|
Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Ethnic hatred, religious rivalry, language barriers, and
cultural conflicts plagued the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and
Slovenes (later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) from its
inception. The question of centralization versus federalism
bitterly divided the Serbs and Croats; democratic solutions were
blocked and dictatorship was made inevitable because political
leaders had little vision, no experience in parliamentary
government, and no tradition of compromise. Hostile neighboring
states resorted to regicide to disrupt the kingdom, and only when
European war threatened in 1939 did the Serbs and Croats attempt
a settlement. But that solution came too late to matter. The
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes encompassed most of
the Austrian Slovenian lands, Croatia, Slavonia, most of
Dalmatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Vojvodina, Kosovo, the Serbiancontrolled parts of Macedonia, and Bosnia and Hercegovina.
Territorial disputes disrupted relations with Italy, Austria,
Hungary, Bulgaria, and Albania. Italy posed the most serious
threat to Yugoslavia. Although it received Zadar, Istria,
Trieste, and several Adriatic islands in the postwar treaties and
took Rijeka by force, Italy resented not receiving all the
territory promised under the 1915 Treaty of London. Rome
subsequently supported Croatian, Macedonian, and Albanian
extremists, hoping to stir unrest and hasten the end of
Yugoslavia. Revisionist Hungary and Bulgaria also backed antiYugoslav groups.
The creation of Yugoslavia fulfilled the dreams of many South
Slavic intellectuals who disregarded fundamental differences
among twelve million people of the new country. The Serbs,
Croats, and Slovenes had conflicting political and cultural
traditions, and the South Slav kingdom also faced sizable nonSlav minorities, including Germans, Albanians, Hungarians,
Romanians, and Turks, with scatterings of Italians, Greeks,
Czechoslovaks, Slovaks, Ruthenians, Russians, Poles, Bulgars,
Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews, and Gypsies. The Orthodox, Roman
Catholic, Islamic, Uniate, Jewish, and Protestant faiths all were
well established and cut across ethnic and territorial lines.
Besides the divisiveness of a large number of minority languages,
linguistic differences also split the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes,
and Macedonian Slavs. Many people regarded the new government and
its laws as alien, exploitative, and secondary to kinship
loyalties and traditions.
Data as of December 1990
|
