Ο σερβικός εθνικισμός: πολιτικοί και πολιτικές στη Γιουγκοσλαβία του Μεσοπολέμου

Abstract

The Yugoslav State of the period between the two world wars is a very interesting topic for the historian/researcher. By examining this historical period, particularly from the Serbian point of view, since the Serbs were both in theory and in practice the most powerful element of the state, one may discover the causes that led to the bloodshed of the 90s. The experiment of a coexistence of all South Slavs failed. Should we however put the blame only on certain personalities or on the circumstances of the time or could the situation have possibly a different ending? Would it perhaps be preferable to create immediately after the end of the First World War an independent Croatia, an independent Slovenia and a “Greater Serbia”? Finally, should we believe that the theory of eternal enmities and hatred among the South Slavs is unsubstantiated and that it all started on 1 December 1918, when Prince Regent Alexander Karageorgevitch formally declared the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes? From the very beginning my intention was to try to give an answer to the above questions. More specifically, I had in mind to present an analysis of the internal political situation of a neighboring country, the relations of which to Greece had passed through many different phases. Serbia, Greece’s ally, had become Yugoslavia, a state with a turbulent internal political life and many serious problems which have not been researched in detail. Of course, it wouldn’t be appropriate to claim that I have analyzed the issue of Serbian nationalism in its totality in the pages of this dissertation. Therefore, I preferred to limit my research and my analysis of the issue in its political dimensions, by examining Serbian nationalism in the context of the political developments that took place in the interwar period and by presenting the key protagonists, the most important and influential personalities of the country. Furthermore, I chose to focus primarily on the relations between the two larger national groups, the Serbs and the Croats. The reason for this is that I believe that the essence of the problematic political life of the Yugoslav Kingdom in the period between the two World Wars lies in the perpetuation of the Serbocroatian conflict. Had the relations between the two been normal, my firm belief is that there wouldn’t have been any chance for the Yugoslav edifice to treble despite the many difficulties present elsewhere. King Alexander Karageorgevitch and his effort to impose his “Yugoslavism” (or a covered “Greater Serbism”), the Serbian political parties and their leaders, Pashitch, Pribichevitch, Stoyadinovitch, but also Croats, like Raditch and Matchek, played a specific role, which is presented in the chapters of the dissertation. The role of the various Serbian nationalist organizations and also the turmoil created by the activities of the Croat Ustashas, the Albanian Kacaks and the Bulgarian VMRO receive particular attention as well. By showing the importance of some political developments in interwar Yugoslavia I attempt to make clear the leading role of the Serbian element and the serbocentric functioning of the State. Certainly, it would be impossible to write only about the activities of the Serbs without at the same time presenting what provoked them, for example the antistate activities of the Croats, of the Albanians and of the Slav-Macedonians. Thus, the light of my analysis falls equally on the activities of these groups and the turmoil they caused. In the introduction I thought it was necessary to briefly refer to the period from the beginning of the 20th century to the creation of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In these pages I give the historical background and the most important developments in Serbia, which led to the union of the Serbs with the rest South Slavs. After that, the thesis consists of three parts: An important milestone is the 6th of January 1929 when the Royal Dictatorship was proclaimed. The First part analyzes the first decade after the end of the war (1918-1929). The first chapter is about the early years of the new state up to the voting of the Vidovdan Constitution, hated by all non-Serbs. The second chapter analyzes Serbo-Croat relations and the problems that the country had to face when parliamentarianism failed. Finally, the third chapter examines the politics that were implemented in the Southern regions of the State (forced serbianization, agrarian reform, colonization, pressure exercised to the Albanian populations to leave the country) and the troubled situation there because of the guerilla activities of Albanians and Bulgarian/Slav-Macedonians. The Second part of the thesis deals with the period of the Royal Dictatorship (1929-1934). In the first chapter, the focus is on relations between Serbs and Croats up to the regicide in Marseille in October 1934. The continuation of the volatility of the situation in the country in the same period is described in the next chapter, where there is also a short reference to the Greeks of Yugoslavia and the pressure exercised on them by the authorities. Finally, the Third part of the thesis concerns the period of the Regency, which found Yugoslavia having close relations with the fascist and nazi regimes of Italy and Germany and led to its catastrophic defeat in the Second World War.