1940: Yugoslavia

Internal Affairs.

During 1940 Yugoslavia was able to maintain a precarious peace and neutrality. The most important problems of the country were twofold: one was internal consolidation by strengthening the accord concluded between the two most numerous elements of the population, the Roman Catholic Croats in the western part and the Greek Orthodox Serbs in the eastern part of the country; the other was the preservation of peace and the prevention of a dismemberment of the country by Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria, each of whom was understood to harbor designs against the territorial integrity of the country. While the sympathies of the people of Yugoslavia were overwhelmingly on the side of the Western democracies, the government tried to maintain a strict neutrality and was even forced, by its geographic position and by the course of the war, to yield more and more to Axis pressure, in which policy it was supported by a numerically insignificant but influential pro-Fascist minority under the leadership of the former Prime Minister, Milan Stoyadinovich.

The accord of August 1939, between the Serbs and the Croats, had resulted in the formation of a coalition ministry, with the leader of the Croatian Peasant party, Dr. Vladimir Matchek, as Vice Premier, in the grant of autonomy to the Croats, and in the promise of the re-introduction of a fully democratic system based upon free elections. On Jan. 14, 1940, Prince Regent Paul, who is the head of the kingdom during the minority of King Peter II, came to the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, for the first official visit since 1933. This visit put the seal on the newly concluded agreement. At the same time the Cabinet adopted a new electoral law which secured free elections both for the Yugoslav Parliament, the Skupchina, and for the Croatian autonomous Dict, the Sabor. All men over twenty-one years old received the vote. The Parliament was to be elected for four years by secret ballot, and on the basis of equal and direct suffrage. Dr. Matchek pleaded for the conclusion of a closer Entente between Yugoslavia, Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary, so as to maintain the independence of these smaller nations against any outside interference.

Balkan Conference.

The capital of Yugoslavia, Belgrade, was the meeting place on Feb. 1 of the Foreign Ministers of the four countries which form the Balkan Entente, Turkey, Greece, Rumania and Yugoslavia. In spite of the wish expressed by Dr. Matchek, a foundation for a closer cooperation between these four countries in the face of a common danger could not be laid. The Turkish Foreign Minister, Shukru Saracoglu, had declared before the opening of the conference that Turkey was not neutral, but merely not actively in the war, while Yugoslavia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Cincar-Markovitch, was most anxious to impress the Axis powers that the conference was not directed against any outside party. Thus while Turkey wished to unite the Balkan Entente for common defense against any German or Italian aggression, Germany and Italy were most anxious to break up the Balkan Entente, and Yugoslavia supported them in an effort not to allow any strengthening of the ties between the Balkan powers for a common defense. Italy was interested not only in isolating Turkey and Greece but in improving relations between Yugoslavia, Rumania, Hungary and Bulgaria, and thus forming a strong bloc against Soviet influence in the Balkans. Rumania was represented at the conference by Grigore Gafencu, and Greece by General John Metaxas. The practical outcome of the conference was very meager. As according to the original Entente the Balkan pact is automatically prolonged for another seven years if it is not denounced by one of the members before Feb. 9, 1940; it was decided to continue it, without, however, infusing new life into it. No pledges of support in case of aggression by the Soviet Union or Germany were given to Rumania, which was most eager to receive them.

Originally the Balkan Entente provided for such assistance only in case of attack by Bulgaria. As a result of the meeting, Rumania in her isolated position found herself induced to seek a closer rapprochement with Germany and with the Soviet Union, and Turkey and Greece drew more closely together. The divergence of views, especially the attitude of Yugoslavia, made any united stand against encroachments by the great powers impossible. Thus the intention to use the Balkan Entente for a common defense of small countries was defeated, and each of the four countries was out to look individually and in isolation for the best means of protecting her interests. Thus the meeting in Belgrade did not advance the cause of Balkan unity or of the security of the individual Balkan nations.

At the end of February Croatia was plagued by a series of bombing incidents. Dr. Vladimir Matchek, the Croatian leader, laid the responsibility for them to a small group of Croatian extremists who had their headquarters in Italy and who under Fascist influence tried to combat democracy and parliamentarism by terrorist means, to keep alive the disunion between Croats and Serbs and thus to weaken the Yugoslav state and make it an easy victim of foreign aggression.

Foreign Relations.

Germany's increasing anxiety to control the Danube in the spring and so to facilitate and even monopolize the flow of goods on the river led to proposals to alter the policing system on the waterway. These proposals, emanating from Germany and supported by Hungary, were rejected by Yugoslavia. But events in the later part of the year which consolidated the German grip on Hungary and Rumania established this control in spite of Yugoslavia's original refusal. Italy's entrance into the war and the defeat of France fundamentally changed the situation for Yugoslavia. Milan Stoyadinovitch, Yugoslavia's former Premier and Dictator, who had been arrested in April for pro-Nazi sympathies, was freed in June from his enforced residence in a mountain village, and this step was regarded as a preliminary to the formation of a pro-Axis government. The fact that Great Britain was able to hold out against the danger of German invasion and that the last six months of the year 1940 revealed Italian weakness on all fronts, helped to keep Yugoslavia watchfully neutral. At the same time she took all precautions to build stronger defenses, and the army under the leadership of the War Minister, General Milan Neditch, declared emphatically its will to resist any aggression Yugoslavia attempted to improve her relations with the Soviet Union by signing a mutual trade pact, and made repeated approaches to Bulgaria in order to cement an often dreamt-of solidarity among these two closely related South Slav peoples.

While the Prime Minister, Dragisha Cvetkovitch, and the Foreign Minister adhered to a policy of strict neutrality, and a group led by General Neditch and Lazar Markovitch with the full support of the Croat leader, Dr. Matchek, favored a strong attitude against any aggression by Fascist powers, especially Italy, an influential group under the Slovene Catholic priest, Father Anton Koroshetz, the Minister of Education, and his lieutenant, Michael Krek, supported a policy of submission to the Axis and of full cooperation with Italy. It was also this group which proposed strong anti-Jewish legislation in conformity with National Socialist policies, especially in the field of education and of Yugoslav cultural life. On Oct. 19 a new commercial pact was signed with Germany, whereby the purchasing power of the mark in terms of Yugoslav currency was increased about 20 per cent. The Reich was to receive a large percentage of Yugoslav cereal production, and an increased amount of ores. Yugoslavia's Foreign Minister stressed the economic and political collaboration with Germany.

The outbreak of the Italo-Greek war and the subsequent defeats of the Italian army brought about some stiffening of Yugoslav attitude. On Nov. 4 police raided the headquarters of the Serb Fascist movement, Zbor, and seized documents belonging to the Zbor leader, Dmitri Lyotitch, a former Minister of Justice and president of the powerful cooperatives. The next day three Italian bombers raided the ancient Yugoslav city of Bitolj. As a result, the Yugoslav War Minister Milan Neditch demanded strong action and pointed out that the Yugoslav army should cooperate with the Greeks. But the tendency represented by Father Koroshetz, who died on Dec. 14 of apoplexy, prevailed. General Neditch resigned, and General Peter Pesitch, who was favored by Father Koroshetz in spite of the fact that he is seventy-nine years old and had been in retirement for eleven years, was made Yugoslav War Minister in this most critical time. The occupation of Rumania by German troops and the transformation of that country into a German protectorate in November 1940, rendered Yugoslavia's position more precarious. Croat extremist students who sought the protection of Fascist Italy against Yugoslav solidarity renewed their bombings and riots in Zagreb. Bulgaria voiced again her demand for territorial revision. In that situation Yugoslavia looked for a rapprochement with Hungary, and on Dec. 11 the Hungarian Foreign Minister Count Stephen Csaky visited Belgrade in the hope of finding some common ground to relieve the diplomatic and political chaos which the new order of the Axis powers has produced in Southeastern Europe, and to insure the hope for the survival of the independence of the Balkan nations.