Review report on Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirovic’s book manuscript “Creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, 1914-1918”

Dr. Sotirovic’s book is a welcome investigation into the political ideas and strategiesimmediately preceding and leading to the creation of the first Yugoslav state. Utilising an aptselection of primary as well as secondary sources Dr. Sotirovic builds a historical narrativearound a central plot of state- and nation-building, which is focussed on the intense war-years(1914-1918) although taking departure a few decades earlier. Sotirovic investigates thevarious options, objectives, and ideas of a Yugoslav state, such as the question of a federal orunitary state, a republic or monarchy, etc. and builds a narrative around the positions of various agents and the shifting relations between them. Thus, especially the triad of theSerbian Government, the Yugoslav Committee, and the National Council, and their mutual aswell as conflicting interests, is analysed in some detail. Their respective positions andinterests is interwoven with an analysis of the shifting relations and positions of the Greatpowers of the time. Here, Sotirovic discusses the war-aims of the various actors, discusses therelationships and strategies between and before declarations and conferences (such as Corfu,Geneva) and especially the opportunities and obstacles that the various agents wereconfronted with at the time as well as how they interpreted them. The presentation isgenerally accessible as well as captivating. To mention just an example, the various positionsamong southern Slavs in the Habsburg monarchy, such as the question of whether to aim forfurther autonomy and federalisation within Habsburg, or to aim for the break-up of Habsburgeither with the aim to create a separate Croatian state or to create a Yugoslav state, isportrayed in a captivating manner. So is the case with the political and diplomatic dramaunfolding after the Treaty of London, as well as the relationship between the YugoslavCommittee (created as a response to the treaty) and the Serbian Government. Beneath thesubsequent compromises there were central tension points, which in fact were born into thefirst Yugoslav state from the outset. Such tension points are clearly laid out in thepresentation. The question of how to organise political space in the Balkans is of coursehighly timely today as well as it was a Century ago. Since the break-down of the Yugoslavstate there has, in the literature as well as public debate, been an increased attention to thequestion of legitimacy of the Yugoslav state. For this reason alone, an historical account of the rationales behind the creation of the Yugoslav state in the first case, and the historicalcontingency of the issue and of the proposed solutions, is welcome. The historicalcontingency of such highly timely political issues is implicit in Sotirovic’s account. Thereby,