Romanian Eagle

The news of Greece's rapid defeat and the fact that it could only retreat to Crete was a shock to European countries, and the Yugoslav Kingdom was the one that felt the deepest.

In Belgrade, Regent Prince Paul is discussing with Prime Minister Svetkov about Yugoslavia's foreign affairs.

Now that Greece is divided by Romania and Italy, we Yugoslavia need to prepare early.

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

Prince Paul is the younger brother of Alexander of the former kingdom. After his brother was assassinated, he assumed the post of regent of Yugoslavia, and then returned the rights when his nephew Peter II came of age.

I have talked to the British and French ambassadors, and they agree and understand our country's neutrality. But now facing Italy and Romania, this makes our country completely at a loss as to how to deal with it.

Prime Minister Svetkov shares the same concerns. Because Yugoslavia has always maintained a close attitude to Britain and France, it has joined the small Allied powers dominated by France. It was only after the Czech crisis that Yugoslavia discovered that Britain and France were somewhat unreliable, and gradually began to alienate the relationship between Britain and France.

But the pressure brought by Italy made Yugoslavia have to rely on the support of Britain and France to contend with it. Italy's ambitions for the Dalmatian coast of Yugoslavia can be smelled across the Adriatic Sea.

For the Prime Minister. Prince Paul couldn't help but say. Yeah, the situation in the kingdom is worrying now. I don't know if we can guarantee the integrity of the kingdom.

That's right, Prince Paul's biggest worry about Yugoslavia now is whether the integrity of the country can be guaranteed. Because Yugoslavia not only has external troubles, but also internal worries. Yugoslavia's internal worries are its many national issues.

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

It's just that the consequence of such reckless annexation of the territory is the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which has made its domestic ethnic problems extremely complicated and completely surpassed. The problems of various ethnic groups in its country alone made the newly born Kingdom of Lovenians-Croatians-Serbs a headache (yes, it is not called the Kingdom of Yugoslavia now).

The largest ethnic group in the country, Serbs, accounts for only 36.3%, followed by Croats with 19.7%, Bosnians with 8.9%, Slovenians with 7.9%, Albanians with 7.7%, and Marstons with 6. %, and Montenegrins 2.6%.

With so many ethnic groups, whether there is a new kingdom in which a single ethnic group dominates the population is bound to cause many problems. Among them, the newly added Croats and Slovenes also wondered whether the New Kingdom could give them equal treatment. Among the Croats, the second largest ethnic group, led by the Peasant Party and some other parties opposed the merger with Serbia, which led to fierce conflict between the two ethnic groups.

Among them, in 1929, King Alexander of Serbia staged a coup, abolished the constitution, implemented a dictatorship, and established the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the form of the state structure, the New Kingdom enforced a centralized unitary system, did not implement federalism, and did not implement regional ethnic autonomy.

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

One of the most famous incidents is the assassination of the Croatian radical national group Ustasha. King Alexander and the French Foreign Minister Bardo were both shot and killed in the same car, and the three entourages in the same car were also killed (the sharpshooter?).

This incident had a great impact on Yugoslavia, and the most direct impact was the loss of the ruler (the government was directly responsible to the king). It also made the problem between the Serbs and Croats sharply broke out, and the incidents between the two ethnic groups were increasing day by day.

This year, in order to appease the mood of the Croats, Prime Minister Svetkov and the leader of the Croatian Peasant Party Macek signed an agreement to establish a Croatian province and give a certain degree of autonomy. Marchek joined the coalition government as Deputy Prime Minister.

Although Yugoslavia temporarily appeased the resistance of the Croats, but as the saying goes, pressing the gourd floats the scoop. The government's practice has aroused opposition within the Serbs.

Among them, the pro-Serbian Radical Party in Croatia proposed that the Serbs in Croatia should be autonomous and merged with the Krajina Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina into a new area.

And also let other nations see the opportunity. As the old saying goes, there is no widow, but inequality. If the Croats can govern themselves, why can't they. Therefore, although this agreement temporarily appeases the Croats, other ethnic regions have instead bred more dissatisfaction.

It's just that now the Yugoslav government has no time to deal with ethnic issues. Now they must solve the problem of standing in line first, and the tragedy in Greece has scared 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 he hesitated. Your Excellency Prime Minister, do you... think... In addition to seeking neutrality, can we have other ways to preserve the integrity of Yugoslavia, preferably to eliminate threats from Italy and Romania.

Although Prince Paul's words were vague, Svetkov, the Prime Minister, could not understand. To be able to directly eliminate the threat, in addition to fighting Italy and Romania, the only way is to join.

beat? Does Yugoslavia have that power?

So the Prime Minister thought about it and replied. Have!

I saw him continue to give reasons. At present, the territorial conflict with my country is between Italy and Romania. The main issue with Italy is the Dalmatian coastal zone, while with Romania it is the issue of Macedonia. If my country joins, it can make Germany more comfortable in the alliance. , but this approach will also cause a tear within our country.”

Yes, it is torn. At present, there are too many people in Yugoslavia who are close to Britain and France. Even after Britain was attacked by Alexander and most of the Mediterranean Fleet was lost, many people believed that Britain and France would eventually win, just like the last war.

So if they knew that they were allied with Germany, they would definitely do something bad.

Not to mention Macedonia, which is currently the most thorny issue in Yugoslavia. For this reason, Svetkov has not slept a few good nights. The Macedonian separatists are dancing too much now, and these people rely on the Romanian kingdom behind them, and they have nothing to fear. In order to avoid angering Romania, the government cannot take forceful measures.

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

If nothing else, as far as he knows, there were 97 media in Bulgaria before the merger, but now after being merged into Romania, there are 31 Bulgarian media left, and two media that published Bulgarian in the original Romanian territory.

The Romanians are paralyzing the Bulgarians with their interests, constantly weakening their national identity.

In fact, Svetkov also wants to learn about this, but this method requires rich countries to annex poor countries. On this point, Yugoslavia does not have such conditions. The Croats and Slovenes in the former Austro-Hungarian territory were a little richer than Serbia.

Therefore, the Prime Minister is also very in favor of this method of entering the shaft. I have become your ally, so naturally you cannot attack your allies.

At this time, Prince Paul expressed his inner thoughts. Then do you want His Excellency the Prime Minister to make a trip in person?

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

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

()