|
Yugoslavia THE BALKAN WARS, WORLD WAR I, AND THE FORMATION OF YUGOSLAVIA (1912-1918)
YU010301.
Figure 4. South Slav Territories at the Formation of the
Yugoslav State, 1918
Source: Based on information from Gordon C. McDonald, et al.,
Yugoslavia: A Country Study, Washington: 1973, 44.
The Balkan Wars and World War I had dramatic consequences for
the South Slavs. In the Balkan Wars, Serbia helped expel the
Turks from Europe and regained lands lost in medieval times. By
1914 the alliances of Europe and the ethnic friction among the
South Slavs had combined to make Bosnia the ignition point, and
Serbia one of the main battlegrounds, of World War I. When
Austria-Hungary collapsed after the war, fear of an expansionist
Italy inspired Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian leaders to form
the new federation known as Yugoslavia
(see
fig. 4).
Data as of December 1990
|
