Peace in Yugoslavia From 1919 Until 1980

Peace in Yugoslavia From 1919 Until 1980

Peace in Yugoslavia meant unity. The country was a drawing together of

different groups, which held together from 1919 to the 1980. Before

the First World War the Austria ruled the individual countries of

Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia as well as other countries such as

Hungary as part of the Hapsburg Empire. The other big empire was the

Turkish Ottoman Empire. All the individual areas had different ethnic

groups and religions. The Croats were Roman Catholic, people living in

Bosnia were mainly Muslim, as were people living in Kosovo. Serbia was

a separate independent country, ruled by its own King. The Serb

religion was Christian Orthodox.

The Treaty of Versailles created the "Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and

Slovenes", (Yugoslavia) following World War I (in which both Austria

and Turkey were defeated). It ruled that Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and

Bosnia would become a united country, because it was believed that a

large country would have a better chance of survival than a collection

of small ones and also would provide a greater threat to nearby

Germany. As Serbia had been independent before the war, its leaders

believed that it should be the most important part of the new Kingdom.

Serbs had huge amounts of control over the other ethnic groups from

the beginning - the Serbian King (King Peter I) was appointed King of

the new country, and the Serbian capital city Belgrade became the

capital of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Serbs held

the top posts in the army and in the Government. However, other groups

did benefit from the Treaty - they now lived in an independent country

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...t Milosevic had not listened to his constituency - one

man said it seemed as though he (Milosevic) was running Yugoslavia as

if he were the only person in it. President Kostunica told crowds

"Democracy has happened in Serbia. Communism is falling". President

Kostunica now runs Serbia under a democracy and this seems to be

stable, but whether it will last or not remains to be seen. In the

past the former Yugoslavia only remained peaceful when ruled under a

dictatorship - led by Tito. However, Tito was a war hero, and brought

economy to Yugoslavia, which made the country and its people wealthier

than they had ever been before -this made him popular even though he

was a dictator. However this was combined with a strong Secret Police

and also threats to anyone who disagreed or spoke out against

communism and dictatorships.