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Yugoslav Railways

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Yugoslav Railways ( Croatian : Jugoslavenske željeznice ; Serbian : Jugoslovenske železnice , Југословенске железнице ; Macedonian : Југословенски железници , romanized :  Jugoslovenski železnici ; Slovene : Jugoslovanske železnice ), with standard acronym JŽ ( ЈЖ in Cyrillic ), was the state railway company of Yugoslavia , operational from the 1920s to the 1990s, with its final incarnation transferring to Serbia. The successor of JŽ is the joint stock company of the Serbian Railways in 2006.

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140-773: The company was first founded as the National Railways of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes ( SCS ) by incorporating the already existing railway companies and assets in 1918. It became a founding member of the International Union of Railways in 1922, receiving UIC country code 72. In 1929, it was renamed along with the country to Yugoslav State Railways ( JDŽ ). As Yugoslavia underwent occupation and partition by Axis powers during 1941, Yugoslav State Railways ceased to exist and its rolling stock

280-543: A personal dictatorship and appointed Živković as prime minister . In April, thirty-two generals were forcibly retired, including the chief of the General Staff , Petar Pešić . During that year, the army took delivery of 4,000 light machine guns , eighty 75 mm (3.0 in) field guns and 200,000 vz. 24 rifles from the Czech firm Škoda . The latter meant that the standing army could finally be equipped with

420-875: A "horrible brutality which is being practiced upon the Croatian People". The appeal was addressed to the Paris-based Ligue des droits de l'homme (Human Rights League). In their letter Einstein and Mann held the Yugoslav king Aleksandar explicitly responsible for these circumstances. Croat opposition to the new régime was strong and, in late 1932, the Croatian Peasant Party issued the Zagreb Manifesto which sought an end to Serb hegemony and dictatorship. The government reacted by imprisoning many political opponents including

560-724: A Germanophile. In the late 1930s, internal tensions continued to increase with Serbs and Croats seeking to establish ethnic federal subdivisions. Serbs wanted Vardar Banovina (later known within Yugoslavia as Vardar Macedonia), Vojvodina , Montenegro united with the Serb lands, and Croatia wanted Dalmatia and some of Vojvodina. Both sides claimed territory in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina populated also by Bosnian Muslims . The expansion of Nazi Germany in 1938 gave new momentum to efforts to solve these problems and, in 1939, Prince Paul appointed Dragiša Cvetković as prime minister, with

700-488: A Guards division was formed, consisting of two regiments of cavalry, and one regiment each of infantry and artillery. It was commanded by Petar Živković , a founder of the White Hand. The first significant acquisition of military aircraft were made in the same year, with 150 Breguet 19 light bomber and aerial reconnaissance biplanes being purchased from France under the terms of a loan. Extensions were also made to

840-614: A Serbo-centric policy increased. In the early 1920s, the Yugoslav government of prime minister Nikola Pašić used police pressure over voters and ethnic minorities, confiscation of opposition pamphlets and other measure to rig elections . This was ineffective against the Croatian Peasant Party (formerly the Croatian Republican Peasant Party), whose members continued to win election to the Yugoslav parliament in large numbers, but did harm

980-632: A celebration in Zagreb on 5 December with a Te Deum at the Zagreb Cathedral . Members of the 25th Croatian Home Guard Infantry Regiment and the 53rd Infantry Division held a protest at the same time at the nearby Ban Jelačić Square . The protest was quelled by the police with 15 dead and 17 injured. Both units were subsequently demobilised and disbanded. At the end of 1918, a Serbian Army mission led by Colonel Dušan Simović , Milan Pribićević and Milisav Antonijević arrived in Zagreb to lead

1120-459: A combined Bulgarian , Austrian and German force on 6 October 1915. This saw the escalation of South Slavic nationalism and calls by Slavic nationalists for the independence and unification of the South Slavic nationalities of Austria-Hungary along with Serbia and Montenegro into a single State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs . The Dalmatian Croat politician Ante Trumbić became

1260-556: A few of the Dalmatian islands were given to Italy. The city of Rijeka was declared to be the Free State of Fiume , but it was soon occupied, and in 1924 annexed , by Italy, which had also been promised the Dalmatian coast during World War I, and Yugoslavia claiming Istria , a part of the former Austrian Littoral which had been annexed to Italy, but which contained a considerable population of Croats and Slovenes. The formation of

1400-558: A government led by Stojan Protić committed to the restoration of parliamentary norms and mitigating the centralization of the previous government. Their opposition to the former governments program of radical land reform also united them. As several small groups and individuals switched sides, Protić now even had a small majority. However, the Democratic Party and the Social Democrats now boycotted parliament and Protić

1540-514: A group of Muslims from Macedonia and Kosovo, saved it. On 28 June 1921, the Vidovdan Constitution was passed, establishing a unitary monarchy. The pre–World War I traditional regions were abolished and 33 new administrative oblasts (provinces) ruled from the center were instituted. During this time, King Peter I died (16 August 1921), and the prince-regent succeeded to the throne as King Alexander I . Ljubomir Davidović of

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1680-437: A new government led by the neutral figure of Milenko Vesnić. The Social Democrats did not follow the Democratic Party, their former allies, into government because they were opposed to the anti-communist measures to which the new government was committed. The controversies that had divided the parties earlier were still very much live issues. The Democratic Party continued to push its agenda of centralization and still insisted on

1820-711: A newly formed Croatian government hailed the entry of the Germans into Zagreb the same day. During the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, the Chetniks of Draža Mihailović were referred to as the "Royal Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland". The Royal Yugoslav Army was formally disbanded on 7 March 1945 when the Yugoslav government-in-exile appointed by Peter II of Yugoslavia was abolished. The Austro-Hungarian Army exited

1960-403: A number of older lines and integrated many others. Yugoslav Railwaymen's Day on April 15 was established in 1950 to remember the work and sacrifice of railwaymen and women across Yugoslavia. It was founded on the 30th anniversary of the general strike of 1920, which began in the night of April 15/16 and lasted for the rest of that month. During that time, all railway traffic across Yugoslavia

2100-571: A peak of 450,000 soldiers in July 1919, though demobilization quickly followed. By early 1921 the army organisation had settled into one cavalry division of four regiments , 16 infantry divisions, each consisting of three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment, and additional army-level troops. The 16 infantry divisions were grouped into four numbered army areas, with headquarters at Novi Sad ( 1st Army ), Sarajevo ( 2nd Army ), Skoplje ( 3rd Army ), and Zagreb ( 4th Army ). Later in 1921,

2240-543: A pretext the political crisis triggered by the shooting, King Alexander abolished the Constitution, prorogued the Parliament and introduced a personal dictatorship (known as the "January 6 Dictatorship", Šestosiječanjska diktatura , Šestojanuarska diktatura ) with the aim of establishing the Yugoslav ideology and single Yugoslav nation . He changed the name of the country to "Kingdom of Yugoslavia", and changed

2380-627: A prominent South Slavic leader during the war and led the Yugoslav Committee that lobbied the Allies to support the creation of an independent Yugoslavia . Trumbić faced initial hostility from Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić , who preferred an enlarged Serbia over a unified Yugoslav state. However, both Pašić and Trumbić agreed to a compromise, which was delivered at the Corfu Declaration on 20 July 1917 that advocated

2520-439: A second cavalry division was formed using the four army-level cavalry regiments. Artillery allocation was one heavy artillery regiment and one howitzer regiment at army level, and one field artillery regiment at infantry division level. The army was based on conscription , and annual call-ups were used to maintain the peacetime strength of the army at 140,000. Of the four armies, two were equipped with French-pattern rifles, and

2660-449: A single type of rifle. The year also saw three inter-divisional exercises conducted, although reports indicated that they were poorly organised and carried out. In 1930, Živković was promoted to Armijski đeneral , and four out of the five army commanders were changed. There was only one Croat or Slovene in the general ranks, and he was an engineer in an unimportant post. Acquisition of about 800 modern artillery pieces of various calibres

2800-399: A timid way tried to express the discontent that Croatian Republican Peasant Party mobilized) had been too tainted by their participation in government and was all but eliminated. The other gainers were the communists who had done especially well in the wider Macedonia region. The remainder of the seats were taken up by smaller parties that were at best skeptical of the centralizing platform of

2940-462: A violent reaction from the governing majority including death threats. On 20 June 1928, a member of the government majority, the Serb deputy Puniša Račić , shot five members of the Croatian Peasant Party, including their leader Stjepan Radić, after Radić refused to apologize for earlier offense in which he accused Račić of stealing from civilian population. Two died on the floor of the Assembly while

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3080-404: A warm climate, Yugoslavia was also relatively dry. Internal communications were poor, damage from World War I had been extensive, and with few exceptions agriculture was devoid of machinery or other modern farming technologies. Manufacturing was limited to Belgrade and the other major population centers, and consisted mainly of small, comparatively primitive facilities that produced strictly for

3220-509: The Savska (Zagreb) and Dravska ( Ljubljana ) divisions converted one of their infantry regiments into a mountain infantry regiment. This latter development was intended as the first step to creating two independent formations that, with integral artillery, signals and transport elements, could be used along the mountainous northwest frontier. The year saw no military exercises, even the recent inter-divisional manoeuvres being foregone due to

3360-554: The 4th Indian Division but was later disbanded in Italy in 1944 as its strength dwindled and the unit was plagued by infighting between royalist and pro- Josip Broz Tito factions. During 1943–44, 27 men made up the "No. 7 (Yugoslav) Troop" of the 10th (Inter-Allied) Commando, a special forces unit under British command. In November 1943, the Yugoslav Detachment was established as part of the 512th Bombardment Squadron of

3500-483: The 760 mm ( 2 ft  5 + 15 ⁄ 16  in ) Bosnian gauge were classified 70-98 and for the 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) gauge 99.2, 99.3 and 99.4 . A three-plus-three digit class designation system was used from the late 1950s - the first digit indicated the power type of vehicle: 0, 1 and 2 were reserved for steam traction, 3 indicated 3 kV DC traction; 4 25 kV AC traction; 5 multisystem traction (not used until

3640-706: The Adriatic opposite Zadar comprised one infantry division and two detachments, in addition to fortress brigades and anti-aircraft units at Šibenik and Kotor . Along with other Yugoslav forces, the Royal Yugoslav Army surrendered on 17 April 1941 to an invading force of Germans, Italians, and Hungarians. Subsequently, a unit titled " 1st Battalion, Royal Yugoslav Guards " was formed in Alexandria, Egypt. This unit saw action in North Africa with

3780-740: The Balkan Wars twenty years earlier. Three more anti-aircraft regiments were formed, and an independent command was created for Šibenik in Dalmatia . Long-term shortages in officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) remained, with deficiencies of 3,500 officers and 7,300 NCOs. Disturbances in the Macedonian region resulted in the issue of 25,000 rifles to members of the Serb-nationalist paramilitary force Narodna Odbrana . In June 1934, Army general Milan Nedić became Chief of

3920-661: The First World War after the Armistice of Villa Giusti was struck with the Kingdom of Italy on 3 November 1918. A National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs had been formed in Zagreb in the previous month with the aim of representing the kingdoms of Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia , the condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina , and the Slavic-populated areas of Carniola and Styria . On 1 November 1918

4060-557: The Lyudinov works , Soviet Union, ex- DB V60 shunters (Germany) and high power Krauss-Maffei ML 2200 C'C' type. Railcars, EMUs, and DMUs were sourced from Spain , Italy , Hungary , Germany and the Soviet Union from a variety of manufacturers. A new numbering system was tried for the new standard locomotives built from 1930. All locomotives were renumbered by 1935, which was valid for steam engines. The locomotives on

4200-694: The NATO bombings on FR Yugoslavia , a significant part of the railway and facilities on the Serbian railway network was destroyed or disabled. In 2004 Montenegrin Railways withdrew from the Union of Yugoslav Railways, the railway union officially ceased to exist with the entry into force of the new law on railways of the Republic of Serbia , which was passed in 2005. During its existence, Yugoslav Railways upgraded

4340-718: The Royal Yugoslav Army , was the principal ground force of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . It existed from the establishment of Yugoslavia in December 1918 until its surrender to the Axis powers on 17 April 1941. Aside from fighting along the Austrian border in 1919 and 1920 related to territorial disputes, and some border skirmishes on its southern borders in the 1920s, the JV was not involved in fighting until April 1941 when it

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4480-545: The Slovenian Railways , which inherited the Yugoslav naming scheme, introduced class 541 electric locomotives), 6 diesel electric; 7 diesel hydraulic; 8 diesel mechanical transmittion and 9 an infrastructure or works vehicle. The second digit indicated the vehicles gauge and axle arrangement: 0, a narrow gauge railcar; 1, a standard gauge railcar; numbers 2 to 8 indicated a locomotive with that number of driving axles. The third digit indicated different classes within

4620-593: The United States in the months just preceding the invasion. Fully mobilized, the Royal Yugoslav Army could have put 28 infantry divisions, three cavalry divisions, and 35 independent regiments in the field. Of the independent regiments, 16 were in frontier fortifications and 19 were organized as combined detachments, around the size of a reinforced brigade. Each detachment had one to three infantry regiments and one to three artillery battalions, with three organised as "alpine" units. The German attack, however, caught

4760-442: The Vidovdan Constitution in 1921 sparked tensions between the different Yugoslav ethnic groups . Trumbić opposed the 1921 constitution and over time grew increasingly hostile towards the Yugoslav government that he saw as being centralized in the favor of Serb hegemony over Yugoslavia. Three-quarters of the Yugoslav workforce was engaged in agriculture. A few commercial farmers existed, but most were subsistence peasants. Those in

4900-452: The arsenal at Kragujevac in 1925, but the previous deficiencies in the army continued to plague the force, with the result that despite its size, the army could not be expected to contend with a smaller and more modern force for any significant time. In 1926, the 5th Army was created, utilising two divisions from the 1st Army and one from the 4th Army. In the same year, 13 more companies of frontier troops were raised for deployment along

5040-417: The international financial crisis . The British military attaché observed that the army lacked the sound system of battalion and regimental training needed to thoroughly prepare units for modern warfare, as training consisted mainly of close order drill , basic marksmanship and a small number of field firing exercises. In 1932, Živković resigned as Prime Minister and from official politics, and returned to

5180-707: The 1960s onwards; electric locomotives were acquired from Ansaldo (Italy); Alsthom , ASEA also supplied some classes, and locomotives were also license-built in Croatia and at Electroputere in Romania; in the 1980s the indigenous AC electric JŽ series 442 was developed by Rade Končar . Most of the mainline diesel locomotives were from GM-EMD with a substantial number of Brissonneau et Lotz designs (some licenses built by Đuro Đaković ). Shunters were acquired from MAVAG , Jenbacher werke , and also license-built by Đuro Đaković. The railway also operated locomotives from

5320-741: The 2nd Army had three infantry divisions and one frontier defence regiment. Finally, the 1st Army Group consisted of the 4th Army, with three infantry divisions and one detachment, whilst the 7th Army had two infantry divisions, one cavalry division, three mountain detachments, two infantry detachments and nine frontier defence regiments. The Strategic, "Supreme Command" Reserve in Bosnia comprised four infantry divisions, four independent infantry regiments, one tank battalion, two motorized engineer battalions, two motorized heavy artillery regiments, fifteen independent artillery battalions and two independent anti-aircraft artillery battalions. The Coastal Defence Force, on

5460-474: The 3rd Territorial Army with three infantry divisions and one independent motorized artillery regiment; the 5th Army with four infantry divisions, one cavalry division, two detachments and one independent motorized artillery regiment and the 6th Army with three infantry divisions, the two Royal Guards detachments and three infantry detachments. The 2nd Army Group's 1st Army had one infantry and one cavalry division, three detachments and six frontier defence regiments;

5600-557: The Croatian extreme nationalist Ustaše organisation. Because Aleksandar's eldest son, Peter II , was a minor, a regency council of three, specified in Aleksandar's will, took over the new king's royal powers and duties. The council was dominated by the 11-year-old king's first cousin once removed Prince Paul . Prince Paul decided to appoint well-known economist Milan Stojadinović as prime minister in 1935. His solution to solving

5740-520: The Croatian nationalist Ustaše, who were also angered by any settlement short of full independence for a Greater Croatia including all of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Fearing an invasion by the Axis powers , Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941, pledging cooperation with the Axis. Massive anti-Axis demonstrations followed in Belgrade . On 27 March, the regime of Prince Paul

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5880-551: The Democratic Party. The results left Nikola Pašić in a very strong position as the Democrats had no choice but to ally with the Radicals if they wanted to get their concept of a centralized Yugoslavia through. Pašić was always careful to keep open the option of a deal with the Croatian opposition. The Democrats and the Radicals were not quite strong enough to get the constitution through on their own and they made an alliance with

6020-561: The Democrats began to have doubts about the wisdom of his party's commitment to centralization and opened up negotiations with the opposition. This threatened to provoke a split in his party as his action was opposed by Svetozar Pribićević. It also gave Pašić a pretext to end the coalition. At first the King gave Pašić a mandate to form a coalition with Pribićević's Democrats. However, Pašić offered Pribićević too little for there to be much chance that Pribićević would agree. A purely Radical government

6160-643: The European rail network. At the beginning of the conflicts in SFR Yugoslavia , the railway administrations of the separate republics began to disintegrate, that is, to separate from the Union of Yugoslav Railways ( ZJZ ). ŽG Ljubljana and HŽP Zagreb separated first on 8 October 1991, ZTP Sarajevo on 31 May 1992, and Macedonian Railways became independent on 1 July 1993, leaving only Serbian, Montenegro and Kosovar railways under Belgrade control. During

6300-710: The General Officer Commanding the Royal Yugoslav Air Force . The major organisational change during the year was the formation of a tank battalion, consisting of three companies, each of three platoons of five tanks. The only tankettes in service at this time were Renault FTs operated by a training company, but an order for new tanks had been submitted. Large-scale manoeuvres were carried out in Slovenia in September 1937, involving

6440-457: The General Staff, replacing Milovanović. King Alexander appointed Nedić to carry through a significant change in army organisation against the opposition of many of the senior generals, mainly to reduce the size of the oversized infantry divisions and create corps as an intermediate formation between divisions and armies. After Alexander's assassination, Nedić decided to defer the changes, citing practical difficulties. A chemical warfare battalion

6580-541: The Hungarian and Italian borders, and 12 Dornier floatplanes were also purchased. The first manoeuvres of any significant size since the formation of the army in 1919 were conducted between the troops of two divisions during 29 September to 2 October 1927, although the number of troops engaged did not exceed 10,000 and some reserves had to be called up to achieve this number. Prior to this, only local inter-garrison exercises had been conducted. The method adopted for

6720-557: The King, and legislation could become law with the approval of one of the houses alone if also approved by the King. That same year, Croatian historian and anti-Yugoslavist intellectual Milan Šufflay was assassinated in Zagreb. As a response, Albert Einstein and Heinrich Mann sent an appeal to the International League of Human Rights in Paris condemning the murder, accusing the Yugoslav government. The letter states of

6860-589: The Kingdom of Dalmatia that had been promised to it under the secret Treaty of London . On 1 December 1918 the unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with the Kingdom of Serbia was declared, forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . The Kingdom of Montenegro had already united with Serbia five days earlier. This declaration and firm action by armed groups halted any further encroachments by Italy. The National Council subsequently organised

7000-701: The Kingdom of Montenegro. The creation of the state was supported by pan-Slavists and Yugoslav nationalists. For the pan-Slavic movement, all of the South Slav (Yugoslav) people had united into a single state. The creation was also supported by the Allies, who sought to break up the Austro-Hungarian Empire . The newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes participated in the Paris Peace Conference with Trumbić as

7140-512: The Military Council and was replaced by Army General Ljubomir Marić as Chief of the General Staff. Six infantry regiments were disbanded, but the General Staff decided to stick with four infantry regiments per infantry division. Equipment received during the year included 800 Stokes mortars , enough Skoda anti-aircraft guns to arm 20 batteries, and six Skoda Škoda S-1d tankettes. Deficiencies in radio communications were apparent, with

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7280-819: The National Council had established the Department of National Defense, which brought all Austro-Hungarian units on its territory under the command of a new National Army of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. All affected units of the Common Army , the Imperial-Royal Landwehr and the Royal Croatian Home Guard came under that unified command. Immediately after the Armistice of Villa Giusti, Italy began occupying parts of

7420-497: The National Council of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs appointed 28 members to start negotiation with the representatives of the government of the Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro on creation of a new Yugoslav state, the delegation negotiated directly with regent Alexander Karađorđević . The negotiations would end, with the delegation of the National Council of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs led by Ante Pavelić reading

7560-487: The Provisional Representation and the government. Because the Democratic Party led by Ljubomir Davidović pushed a highly centralized agenda a number of Croatian delegates moved into opposition. However, the radicals themselves were not happy that they had only three ministers to the Democratic Party's 11 and, on 16 August 1919, Protić handed in his resignation. Davidović then formed a coalition with

7700-437: The Radicals' main Serbian rivals, the Democrats. Stjepan Radić , the head of the Croatian Peasant Party, was imprisoned many times for political reasons. He was released in 1925 and returned to parliament. In the spring of 1928, Radić and Svetozar Pribićević waged a bitter parliamentary battle against the ratification of the Nettuno Convention with Italy. In this they mobilised nationalist opposition in Serbia but provoked

7840-438: The Royal Yugoslav Army suffered badly from the Serbo-Croatian schism in Yugoslav politics. Yugoslavian resistance to the Axis invasion collapsed overnight, primarily due to a large part of the non-Serb population, Croats in particular, being unwilling to offer resistance. In its worst expression, Yugoslavia's defenses were badly compromised on 10 April 1941, when some of the units in the Croat-manned 4th and 7th Armies mutinied, and

7980-505: The Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes , but the term " Yugoslavia " ( lit.   ' Land of the South Slavs ' ) was its colloquial name due to its origins. The official name of the state was changed to "Kingdom of Yugoslavia" by King Alexander I on 3 October 1929. The preliminary kingdom

8120-430: The Social Democrats. This government had a majority, but the quorum of the Provisional Representation was half plus one vote. The opposition then began to boycott the parliament. As the government could never guarantee that all of its supporters would turn up, it became impossible to hold a quorate meeting of the parliament. Davidović soon resigned, but as no one else could form a government he again became prime minister. As

8260-429: The Yugoslav Muslim Organization (JMO). The Muslim party sought and got concessions over the preservation of Bosnia in its borders and how the land reform would affect Muslim landowners in Bosnia. The Croatian Republican Peasant Party refused to swear allegiance to the King on the grounds that this presumed that Yugoslavia would be a monarchy, something that it contended only the Constituent Assembly could decide. The party

8400-499: The Yugoslav people as a whole. The Radicals had done no better in that region but this presented them far less of a problem because they had campaigned openly as a Serbian party. The most dramatic gains had been made by the two anti-system parties. The Croatian Republican Peasant Party's leadership had been released from prison only as the election campaign began to get underway. According to Gligorijević, this had helped them more than active campaigning. The Croatian community (that had in

8540-450: The Yugoslav railways celebrated this day solemnly and laboriously, recalling the many events of the growth and maturation of the workers' movement and everything that led to the historic general strike. It was celebrated annually since its inception in 1950 until breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. In its beginnings, the JŽ used mostly Austrian and Hungarian-made steam locomotives. Electric and diesel locomotives were introduced in number from

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8680-478: The address in front of regent Alexander, who represented his father, King Peter I of Serbia , by which acceptance the kingdom was established. The name of the new Yugoslav state was Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes ( Serbo-Croatian : Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca / Краљевина Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца ; Slovene : Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev ) or its abbreviated form Kingdom of SCS ( Kraljevina SHS / Краљевина СХС ). The new kingdom

8820-417: The allocation of artillery within the army was enhanced using material captured in World War I . The result was that the army-level artillery was stripped of its howitzer regiments, which were used to increase the division-level field artillery regiments to brigade strength in eight of the 16 infantry divisions. In the same year, the peacetime strength of the army was reduced to 100,000, and the Ministry of War

8960-410: The army and the emblem worn on the cap, virtually everything else was retained from the Serbian Army, including uniforms, ranks, medals and regulations. Serbian Army symbols were used by the force for a substantial part of 1919. While the Serbian Army officers were automatically transferred to the Army of the KSCS, the former Austro-Hungarian and Croatian Home Guard officers had to apply to be accepted to

9100-523: The army had continued, with young educated Croats and Slovenes now reluctant to enter the army. The attaché saw the Serb domination of the army as a possible political weakness for the nation, but also a military weakness in time of war. Three Croat officers were promoted to the rank of brigadni đeneral during the year. There were also reductions in the numbers of artillery regiments and batteries, and infantry battalions and companies, due to significantly lower conscription numbers for 1933, which were caused by

9240-446: The army had great self-belief, its infantry was tough and its artillery was well-equipped, but it greatly lacked in significant areas required by a modern fighting force. Key deficiencies remained in machine guns and infantry guns, and there was no combined arms training. The attaché further observed that, along with the almost complete Serb domination of the general ranks, the General Staff was also 90 per cent Serb, and "Serbianisation" of

9380-836: The army mobilised troops in Macedonia and parts of Serbia along the border with Albania. Formed after World War I, the Royal Yugoslav Army was still largely equipped with weapons and material from that era, although some modernization with Czech equipment and vehicles had begun. Of about 4,000 artillery pieces, many were aged and horse-drawn, but about 1,700 were relatively modern, including 812 Czech 37mm and 47mm anti-tank guns. There were also about 2,300 mortars, including 1,600 modern 81 millimetres (3.2 in) pieces, as well as twenty-four 220 millimetres (8.7 in) and 305 millimetres (12.0 in) pieces. Of 940 anti-aircraft guns, 360 were 15 millimetres (0.59 in) and 20 millimetres (0.79 in) Czech and Italian models. All of these arms were imported, from different sources, which meant that

9520-403: The army still mobilizing, and only some eleven divisions were in their planned defense positions at the start of the invasion. The total strength of the Royal Yugoslav Army at full mobilization was about 1,200,000 however only around 50 per cent of the recruits were able to join their units before the German invasion. By 20 March 1941, its total mobilized strength amounted to 600,000. On the eve of

9660-513: The beginning of a movement for women's suffrage appeared with the creation of the new state. The Social Democrats and the Slovenian People's Party supported women's suffrage but the Radicals opposed it. The Democratic Party was open to the idea but not committed enough to make an issue of it so the proposal fell. Proportional Representation was accepted in principle but the system chosen ( d'Hondt with very small constituencies) favored large parties and parties with strong regional support. The election

9800-441: The borders at Postojna and Idrija were effectively undermined by the regent Alexander who preferred "good relations " with Italy. The Yugoslav kingdom bordered Italy and Austria to the northwest at the Rapallo border, Hungary and Romania to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece and Albania to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the west. Almost immediately, it ran into disputes with most of its neighbours. Slovenia

9940-417: The borders of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Nevertheless, with the Treaty of Rapallo a population of half a million South Slavs, mostly Slovenes, were subjected to forced Italianization until the fall of Fascism in Italy . At the time when Benito Mussolini was willing to modify the Rapallo borders in order to annex the independent state of Rijeka to Italy , Pašić's attempts to correct

10080-456: The borders with Albania, Bulgaria and Greece . In 1923, the only non-Serb generals in the army retired, and the number of generals in the army was increased from 26 to more than 100 by the promotion of colonels into the lower general ranks of brigadni đeneral (brigadier general) and divizijski đeneral (divisional general). In 1924, the artillery strength of the remaining eight infantry divisions were brought up to brigade strength. In 1925,

10220-501: The command of the Guards Division. Some communist activity was detected within the army during the year, and the same conservative group of senior Serb officers remained firmly in charge. The two independent mountain brigades completed formation in 1932, each provided with two batteries of 75 mm (3.0 in) guns. The exclusively Serb Chetnik organisation led by Kosta Pećanac formed new detachments in various parts of

10360-406: The country and the weakness of existing bridges meant that motorisation and mechanisation should be developed slowly, but that a light truck should be acquired as a first step. Reserves of ammunition of all types were reported as low. In 1935, estimates were made that within a month of mobilisation, 800,000 to 900,000 soldiers could be placed under arms. This was based on the duplication of eight of

10500-457: The country's representative. Since the Allies had lured the Italians into the war with a promise of substantial territorial gains in exchange , which cut off a quarter of Slovene ethnic territory from the remaining three-quarters of Slovenes living in the Kingdom of SCS, Trumbić successfully vouched for the inclusion of most Slavs living in the former Austria-Hungary to be included within

10640-476: The country's three universities in Belgrade , Ljubljana , and Zagreb . Immediately after 1 December proclamation, negotiations between the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Serbian government resulted in agreement over the new government which was to be headed by Nikola Pašić . However, when this agreement was submitted to the approval of the regent, Alexander Karađorđević, it

10780-409: The country, but if fully mobilised would be able to give a good account of itself in a defensive campaign. The exercise was conducted in Slovenia to test the loyalty and value of Slovene and Croat reservists, and was completely satisfactory in this respect only, with nearly all of the reservists reporting for duty and bearing the hardships of the exercise with "discipline and fortitude". The same year saw

10920-465: The country. From a military perspective, it was intended that the Chetniks would assist the frontier guards in peacetime, in addition to their traditional guerilla activities in times of war. Three anti-aircraft regiments were formed in the same year. In early 1933, there was a war scare regarding Italy and Hungary which greatly concerned the General Staff. The British military attaché observed that

11060-585: The court. Pribićević later went into exile, whereas over the course of the 1930s Maček would become the leader of the entire opposition bloc. Immediately after the dictatorship was proclaimed, Croatian deputy Ante Pavelić left for exile from the country. The following years Pavelić worked to establish a revolutionary organization, the Ustaše , allied with the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) against

11200-676: The creation of a united state of Serbs , Croats, and Slovenes to be led by the Serbian House of Karađorđević . In 1916, the Yugoslav Committee started negotiations with the Serbian Government in exile , on which they decided on the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, declaring the joint Corfu Declaration in 1917, the meetings were held at the Municipal Theatre of Corfu . In November 1918,

11340-648: The delivery of a substantial amount of equipment from Czechoslovakia, including 36 mountain guns, 32 anti-aircraft guns, 60 reconditioned howitzers, 80 field guns, and eight Škoda S-1d tankettes. Considerable work was being undertaken building fortifications on the Italian frontier. During 1938, Milutin Nedić was appointed as Minister of the Army and Navy, and was replaced as Chief of the General Staff by Armijski đeneral Dušan Simović . That year, two geo-strategic changes made

11480-402: The domestic market. The commercial potential of Yugoslavia's Adriatic ports went to waste because the nation lacked the capital or technical knowledge to operate a shipping industry. On the other hand, the mining industry was well developed due to the nation's abundance of mineral resources, but since it was primarily owned and operated by foreigners, most production was exported. Yugoslavia was

11620-538: The economic problems left over from the Great Depression was to make trade deals and get closer to Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany . The JRZ had majority support from Slovenes, Bosniaks, and Serbs. The only part missing was the support from Croats. This is why Milan Stojadinović called the JRZ regime a "Three-Legged Chair", Stojadinović wrote in his memoirs: "I called our party the three-legged chair, on which it

11760-485: The election of the Constituent Assembly, a Provisional Representation served as a parliament which was formed by delegates from the various elected bodies that had existed before the creation of the state. A realignment of parties combining several members of the Serbian opposition with political parties from the former Austria-Hungary led to the creation of a new party, The Democratic Party, that dominated

11900-435: The equivalent of four divisions, and exposing to foreign observers the serious deficiencies in the army, caused by incompetent General Staff and the senior commanders, a lack of technical training of regimental officers in modern warfare, and across-the-board shortages of arms and equipment of almost every type. The British military attaché observed that the army was not capable of undertaking any large-scale operations outside of

12040-570: The exercises and the tactics used were similar to those used by the British Army before the Second Boer War . In 1928, four new infantry regiments were established in response to an Italian buildup along the frontier. These were seen as the nucleus for a potential new infantry division. The arsenal at Kragujevac also went into operation, producing Mauser M24 series rifles and ammunition. In January 1929, King Alexander established

12180-469: The first above divisional level since the formation of the army in 1919. They took place on the Sava river between Novi Sad and Sarajevo at the end of September, and were really in the form of a demonstration rather than a war game . There was no freedom of action for commanders, and control was rigid. During 1936, Marić became Minister of the Army and Navy, replacing Živković, who had been intriguing against

12320-454: The force. Non-Serbian officers accepted to the service were often discriminated against. The Serbian Army numbered 145,225 soldiers at the end of the war, and absorbed the some 15,000 former Austro-Hungarian officers and volunteers which had been organized by the National Council. By 1 January 1919, a total of 134 former high-ranking Austro-Hungarian officers had been retired or relieved of their duties. From late 1918 until 10 September 1919,

12460-425: The goal of reaching an agreement with the Croatian opposition. Accordingly, on 26 August 1939, Vladko Maček became vice premier of Yugoslavia and an autonomous Banovina of Croatia was established with its own parliament. These changes satisfied neither Serbs, who were concerned with the status of the Serb minority in the new Banovina of Croatia and who wanted more of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Serbian territory, nor

12600-415: The government and of minister Svetozar Pribićević in particular. One of the few laws successfully passed by the Provisional Representation was the electoral law for the constituent assembly. During the negotiations that preceded the foundation of the new state, it had been agreed that voting would be secret and based on universal suffrage. It had not occurred to them that universal might include women until

12740-473: The government. Before this occurred Marić had told the British naval and military attachés that any mobilisation of the army would take 25 days, and revealed that shortfalls in many items of equipment were severe, including gas masks, steel helmets, tents, horseshoes, small arms ammunition, saddlery and tanks. The new Chief of the General Staff was Armijski đeneral Milutin Nedić , brother of Milan, who had been

12880-433: The infantry needing between 1,000 and 2,000 small sets, and the cavalry being completely lacking in radios. The radios issued to artillery units were unable to communicate with aircraft, and were therefore of little use. The British military attaché observed that even the most senior commanders have never handled a force larger than a division on exercises or in war. The 1935 manoeuvres were the first of any type since 1930, and

13020-495: The internal divisions from the 33 oblasts to nine new banovinas on 3 October. This decision was made following a proposal by the British ambassador to better decentralize the country, modeled on Czechoslovakia . A Court for the Protection of the State was soon established to act as the new regime's tool for putting down any dissent. Opposition politicians Vladko Maček and Svetozar Pribićević were arrested under charges by

13160-418: The invasion, there were 167 Generals on the Yugoslav active list. Of these, 150 were Serbs, 8 Croats, and 9 Slovenes. The Royal Yugoslav Army was organized into three army groups and the coastal defense troops. The 3rd Army Group was the strongest with the 3rd, 3rd Territorial, 5th and 6th Armies defending the borders with Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. The 2nd Army Group with the 1st and 2nd Armies, defended

13300-543: The lead of its neighbors in allowing itself to become a dependent of Nazi Germany . Although Yugoslavia had enacted a compulsory public education policy, it was inaccessible to many peasants in the countryside. Official literacy figures for the population stood at 50%, but it varied widely throughout the country. Less than 10% of Slovenes were illiterate, whereas over 80% of Macedonians and Bosnians could not read or write. Approximately 10% of initial elementary school students went on to attend higher forms of education, at one of

13440-659: The legitimate government. This was established on 2 November following the signing of the Treaty of Vis by Ivan Šubašić (on behalf of the Kingdom) and Josip Broz Tito (on behalf of the Yugoslav Partisans ). Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by the Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip and the outbreak of World War I , Serbia was invaded and occupied by

13580-436: The lessons of World War I. In the view of the British military attaché , the clique of Serbian officers in charge of the army at this time were narrow-minded and conservative men who, while keen to modernise the equipment of the army, did not see the need to modernise its tactics or organisation, and were unwilling to learn from others. During following year, a machine gun company was created in each infantry battalion, and both

13720-465: The life of Radić hung in the balance. The opposition now completely withdrew from parliament, declaring that they would not return to a parliament in which several of their representatives had been killed, and insisting on new elections. On 1 August, at a meeting in Zagreb, they renounced 1 December Declaration of 1920. They demanded that the negotiations for unification should begin from scratch. On 8 August Stjepan Radić died. On 6 January 1929, using as

13860-410: The market for them to collapse as global demand contracted heavily and the situation for export-oriented farmers further deteriorated when nations everywhere started to erect trade barriers. Italy was a major trading partner of Yugoslavia in the initial years after World War I, but ties fell off after Benito Mussolini came to power in 1922. In the grim economic situation of the 1930s, Yugoslavia followed

14000-520: The need for radical land reform. A disagreement over electoral law finally led the Democratic Party to vote against the government in Parliament and the government was defeated. Though this meeting had not been quorate, Vesnić used this as a pretext to resign. His resignation had the intended effect: the Radical Party agreed to accept the need for centralization, and the Democratic Party agreed to drop its insistence on land reform. Vesnić again headed

14140-547: The new Croatian Peasant Party leader Vladko Maček. Despite these measures, opposition to the dictatorship continued, with Croats calling for a solution to what was called the "Croatian question". On 9 October 1934, the king was assassinated in Marseille , France, by Bulgarian Veličko Kerin (also known by his revolutionary pseudonym Vlado Chernozemski ), an activist of IMRO, in a conspiracy with Yugoslav exiles and radical members of banned political parties in cooperation with

14280-481: The new army was involved in a sharp military confrontation with irregular pro- Austrian formations in the region of Carinthia on the northern frontier of the new KSCS. At one point, KSCS troops briefly occupied Klagenfurt . After a plebiscite in October 1920 the frontier with Austria was fixed and tensions subsided. To deal with these security concerns, a large mobilization was carried out from 1918 to 1919, reaching

14420-481: The new government. The Croatian Community and the Slovenian People's Party were however not happy with the Radicals' acceptance of centralization. Neither was Stojan Protić, and he withdrew from the government on this issue. In September 1920 a peasant revolt broke out in Croatia, the immediate cause of which was the branding of the peasants' cattle. The Croatian community blamed the centralizing policies of

14560-520: The opposition continued their boycott, the government decided it had no alternative but to rule by decree. This was denounced by the opposition who began to style themselves as the Parliamentary Community. Davidović realized that the situation was untenable and asked the King to hold immediate elections for the Constituent Assembly. When the King refused, he felt he had no alternative but to resign. The Parliamentary Community now formed

14700-630: The other two used an Austrian model. In the early 1920s, the army responded to several external crises, including the attempted return of King Charles IV to neighbouring Hungary , disturbances along the Albanian border, and incursions from Bulgaria . Despite high standards of discipline and individual training, the army was unable to conduct large-scale mobilisation due to threats on all frontiers, lack of funds, poor railway infrastructure, lack of suitably trained and qualified officers, and shortage of arms, munitions, clothing and equipment. In 1922,

14840-460: The possible exception of Germany, and could also deal with a combined Italian and Hungarian attack. During the year, a Coastal Defence Command was raised using troops already stationed along the Yugoslav coastline, and did not involve the creation of new formations. Delivery of 10,000 light machine guns from Czechoslovakia was completed during the year, which meant that the army was fully equipped with rifles and light machine guns. Further fortification

14980-790: The re-organisation of the Serbian Army and the National Army of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs into a single new Army of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS). The re-organisation talks were led by Pribičević on one side and Mate Drinković and Slavko Kvaternik on the other. They agreed that there would be a new army for the new state, consisting of six regiments. Two of them would be based in Croatia and one in Slovene Lands (specifically in Ljubljana), commanded by Croatian and Slovene officers respectively. The agreement

15120-592: The region between the Iron Gates and the Drava River . The 1st Army Group with the 4th and 7th Armies, composed mainly of Croatian troops, was in Croatia and Slovenia defending the Italian, German (Austrian) and Hungarian frontiers. The strength of each "Army" amounted to little more than a corps , with the three Army Groups consisting of the units deployed as follows; The 3rd Army Group's 3rd Army consisted of four infantry divisions and one cavalry detachment;

15260-402: The reserve army from 40 to 50 years of age. Service in the standing army was set at one-and-a-half years, and three general ranks were introduced instead of the previous single rank. One year after their disbandment, border disturbances made it necessary to reconstitute a smaller contingent of frontier troops in the 3rd Army area. A total of 32 companies were therefore raised and stationed along

15400-698: The same year, prior to the country being invaded by the Axis powers . In April 1941, the country was occupied and partitioned by the Axis powers . A royal government-in-exile , recognized by the United Kingdom and, later, by all the Allies , was established in London . In 1944, after pressure from the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , the King recognized the government of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia as

15540-489: The same year, the Kingdom of Montenegro also proclaimed its unification with Serbia, whereas the regions of Kosovo and Vardar Macedonia had become parts of Serbia prior to the unification. The state was ruled by the Serbian dynasty of Karađorđević , which previously ruled the Kingdom of Serbia under Peter I from 1903 (after the May Coup ) onward. Peter I became the first king of Yugoslavia until his death in 1921. He

15680-473: The sixteen standing infantry divisions and of the alpine division, and the formation of an additional cavalry division, resulting in a total of 24 infantry divisions of about 25,000 men each, one guards division, two alpine divisions and three cavalry divisions. This year saw significant changes in the higher command of the army following the creation of the Military Council . Nedić became a member of

15820-460: The south were especially poor, living in a hilly, infertile region. No large estates existed except in the north, and all of those were owned by foreigners. Indeed, one of the first actions undertaken by the new Yugoslav state in 1919 was to break up the estates and dispose of foreign, and in particular Hungarian landowners. Nearly 40% of the rural population was surplus (i.e., excess people not needed to maintain current production levels), and despite

15960-400: The state. In 1931, Alexander decreed a new Constitution which made executive power the gift of the King. Elections were to be by universal male suffrage. The provision for a secret ballot was dropped, and pressure on public employees to vote for the governing party was to be a feature of all elections held under Alexander's constitution. Further, half the upper house was directly appointed by

16100-585: The task of the army significantly more difficult, the Anschluss between Germany and Austria, and the Munich Agreement which drastically weakened Czechoslovakia. These changes meant that Yugoslavia now had a common frontier with Germany and its most significant supplier of arms and munitions was under threat. It was the assessment of the British military attaché that the army could stem the tide of an invasion by one of its neighbours acting alone, with

16240-784: The third least industrialized nation in Eastern Europe after Bulgaria and Albania . Yugoslavia was typical of Eastern European nations in that it borrowed large sums of money from the West during the 1920s. When the Great Depression began in 1929, the Western lenders called in their debts, which could not be paid back. Some of the money was lost to graft, although most was used by farmers to improve production and export potential. Agricultural exports, however, were always an unstable prospect as their export earnings were heavily reliant on volatile world market prices. The Great Depression caused

16380-585: The type description. The fourth digit indicated class subtypes, and the last two digits the vehicle number (starting at 01). Both carriages from the former Yugoslav Railways, as well as second-hand carriages from all over Europe, are available, however many of them not in operating condition. At the moment, all locomotive-hauled passenger trains use former SJ coaches and, in the case of the InterCity, one carriage of Makedonski Železnici . Acquired around 1984. At least one seen 50 72 24-20 650-2 Kingdom of

16520-496: The various models often lacked proper repair and maintenance facilities. The only mechanized units were 6 motorized infantry battalions in the three cavalry divisions, six motorized artillery regiments, two tank battalions equipped with 110 tanks, one of which had Renault FT models of World War I origin and the other 54 modern French Renault R35 tanks, plus an independent tank company with eight Czech SI-D tank destroyers. Some 1,000 trucks for military purposes had been imported from

16660-403: Was also formed, with the intention of providing each army with one company. Trials were also undertaken with Skoda tankettes and a locally designed automatic rifle . It was announced that army-level manoeuvres would be held in 1935, for the first time since the formation of the army in 1919. A commission formed to examine the issue of mechanisation of the army concluded that the terrain of much of

16800-413: Was also undertaken, again from Czechoslovakia, and another 100,000 rifles were purchased from Belgium. Despite this new equipment, the army remained deficient in light and heavy machine guns, motor transport, signalling and bridging equipment, and tanks. Inter-division manoeuvres were again undertaken in three regions, but cavalry charges and massed infantry attacks demonstrated that the army had not learned

16940-487: Was completed in 1959 (becoming the first section of standard gauge railway in Montenegro). However, due to budget concerns and arguments between state and federal authorities, the line was paid for by Montenegro and Serbia . The Montenegrin section of Belgrade-Bar railway project (from Bar to Vrbnica, the border with Serbia) was completed in 1976, connecting Bar and Podgorica with northern Montenegro, Serbia, and

17080-576: Was difficult to determine, since it had been an integral part of Austria for 400 years. The Vojvodina region was disputed with Hungary, Macedonia with Bulgaria, Rijeka with Italy. A plebiscite was also held in the Province of Carinthia , which opted to remain in Austria. Austrians had formed a majority in this region although numbers reflected that some Slovenes did vote for Carinthia to become part of Austria. The Dalmatian port city of Zadar and

17220-522: Was divided between Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB), Hungarian State Railways (MÁV), Bulgarian State Railways (BDŽ), Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) and the two new railway companies that were created to serve Independent State of Croatia and Nedić's Serbia : Croatian State Railways (HDŽ) and Serbian State Railways (SDŽ), respectively. By the end of the Second World War, the railways suffered considerable destruction and only with great effort

17360-468: Was formed in 1918 by the merger of the provisional State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (itself formed from territories of the former Austria-Hungary , encompassing today's Bosnia and Herzegovina and most of today's Croatia and Slovenia ) and Banat, Bačka and Baranja (that had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary) with the formerly independent Kingdom of Serbia . In

17500-480: Was formed with a mandate to hold elections. The Radicals made gains at the expense of the Democrats but elsewhere there were gains by Radić's Peasant's Party. Serb politicians around Radic regarded Serbia as the standard bearer of Yugoslav unity, as the state of Piedmont had been for Italy, or Prussia for the German Empire ; a kind of " Greater Serbia ". Over the following years, Croatian resistance against

17640-402: Was held on 28 November 1920. When the votes were counted the Democratic Party had won the most seats, more than the Radicals – but only just. For a party that had been so dominant in the Provisional Representation, that amounted to a defeat. Further it had done rather badly in all former Austria-Hungarian areas. That undercut the party's belief that its centralization policy represented the will of

17780-400: Was ignored by Serbian military authorities. Following the December 1918 protest in Zagreb , existing Royal Croatian Home Guard were disbanded. Existing Slovenia-based units of the former Austro-Hungarian armed forces were gradually disbanded over the course of 1919 when the new army was established, led by Serbian generals with Serbian language as the official language. Apart from the name of

17920-527: Was it re-established after the war. Many locomotives were returned, changed or handed over as reparations to Yugoslavia . With the handover of the eastern territory of Trieste to Yugoslavia, about 100 km of railway network with one-way current ( 3 kV ) became part of JDŽ. In 1952 it was renamed Yugoslav Railways ( JŽ ). In the 1950s work began on the construction of the Montenegrin section of Belgrade-Bar railway . The first section from Bar to Podgorica

18060-401: Was made up of the formerly independent kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro ( Montenegro having been absorbed into Serbia the previous month ), and of a substantial amount of territory that was formerly part of Austria-Hungary, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The main states which formed the new Kingdom were the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs; Vojvodina ; and the Kingdom of Serbia with

18200-467: Was not in any real position to help. Regardless of this, on 6 April 1941, the Axis powers launched the invasion of Yugoslavia and quickly conquered it. The royal family, including Prince Paul, escaped abroad and were kept under house arrest in British Kenya . Royal Yugoslav Army The Yugoslav Army ( Serbo-Croatian : Jugoslovenska vojska, JV , Југословенска војска, ЈВ ), commonly

18340-479: Was overthrown by a military coup d'état with British support. The 17-year-old Peter II was declared to be of age and placed in power. General Dušan Simović became his Prime Minister. Yugoslavia withdrew its support for the Axis de facto without formally renouncing the Tripartite Pact. Although the new rulers opposed Nazi Germany , they also feared that if Germany attacked Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom

18480-752: Was possible to sit when necessary, although a chair with four legs is far more stable" - the fourth leg being the Croats, whose support was mostly behind the HSS. Prince Paul did not like this at first, but let him continue as long as it fixed the economy. Paul was concerned with rising tensions in Europe, especially with the Anschluss and the Munich Agreement Therefore, Paul ousted Milan Stojadinović replacing him with Dragiša Cvetković for being

18620-487: Was quickly overcome by the German -led invasion of Yugoslavia . Shortly before the invasion, Serbian officers of the Yugoslav General Staff, encouraged by British Special Operations Executive personnel in Belgrade , led a coup d'état  against  Prince Paul of Yugoslavia and Dragiša Cvetković for adhering to the Tripartite Pact . Beyond the problems of inadequate equipment and incomplete mobilization,

18760-419: Was rejected, producing the new state's first governmental crisis. Many regarded this rejection as a violation of parliamentary principles, but the matter was resolved when the regent suggested replacing Pašić with Stojan Protić , a leading member of Pašić's Radical Party. The National Council and the Serbian government agreed and the new government came into existence on 20 December 1918. In this period before

18900-614: Was succeeded by his son Alexander I , who had been regent for his father. He was known as "Alexander the Unifier" and he renamed the kingdom "Yugoslavia" in 1929. He was assassinated in Marseille by Vlado Chernozemski , a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), during his visit to France in 1934. The crown passed to his 11-year-old son, Peter . Alexander's cousin Paul ruled as Prince regent until 1941, when Peter II came of age. The royal family flew to London

19040-748: Was suspended, as an approximate of 50,000 railway workers from all railway stations, furnaces and workshops rose up against violent suppression of workers' rights in light of difficult socio-economic circumstances. Minister of Transport of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Anton Korošec , employed a violent suppression of strikers and supporter rallies through military , gendarmerie , police and any other means necessary to make them return to work. A peaceful demonstration of about 4,000 people on April 24 on Zaloška cesta in Ljubljana , which included women and children, ended up in 14 killed and up to 75 severely wounded in an open armed fire. Working people on

19180-614: Was trimmed by handing over the frontier troops to the Minister of Finance and transferring the gendarmerie to the Ministry of Interior. From the earliest days of the army, a clique of officers known as the White Hand , were actively engaged in politics. In 1923, the liability for service in the army were changed so that all citizens were liable to service from 21 to 50 years of age, in the active army from 21 to 40 years of age and in

19320-491: Was unable to muster a quorum. Hence the Parliamentary Community, now in government, was forced to rule by decree. For the Parliamentary Community to thus violate the basic principle around which they had formed put them in an extremely difficult position. In April 1920, widespread worker unrest and a railway strike broke out. According to Gligorijević, this put pressure on the two main parties to settle their differences. After successful negotiations, Protić resigned to make way for

19460-458: Was unable to take its seats. Most of the opposition though initially taking their seats declared boycotts as time went so that there were few votes against. However, the constitution decided against 1918 agreement between the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia , which stated that a 66% majority that 50% plus one vote would be needed to pass, irrespective of how many voted against. Only last minute concessions to Džemijet ,

19600-527: Was undertaken along the Italian border, and plans were developed to fortify the former Austrian border. Of the 165 generals in the army in 1938, two were Croats and two were Slovenes, the rest were Serbs. During the interwar period , the Yugoslav military budget expended 30 per cent of government outlays. By January 1939, the army, when mobilised, and including reserves, numbered 1,457,760 men, with fighting formations including 30 infantry divisions, one guards division, and three cavalry divisions. In late 1940,

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