The Impossible Country: Yugoslavia

Vidovdan: Promulgation of the Yugoslav Constitution on 28 June 1921

Its acceptance was questionable among Croats, Slovenes, Muslims and Albanians

2 groups were left out:

The Croat Republican Peasant Party of Stjepan Radić would not participate.

The Communist Party had been declared illegal.

The HRSS (Croat Republican Peasant Party)

Supported a “federalist” Yugoslavia against Serbian “centralizers”

For the first five years of Yugoslavia, the HRSS stood outside the system.

Serbians believed that they deserved to be on top because of WWI.

The HRSS won most local elections in Croatia in the early 1920s and was not trusted by the Karadjordjević king.

Conflict Leading to Cooperation

Followers of Yugoslavian federalism broke away from Pašić and the “Greater Serbia” idea and were supported by King Aleksander, but also opposed Croatian nationalists.

King Aleksander approached Radić in prison and was able to broker an agreement between Pašić and Radić to form the R-R “Republican-Radical” coalition.

The prosperity of the 1920s caused the Croation and Serbian middle classes to favor cooperation between their political leaders.

The End of Cooperation

Summer 1928: Assassination of Radić by a Serbian Radical

On January 6, 1929: Aleksandar seized power and declared the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The Depression and Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia had failed to industrialize after World War I, so the 1929 Crash and the Great Depression that followed wreaked havoc on it.

72.3% of the country’s national debt was owned by foreigners.

Collapse of the Russian, Austrian, and Ottoman Empires had removed the stable networks of agricultural supply and demand upon which the Balkans depended.

Most Balkan banks were underwritten by German and Austrian banks.

Balkan economies turned to subsistence.

The rise of dictators in uncertain times.

King Aleksandar

Dictatorship as a “necessary evil”

Reliance on the Croation sculptor Mestrovic

The rise of Ante Pavelic, who fled Yugoslavia in 1929.

Pavelic formed the Ustaše Croatian Revolutionary Organization in exile in Italy.

Mussolini backed the Ustaše while negotiating with Aleksandar, who was assassinated in 1934 by the VMRO and the Ustaše

Germany vs. Italy in 1930sYugoslavia

The Italians pursued expansion on the Adriatic

After 1933, Germans focused on Ergänzungswirtschaft (“economic expansion”) in Southeastern Europe as a cornerstone of their policy of European domination.

Germany originally was pro-Serb and anti- Ustaše


Vidovdan: Promulgation of the Yugoslav Constitution on 28 June 1921
	Its acceptance was questionable among Croats, Slovenes, Muslims and Albanians
	2 groups were left out:
		The Croat Republican Peasant Party of Stjepan Radić would not participate.
		The Communist Party had been declared illegal.


	Supported a “federalist” Yugoslavia against Serbian “centralizers”
	For the first five years of Yugoslavia, the HRSS stood outside the system.
	Serbians believed that they deserved to be on top because of WWI.
	The HRSS won most local elections in Croatia in the early 1920s and was not trusted by the Karadjordjević king.


	Followers of Yugoslavian federalism broke away from Pašić and the “Greater Serbia” idea and were supported by King Aleksander, but also opposed Croatian nationalists.
	King Aleksander approached Radić in prison and was able to broker an agreement between Pašić and Radić to form the R-R “Republican-Radical” coalition.
	The prosperity of the 1920s caused the Croation and Serbian middle classes to favor cooperation between their political leaders.


	Summer 1928: Assassination of Radić by a Serbian Radical
	On January 6, 1929: Aleksandar seized power and declared the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.


	Yugoslavia had failed to industrialize after World War I, so the 1929 Crash and the Great Depression that followed wreaked havoc on it.
	72.3% of the country’s national debt was owned by foreigners.
	Collapse of the Russian, Austrian, and Ottoman Empires had removed the stable networks of agricultural supply and demand upon which the Balkans depended.
	Most Balkan banks were underwritten by German and Austrian banks.
	Balkan economies turned to subsistence.
	The rise of dictators in uncertain times.


	Dictatorship as a “necessary evil”
	Reliance on the Croation sculptor Mestrovic
	The rise of Ante Pavelic, who fled Yugoslavia in 1929.
	Pavelic formed the Ustaše Croatian Revolutionary Organization in exile in Italy.
	Mussolini backed the Ustaše while negotiating with Aleksandar, who was assassinated in 1934 by the VMRO and the Ustaše


	The Italians pursued expansion on the Adriatic
	After 1933, Germans focused on Ergänzungswirtschaft (“economic expansion”) in Southeastern Europe as a cornerstone of their policy of European domination.
	Germany originally was pro-Serb and anti- Ustaše