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Yugoslavia The Regency
In October 1934, a Bulgarian assassinated Aleksandar in
Marseille. The assassin, an Ustase agent, had received
assistance from Italy and Hungary. Yugoslavs genuinely grieved
for their king. Even Aleksandar's opponents feared that his death
would result in the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Croats and
Slovenes especially feared subjection to Italy.
Prince Pavle, cousin of Aleksandar, nominated a three-man
regency that ruled for Aleksandar's minor son, Petar II. Pavle
hoped to liberalize the regime and reconcile the Serbs and Croats
without altering the 1931 constitution. The government freed
Macek and in 1935 held elections that revealed significant
dissatisfaction. Pavle soon called on the Serb Milan Stojadinovi
to form a cabinet. His new government granted amnesty to
political prisoners and permitted political parties additional
leeway, but it refused to restore democracy and failed to solve
the Croatian problem. Croatian separatists clashed with the
police; communist-inspired student activists fomented disorder;
and Croatian militia organizations formed. Macek and other
Croatian leaders welcomed rising domestic and international
tensions as positive forces that would force a federalist
solution, and they refused to compromise or even enumerate their
demands to the government. Stojadinovic incurred the wrath of
Serbian nationalists when he submitted an agreement with the
Vatican on regulation of Catholic affairs; the Federal Assembly
canceled the agreement, or Concordat, after Orthodox clergymen
denounced it.
The assassination of Aleksandar deepened Yugoslavian mistrust
of Italy, but confidence in France and Britain also dropped after
those countries refused to back a League of Nations censure of
Italy for harboring the assassins. Fearing isolation, Yugoslavia
strengthened its ties with Germany, which became the main trading
partner of Yugoslavia after the latter voted in the League in
1935 to impose economic sanctions on Italy for invading Ethiopia.
Under Stojadinovic, however, movement began toward settlements
with Bulgaria and Italy. In January 1937, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria
signed an eternal-friendship pact violating the provisions of the
Little Entente and weakening the Balkan Pact. In March Yugoslavia
and Italy followed up a 1936 trade agreement with a treaty of
friendship. In December Stojadinovic visited Mussolini and
assured him that Yugoslavia would neither strengthen its
relationship with Czechoslovakia and France nor recognize the
Soviet Union. Still, Yugoslavia drew away from France only
reluctantly, and public opinion remained firmly attached to the
West.
Despite the support for democracy professed by the
Stojadinovic government, many Yugoslavs feared he aspired to
become a fascist dictator. His supporters adopted the fascist
salute and uniformed themselves in green shirts. The dictatorial
air of Stojadinovic, the Concordat, and accommodations with
former enemies roused opponents in Serbia, with whom Macek struck
up a quick friendship. Support for the prime minister dropped
after the 1938 elections, and Pavle forced him to resign in
February 1939. Dragisa Cvetkovic was then named premier.
Germany annexed Austria in 1937 and smashed the Little
Entente by partitioning Czechoslovakia in 1938; by 1939 it had
gained a stranglehold on the Yugoslavian economy. Pavle and
Cvetkovic reaffirmed Yugoslavia's friendship with Germany and
Italy, but tried in vain to loosen Germany's economic grip with
appeals to Britain and France. Belgrade again professed
friendship with Berlin and Rome after Italy occupied Albania in
April 1939; but Yugoslav popular opinion grew more adamantly
pro-Western, and in May the government revealed its true colors
by secretly shipping its gold reserves to Britain and the United
States. Both Berlin and Rome suspected Yugoslavia's motives.
Data as of December 1990
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