Kingdom of Yugoslavia - Formation

Formation

Yugoslav nationalism escalated and cemented in the Balkans following the assassination of Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip, the subsequent invasion of Serbia and the outbreak of World War I. Yugoslav nationalists called for the independence and unification of the Yugoslav nationalities of Austria-Hungary along with Serbia and Montenegro into a single Yugoslav state. Dalmatian Croat politician Ante Trumbić became a prominent Yugoslav nationalist leader during the war, and led the Yugoslav Committee that lobbied the Allies to support the creation of an independent Yugoslavia. Trumbić faced initial hostility from Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić who preferred an enlarged Serbia over a unified Yugoslav state, however both Pašić and Trumbić agreed to a compromise which was delivered at the Corfu Declaration on 20 July 1917 that advocated the creation of a united state of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes that would be led by the Serbian House of Karađorđević.

In 1916, the Serbian Parliament in exile decided on the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at a meeting inside the Municipal Theatre of Corfu. The Kingdom was formed on 1 December 1918 under the name "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" (Serbian: Краљевина Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca, Croatian: Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca, Slovene: Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev) or its abbreviated form "Kingdom of SHS" (Краљевина СХС Kraljevina SHS).

On 1 December 1918, the new kingdom was proclaimed 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 (which had unified in the previous month), and of a substantial amount of territory that was formerly part of Austria–Hungary, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The lands previously in Austria–Hungary that formed the new state included:

• Croatia, Slavonia and Vojvodina from the Hungarian part of the Empire,
• Carniola, part of Styria and most of Dalmatia from the Austrian part, and
• the crown province of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The creation of the state was supported by pan-Slav nationalists and Serbian nationalists. For the pan-Slavic movement, all of the South Slav (Yugoslav) people had united into a single state and hoped that the peoples would unite as Slavs and abandon past differences. For Serbian nationalists, the desired goal of uniting the majority of the Serb people across the Balkans into one state was also achieved. Furthermore, as Serbia already had a government, military, and police force, it was the logical choice to form the nucleus of the Yugoslav state.

Yugoslavia participated in the Paris Peace Conference with Trumbić as the country's representative. Trumbić successfully vouched for the inclusion of most Yugoslavs of the former Austria-Hungary to be included within the borders of Yugoslavia but failed to secure the inclusion of 500,000 Slovenes and Croats who were placed under Italian rule with the Treaty of Rapallo of 1920.

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. Almost immediately, it ran into disputes with most of its neighbours. Slovenia was difficult to determine, since it had been an integral part of Austria for 400 years. The Vojvodina region was disputed with Hungary, Macedonia with Bulgaria, Fiume and Trieste with Italy.

A plebiscite was also held in the Province of Carinthia, which opted to remain in Austria. Austrians had formed a majority in this region although numbers reflected that some Slovenes did vote for Carinthia to become part of Austria. The Dalmatian port city of Zadar (Italian: Zara) and a few of the Dalmatian islands were given to Italy. The city of Rijeka (Italian: Fiume) was declared to be the Free State of Fiume, but it was soon occupied, and in 1924 annexed, by Italy, which had also been promised the Dalmatian coast during World War I, and Yugoslavia claiming Istria, a part of the former Austrian Littoral which had been annexed to Italy, but which contained a considerable population of Croats and Slovenes.

The formation of the constitution of 1921 sparked tensions between the different Yugoslav nationalities. Trumbić opposed the 1921 constitution and over time grew increasingly hostile towards the Yugoslav government that he saw as being centralized in the favour of Serb hegemony over Yugoslavia.

The new government tried to integrate the new country politically and economically, a task made difficult because of:

• the diversity of language (chiefly disagreements between Serbian and Croatian speakers over standardising Serbo-Croat);
• ethnicities, and religions in the new state;
• the different history of each region (characterised by centuries of subjugation by different rulers, e.g., Venice, Hungary, Austria, Ottoman Empire); and
• differences in economic development among regions (a more developed north spanning Slovenia, northern Croatia and northern Serbia, than a poorer south which encompassed Dalmatia, Montenegro and southern Serbia).