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Yugoslavia Formation of the South Slav State
The idea of an independent South Slav state advanced during
World War I, especially after Bolshevik Russia disclosed the
secret 1915 Treaty of London, in which the Entente had promised
to award Istria and much of Dalmatia and the Slovenian lands to
Italy. Because they feared Italian domination, Ante Trumbic and
other Dalmatian leaders formed the London-based Yugoslav
Committee to promote creation of a South Slav state. In July
1917, Nikola Pasic of Serbia and Trumbic signed the Declaration
of Corfu, which called for a union of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes
in one nation with a single democratic, constitutional,
parliamentary system, under the Karadjordjevic Dynasty. The
declaration promised equal recognition of the Latin and Cyrillic
alphabets, the three national names and flags, and the three
predominant religions. However, it did not indicate whether the
new state would be centralized or federal. Pasic advocated a
centralized state; Trumbic pressed for a federation.
The authority of Austria-Hungary over its South Slav lands
ended in October 1918, and a National Council of Slovenes,
Croats, and Serbs became the de facto government of the regions,
under Antun Korosec. On October 29, the Sabor in Zagreb annulled
the union of Croatia with Hungary and gave the National Council
supreme authority. In November Pasic, Trumbic, and Antun Korosec
signed an agreement in Geneva, providing for a joint provisional
government but recognizing the jurisdiction of Serbia and the
National Council in the areas under their respective control,
until a constituent assembly could convene. But the war ended
very rapidly, and Italy began seizing parts of Dalmatia. This
prompted the National Council to seal a quick final agreement
with Serbia, over the objections of the Croatian Peasant Party,
without obtaining guarantees of regional autonomy. Leaders in
Bosnia and Hercegovina and Vojvodina favored union; on November
24, the Montenegrins deposed the Njegos Dynasty and declared
solidarity with Serbia. On December 1, Prince Regent Aleksandar
Karadjordjevic and delegates from the National Council,
Vojvodina, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Montenegro announced the
founding of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, to be
ruled by Aleksandar. The Paris Peace Conference recognized the
kingdom in May 1919.
Data as of December 1990
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