the Pact. Hitler however ordered the invasion of Yugoslavia. On 6 April 1941 Belgrade was bombed, on 10 April the Independent State of Croatia was proclaimed and on 17 April the weak Yugoslav Army capitulated.

German troops occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as part of Serbia and Slovenia, while other parts of the country were occupied by Bulgaria, Hungary, and Italy. During this time the Independent State of Croatia created concentration camps for anti-fascists, communists, Serbs, Gypsies and Jews. One such camp was the Jasenovac concentration camp. A large number of men, women and children, Jews, Serbs, and Croat resistance members, were executed in these camps.