The Rise of Yugoslavia - From a Scrambled Kingdom to Brotherhood and Unity by Josip Broz Tito

Check out the Fall of Yugoslavia

In this video I will explain the rise of Yugoslavia. The First World War shook the maps of Central and Eastern intensely. Old empires fell apart and new countries where created. A prime example of that was the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was created out of former territories of the Austrian Hungarian Empire, as well as Serbia and Montenegro.The Austrian Hungarian Empire was by the time WW I started already an empire in decline. Already mid-19th Century there was the Illyrian movement that wanted to create a Croat nation. During WW 1 there was the Yugoslav Committee, based in London, which consisted of exiled Croats and Serbs that were from the A-H Empire. Yugoslav basicly means the 'land of southern slavs' which, if you look at this map is mainly the balkan area. In 1917 the Yugoslav Committee signed the Corfu Declaration with the Kingdom of Serbia, which was also in exile since the country was overrun by the Austrian Hungarian Empire. Then there was also Montenegro. It merged together with Serbia. It did saw a brief civil war with Whites, pro-unificationists and greens, those who were against being absorbed into a Greater Serbia.

First Yugoslavia was officially named Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was officially named Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, because then king Alexander I established a royal dictatorship, subdividing his country into nine provinces. He was assasinated in 1934 during a state visit in France by members of the Croatian extreme nationalist Ustaše movement.

In 1941 Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia and took control. Yugoslavia was partitioned by the Axis Powers. Territories where annexed by Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria. Montenegro became an Italian protectorat and Serbia a Nazi occupation zone. One large region was governed by pro nazi Croats, the Ustaše movement. They created the Independent State of Croatia. When Italy was defeated in 1943, Germany took over most of its Yugoslav territories.

Most of Yugoslavia was liberated by the communists partisans led by Josip Broz Tito. He would become the ruler of Second Yugoslavia, officially the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Tito efficiently mixed centralized government with decentralized politics. The federal republics had a great deal of autonomy. With his slogan Brotherhood and Unity he managed to keep the Serbs, Croates, Slovenes and Bosnians together. But the repressed sentiments surfaced after Tito's death. It turned out he almost bankrupted his country. It led to inflation and shortages. But this misery was nothing compared to what was coming. In the 1990s four Yugoslav Wars took place. If you want to know about that, make sure you check out next video where I will talk about the Fall of Yugoslavia.

History Hustle at Home presents: The Rise of Yugoslavia - From a Scrambled Kingdom to Brotherhood and Unity by Josip Broz Tito.

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON ►

SUBSCRIBE ►

INSTAGRAM ►

CHECK OTHER VIDEOS ABOUT THE BALKAN

Bulgaria during WW II:

Serbia during WW II:

The Life of Tito:

IMAGES

Images from commons.wikimedia.org.

MUSIC

"Crusade" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

"Division" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

SOUNDS

Freesound.org.

Wanna join forces and do a collaboration? Send me an email at: historyhustle@gmail.com