Chapter 742： Yugoslavia's attitude

The news that Greece's rapid defeat, and that it can only retreat to Crete, is also a shock to European countries. Among them, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia has the deepest feeling.

In Belgrade, the regent Prince Paul is discussing with Prime Minister Svetkov on Yugoslavia’s diplomatic issues.

"Now that Greece has been divided by Romania and Italy a large area, we in Yugoslavia need to make early preparations."

Prince Paul, the Regent, expressed his concerns to the Prime Minister.

Prince Paul is the brother of Alexander of the former kingdom. After his brother was assassinated, he assumed the post of Yugoslavia's regent. After his nephew Peter II became an adult, he would return his rights.

"I have talked with the British and French ambassadors, and they agree and understand our country's neutrality. But now we are facing Italy and Romania, which makes our country totally do not know how to deal with it."

Prime Minister Svetkov has the same worries. Since Yugoslavia has always maintained an attitude of being close to Britain and France, it has been allowed to participate in the small Allied countries dominated by France. It was only after the Czech crisis that Yugoslavia found that Britain and France were somewhat unreliable, and gradually began to alienate the relationship between Britain and France.

Only the pressure brought by Italy forced Yugoslavia to rely on the support of Britain and France to contend with it. Italy's ambitions in the coastal zone of Yugoslavia Dalmatia can be smelled across the Adriatic Sea.

For the Prime Minister's words. Prince Paul couldn't help speaking. "Yes, the situation in the kingdom is worrying now. I don't know if we can guarantee the integrity of the kingdom."

Yes, Prince Paul’s biggest worry about Yugoslavia now is whether it can guarantee the integrity of the country. Because Yugoslavia has not only foreign troubles, but more internal troubles. Yugoslavia’s internal worries are its many national issues.

Like Romania, Serbia also made a lot of profit in the First World War. It won not only Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also Croatia and Slovenia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and annexed the Kingdom of Montenegro. The territory has risen from 110,000 square kilometers before World War I to 260,000 square kilometers, making it the second largest country in the Balkans.

The only consequence of such reckless annexation of territories is the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that made its domestic national issues extremely complicated and completely transcended. The domestic issue of various ethnic groups has caused headaches for the newly born Slovenian-Croatian-Serbian kingdom (yes, it is not called the Kingdom of Yugoslavia now).

The Serbian nationality, the country’s largest ethnic group, accounts for only 36.3%, followed by Croatians accounting for 19.7%, Bosnian *** accounted for 8.9%, Slovenians accounted for 7.9%, Albanians accounted for 7.7%, and Marstons accounted for 6 %, Montenegro accounted for 2.6%.

There are so many ethnic groups, and whether there is a new kingdom where the ethnic group has a population advantage is destined to cause many problems. Among them, the newly joined Croats and Slovenians are also puzzled as to whether the new kingdom can treat themselves equally. Among the Croats, the second largest ethnic group, the Peasant Party and some other parties opposed the merger with Serbia, which led to fierce conflicts between the two ethnic groups.

In 1929, the King Alexander of Serbia launched a coup d'etat, canceled the constitution, implemented a dictatorship, and established the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the form of the state structure, the New Kingdom enforces a centralized unity system, does not implement a federal system, and does not implement ethnic regional autonomy.

The establishment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia put all ethnic groups except Serbia under its rule, which made the Yugoslav national problem even more concentrated.

The most famous incident was the assassination of it by the Croatian radical national organization Ustasha. Both King Alexander and the French Foreign Minister Barr who were in the same car were shot dead, and the three attachés in the same car also died (marksman?).

And the impact of this incident on Yugoslavia is very large, the most direct impact is the loss of the ruler (the government is directly responsible to the king). The problems between the Serbs and Croats have also erupted sharply, and the number of incidents between the two communities has increased.

And this year, in order to appease the emotions of the Croats, Prime Minister Svetkov and the leader of the Croatian Peasant Party Macek signed an agreement: the establishment of a Croatian province and a certain degree of autonomy. Macek joined the coalition government and served as deputy prime minister.

Although Yugoslavia temporarily pacified the resistance of the Croats, as the saying goes, pressing the gourd and raising the dipper, the government’s approach has aroused opposition within the Serbs.

The pro-Serbian Radical Party in Croatia even proposed that the Serbs in Croatia should implement autonomy and merge with the Krajina Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina into a new area.

and also let other peoples see opportunities. The old saying goes, not to worry about being scarce but not to worry about unevenness. If the Croats can be autonomous, then why can't they. Therefore, although this agreement temporarily appeased the Croats, other ethnic regions have bred more dissatisfaction.

It’s just that the Yugoslav government now has no time to deal with ethnic issues. Now they must give priority to solving the problem of standing in line. Greece's miserable behavior frightened them.

Prince Paul discussed with the Prime Minister this time because he has an idea that needs to be approved by the Prime Minister. I saw that he hesitated to speak. "Your Excellency, you... think... Besides seeking neutrality, can we have other ways to preserve the integrity of Yugoslavia, and it is best to eliminate the threats from Italy and Romania."

Although Prince Paul’s words were vague, Svetkov, as the prime minister, couldn’t understand it. In order to eliminate the threat directly, apart from fighting Italy and Romania without having this mindset, the only way to do this is to join.

hit? Does Yugoslavia have that strength?

So the Prime Minister replied after thinking about it. "Have!"

saw him continue to give reasons. "At present, there are territorial conflicts between Italy and Romania. Italy and Romania are mainly the coastal area of ​​Dalmatia, while Romania is the problem of Macedonia. If my country joins, then Germany can be more comfortable in the alliance. It’s just that this approach will also cause internal tears in our country."

That's right, it's tearing. At present, there are too many people in Yugoslavia who are close to Britain and France. Even after Britain was attacked by Alexander and the Mediterranean Fleet lost more than half of it, many people still believed that Britain and France would eventually win, just like the last war.

So if they knew to form an alliance with Germany, they would definitely do bad things.

Don't mention the Macedonia region, this is currently the most difficult problem in Yugoslavia. For this reason, Svetkov has not slept well enough. The Macedonian separatists are dancing too happily now, and these people relying on the Kingdom of Romania behind are absolutely fearless. In order to avoid angering Romania, the government cannot take strong measures.

There was no threat at all in Macedonia, but after Romania annexed Bulgaria, everything changed. Yes, Svetkov seems to be an annexation. Although the Bulgarians in Romania enjoy the same rights, their national customs, language, and writing are deeply affected by Romania.

Apart from anything else, he only knows that there were 97 media outlets in Bulgaria before the merger, but now after being merged into Romania, there are still 31 Bulgarian media outlets, and there are also two media outlets that publish Bulgarian in the original Romania.

The Romanians are using their interests to paralyze the Bulgarians and constantly weaken their national identity.

In fact, Svetkov also wants to learn this point, but this method requires rich countries to merge with poor countries. At this point, Yugoslavia does not have such conditions. The Croatian and Slovenians in the former Austro-Hungarian territory are richer than Serbia.

Therefore, the Prime Minister is also very in favor of this method of entering the shaft. I became your ally, so naturally you can't attack your ally.

And at this time, Prince Paul expressed his inner thoughts. "Then the Prime Minister, do you want to go there in person?"

Considering confidentiality and other reasons, Svetkov nodded. "fair enough."

So on the 20th, Yugoslav Prime Minister Svetkov's visit to Germany began.

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