Creation of Yugoslavia: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 20:01, 5 April 2008 editGrunners (talk \| contribs)Extended confirmed users9,434 editsm →Serbian Vojvodina: typo← Previous edit		Revision as of 06:56, 6 April 2008 edit undoRjecina (talk \| contribs)6,187 edits →Kingdom of Serbia: deleted section Serbian Vojvodina. Can somebody please explain what is having "Serbian" Vojvodina with Creation of Yugoslavia ??Next edit →
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	Serbian military forces quickly overran the territory of the ] (including the present-day ]) as well as that of the ], ] and ] but stopped on the borders of the other Habsburg territories that would form the short-lived ] waiting for an official union between it and Serbia.		Serbian military forces quickly overran the territory of the ] (including the present-day ]) as well as that of the ], ] and ] but stopped on the borders of the other Habsburg territories that would form the short-lived ] waiting for an official union between it and Serbia.

	=== Serbian Vojvodina ===
	The area of modern-day ] was mostly populated by ethnic Serbs, that is, Slavs, who have after the ] under Patriarch ] in ] been granted a unique status of cultural and religious autonomy, which they excessed greatly giving numerous prominent individuals and leaving behind heritage of renown worth and becoming one of the few centers of Serbian culture. On one of their numerous Church-National Councils, they expressed the desire for territorial autonomy in in 1790 in the Council of ]. Vienna had promised to grant the Serbs territorial autonomy in ] and the next year created an "Illyrian Court Office" to deal with this matter, however this was not realized at Hungarian protests and in 1792 the office was closed and the ] (created in 1751), conquered by the ] from the ] according to the ] in 1718, became the ]'s counties of ], ], and ], while the very south remain a part of the ] ]. The Habsburg Monarchy gained the Sanjak of Mohacs at the ] in 1699, including the regions of ] and ] from the Ottomans. Baranja was directly annexed to Hungary, while Bacs was later directly annexed into the ] and became its ]. ] was conquered by the Habsburgs gradually, one part in 1699 and the other in 1718. A ] was established in 1745 as a part of the ] crownland, while the remainder had remained a part of the Slavonian Military Frontier.
	]
	Greatly deepening their demands after the tragic events during the ], during which Magyar nobleman ] rebelled against the Habsburgs in the early 18th century and greatly decimated the Serb population after it decided to fight and remain loyal to Vienna, and the organized colonizations of the regions by non-Serbs and trending emigrations of Serbs, and inspired by the ] in ] across the river to resorting to armed rebellions, the Serbs have joined the Revolutions of 1848 at the Sremski Karlovci Council, better known as "The May Assembly", which proclaimed the so-called ] from Banat, Backa, Baranja, Syrmia and the corresponding areas of the Military Frontier. It was a response to non-recognition of the Serbian nationality and language by the revolutionary Hungarian movements. It supported the Croatian national unification of the crownlands of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia as well as a personal union of the Serbian Vojvodina with this Triune Kingdom, blossoming the Pan-Slavic movement and gradually contributing to the development of Yugoslavian unification. The crucial Karlovac Metropolitanate was raised to a Serb Patriarchate. The fights of the Serbs were very successful and the Hungarian revolution was quickly defeated in coordination with Vienna, but the promised autonomy was not fully granted again and in 1849 the Military Frontier at the south was restored, Baranya confirmed for Hungary and the rest became a part of the ] under strong Imperial control and no greater factual self-governance.

	In 1860 this crownland was abolished; its Syrmian part rejoined Slavonia while remainder was integrated into Hungary. As a result, on the Serb Ecclesiastic-National Council of 1861 in Sremski Karlovci territorial and other autonomy was fiercely demanded. Although its decisions were refused by both Hungarian and Imperial authorities, it ended the ecclesiastic rule amongst the ] and introduced the prominence of the Citizenry, according to the liberal ideas of ]. In 1867 ] that restructured the state into a Dual Monarchy particularly left Vojvodina's Slavic population dissatisfied, leaving the region in an unbalanced domination of Germans and Magyars. In 1868 Syrmia became together with all of Slavonia a part of the ]. The same year the Hungarian Parliament had enacted two significant laws. One of them was the Law of Ecclesiastical-Educational Autonomy of Serbs. It had reconfirmed the previous Serbs' privileges, however this had lost importance as political life was no longer in the hands of the Eastern Serb-Orthodox Church. The other was the Law of Nationalities. Although it had guaranteed the equality and some basic rights to non-Germans and non-Magyars, it had granted the national political primate to national Magyars solely. Remaining tied to the idea of territorial autonomy, the national minorities had united under Svetozar Miletic and moderated their demands to just amend the territorial distribution of Hungary so that several Counties would have a dominant non-Hungarian ethnic group, due to the fact that most were designed to favor the Hungarian people. After the request was denied, all representatives of national minorities had left and boycotted the Hungarian Parliament on Miletic's call. The guarantees supplemented by the laws were not fully fulfilled and they were even broken repeatedly, subsequently turning into an open oppression and abuse of rights of most of Vojvodina's citizens with the wake of often brutal ] ] and colonization with ethnic Magyars, especially of the southern Banate region.
	]
	In 1869 the liberal opposition of Svetozar Miletic had founded the ] and in ] drafted the "Bečkerek Declaration". It called for self-governance and equality of all peoples in the Kingdom of Hungary, supported the idea of the Triune Realm of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, the aims of the ] Romanians as well as those of Slovaks and Rusyns, and called for a final formalization of a Serbian Vojvodina, in cooperation of the Serbs with the Rusyn, Slovak and Romanian minorities, on the grounds of equality with Germans and Magyars. It also called forth a liberation and unification of the Christian peoples enslaved by Ottoman Turkey, in the aims of unification of the Serb people, and rejected the Austro-Hungarian Concord, considering it aimed against interests of the Slavic people. SNSS quickly became the leader of the Vojvodina Serbs and regularly acted as its representative in the parliaments of Croatia-Slavonia and Hungary. For their political aims, Svetozar and his SNSS were greatly persecuted by the Hungarian authorities.

	In 1880s there was a political rift in SNSS. In 1884 social-economic demands of the poor class were refused to be introduced and the original program abandoned, in favor of the "] program", which recognized the Ausgleich and demanded cooperation with the Magyar citizenry. It is thus that in 1887 represents of this political course under ] founded the ], while ] formed the ] which restored Miletic's program. Pointing out socio-economic reforms, the SNRS gathered the support of most Vojvodina Serbs and pointed out the necessity for Serbian and greater Slavic national liberation and unification. Because of the situation in which the minorities were put, the Serb, Slovak and Roumanian national representatives have held in 1895 in ] the "Congress of Nationalities of Hungary", in which they strongly protested against the aggressive and assimilationist Hungarian policies and demanded a solution to Hungary's national question. With the dawn of 20th century even the very last rights of the minorities are formally abolished and political parties disbanded, as in 1907 only ] was proclaimed to be allowed and in 1912 the ecclesiastic privileges which the Orthodox Serbs have had for centuries were canceled.

	==== Syrmia ====		==== Syrmia ====

Revision as of 06:56, 6 April 2008

Yugoslavia, was a statist concept by the South Slavic intelligence and later popular masses from the 17th to early 20th centuries that culminated in the realization of the ideal with the 1918 collapse of Habsburg Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I and the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, in 1929 formally renamed to "Kingdom of Yugoslavia".

Origins of the Idea

Yugoslav Committee

Main article: Yugoslav Committee

During the early period of World War I (which started in 1914), a number of prominent political figures, including Ante Trumbić, Ivan Meštrović, Nikola Stojadinović and others from South Slavic lands under the Habsburg Empire fled to London, where they began work on forming a committee to represent the South Slavs of Austria-Hungary, choosing London as their headquarters.

The Yugoslav Committee was officially formed on 30 April 1915 in London, and began to raise funds, especially among South Slavs living in the Americas. These "Yugoslavs" were Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes who identified themselves with the movement toward a single Yugoslav or South Slavic state. Exiled Yugoslavs living in North America and Britain were the primary supporters of the Yugoslav Committee. Because of their stature, the members of the Yugoslav Committee were able to make their views known to the Allied governments, which began to take them more seriously as the fate of Austria-Hungary became more uncertain.

While the committee's basic aim was the unification of the Habsburg South Slav lands with Kingdom of Serbia (which was independent at the time), its more immediate concern was to head off Italian claims on Habsburg territories in Istria and Dalmatia. In 1915, the Allies had lured the Italians into the war with a promise of substantial territorial gains in exchange. According to the secret London Pact, these included Istria and large parts of Dalmatia, which had substantial numbers of Italians living in the coastal cities surrounded by Slavs.

Corfu Declaration

Main article: Corfu Declaration

During June and July 1917, the Yugoslav Committee met with the Serbian government in Corfu and, on 20 July, a declaration that laid the foundation for the post-war state was issued. The preamble stated that the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were "the same by blood, by language, by the feelings of their unity, by the continuity and integrity of the territory which they inhabit undividedly, and by the common vital interests of their national survival and manifold development of their moral and material life." The future state was to be called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and was to be a constitutional monarchy under the Karađorđević dynasty.

State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs

Main article: State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs

With the defeat of the Central Powers and the collapse of the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire in late 1918, various South Slavic territories were quickly amalgamated to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes which was proclaimed on 1 December 1918 in Belgrade by Alexander Karađorđević, Prince-Regent for his father, Peter I of Serbia.

The new kingdom was made up of the formerly independent kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as a substantial amount of territories inhabited by South Slavs that were formerly ruled by Austria-Hungary (the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, Banat, Bačka and Baranja, as well as Syrmia). The lands previously administered by Austria-Hungary that formed the new state included Croatia-Slavonia, Međimurje, Baranja, Bačka, Banat and Prekmurje from the Hungarian part of the Empire, Carniola, part of Styria, part of Carinthia and most of Dalmatia from the Austrian part, and the crown province of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Yugoslav kingdom bordered Italy and Austria to the northwest, Hungary and Romania to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece and Albania to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the west.

As the Habsburg Empire dissolved, a National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs took power in Zagreb on 6 October 1918. On 29 October, the Croatian Sabor (parliament) declared independence and vested its sovereignty in the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The Yugoslav Committee was given the task of representing the new state abroad. However, quarrels broke out immediately about the terms of the proposed union with Serbia. Svetozar Pribićević, a Croatian Serb, a leader of the Croatian-Serbian Coalition and vice-precedent of the state, wanted an immediate and unconditional union. Others (non-Serbs), who favoured a federal Yugoslavia were more hesitant. They feared that Serbia would simply annex the former Habsburg territories. The National Council's authority was limited and the Italians were moving to take more territory than they had been allotted in an agreement with the Yugoslav Committee. Political opinion was divided, and Serbian ministers said that if Croats insisted on their own republic or sort of independence, then Serbia would simply take areas inhabited by the Serbs and already controlled by the Serbian Army. After much debate and after Syrmia, which was under control of the Serbian army, declared secession, the National Council agreed to unification with Serbia, although its declaration stated that the final organization of the state should be left to the future Constituent Assembly. The most prominent opponent of this decision was Stjepan Radić, the leader of the Croatian Peasant Party. With the acquiesence of the National Council, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was declared on 1 December 1918 in Belgrade.

Kingdom of Serbia

Syrmia

After collapse of Austria-Hungary, Syrmia became part of the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The Parliament of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia on 29 October 1918 broke off from Vienna and Budapest. On 5 November 1918 Zemun invited the Serbian Royal Army to protect the city from withdrawing Central Powers' forces. On 24 November 1918 as per the decision of self-determination, local parliamentary deputies from parts of Syrmia which historically corresponded the Serbian Voivodship have constituated a National Council in Ruma. Members from the western part of the Croatian-Slavonian county, Šokadija, mainly inhabited by ethnic Croats, did not have its representatives in this assembly. This assembly, fueled by the fear of nonachieving unification and the slow acts of the leadership in Zagreb facing numerous difficulties, decided to join the creation of a common state of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, but in the case of not realizing such a project, marked that it joined the state as a part of the Serbian people's land.

Banat, Backa and Baranya

Main article: Banat, Bačka and Baranja

File:Banat backa baranja 02.png

Region of Banat, Backa and Baranja that Serbia annexed

With the defeat of the Central Powers and the forthcoming crumbling of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy, central authority in Austria-Hungary collapsed and various regions were taken over by local self-styled National Councils since Summber of 1918. The Serb and other Slavic representatives had founded the "Serb National Commitee" in Novi Sad. It soon formed branches all across Banat, Backa and Baranja in order to create provisional administration. It particularly worked to include other Slavs, most notably the Bunyevs. The Committee drafted a para-military militia, known as the "Serb National Guard", to secure its interests. Fearing that the troops would be too weak to face the Central powers, Pancsova local administration sent in 5th October 1918 a plea to Belgrade for protection of the Serbian Royal Army.

In Temesvár on 1 November 1918 the local Social Democratic Party had proclaimed a Banat Republic with an intention to preserve the Banate as a multi-ethnic region facing Serbian and Roumanian claims. It didn't get to achieve control over most of the territory it claimed and was mandated by the Belgrade Agreement of 15 November 1918 and previous Allied mandates to Serbia to be taken over, so the Serbian Army invaded its western and central parts and abolished it, while Romanian army the eastern. Most of Backa and a part of Baranja were too handed over to provisional Serbian administration, after greeting the Serbian Army the Serb National Committee had proceeded to finish taking over administration from the Hungarian authorities. It had previously formed the rules to elect a National Council, which as per the agreement with the provisional Hungarian government which broke off relations with Austria about a month before, will decide about the self-determination of the majority people of the region, the Serbs i.e. Slavs. All ethnic Slavs over the age of 20 had the right to vote. The election had a surprisingly democratic introduction of women's suffrage, never seen before in this part of the world and not even witnessed that right for a certain time in the future.

On 25 November 1918 the "Great People's Assembly of Serbs, Bunyevs and other Slavs from Banate, Backa and Baranya" with 757 representatives elected in 211 municipalities was constituated. 578 were Serbs, 84 were Bunyevs, 62 were Slovaks, 21 were Rusyns, 6 were Germans, 3 were Shoktzs, 2 were Croats and 1 was Magyar. Two currents were opposed at the parliament, the Democratic and Radical option. The weaker Democratic side wanted to be close with Zagreb and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and then as a compact part of Slavic former Austria-Hungary enter negotiations with official Serbia, also underlining the unity of the Yugoslavian people and non-existence of inner dividing national groups. The Radicals under Jasa Tomic pointed out that that the three peoples had different cultural, religious and historical backgrounds and that, though a Yugoslavian state is inevitable, cannot be treated as one ethnic group, and that thus an immediate unconditional union with the Kingdom of Serbia to mark first an ethnic Serbian territory is needed. In the end the Radical choice won because of the fear that if union with Serbia isn't realized immediately, Vojvodina might find itself outside of it in the end. This parliament brought the decision that the territories created under the ceasefire are permanent, and that they are merged into the Kingdom of Serbia. It proclaimed itself the provisional legislative body for the regions and elected a provisional executive body, the People's Administration for Banat, Bačka and Baranja, under Dr. Jovan Lalošević.

File:Banat backa baranja.png

Territory of Banat, Backa and Baranja

After the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed, the National Council elected its share of members into the Provisional National Representorship of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Baranya became a hideout for communist and other refugees from Miklós Horthy's white terror. The Treaty of Trianon had assigned most of the region to Hungary, upon which after massive protest a group of people under painter Petar Dobrović proclaimed a Serb-Hungarian Baranya-Baja Republic. It didn't last for many days, and on 25 August 1918 it was divided by Hungary and the Yugoslavian Kingdom according to the Trianon. The Trianon restored some of the most northern territories under Serbian control, in which a minority of South Slavs was left. On the other hand, very sizable German and Magyar minorities were left within the Kingdom's borders. Central Banat was granted to Romania, as the region was divided on ethnic principle, containing majority of the populations, and leaving a minority of Yugoslavs in Roumania and a minority of Romanians in the Kingdom of SCS. The BBB region had remained a historical entity in the united realm until 1922 when a new administration in accordance to the unitary system was adopted. It was split onto the Bačka, Belgrade and Podunavlje administrative areas. When the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formally proclaimed in 1929, most of it became a part of the Danubian Banate, with a small part going to the City of Belgrade.

Montenegro

Main article: Podgorica Assembly See also: Kingdom of Montenegro

Montenegro was originally woven by the national-romantic desire of liberation and unification of all Serbs into one state, that is a Greater Serbia, and kept conservative to its ideology when compared to other Yugoslavian future parts. In 1848 Prince-Bishop Petar II Petrović-Njegoš accepted the Zagreb-inspired proposal of the Serbian government to create a common state of all southern Slavs known as "Yugoslavia" and cooperated on the matter, but requested that first a Serb unification is to be achieved and then the one with Bulgarians and Croats. In 1907 parliamentarism was born in Montenegro, and the first political party, the People's Party, had expressed the need to cooperate and bind with other Slavic peoples, next to the Serbian national unification and liberation. Entering gradually into periods of cold relations with Serbia and disappointed that he and his country had lost the primate in the Serb revolution, HRH Nicholas Petrovic accepted to unite with Serbia and initiated the process in 1914, broken by WWI, also accepting the idea of a Yugoslavian realm.

Entering the war immediately at the side of Serbia, the Kingdom of Montenegro was occupied by Austro-Hungarian military forces in early 1916 and the state disintegrated. Small groups of "comites" remained as a resistance movement in the country, lead by Radomir Vesovic. After Vesovic went into collaboration with Austria-Hungary in 1917, the Resistance overthrew him and proclaimed unification with Serbia into a Greater Serbia. The same the Montenegrin government in exile in Paris broke off from the King and formed a National Committee for Unification with Serbia, finding support in Nikola Pašić's Serbian Government. In 1918 the Allies liberated Montenegro and mandated a common mission of its occupation. The new Montenegrin Government in Exile was drastically losing the diplomatic war against the Montenegrin Council for Unification. After Metohija and the Vasojevići and other minor national councils decided to join Serbia, a Great National Assembly of the Serb People in Montenegro decided on 26 November 1918 to dethrone the King and the House of Petrovic-Njegos in favor of the House of Karadjordjevic and unite with Serbia, pending a common state of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

The Podgorica Assembly elected a provisional executive body known as the "Montenegrin Committee for Unity with Serbia" under Marko Daković which oversaw Montenegro's integration, until the SCS's government took over on 23 April 1919. The Assembly also elected its share of representatives into the Provisional National Representatorship of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

The events which lead escalated to the Italian-sponsored Christmas rebellion of the losing supporters of the dethroned King Nicholas in early 1919 that was quickly quelled by the Allied forces. The Montenegrin question remained not fully closed until, as per the arranged international agreement, the 1920 parliamentary election confirmed the pro-unionist victory.

Aftermath

A plebiscite was also held in the Province of Carinthia, which opted to remain in Austria. The Dalmatian port city of Zara (Zadar) and a few of the Dalmatian islands were given to Italy. The city of Fiume (Rijeka) was declared (against the will of the majority of the population, who claimed to be reunited to Italy) to be the Free State of Fiume, but it was soon occupied by italian poet and revolutionary Gabriele D'Annunzio for several months. Turned into a "free state", in 1924 Fiume was reunited to Italy with a bilateral agreement between Rome and Belgrade. Tensions over the border with Italy continued, with Italy claiming more of the Dalmatian coast (from which the great part of italian-venetian population escapes in 1919-1922), and Yugoslavia claiming Istria, part of the former Austrian Littoral which had been reunited to Italy as part of the former Venetian Republic, but which contained South Slavs (Croats and Slovenes) population in its countryside (while the main cities was settled by italian-venetian people).

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