Willkommen in Jugoslawien Part 1 I BETWEEN 2 WARS I 1929 Part 2 von 3 - YouTube (1)
Today I am going to touch a live wire. We are going to speak about the Balkans. Yugoslavia
to be precise, where we will look at how this new country proclaimed after the Great War
struggles with ethnic violence already from its beginning and how, as so often in the
interwar period - some view totalitarianism as the solution.
Welcome to Between-2-Wars, a chronological summary of the interwar years, covering all
facets of life, the uncertainty, hedonism, and euphoria, and ultimately humanity's
descent into the darkness of the Second World War. I'm Indy Neidell.
This is going to be a two part episode covering what happens in Yugoslavia between 1918 and
1929, so before you jump to any conclusions, wait until you've seen both episodes. Now,
I'm going to talk about issues that continue to impact the region and Europe in 2019. Issues
that famously tend to launch bitter and toxic debate. First of all – we are not taking
any side here, simply relating what happened. Second of all, should anyone, from any “side”
take any toxic debate full of hatred to our comment section, we will remove those comments
and revoke your posting privileges permanently - and it doesn't matter how much you feel
that you are right or are responding to other people's hatred, we will not tolerate it
from anyone- you should read our rules of conduct in the pinned post before you start
commenting, there you will also find an exposition as to why these are our policies. We read
every single comment that we get and that takes time, so you can do us all a favor,
and save us and yourself some work by simply not posting anything hateful in the first
place.
By the end of the 1920s, ethnic rivalry and fundamental constitutional questions have
plagued what would eventually be known as Yugoslavia ever since it became a nation shortly
after The Great War. As the fragile constitutional monarchy crumbles under these conflicts, on
January 6, 1929, King Aleksandar dismisses Parliament and becomes the absolute monarch
of the union of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Aleksandar's hope- and that of many of his
subjects- is that he can put an end to the ‘tribal' squabbles between the different
Southern Slav nations and build a strong state based around a single Yugoslav identity.
But let's backtrack a little to see how we end up there in the first place.
We saw way back in our 1918 episode on the Rise of Nations that the Great War had created
a multitude of new states in Europe. The ‘Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes' is one of
these. It faces the huge task of incorporating a multitude of ethnicities more or less in
conflict. It is not only the national groupings of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but also the
unrecognized groups of Montenegrins, Macedonians, and Bosnian Muslims that shall now become
one ‘Yugoslavia' (literally ‘the land of the Southern Slavs' in Serbo-Croatian).
There are also minorities of Albanians, Germans, Hungarians, and many more that need to be
considered. The government of the new nation is immediately hobbled by heated arguments
over ethnic boundaries, identity, and constitutional structure that simply will not abate or be
magically solved. Some argue for a strong central state while others push for a confederation,
and ethnic loyalties often take precedence over loyalty to the Kingdom.
Now, the movement for a united nation of the South Slavs has existed for quite some time,
but already as an idea it was burdened with ethnic unbalance. Back in the mid-nineteenth-century,
certain Croat intellectuals began to propagate the idea that Southern Slavs were descended
from the Illyrian tribes which populated the Balkans in Antiquity. Inspired by the romanticism
of the period, the ‘Illyrians' called for a national rebirth through linguistic
unity and cultural awakening. At the center of the movement was Ljudevit Gaj who championed
the use of Štokavian, a dialect used by a great number of both Croats and Serbs, and
in 1850 it was chosen as the basis of the Serbo-Croatian language. By the 1860's,
this becomes ‘Yugoslavism'- calling for unity and autonomy amongst the South Slavs.
It is led by a kind of Croatian national awakening with awareness that for the Croat nation to
survive against the forces of Austria, Hungary, and other major regional powers, unity amongst
the South Slavs is needed.
One of the proponents of South Slav unity in Austria-Hungary is Stepjan Radić, who
forms the Croat People's Peasants Party (HPSS) in 1904. At first, he advocates an
autonomous Croatia within Habsburg territory. But as a loftier goal, Radić believes that
the ‘national oneness' and equality of South Slavs is possible so long as they accept
Croatia as a political entity. But Radić's dreams of Croatia's federalized autonomy
is to some degree in conflict with Serbia and its Balkan partners.
Serbia emerges victorious from the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913 with huge territorial
gains which rocket Aleksandar to fame. He is at this point the Crown Prince of Serbia
and leads the offensive to force the Ottomans out of Kosovo, with national romantic historical
connections to the Serbian defeat at Ottoman hands at Kosovo back in 1389. An increasing
number of Southern Slav intellectuals, less sympathetic to the Habsburg monarchy than
Radić, now see Aleksander as a viable vehicle to independence. Radić fears Serbian domination,
though, and declares that Serbian expansion “certainly could and would end up with only
the complete destruction of Croatia and the Croats”.
And in fact, most of Serbia's ideologues and politicians do envision a union dominated
by what they saw as fellow Serbs in Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, and beyond. Aleksandar
even sees himself as the liberator of what he believed to be Serbian lands, no matter
who lives on them or their religion. Thus, Radić, and many Slovene and Croat intellectuals,
instead continue to advocate South Slav unity within the Habsburg Empire.
But the Great War is now about to change the destiny of Yugoslavia.
In December 1914, the Serb leadership releases its statement of war aims in the Niš Declaration,
where it proclaims “the struggle for the liberation and unification of all our brothers,
Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, who are still not free.” Within the Empire, the Yugoslav
Committee is formed and claims to speak for all Southern Slavs in Austro-Hungarian lands.
So, an increasing number of forces are now driving for similar ideas, but they are also
on opposing sides in the War.
Another party gets involved in mid 1917, when deputies in the ‘Yugoslav Club' in the
Austrian parliament call for a South Slav autonomous community in the empire. Fearing
being outmaneuvered, the Serbian government and the Yugoslav Committee decide to collaborate,
producing the Corfu Declaration in July 1917. The declaration endorses the creation of a
kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes ruled by the Serbian Karađorđević dynasty, in
other words King Petar and Crown Prince Aleksander.
Things are pretty vague and contradictory though. The Yugoslav Committee, made up largely
of Croats and led by Ante Trumbić, desire a federation of unique states, whereas the
Serbian Government, led by Nikola Pašić, dream of a strongly centralized state. Now,
Radić is not part of any of these factions and fears that the Serbian government are
simply using the Corfu Declaration as a cover for territorial expansion. He is not entirely
wrong; Aleksander and his politicians are pretty focused on Serbian supremacy, with
the commitment to Yugoslavia being more of a military and political practicality rather
than ideology. Not at all what Radić is striving for.
Despite his fears, in 1918, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapses, Radić joins the National
Council of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs which is formed in Zagreb on October 6, thinking
that it will furhter his goals. The National Council, though, announced the goal of unification
with Serbia. Radić is opposed, but despite his continued protests, the National Council
decides to send a delegation to Serbia to call for unification.
On 1 December 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes is proclaimed. Aleksandar
is declared Prince Regent and will become King when his father Peter dies in 1921. The
prince addresses representatives from the National Council with unequivocal support
of the Yugoslav project, stating that “I am convinced that by this act I am fulfilling
my duty as ruler, because with this I am merely realizing that which the best sons of our
blood – of all three faiths and all three names from both sides of the Danube, the Sava
and the Drina… I proclaim the unification of Serbia with the lands of the independent
state of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in the unified Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.”
A sudden about face- it would seem- and Radić spares no drama, describing that those rushing
into unification are flying “like drunken geese into a fog.”
In March 1919, a provisional parliament meets to draft a new constitution and immediately
hits bumpy ground because of the conflict of centralism versus federalism. Nikola Pašić's
Radical Party considers Serbia's war sacrifice to be what created Yugoslavia, and assumes
that Serbian institutions and governance will continue. Sharing their centralist dream is
the Democratic Party, led by Ljubomir Davidovic, but who oppose the Radical Party's ill-hidden
desire for Serb domination and instead advocate a unitarian Kingdom where old dividing lines
shall be forgotten. The dominant Slovenian party, the Slovene Peoples Party (SLS), is
pro regionalism, but has Italy breathing down its neck after already taking chunks of Italian
territory after the war, and now sees Belgrade as a guarantee of safety. In some ways in
opposition to all of them is Radić, who is now leading the Croat Peasant Party, opposed
to unification, which has unexpected electoral success in November 1920, propelling Radić
to a higher position of influence. Within weeks of electoral success, though, he and
the party come to accept federalization within some kind of unified state as reality, and
republicanism becomes relevant.
On top of the main parties, the diverse communities of Slavic Muslims form a number of independent
and largely opposed groups. They seek alliances with the main parties in exchange for support
of Islamic institutions and good treatment of Muslim landowners in, for instance, Bosnia.
Montenegrins and Macedonians get little special representation as they are viewed as Serbs
by Belgrade. Others, like the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, oppose Yugoslavia
altogether and carry out attacks against Serbian officials. Constitutional and identity issues
are compounded by economic issues. It's a motley crew of disjointed agrarian economies
with more diversity than cooperation. The northwest is a great deal more prosperous
and advanced than the southeast, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Muslim landowners and Serbian
peasants are struggling with each other for economic control. To make things worse, the
new state has different tax and banking systems, transport and communication networks, and
legal codes which all have to be linked up.
Despite all the differences, on 28 June 1921, exactly seven years after the assassination
of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and 532 years after the Battle of Kosovo, the Vidovdan Constitution
is ratified by 223 of the 285 delegates present at the Constitutional Assembly in Belgrade,
though a huge block of 161 Croat and Slovene delegates boycott the vote. The Kingdom will
be a constitutional, parliamentary, and hereditary monarchy - one nation comprised of three tribes.
It is a victory for centralists. The monarch, still Peter I at this point, is invested with
considerable power over parliamentary politics, declared to be head of the military, and has
most of the government bureaucracy flowing from him. He has the power to appoint and
dismiss prime ministers and the de facto ability to reject any legislation he doesn't like.
The kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes now has a constitution, but it is far from
having a stable government, and it will stay that way.
In fact, government will come close to failing or will actually fail over 20 times over the
decade, and no government will ever serve out a full parliamentary mandate. Two opposing
