Yugoslavia (Alexander the Liberator)

Kingdom of Yugoslavia
*Kraljevina Jugoslavija*
Краљевина Југославија
Timeline: Alexander the Liberator
OTL equivalent: Former Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia Kraljevina Jugoslavija; Краљевина ЈугославијаTimeline: Alexander the Liberator ; OTL equivalent: Former Yugoslavia
Flag	Coat of arms
	Motto: ; Jedan narod, jedan kralj, jedna država (Latin); Један народ, један краљ, једна држава (Cyrillic); "One people, one king, one nation"
	Anthem: ; Hej, Slaveni; Хеј, Словени; "Hey, Slavs"; Royal anthem: ; "Bože pravde" • "Naprej zastava slave" • "Lijepa naša domovino";
	Location of Yugoslavia
Capital; (and largest city)	Belgrade
Official languages	Serbo-Croatian
Regional languages	Serbian; Montenegrin; Macedonian; Croatian; Slovenian; Bosnian
Official script	Cyrillic script
Religion	Eastern Orthodox Church
Demonym	Yugoslav
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Legislature	National Assembly
Establishment
Area
Population
Currency	Yugoslav dinar (YUM)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
Date formats	dd/mm/yyyy
Drives on the	right
Internet TLD	.yu
Calling code	+38

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Serbian Cyrillic: Краљевина Југославија, "Kingdom of South Slavia") is a sovereign state located in southeastern and Central Europe. Yugoslavia is surrounded by Austria and Hungary to the north, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, Greece and Albania to the south, and Italy and the Adriatic Sea to the west.

Yugoslavia was born out of the ideas of Pan-Slavism and Yugoslavism, the idea of a united South Slavic state was brought to life following the end of the First World War. In 1918, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was formed and became the first Yugoslav state. The state would later unite with the Kingdom of Serbia and became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The country is home to all South Slavic (Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Slovenes, Montenegrins, and Macedonians) outside of Bulgaria.

Etymology[]

The English word, Yugoslavia, is borrowed from Serbo-Croatian word Jugoslavija. The native name itself is also borrowed from jugo (“south”) and slavija (“slavia, the land of the Slavs”). Jugoslavija literally translates to "the land of the southern Slavs".

Formation[]

As the Ottoman Empire grew weaker and Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece grew stronger after the Berlin Congress, there was new hope for sovereignty of the South Slavic peoples in Austria-Hungary, and the idea of a union between them gained momentum. Scholar Aurel Popovici proposed a reform called the "United States of Greater Austria" in 1906. Although his proposal was not acted upon by the Habsburg Emperor, it was an inspiration for the peace conferences at the end of World War I.

Thomislav Bacurin in the early 19th century was one of the conceivers of Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav idea was forged by the Polish and other Western Slavic emigrants in the West who saw that a Russo-Austrian division of the Ottoman Empire must be prevented at all costs and a common state of all South Slavs forged. He enlisted Frantisek Zach (a Moravian enthusiast of Slavic reciprocity) and sent him to Belgrade on that mission with a drafted plan the "Načertanije".

Illyrian Movement[]

In 19th-century Europe, liberalism and nationalism were ideologies which came to the forefront of political culture. In Central Europe, where the Habsburg Empire had long asserted control over a variety of ethnic and cultural groups, nationalism appeared in a standard format. The beginning of the 19th century "was the period when the smaller, mostly Slavic nationalities of the empire - Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Ukrainians - remembered their historical traditions, revived their native languages as literary languages, re-appropriated their traditions and folklore, in short reasserted their existence as nations." This revival of national heritage encompasses the Illyrian Movement in Croatia.

In 1813, the bishop of Zagreb Maksimilijan Vrhovac issued a plea for the collection of "national treasures" (Poziv na sve duhovne pastire svoje biskupije), thereby heralding the national revival movement. Under influence of his father Josip, who was the first major in French controlled Karlovac and one of its first Freemasons, Juraj Šporer attempted to publish the first newspaper in the Illyrian language (Croatian: domorodnom). His project was aborted because of the complete lack of interest for newspaper published in his native language.

Jugoslavija na Jadranu — *Yugoslavia at the Adriatic*, patriotic art.

Just as Croatia felt nationalistic stirrings at this time, so did its larger neighbors, Hungary and Austria. Croats were uneasy with rising Hungarian nationalism, which pursued reduction of the Croatian autonomy and increased Magyarization. In order to preserve their autonomy, Croats pursued a deepening of their culture and a revival of their heritage.

In the beginning of the 1830s, a group of young Croatian writers initially led by Ljudevit Gaj gathered in Zagreb and established a movement for national renewal and unity of all South Slavs within the Habsburg Monarchy. The city of Zagreb had become an important center of political, economic and cultural activity, so it was the center of the movement. Count Janko Drašković published his Dissertation in 1832, a pamphlet that later came to be considered the political, economic, social and cultural program of the movement, as it promoted the native language as official, more autonomy from central government, and better education and enlightenment for the common people. Gaj served as the leader of the movement as a whole in the beginning for eight or nine years, at which point the leadership changed hands.

The greatest issue for Illyrians was the establishment of a standard language as a counterweight to Hungarian, and the promotion of Croatian written literature and official culture. Illyrians envisioned a single literary language and orthography to serve as a means of cultural and national unification, paving the way for a general national revival.

Cultural Developments[]

The most influential writers within the movement were Ivan Mažuranić and Petar Preradović. Mažuranić contributed his epic Smrt Smail-age Čengića during this time, and Preradović published love lyrics.

Other notable literary contributions were made by Antun Mihanović (notably Horvatska Domovina which later became Our Beautiful Homeland), Stanko Vraz (satiric lyrics), Ljudevit Vukotinović (romantic lyrics), Dimitrija Demeter (prose, notably Grobničko polje, and drama), Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski (prose), Antun Nemčić (prose and itineraries). There was also the first notable itinerary Pogled u Bosnu by Matija Mažuranić.

After the government allowed the publishing of newspapers in Croatian in 1834, the Gaj issued the first Croatian newspaper, "Novine hrvatsko-slavonsko-dalmatinske", in 1835, establishing Croatian journalism. The paper was edited by Ljudevit Gaj and it also had a literary magazine "Danica" attached, both of which printed in Gaj's "National print" (Narodna tiskara). Each issue of Danica began with the motto "people without a nation/Is like a body without bones." These literary successes "ultimately won intellectual, linguistic and educational ... independence for Croatia."

In 1836, the papers were renamed to use the Illyrian name (Ilirske novine, Danica ilirska). In 1838, Janko Drašković helped found a reading room in Zagreb which served as a meeting place for the first "Illyrians".

In another cultural success, in 1846 the composer Vatroslav Lisinski wrote the first opera in Croatian, "Ljubav i zloba" (Love and malice).

The Illyrian movement, while concentrating on Croatian lands, was quite nationally inclusive, as it included many non-Croats. For example, Petar Preradović was an ethnic Serb, as was Josif Runjanin, Stanko Vraz was an ethnic Slovene, and Dimitrija Demetar was either ethnic Greek or a Romanian.

Setbacks[]

In 1840, the Illyrian movement suffered an internal setback when Stanko Vraz, Joakim Rakovac and Ljudevit Vukotinović split off from the movement due to creative differences in poetry. In 1842 they started publishing their own literary newspaper named Kolo.

Political disputes in the Croatian Sabor were so fierce they caused unrest in the streets of Zagreb. On July 29, 1845, violent clashes erupted at St Marko's Square, the casualties of which were to become known as the "July victims". Notwithstanding these events, Hungarian officials were unable to crush the movement.

Speaking in front of the Sabor on 23 October 1847, Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski advocated Croatian as the official language instead of Latin and the deputies subsequently voted unanimously in favor of said proposition.

The movement practically ceased to exist due to the Revolutions of 1848. In 1849, the Emperor Francis Joseph imposed a new constitution, all political dissent was censored, and the Danica went out of print.

Rise of Serbia[]

The Serbian Revolution for independence from the Ottoman Empire lasted 11 years, from 1804 until 1815. The revolution comprised two separate uprisings which gained autonomy from the Ottoman Empire that eventually evolved towards full independence (1835–1867). During the First Serbian Uprising, led by Duke Karađorđe Petrović, Serbia was independent for almost a decade before the Ottoman army was able to reoccupy the country. Shortly after this, the Second Serbian Uprising began. Led by Miloš Obrenović, it ended in 1815 with a compromise between Serbian revolutionaries and Ottoman authorities. Likewise, Serbia was one of the first nations in the Balkans to abolish feudalism. The Convention of Ackerman in 1826, the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829 and finally, the Hatt-i Sharif, recognized the suzerainty of Serbia. The first Serbian Constitution was adopted on 15 February 1835.

Following the clashes between the Ottoman army and Serbs in Belgrade in 1862, and under pressure from the Great Powers, by 1867 the last Turkish soldiers left the Principality, making the country de facto independent. By enacting a new constitution without consulting the Porte, Serbian diplomats confirmed the de facto independence of the country. In 1876, Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire, proclaiming its unification with Bosnia.

The formal independence of the country was internationally recognized at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, which formally ended the Russo-Turkish War. This treaty, however, prohibited Serbia from uniting with Bosnia by placing Bosnia under Austro-Hungarian occupation, alongside the occupation of Sanjak of Novi Pazar. From 1815 to 1903, the Principality of Serbia was ruled by the House of Obrenović, save for the rule of Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević between 1842 and 1858. In 1882, Serbia became a Kingdom, ruled by King Milan I. The House of Karađorđević, descendants of the revolutionary leader Karađorđe Petrović, assumed power in 1903 following the May Overthrow. In the north, the 1848 revolution in Austria led to the establishment of the autonomous territory of Serbian Vojvodina. By 1849, the region was transformed into the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar.

Yugoslav Committee[]

During the early period of World War I (which started in 1914), a number of prominent political figures, including Ante Trumbić, Ivan Meštrović, Nikola Stojadinović and others from South Slavic lands under the Habsburg Empire fled to London, where they began work on forming a committee to represent the South Slavs of Austria-Hungary, choosing London as their headquarters.

The Yugoslav Committee was formed on 30 April 1915 in London, and began to raise funds, especially among South Slavs living in the Americas. These Yugoslavs were Serbs, Croats and Slovenes who identified themselves with the movement toward a single Yugoslav or South Slavic state. Exiled Yugoslavs living in North America and Great Britain were the primary supporters of the Yugoslav Committee. Because of their stature, the members of the Yugoslav Committee were able to make their views known to the Allied governments, which began to take them more seriously as the fate of Austria-Hungary became more uncertain. While the committee's basic aim was the unification of the Habsburg South Slav lands with the Kingdom of Serbia (which was independent at the time), its more immediate concern was to head off Italian claims on Habsburg territories in Istria and Dalmatia. In 1915, the Allies had lured the Italians into the war with a promise of substantial territorial gains in exchange. According to the secret Treaty of London, these included Istria and large parts of Dalmatia, which had mixed Italian and Slavic populations.

Corfu Declaration[]

In 1916 the Serbian Parliament in exile decided in favor of the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at a meeting inside the Municipal Theatre of Corfu. During June and July 1917, the Yugoslav Committee met with the Serbian government in Corfu and, on 20 July, a declaration that laid the foundation for the post-war state was issued. The preamble stated that the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were "the same by blood, by language, by the feelings of their unity, by the continuity and integrity of the territory which they inhabit undividedly, and by the common vital interests of their national survival and manifold development of their moral and material life." The future state was to be called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and was to be a constitutional monarchy under the Karađorđević dynasty.

History[]

State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs[]

KongressfallofAH — Proclamation of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in Congress Square, Ljubljana, 29 October 1918.

As the Habsburg Empire dissolved, a pro-Entente National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs took power in Zagreb on 6 October 1918. On 29 October, a Yugoslavist Croatian Sabor (parliament) declared independence and vested its sovereignty in the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and two days later it declared its wish to enter state of union with Serbia and Montenegro. Soon afterward on 5 November the National Council in Zagreb asked the Serbian military for help in controlling anarchy in Croatia. Because help did not arrive before the end of November, the National Council again asked the Serbian army for help because: "The population is in revolt. We have total anarchy and only the Serbian army can restore order".

The Yugoslav Committee was given the task of representing the new state abroad. However, quarrels broke out immediately about the terms of the proposed union with Serbia. Svetozar Pribićević, a Croatian Serb, a leader of the Croatian-Serbian Coalition and vice-president of the state, wanted an immediate and unconditional union. Others (non-Serbs), who favoured a federal Yugoslavia, were more hesitant. The leader of opponents was Stjepan Radić who demanded the creation of a South Slavs Confederacy in which there would be three heads of state: the Serbian king, the Croatian ban, and the president of the Slovenian national council. In his thinking, the confederacy was to have only ministers for foreign affairs, for defense and for the distribution of food. This proposition was rejected by the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs as an example of separatism. The National Council, whose authority was in fact limited, feared that Serbia would simply annex the former Habsburg territories. On the other hand, the Italians were moving to take more territory than they had been allotted in London Pact.

Political opinion was divided, and Serbian ministers said that if Croats insisted on their own republic or a sort of independence, then Serbia would simply take areas inhabited by the Serbs and already controlled by the Serbian Army. After much debate and after Syrmia, which was under control of the Serbian army, declared secession, the National Council agreed to a unification with Serbia, although its declaration stated that the final organization of the state should be left to the future Constituent Assembly which would make final decisions only with a two-thirds majority. With the acquiescence of the National Council achieved, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was declared on 1 December 1918 in Belgrade.

Early Years[]

Immediately after the 1 December proclamation, negotiations between the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Serbian government resulted in agreement over the new government which was to be headed by Nikola Pašić. However, when this agreement was submitted to the approval of the regent, Alexander Karađorđević, it was rejected, producing the new state's first governmental crisis. Many regarded this rejection as a violation of parliamentary principles, but the matter was resolved when the regent suggested replacing Pašić with Stojan Protić, a leading member of Pašić's Radical Party. The National Council and the Serbian government agreed and the new government came into existence on 20 December 1918.

In this period before the election of the Constituent Assembly, a Provisional Representation served as a parliament which was formed by delegates from the various elected bodies that had existed before the creation of the state. A realignment of parties combining several members of the Serbian opposition with political parties from the former Austria–Hungary led to the creation of a new party, The Democratic Party, that dominated the Provisional Representation and the government.

Because the Democratic Party led by Ljubomir Davidović pushed a highly centralized agenda a number of Croatian delegates moved into opposition. However, the radicals themselves were not happy that they had only three ministers to the Democratic Party's 11 and, on 16 August 1919, Protić handed in his resignation. Davidović then formed a coalition with the Social Democrats. This government had a majority, but the quorum of the Provisional Representation was half plus one vote. The opposition then began to boycott the parliament. As the government could never guarantee that all of its supporters would turn up, it became impossible to hold a quorate meeting of the parliament. Davidović soon resigned, but as no one else could form a government he again became prime minister. As the opposition continued their boycott, the government decided it had no alternative but to rule by decree. This was denounced by the opposition who began to style themselves as the Parliamentary Community. Davidović realized that the situation was untenable and asked the King to hold immediate elections for the Constituent Assembly. When the King refused, he felt he had no alternative but to resign.

The Parliamentary Community now formed a government led by Stojan Protić committed to the restoration of parliamentary norms and mitigating the centralization of the previous government. Their opposition to the former governments program of radical land reform also united them. As several small groups and individuals switched sides, Protić now even had a small majority. However, the Democratic Party and the Social Democrats now boycotted parliament and Protić was unable to muster a quorum. Hence the Parliamentary Community, now in government, was forced to rule by decree.

For the Parliamentary Community to thus violate the basic principle around which they had formed put them in an extremely difficult position. In April 1920, widespread worker unrest and a railway strike broke out. According to Gligorijević, this put pressure on the two main parties to settle their differences. After successful negotiations, Protić resigned to make way for a new government led by the neutral figure of Milenko Vesnić. The Social Democrats did not follow the Democratic Party, their former allies, into government because they were opposed to the anti-communist measures to which the new government was committed.

The controversies that had divided the parties earlier were still very much live issues. The Democratic Party continued to push its agenda of centralization and still insisted on the need for radical land reform. A disagreement over electoral law finally led the Democratic Party to vote against the government in Parliament and the government was defeated. Though this meeting had not been quorate, Vesnić used this as a pretext to resign. His resignation had the intended effect: the Radical Party agreed to accept the need for centralization, and the Democratic Party agreed to drop its insistence on land reform. Vesnić again headed the new government. The Croatian Community and the Slovenian People's Party were however not happy with the Radicals' acceptance of centralization. Neither was Stojan Protić, and he withdrew from the government on this issue.

In September 1920 a peasant revolt broke out in Croatia, the immediate cause of which was the branding of the peasants' cattle. The Croatian community blamed the centralizing policies of the government and of minister Svetozar Pribićević in particular.

Constituent Assembly to Dictatorship[]

One of the few laws successfully passed by the Provisional Representation was the electoral law for the constituent assembly. During the negotiations that preceded the foundation of the new state, it had been agreed that voting would be secret and based on universal suffrage. It had not occurred to them that universal might include women until the beginning of a movement for women's suffrage appeared with the creation of the new state. The Social Democrats and the Slovenian People's Party supported women's suffrage but the Radicals opposed it. The Democratic Party was open to the idea but not committed enough to make an issue of it so the proposal fell. Proportional Representation was accepted in principle but the system chosen (d'Hondt with very small constituencies) favored large parties and parties with strong regional support.

The election was held on 28 November 1920. When the votes were counted the Democratic Party had won the most seats, more than the Radicals — but only just. For a party that had been so dominant in the Provisional Representation, that amounted to a defeat. Further it had done rather badly in all former Austria-Hungarian areas. That undercut the party's belief that its centralization policy represented the will of the Yugoslavian people as a whole. The Radicals had done no better in that region but this presented them far less of a problem because they had campaigned openly as a Serbian party. The most dramatic gains had been made by the two anti-system parties. The Croatian Republican Peasant Party's leadership had been released from prison only as the election campaign began to get underway. According to Gligorijević, this had helped them more than active campaigning. The Croatian community (that had in a timid way tried to express the discontent that Croatian Republican Peasant Party mobilized) had been too tainted by their participation in government and was all but eliminated. The other gainers were the communists who had done especially well in the wider Macedonia region. The remainder of the seats were taken up by smaller parties that were at best skeptical of the centralizing platform of the Democratic Party.

The results left Nikola Pašić in a very strong position as the Democrats had no choice but to ally with the Radicals if they wanted to get their concept of a centralized Yugoslavia through. Pašić was always careful to keep open the option of a deal with the Croatian opposition. The Democrats and the Radicals were not quite strong enough to get the constitution through on their own and they made an alliance with the Yugoslav Muslim Organization (JMO). The Muslim party sought and got concessions over the preservation of Bosnia in its borders and how the land reform would affect Muslim landowners in Bosnia.

The Croatian Republican Peasant Party refused to swear allegiance to the King on the grounds that this presumed that Yugoslavia would be a monarchy, something that it contended only the Constituent Assembly could decide. The party was unable to take its seats. Most of the opposition though initially taking their seats declared boycotts as time went so that there were few votes against. However, the constitution decided against 1918 agreement between the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia, which stated that a 66% majority that 50% plus one vote would be needed to pass, irrespective of how many voted against. Only last minute concessions to Džemijet – a group of Muslims from Macedonia and Kosovo – saved it.

On 28 June 1921, the Vidovdan (St Vitus's Day) Constitution was passed, establishing a unitary monarchy. The pre–World War I traditional regions were abolished and 33 new administrative oblasts (provinces) ruled from the center were instituted. During this time, King Peter I died (16 August 1921), and the prince-regent succeeded to the throne as King Alexander I.

Ljubomir Davidović of the Democrats began to have doubts about the wisdom of his party's commitment to centralization and opened up negotiations with the opposition. This threatened to provoke a split in his party as his action was opposed Svetozar Pribićević. It also gave Pašić a pretext to end the coalition. At first the King gave Pašić a mandate to form a coalition with Pribićević's Democrats. However, Pašić offered Pribićević too little for there to be much chance that Pribićević would agree. A purely Radical government was formed with a mandate to hold elections. The Radicals made gains at the expense of the Democrats but elsewhere there were gains by Radić's Peasant's Party.

Serb politicians around Radic regarded Serbia as the standard bearer of Yugoslav unity, as the state of Piedmont had been for Italy, or Prussia for the German Empire. A kind of "Greater Serbia". Over the following years, Croatian resistance against a Serbo-centric policy increased.

In the early 1920s, the Yugoslav government of prime minister Nikola Pašić used police pressure over voters and ethnic minorities, confiscation of opposition pamphlets and other measure to rig elections. This was ineffective against the Croatian Peasant Party (formerly the Croatian Republican Peasant Party), whose members continued to win election to the Yugoslav parliament in large numbers, but did harm the Radicals' main Serbian rivals, the Democrats.

Stjepan Radić, the head of the Croatian Peasant Party, was imprisoned many times for political reasons. He was released in 1925 and returned to parliament.

In the spring of 1928, Radić and Svetozar Pribićević waged a bitter parliamentary battle against the ratification of the Nettuno Convention with Italy. In this they mobilised nationalist opposition in Serbia but provoked a violent reaction from the governing majority including death threats. On 20 June 1928, a member of the government majority, the Serb deputy Puniša Račić, shot five members of the Croatian Peasant Party, including their leader Stjepan Radić. Two died on the floor of the Assembly while the life of Radić hung in the balance.

The opposition now completely withdrew from parliament, declaring that they would not return to a parliament in which several of their representatives had been killed, and insisting on new elections. On 1 August, at a meeting in Zagreb, they renounced the 1 December Declaration of 1920. They demanded that the negotiations for unification should begin from scratch. On 8 August Stjepan Radić died.

6 January Dictatorship[]

Kralj aleksandar1 — King Alexander I of Yugoslavia

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 6 Dictatorship", Šestosiječanjska diktatura, Šestojanuarska diktatura). He 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. A Court for the Protection of the State was soon established to act as the new regime's tool for putting down any dissent. Opposition politicians Vladko Maček and Svetozar Pribićević were arrested under charges by the court. Pribićević later went into exile, while over the course of the 1930s, Maček would become the leader of the entire opposition bloc.

Immediately after the dictatorship was proclaimed, Croatian deputy Ante Pavelić left for exile from the country. The following years Pavelić worked to establish a revolutionary organization, the Ustaše, allied with the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) against the state.

In 1931, Alexander decreed a new Constitution which made executive power the gift of the King. Elections were to be by universal male suffrage. The provision for a secret ballot was dropped, and pressure on public employees to vote for the governing party was to be a feature of all elections held under Alexander's constitution. Further, half the upper house was directly appointed by the King, and legislation could become law with the approval of one of the houses alone if also approved by the King.

That same year, Croatian historian and anti-Yugoslavist intellectual Milan Šufflay was assassinated in Zagreb. As a response, Albert Einstein and Heinrich Mann sent an appeal to the International League of Human Rights in Paris condemning the murder, accusing the Yugoslav government. The letter states of a "horrible brutality which is being practiced upon the Croatian People." The appeal was addressed to the Paris-based Ligue des droits de l'homme (Human Rights League). In their letter Einstein and Mann held the Yugoslav king Aleksandar explicitly responsible for these circumstances.

Croat opposition to the new régime was strong and, in late 1932, the Croatian Peasant Party issued the Zagreb Manifesto which sought an end to Serb hegemony and dictatorship. The government reacted by imprisoning many political opponents including the new Croatian Peasant Party leader Vladko Maček. 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 released Maček from prison and introduced democratic reforms. This was done to reach a final ground between the ethnic groups of Yugoslavia.

World War II[]

220px-Josip Broz Tito 50s — Josip Broz Tito, leader of the Partisans and later Prime Minister of Yugoslavia

On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany. By 17 April 1941, the country was fully occupied and was soon carved up by the Axis. Yugoslav resistance was soon established in two forms, the Royal Yugoslav Army and the Yugoslav Partisans. The Partisan supreme commander was Josip Broz Tito, and under his command the movement soon began establishing "liberated territories" which attracted the attention of occupying forces.

Unlike the various nationalist militias operating in occupied Yugoslavia, the Partisans were a pan-Yugoslav movement promoting the "brotherhood and unity" of Yugoslav nations. The coalition of political parties, factions and prominent individuals behind the movement was the People's Liberation Front (Jedinstveni narodnooslobodilački front, JNOF), led by the Nationalist Party of Yugoslavia.

King Alexander would be killed early on in the war. Although circumstances are unclear, it is believed that he was captured while attempting to flee Belgrade from the advancing German and Italian armies and executed. Alexander's eldest son, Peter, became King of Yugoslavia as Peter II. Peter and his brothers were rescued by the Partisans and he was taken under the wing of Tito.

During 1943, the Yugoslav Partisans began attracting serious attention from the Germans. In two major operations of Fall Weiss (January to April 1943) and Fall Schwartz (15 May to 16 June 1943), the Axis attempted to stamp-out the Yugoslav resistance once and for all. The battles, which were soon to be known as the Battle of the Neretva and the Battle of the Sutjeska respectively, saw the 20,000-strong Partisan Main Operational Group engaged by a force of around 150,000 combined Axis troops. On both occasions, despite heavy casualties, the Group succeeded in evading the trap and retreating to safety. By the permission of King Peter, the Partisans officially merged with the Royal Yugoslav Army in late 1943.

The Partisans emerged stronger than before and now occupied a more significant portion of Yugoslavia. The events greatly increased the standing of the Partisans, and granted them a favorable reputation among the Yugoslav populace, leading to increased recruitment. On 8 September 1943, Fascist Italy capitulated to the Allied powers, leaving their occupation zone in Yugoslavia open to the Partisans. Tito took advantage of the events by briefly liberating the Dalmatian shore and its cities. This secured for the Partisans Italian weaponry and supplies, volunteers from the cities previously annexed by Italy, and Italian recruits crossing over to the Allies (the Garibaldi Division). Among other decisions, the Anti-Fascist Council for the People's Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ, Antifašističko Vijeće Narodnog Oslobođenja Jugoslavije) decided on forming a provisional executive body, the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia (NKOJ, Nacionalni komitet oslobođenja Jugoslavije), appointing Tito the Prime Minister. Having achieved success in the 1943 engagements, Tito was also granted the rank of Marshal of Yugoslavia. Favorable news also came from the Tehran Conference when the Allied powers concluded that the Partisans would be recognized as the Allied Yugoslav resistance movement and granted supplies and wartime support against the Axis occupation.

As the war turned decisively against the Axis in 1944, the Partisans continued to hold significant chunks of Yugoslav territory. With the Allies in Italy, the Yugoslav islands of the Adriatic Sea were a haven for the resistance.

Partisans in liberated Novi Sad 1944 — 7th Vojvodina Brigade entering liberated Novi Sad, 1944

The DFY's legislature, after November 1944, was the Provisional Assembly. The Tito-Šubašić agreement of 1944 declared that the state was a pluralist democracy that guaranteed: democratic liberties, personal freedom, freedom of speech, assembly, and religion, and a free press. However, by January 1945 Tito had shifted the emphasis of his government away from emphasis on pluralist democracy, claiming that though he accepted democracy, he claimed there was no "need" for multiple parties, as he claimed that multiple parties were unnecessarily divisive in the midst of Yugoslavia's war effort and that the People's Front represented all the Yugoslav people. The People's Front coalition, headed by the Nationalist Party of Yugoslavia and its general secretary Tito, was a major movement within the government. Other political movements that joined the government included the "Napred" movement represented by Milivoje Marković.

Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, was liberated with the help of the Imperial Russian Army in October 1944, and the formation of a new Yugoslav government was postponed until 2 November 1944, when the Belgrade Agreement was signed and the provisional government formed. The agreements also provided for the eventual post-war elections that would determine the state's future system of government and economy.

By 1945, the Partisans were clearing out Axis forces and liberating the remaining parts of occupied territory. On 20 March 1945, the Partisans launched their General Offensive in a drive to completely oust the Germans and the remaining collaborating forces. By the end of April 1945 the remaining northern parts of Yugoslavia were liberated, and chunks of southern German (Austrian) territory, and Italian territory around Trieste were occupied by Yugoslav troops.

Yugoslavia was now once more a fully intact state, and was envisioned by the Partisans as a "Democratic Federation", including six federal states: the Federal State of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FS Bosnia and Herzegovina), Federal State of Croatia (FS Croatia), Federal State of Macedonia (FS Macedonia), Federal State of Montenegro (FS Montenegro), Federal State of Serbia (FS Serbia), and Federal State of Slovenia (FS Slovenia).

1948 Russo-Yugoslav Split[]

The country distanced itself from the Russians in 1948 and started to build its own way to socialism and nationalism under the strong political leadership of Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito and King Peter II.

All the Anti-Communist European Countries had deferred to Russian Prime Minister Anatoly Pepelyayev and rejected the Trotsky Plan aid in 1947. Tito, at first went along and rejected the Trotsky plan. However, in 1948 Tito broke decisively with Saint Petersburg on other issues, making Yugoslavia a country completely independent from Russian influence. Yugoslavia requested American aid. American leaders were internally divided, but finally agreed and began sending money on a small scale in 1949, and on a much larger scale 1950–53. The American aid was not part of the Marshall plan.

Tito criticised both the Warsaw Pact and North Atlantic Socialist Treaty Organisation (NASTO) nations and, together with India and other countries, started the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961, which remained the official affiliation of the country until 1991.

In 1974, the two territories of Vojvodina and Kosovo-Metohija (for the latter had by then been upgraded to the status of a province), as well as the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, were granted greater autonomy to the point that Albanian and Hungarian became nationally recognised minority languages, and the Serbo-Croat of Bosnia and Montenegro altered to a form based on the speech of the local people and not on the standards of Zagreb and Belgrade. In Slovenia the recognized minorities were Hungarians and Italians.

Vojvodina and Kosovo-Metohija formed a part of the province of Serbia but those territories also formed part of the federation, which led to the unique situation that Central Serbia did not have its own assembly but a joint assembly with its provinces represented in it.

Kosovar Rebellion[]

Ethnic Albanian miners in Kosovo organised the 1989 Kosovo miners' strike, which dovetailed into ethnic conflict between the Albanians and the non-Albanians in the province. At around 80% of the population of Kosovo in the 1980s, ethnic-Albanians were the majority. With Milošević gaining control over Kosovo in 1989, the original residency changed drastically leaving only a minimum amount of Serbians left in the region. The number of Slavs in Kosovo (mainly Serbs) was quickly declining for several reasons, among them the ever-increasing ethnic tensions and subsequent emigration from the area. By 1999 the Slavs formed as little as 10% of the total population in Kosovo.

In January 1990, the extraordinary 14th Congress of the League of Slavs of Yugoslavia was convened. For most of the time, the Slovenian and Serbian delegations were arguing over the future of the League of Slavs and Yugoslavia. The Serbian delegation, led by Slobodan Milošević, insisted on a policy of "one person, one vote", which would empower the plurality population, the Serbs. In turn, the Slovenes, supported by Croats, sought to reform Yugoslavia by devolving even more power to provinces, but were voted down. As a result, the Slovenian and Croatian delegations left the Congress and the all-Yugoslav Nationalist party was dissolved.

Hoping to avoid ethnic conflict, Milošević would be deposed by King Alexander II in March 1990. Milan Kučan would be appointed Prime Minister of the nation, and further reform was coming. This did nothing to stop the civil unrest in Kosovo. The Kosovo Albanian rebel group known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), supported by Albania, launched terror attacks against the Yugoslav government in the spring of 1991.

Thus began the Kosovar Rebellion. The KLA, formed in 1991, initiated its first campaign in 1991 when it launched attacks targeting Yugoslav law enforcement in Kosovo, and in June 1992 the group claimed responsibility for acts of sabotage targeting Kosovo police stations. In 1993, the organisation acquired a large amount of arms through weapons smuggling from Albania, following a rebellion which saw large numbers of weapons looted from the country's police and army posts. KLA attacks targeting Yugoslav authorities in Kosovo resulted in an increased presence of Yugoslav paramilitaries and regular forces who subsequently began pursuing a campaign of retribution targeting KLA sympathisers and political opponents in a drive which killed 1500 to 2000 civilians and KLA combatants. After attempts at a diplomatic solution failed, NASTO intervened, justifying the campaign in Kosovo as a "humanitarian war". This precipitated a mass expulsion of Kosovar Albanians as the Yugoslav forces continued to fight during the aerial bombardment of Yugoslavia by NASTO in the spring of 1993.

The Russians intervened on behalf of Yugoslavia, threatening to invade West Germany unless NASTO withdraws from it's aerial campaign in Yugoslavia. Eventually, NASTO agreed to withdraw but this is perhaps the most famous incident of the Cold War that nearly sparked a global war. Bulgaria would also intervene on behalf of Yugoslavia and Bulgarian troops were sent to Kosovo. Guerrilla fighting in Kosovo would continue for years until the joint Yugoslav-Bulgarian task force would able to eliminate any remaining resistance in Kosovo.

Recent Years[]

In 1999, King Alexander II proposed that Yugoslavia should withdraw from the Warsaw Pact. Many Yugoslavs have held grudges against NASTO towards the devasting bombing campaign of 1993 and feared NASTO aggression. Alexander believed that Yugoslavia could have an important role as a neutral country, which angered pro-Russian Yugoslavs. Many newspapers satirically asked, "Has the King gone mad?" On 1 December 1999, King Alexander was arrested by Yugoslav soldiers in Belgrade where he was forced to abdicate the throne. Crown Prince Peter had views similar to his father and so Alexander's other son, Prince Philip (despite of his age) became King of Yugoslavia. Alexander and Peter would go into exile in Rhodesia, while Philip and his twin brother Alexander would remain in Yugoslavia, with their mother acting as Philip's regent until he was 18 years of age.

In 2000, leaders from Yugoslavia and Russia would meet in Riga to discuss possible Yugoslav membership in the Warsaw Pact. A referendum would be held on the issue, with 52% of voters supporting membership.

Government[]

Yugoslavia is a constitutional, popular monarchy and a federal parliamentary democracy. The bicameral federal parliament is composed of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. The former is made up of 14 senators appointed by the parliaments of the provinces (two from each). The King (currently Philip) is the head of state, though with limited prerogatives. He appoints ministers, including a Prime Minister, that have the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies to form the federal government. Yugoslavia currently has seven provinces and three federal cities.

Geography[]

Rural Croatia — A rural area in the province of Croatia

Yugoslavia is bordered by Italy and the Adriatic Sea to the west, Austria and Hungary to the north, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the south-west.

The territory’s terrain is extremely diverse, with rich fertile plains to the north, limestone ranges and basins to the east, ancient mountains and hills to the southeast, and extremely high shoreline with no islands off the coast to the southwest. The highest point is Daravica (or Gjeravica) at 8713 feet (2656 meters). Natural resources include coal, copper, bauxite, timber, iron ore, antimony, chromium, lead, zinc, asbestos, mercury, crude oil, natural gas, nickel, and uranium. 28% of the land is considered arable.

Yugoslavia lies in the southern half of the northern frozen zone, but the climate of its mountains, the interior of the plain and the sea shores varies dramatically depending on the height, the prevailing winds and the distance from the sea. Mountain regions are under the influence of continental air currents and Mediterranean air masses. Snow covers most mountains during the winter, but the temperature and precipitation vary with altitude. For example, the Montenegrin capital Podgorica (210 meters high) has an average monthly temperature of ten degrees warmer than Cetinje (3530 meters), which is only 40 kilometers west and Crkvica (5776 meters), a town 32 kilometers north of Cetinje, is on average 4623 millimeters of annual precipitation, three times more than Podgorica.

The inner plain has a continental climate with hot, wet summers. Dry wind, Kosava, in winter leads to freezing of air from central Eurasia, but snow is usually light. The coast of Dalmatia enjoys mild Mediterranean weather. Summers on the coast are hot and dry with a turquoise blue sky. air wind, known as Maestral, cools the earth during the morning and afternoon. Winters are cold and rainy. A cold winter wind known as the Bura passes through the gaps in the coastal mountains, and southwestern wind, Jugo, brings rain during the winter months. Warm winds blow up the Vardar valley from Aegean to Macedonia, making subtropical agriculture possible in some parts.

Demographics[]

Main article: Ethnic Groups of Yugoslavia (Alexander the Liberator)

Srpska nosnja — A group of Serbs in traditional costumes. Serbs are Yugoslavia's largest ethnic group

Yugoslavia recognises "nations" (narodi) and "nationalities" (narodnosti) separately. The former included the constituent South Slavic peoples (Muslims (nationality), Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes), while the latter included other Slavic and non-Slavic ethnic groups such as Bulgarians and Slovaks (Slavic), and Hungarians, Turks and Albanians (non-Slavic). About a total of 26 known sizeable ethnic groups are known to live in Yugoslavia, including the Romani people.

The largest religion in Yugoslavia is the Eastern Orthodox Church, followed by the Roman Catholic Church. Most Bosniaks and Albanians are from the Islamic faith. There is a rising population of atheism and agnosticism within Yugoslavia in recent years.