1942: Yugoslavia

As the result of German aggression in April 1941 Yugoslavia has been temporarily divided up among its neighbors. Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary each took a part of Yugoslavia, while the remaining portions of the kingdom formed two puppet states, one Croatia (see CROATIA), an outright Fascist state, collaborating closely with Germany and Italy, the other Serbia, administered by a government under Gen. Milan Neditch, each occupied and supervised by Italian and German troops. Of the three racially and linguistically closely related peoples, the Serbs, the Croats and the Slovenes, the worst fate befell the Serbs and the Slovenes. The territory of the Slovenes was divided between Germany and Italy and annexed by these two nations. The deeply Catholic, peaceful people of Slovenia were driven out of their villages and when they resisted their enslavement, cruelly persecuted and many hundreds of them executed. Yugoslavia presents probably the most unhappy land in Europe, because it was not only divided among the conquerors — or rather it was divided up by the German conquerors between three nations, Italian, Bulgarian and Hungarian, who had contributed nothing to the conquest and only afterwards had tried to get their share of the flesh of the helpless victim — but it is also torn by internal dissensions between Democrats and Fascists, between Serbs and Croats.

To the terror and cruelty of the occupying armies of Germans, Italians, Hungarians and Bulgarians must be added the bitterness of civil war. Thus the number of Yugoslavs killed by the invaders or in internal warfare has been estimated for the last 18 months at no less than 500,000, among them many women and children. In many instances whole villages were destroyed and all the inhabitants killed.

Armed Resistance.

In the mountains of central Serbia the remnants of the Yugoslav regular army resisted the German and Italian attempts to destroy them. They were under the command of Gen. Dragoljub Mihailovich, who succeeded in building up an army which was believed at one time to number as many as 150,000 men. Though this army suffered from lack of equipment, it carried on a most successful guerrilla warfare against the Axis conquerors. At various times it has gained control of large parts of Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro. It was helped everywhere by patriots and by the dissatisfied peasantry. It succeeded in raiding Axis garrisons and utilizing their supply stores, exterminating smaller Axis posts and even fighting some real battles with fully equipped enemy divisions. Besides regular soldiers many Chetniks or volunteers are fighting under General Mihailovich. The puppet governments of Serbia and Croatia have taken most energetic measures to annihilate and suppress the Chetnik movement, but they seem to have failed, in spite of the fact that the supplies of General Mihailovich ran low and that a dangerous split occurred in the ranks of the forces fighting the Axis. In any case, Yugoslavia is the only one of the occupied nations who maintained a real armed force in the field and did not confine itself to underground activity. It was helped in this by the mountainous and rugged character of the country and the fierce spirit of independence of its population.

In the second half of 1942 groups of partisans separated from General Mihailovich's army and opposed Mihailovich, though carrying on the fight against the Axis with great determination. It was reported that frequent clashes between the patriot army of General Mihailovich and the partisans occurred, in any case mutual recrimination and suspicions were voiced. The partisans who called themselves the 'people's army,' seemed to be under Communist leadership, though they included sincere patriots and some rather doubtful elements who were driven by despair to pillage and lawlessness. The people's army was apparently supported by the Soviet Union and Communist sources accused Mihailovich of connivance with the Fascists. Yet it seemed probable that Mihailovich wished only to maintain some army discipline and to preserve his forces until the day when the United Nations would be able to launch a Balkan offensive. In any case the Yugoslav fighters forced the Axis to maintain large forces in Yugoslavia.

Yugoslav Government.

The Yugoslav government in London continued its confidence in General Mihailovich. It named him Minister of War and Chief of Staff and gave him full military and administrative powers. The Yugoslav government was reconstituted on Jan. 12 when Slobodan Jovanovitch, a former professor of the University of Belgrade and well known for his liberal views, became Prime Minister.

The importance of Yugoslavia and her continuous resistance was recognized by the fact that the United States raised the Yugoslav legation to the rank of an embassy. The Yugoslav government tried also to prepare the way for a better peace in the Balkan peninsula after the war by concluding in January 1942 a treaty of confederation with the Greek government. This treaty anticipated the cooperation of the two nations in the field of foreign policy, of military defense and of economic matters. Special organizations were to be created to determine the details of the cooperation in these three fields and the confederation was to be regarded as the nucleus of a future Balkan union.

1941: Yugoslavia

Relations with the Axis Powers.

The year 1941 in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was marked by an heroic fight and climaxed by national disaster. Yugoslavia had been constituted at the end of the First World War by the union of three closely related Slav peoples, the Kingdom of Serbia, and the Croats and Slovenes who had formed part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. After the assassination of King Alexander I by Croat terrorists, the Ustashi, at Marseilles in October 1934, his eleven year old son Peter II became king under a regency council headed by Prince Paul. For several years Yugoslavia had followed, especially under the pro-Nazi premier Stoyadinovitch, a policy friendly to Italy and Germany. The cabinet of Premier Cvetkovitch which was in power by the beginning of 1941, followed on the whole a cautiously balanced policy, but did not believe in the possibility of resistance to Germany and therefore tried by all means to arrive at an agreement with Chancellor Hitler. At the same time, the government had to take into account the fierce determination of the Serb people to maintain full national independence and honor and to fight any attempt of forcing them into the Fascist order. On the other hand, Chancellor Hitler wished to come to the help of his Italian ally who had been decisively defeated by the small Greek army. Therefore, with the failure of the German army and Luftwaffe to overpower Great Britain by the end of 1940, the German government intended to deal a blow at the British position in the eastern Mediterranean. It wished to use Bulgaria and Yugoslavia for that purpose, bringing them under its influence and occupying them with German troops ready to advance from these bases against Greece and Turkey. While Bulgaria submitted completely to Germany and accepted National Socialist domination, popular resistance in Yugoslavia was much too strong to allow such a course. Throughout March violent demonstrations occurred. In spite of this expression of popular sentiment, the Yugoslav Cabinet decided to sign a treaty of friendship with Germany, when faced by a German ultimatum. It had formerly rejected German inducements to become a full member of the Axis, receiving in exchange Greek Macedonia with the important port of Thessaloniki and part of northern Albania. Even now the Yugoslav government refused to adhere completely to the 'New Order' and to allow the passage of German troops through Yugoslavia to Greece. But on March 25 it signed a pact of friendship in Vienna which prohibited any anti-German propaganda or manifestations in the country and granted Germany the right to send war materials and wounded soldiers through Yugoslav territory.

Coup d'Etat of General Simovitch.

In the early morning hours of March 27, a military coup d'état under the leadership of the commander of the air force, General Dushan Simovitch, overthrew the Yugoslav government, forced Prince Paul to flee, and placed the young King Peter II in full power. A new cabinet was formed with General Simovitch as prime minister. The whole Serb people enthusiastically greeted this change of government and rejoiced in the determination to maintain national honor and independence. The Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Yugoslavia, surrounded by nineteen bishops of the Church, addressed the people: 'The Church is ready to protect the honor and glory of our country. You should rally around the new king and be prepared for what comes. The Church is always with you.' Mobilization was speeded, and the general jubilation embraced all classes and all ages of the population. The revolution had been carried out with clocklike perfection, without any resistance, and with the unanimous approval of the Serb people.

However, the Croats and Slovenes were less enthusiastic. Less warriorlike than the Serbs and less accustomed to fighting for their independence, they lived in the exposed northwestern plains without any natural defenses against a German lightning attack. At the same time a numerically very small, but very active, part of the Croatian people had determined upon Croation independence. They had organized in a group of Fascist terrorist gangs under the leadership of Dr. Ante Pavelitch, who lived in Italy under Signor Mussolini's protection, and waited for the opportunity to strike.

The joyous demonstrations in Belgrade over the turn of events included expressions of warm friendship for Great Britain and the United States. Huge crowds shouted about preferring death to Axis domination. In a speech on March 27, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, declared to the House of Commons: 'Early this morning the Yugoslav nation found its soul. A revolution has taken place in Belgrade and ministers who yesterday signed away the honor and freedom of their country are reported to be under arrest. This patriotic movement arises from the wrath of a valiant and war-like race at their country being betrayed by the weakness of its rulers and foul intrigues of the Axis powers.'

Preparation for War.

Meanwhile Premier Simovitch tried to organize the country for resistance. Many days were spent in an attempt to gain the full cooperation of the Croats and of the leader of the largest Croat party, Dr. Vladimir Matchek, the head of the Croatian Peasant Party. Germany, faced by the refusal of the Serb people to submit to the 'New Order,' decided to attack the Yugoslavs before they could finish their military preparations for resistance. Through the occupation of Hungary, Rumania and now Bulgaria by German troops, the Germans had practically surrounded Yugoslavia from three sides and thus made the strategic position of the Yugoslav army most difficult, especially in view of the fact that the country had no heavy armament and few airplanes, and that the former government had neglected to prepare the country sufficiently for a war against a far superior German war machine. The great personal courage of the Serb soldiers and generals could not compensate for the inferiority in material and strategy.

German Invasion.

The German army marched into Yugoslavia on Sunday, April 6, 1941, simultaneously from Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria, followed by the Hungarian and Bulgarian armies. The German army had an immense air superiority from the beginning and was aided by Croatian terrorists, who with the help of the arriving German army, proclaimed the independence of Croatia. The Yugoslav capital of Belgrade was subjected, from the first surprise attack on, to merciless bombing which disorganized the Yugoslav government. Under these conditions the Yugoslav army tried to establish a new temporary capital at Sarajevo. In a manifesto to the nation it stated that 'despite the quick attack by Germany which permitted the concentration of troops at pre-elected strategic points, the bulk of the Yugoslav army has succeeded in escaping the steel trap that Germany vainly attempted to throw around it. Yugoslavia fighting for her honor and independence against unjustified aggression, will by her heroic resistance once again astonish the world. In accordance with the sacred tradition of our ancestors, we preferred to expose ourselves to attack rather than collaborate in the burial of Balkan independence. Our government did not want this war. Nobody in Yugoslavia had any illusions as to the result of the eventual war with Germany. With a 1,860-mile frontier line and with the whole northern part of our country open in the region of the immense plains, Yugoslavia, despite her heroism, did not for a moment imagine that she would be able to hold out for a long time against the entire German army, to which must be added the Italian and Hungarian armies and the collaboration of Bulgaria. All that Yugoslavia wants at this moment is to offer honorable resistance and mark before history her position of honor and independence.' The Yugoslav general staff also explained that they had not entered into consultations with the British and Greek general staffs about coordinating plans of defense against the Axis because of Yugoslavia's desire for peace and neutrality. Thus Yugoslavia found herself exposed to Germany's attack without any sufficient preparation or without any allies.

The swiftness of the German attack may be seen from the fact that the important city of Skoplje in the southern part of the country had fallen by the evening of April 7, while Serbian army leaders had hoped to be able to hold out for many weeks. The Yugoslavs were so unprepared that not even sufficient tank traps had been placed to close the few roads leading into the heart of the mountainous district. Thus German mechanized forces penetrated the country's last stronghold. With that victory the fate of Yugoslavia was sealed; her communications with Greece were cut, and it was only a question of days before the Yugoslav army had to surrender. But with this surrender, though it meant the temporary end of the country as an organized unit, resistance in no way came to an end. King Peter II and his cabinet under General Simovitch carried on from London. Dr. Nintchich who had presided over the League of Nations Assembly in 1926 when Germany was admitted, joined the cabinet as foreign minister.

Guerrilla Warfare of the Chetniks.

In Belgrade, meanwhile, the German administration set up a puppet government under General Milan Neditch. But his frequent appeals for order and peace did not prevail. The Serbian patriots fought on with indomitable courage, grouped around the Chetniks, a secret organization which had carried on for years in former times guerrilla warfare for independence against the Turks. These guerrilla warriors engaged the German and Italian troops often in open battle and were able to occupy a number of Yugoslav towns and to get ammunition and provisions. The most severe reprisals on the part of the Germans, Bulgarians and Hungarians who matched each other in indiscriminate executions, did not discourage the Serb patriots. Thousands of old men and young girls went bravely to their death. Whole Serb towns and villages were ruthlessly destroyed by the invaders and their inhabitants decimated. Former army officers like Colonel Draga Mihailovitch were at the head of this people's struggle. From time to time, these patriot Serb armies controlled large parts of Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro.

Partition of Yugoslavia.

While the fight in Serbia proper went on, the territories which had been united with Serbia as a result of the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 and of the First World War, were incorporated into countries hostile to Yugoslavia. Bulgaria occupied militarily and annexed southern Serbia with the important cities of Skoplje and Bitolj. Hungary annexed the fertile plains of the Voivodina, while the eastern part of the Banat went to Rumania. In the territories annexed by Bulgaria and Hungary, the Serb population was subject to ruthless persecution. Many of them were expelled or executed. The extreme northwestern parts of former Yugoslavia, which were inhabited by the Slovenes, were divided up between Germany and Italy. Germany annexed the northern part with the important city of Maribor, while the greater part of Slovenia was annexed by Italy as a new province called Ljubliana after the capital of Slovenia. This province was entirely inhabited by Slovenes and, though it was promised a certain cultural autonomy and the right to use the Slovene language besides the Italian, the Slovenes were afraid that they would be subject to the same ruthless process of Italianization and deprivation of their national and civic rights as the Slovenes who had lived in Italy under the Fascist régime before 1939.

Italy made the greatest gains by putting under her control, in addition to Slovenia, Dalmatia, Montenegro and Croatia. Croatia came only indirectly under Italian rule. It was constituted as an 'independent' kingdom which joined the Axis and introduced a completely Fascist régime. But economically and militarily it came entirely under Italian control. On the other hand, the greater part of Dalmatia was annexed outright by Italy, though with the exception of a few thousands of Italians in a few coastal towns the population of Dalmatia is entirely Slav and has for a long time hated and fought the Italians. It will be remembered that at the peace conference at Paris in 1919 President Wilson had steadfastly refused to grant the Italian demands for an annexation of Dalmatia which the Italians claimed for historic and for strategic reasons. The coast of Dalmatia contains some of the best natural naval bases like Cattaro and Spalato. The control of the Dalmatian coast and of the Dalmatian islands strengthened the Italian military position in the Adriatic Sea. While all the important coastal towns and regions of Dalmatia were annexed by Italy, Croatia received as its outlet to the Sea a small part of Dalmatia with the historic city of Ragusa. But later on, Italian armed forces were declared in occupation of the whole Dalmatian coast and hinterland from Fiume to Montenegro, so that Croatia and Dalmatia, like Slovenia, were entirely under Italian control. Thus Italy, thwarted for the time being in her aspirations in Africa and in France, seemed to find some compensation in the acquisition of Yugoslav territory. Germany acquiesced to it, probably because she hoped thus to divert the hatred of the Croats and Slovenes from Germany to Italy. Italy also gained control of the last remaining part of Yugoslavia, the former kingdom of Montenegro, which had joined Serbia in 1918. These freedom-loving inhabitants had never submitted to the Turks, and it is doubtful whether the Italians will be able to maintain there an unchallenged domination. By the end of 1941 nothing was yet known of a definite organization of Montenegro. It seemed to be destined to enter into a similar relation with Italy as Albania. A so-called constituent national assembly which met in Cettinje, the capital of Montenegro, asked the King of Italy to appoint a regent for Montenegro. Thus the year 1941 ended with Yugoslavia having entered for seven months the 'New Order,' but still remaining in a state of chaos, confusion, bloodshed and misery. See also CROATIA; GERMANY; ITALY; WORLD WAR II.

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.

1939: Yugoslavia

Recent History.

Like all Balkan countries the kingdom of Yugoslavia went through anxious times during 1939 on account of the international situation. At the same time, the pressure of the international situation brought nearer the solution of the fundamental problem of Yugoslav domestic policy — the settlement between the two closely related principal nationalities inhabiting Yugoslavia, the Serbs and the Croats. Yugoslavia was first conceived as a federated kingdom of the Serbs, the Croats and the Slovenes. All three are southern Slav peoples speaking almost identical languages, but separated by religion and historical tradition; the Serbs being Greek Orthodox, formerly under Turkish rule; the Croats and Slovenes being Roman Catholics, formerly under Austro-Hungarian rule. The end of the World War brought the union of the three peoples; but the Serbs tried to exercise the preponderant influence, whereas the culturally and socially more progressive Croats demanded their autonomy. The violent struggles between Serbs and Croats led at length to the establishment of the centralized dictatorship under Serb control in 1929. This tendency was also marked in foreign policy by a strong inclination towards the Fascist powers, Italy and Germany.

Governmental Reconstruction.

At the beginning of 1939 the Yugoslav Premier, Milan Stoyadinovitch, continued to follow this pro-Fascist and dictatorial course. In January 1939 the Italian Foreign Minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, visited Belgrade; and the groundwork was laid for closest political, cultural and financial ties between the two countries. Stoyadinovitch also regarded the Croatian problem as unimportant and hoped to be able to solve it by strong-arm methods. The Croats under Dr. Matchek, the leader of the Croat peasant party, had concluded an agreement with those democratic groups among the Serbs who were opposed to Stoyadinovitch's pro-Fascist régime; and in a manifesto of Aug. 15, 1938, all these parties had demanded the return to a democratic régime. The elections of Dec. 11, 1938, brought, in spite of strong governmental pressure, a large increase in votes for the opposition. Under these circumstances some of the members of the Cabinet demanded the resignation of Stoyadinovitch and the reconstruction of the government in order to achieve a settlement with the Croats. Accordingly, on Feb. 4, 1939, Stoyadinovitch was dismissed and a new Cabinet was formed, under Dragisha Cvetkovitch, to institute legislation for a reconciliation with the Croats. The dismemberment of Czechoslovakia had strengthened the position of the Croats whose leader, Vladimir Matchek, is a convinced democrat leaning in foreign policy toward the western democracies.

The negotiations between the Government and the Croat leader lasted for several months and did not proceed without great difficulties. On April 26, it was reported that a basic agreement had been reached according to which the government of Yugoslavia would be federalized and the different provinces would have large measures of administrative autonomy. At the same time, Yugoslavia followed a temporizing foreign policy, wishing to preserve her neutrality and not to take any irreparable steps. There was no doubt that the population wanted peace, but, at the same time, that its sympathies were all on the side of the western democracies as they had been on the side of Czechoslovakia.

This temper of the population was frequently shown in student demonstrations. The policy of the Government of drawing nearer to the Rome-Berlin axis was in no way supported by the people. The popular mood was expressed even at soccer games in June 1939. At one game against Italy the crowd mobbed the Italian Minister and the visiting players, whereas a game against Czechoslovakia became the occasion for a mass demonstration for a free Czechoslovakia. The official visits of Yugoslavia's regent Prince Paul to Rome and Berlin in the late spring were accompanied by strikes of students in the University of Belgrade for a fraternal accord between the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on the basis of democracy and equality. The newspaper of former Premier Stoyadinovitch was seized on account of its obstruction to the Croat settlement, and a governmental commissioner was appointed to take charge of the paper.

Ultimately, on Aug. 26, an accord between Croats and Serbs was reached which was to lay the foundations for a return to a democratic régime in Yugoslavia and for an internal consolidation of the country. A new Cabinet was formed which retained Dragisha Cvetkovitch as Prime Minister, whereas the Croat leader, Dr. Vladimir Matchek, became Vice-Premier. In the new Cabinet there are five Croat members, and the former Serb opposition party is also represented. Croatia was constituted as an autonomous part; and later in November Bosnia-Herzegovina was constituted as another autonomous province. Thus the decentralization of Yugoslavia was actively started. The Yugoslav Parliament was dissolved, and the new government was empowered to draft a new electoral law and to reestablish all the democratic constitutional liberties which had been suspended for 10 years under the dictatorial régime.

Foreign Relations.

The progressive consolidation of these gains was, however, impeded by the growing international tension and the great European war. Unlike Rumania and Greece, Yugoslavia, in her very exposed position, had not been guaranteed by Great Britain and France. After the outbreak of the war Yugoslavia tried to follow a policy of strict neutrality. Her position was especially delicate because she tried to improve her relations with Hungary and to maintain solidarity with Rumania, which was threatened by the revisionist aspirations of Hungary. At the end of 1939 Yugoslavia seemed to have improved her internal as well as her external position as compared with the end of 1938. See also BALKAN ENTENTE; LITTLE ENTENTE.

1938: Yugoslavia

The momentous changes in the situation in Central Europe brought about by the German occupation of Austria and the partition of Czechoslovakia had their deep influence on Yugoslavia, too. Prime Minister Stoyadinovich had pursued during the preceding years a policy of rapprochement with Germany and Italy, confirming at the same time Yugoslavia's existing amity with France, with the Little Entente and with the Balkan Entente. In January 1938 he visited Germany officially, and later during the year he strengthened the Italian-Yugoslav agreement of March 23, 1937.

The events of 1938 and the fast-declining prestige of France and Great Britain in the Balkans increased the pro-German, pro-Italian course of Yugoslavia's foreign policy. The dismemberment of Czechoslovakia liquidated the Little Entente. With the growing revisionist tendencies in Hungary and Bulgaria, Yugoslavia tried to arrive at better terms with these two countries. The conclusion of a pact of amity with Bulgaria in 1938 marked a turning point in the development of the relations of these two southern Slav nations. The complete political reorientation of Yugoslavia had its repercussion also in the economic field. The barter agreements with Germany brought Yugoslavia, like all the Balkan countries, into closer economic dependence upon Germany.

The internal situation did not improve during 1938. The two outstanding internal problems remained unsolved: the demand of the Croatian people for autonomy and for the transformation of Yugoslavia into a federated state; and the united opposition of all democratic groups against the veiled dictatorship of Stoyadinovitch. For the Yugoslav elections of December 11 all the opposition parties formed a united block, which consisted of the Croatian Peasant Party, formed by their deceased leader Stephan Radich, the Independent Democratic Party of the deceased Serb leader Svetozar Pribichevich, the Serbian Democratic Party, and a number of smaller dissident groups. This time the opposition was joined by the Yugoslav Nationalist Party under the leadership of the two men who had helped King Alexander I to establish his dictatorship, General Peter Zivkovitch and former Prime Minister Bogulyub Yevtitch.

The Government Party of Prime Minister Milan Stoyadinovich was supported only by the few Fascist groups in the country who hoped that the Cabinet, after victorious elections, would press its totalitarian aims. The Government was supported in its propaganda by its insistence upon having chosen the right foreign policy, and by the amelioration of the economic situation of the peasantry. The leader of the Croat people, Vladimir Matchek, made clear before the elections that the Croats would continue to fight for complete autonomy no matter what the outcome of the elections, and would refrain from sending elected delegates to the Parliament until a new federal Yugoslav Constitution had been decided upon.

The elections which under the present Constitution were held by open, not by secret ballot, and under strong Government pressure, resulted, as was to be foreseen under Yugoslav conditions, in a victory for the Government. The Government candidates received a little over a majority of the votes, except in the predominantly Croatian provinces of Croatia and Dalmatia, where the Croatian Peasant Party under Dr. Matchek received about 90 per cent of the votes and was everywhere able to increase, both absolutely and relatively, the number of its voters. But although the elections of December 11 resulted in a Government majority, the publication of the exact figures showed that the Government majority was considerably smaller than at the last election. The party of the Prime Minister, Milan Stoyadinovich, obtained 58.9 per cent of the votes, the Democratic opposition under the leadership of Dr. Matchek 42.21 per cent, whereas the only outright Fascist Party, Zbor, obtained from the whole of Yugoslavia only 30,310 votes, or less than 1 per cent, and will therefore have no seat in the new Parliament. The opposition alleged that in many parts of Serbia the Government victories were produced only by an extreme electoral terror.

There were scenes of great rejoicing after the elections in the Croat capital, Zagreb, and endless demonstrations of loyalty for the Croat leader. As according to Yugoslav electoral law the party winning a majority gets three fifths of all the seats in Parliament, the Government of Dr. Stoyadinovich will be safe in the coming Parliament. But the great triumph of the Croatian Party indicates the continued seriousness of the Croatian discontent with the centralization policy of Belgrade and their insistence upon the introduction of more democracy and of a federal system into Yugoslavia.