• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • 2
    CommentGo Back
Download
 
Creation of Yugoslavia and Its Consequences, or The Story of Serbs and Croats
Radoslav RalevicFebruary 25, 2007
 
When deciding on the topic of this paper it came to me that someone from the Balkansshould try to understand and write about his/her regional problems rather than to discussglobal ones. Smaller nations should think more about how to fit in the new world rather thandiscuss global and distant issues. I understand that the idea I have chosen to write about isnot modest to discuss in fifteen pages. However, I have tried to confine myself to writing aboutrelations between Serbs and Croats only. By writing about relations between two biggest andclosest nations in former Yugoslavia I have tried to explain that small differences can evenhave more striking consequences than big ones. That was the case in former Yugoslavia. Twonations, whose major difference is that ones are Orthodox and others Catholic Christians,could not have found joint interest. The ideas described here, as I believe, express majorityopinion in Serbia. Understanding historic background is the only way to better understandevents in the joint state of Southern Slavs. I started historic journey from the mid nineteencentury since that was the period when the idea on joint South Slavic state ensued. I also triedto explain social and political circumstances in the Balkans prior to the First World War, sinceYugoslavia arose from its outcome. I wrote about period between the wars, occurrences fromthe Second World War, Socialist Yugoslavia and Balkan wars in 1990s.While writing about this subject I tried to be fully aware of our national, and overallSlavic mentality of crying over the spilt milk. It was not without reason that one of the mostprominent Serbian writers, Borislav Pekic, wrote: “When a Serb falls into a deep hole he askshimself how come that the hole was on his way? How could have happened that he had falleninto it? On the other hand, when a Westerner falls into a hole he first looks around to find if there is any way out, then does everything to get out. If it is clear that he cannot leave thehole, he starts making his home out of it.” Although I wrote about history of the Balkans, I did itin order to acquire and provide more background information on the topic. The intent of thispaper was not to think about how we got into the hole but to figure out how to get out of it.
 
The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part I tried to present historical facts onfoundation of Yugoslavia, two world wars, periods between them and period after the WWII.The other part is elaboration on consequences of Yugoslavia on people who lived in itparticularly on younger people who live in the new states.The idea of a joint state of Southern Slavs originated from the period of nationalromanticism in the middle of XIX century. Two most prominent figures who first discussed theidea of the joint state were Serbian greatest poet, archbishop and leader of Montenegro,Njegosh, and Catholic Church bishop in Croatia, Shtrosmeyer. But the most importantoccurrence that brought Serbs and Croats closer together was signing linguistic agreementand creation Serbo-Croatian language. The agreement was signed by Vuk Karadzic, Serbianlanguage reformer and Croatian Illyrian movement representatives in 1851. This occurredduring the period of building Serbian state, which resulted in recognition of independentSerbia in Berlin Congress in 1878. The period from 1878 to 1918 in the Balkans wascharacterized by Austro – Serbian conflict. The crucial moment for the conflict betweenAustria-Hungary and Serbia was Austrian occupation of Bosnia, then deemed in Serbia as anact of aggression against Serbian people who were majority population in Bosnia.The second half of XIX century in Serbia was characterized by political strugglesbetween political parties and Obrenovic dynasty rulers. These conflicts ended by military coupin 1903 when an organization called “Black Hand”, consisted of group of Serbian officers,assassinated King Alexandar Obrenovic because of his pro-Austrian politics and neglect of national interests. Peter Karadjordjevic, descendant of another royal ancestry was enthronedand Nikola Pasic, the most famous and well-known Serbian statesman, became the PrimeMinister and led ten governments until the First World War. These years were the period of economic and social prosperity of Serbia. Pasic’s years at the helm of the Serbian politicalscene were marked by continuing dissent with the Serbian military, who were vocal in their 
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
11 / 28 / 2010This doucment made it onto the Rising List!
osijek1289

A great paper for any 11 year old, who can tow the Serbian victim line, never ascribe any blame to Serbs, while multiplying their victims by a factor of ten, just line the Belgrade regime used to do, to rule over Yugoslavia.

reply03 / 24 / 2010
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...