The Slavs are a family of related peoples. Creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Representative body among some South Slavic peoples

The South Slavic regions that separated from Austria-Hungary did not represent a strong state union. The Zagreb People's Council, which declared itself the supreme power on the territory of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, was not a representative body of all South Slavic lands. In November 1918, part of Dalmatia, Istria and the Croatian Littoral was occupied by Italian, French and Serbian troops under the pretext of disarming the remnants of the Austro-Hungarian troops. Italy, based on the secret articles of the London Treaty of 1915, was going to annex a number of South Slavic territories of Austria-Hungary. But these lands were also claimed by Serbia, which had long sought to gain access to the Adriatic Sea. It was supported by France, whose ruling circles, creating a system of military alliances in Eastern Europe, assigned an important role in their plans to the projected large South Slavic state, designed to serve as a counterweight to Italy in the Balkans and one of the anti-Soviet springboards. The Serbian bourgeoisie also used the slogan of uniting the South Slavs to fight against the developing revolutionary movement.

In Montenegro, the second independent South Slavic state, two directions fought in the ruling circles: supporters of unification with Serbia and other South Slavic lands and supporters of preserving the old order and the Njegosi dynasty. The first direction was supported by many progressive figures who hoped for the democratization of the political system and social life in the new state.

The Serbian, Bosnian and some other social democratic parties spoke out for the unification of the South Slavic peoples; they also hoped that democratic reforms would be possible within the framework of the new state.

The bourgeoisie of the South Slavic regions of the former Austria-Hungary went to unite with Serbia, hoping to suppress the revolutionary movement with the help of Serbian bayonets and at the same time prevent the seizure of these regions by Italy. In the future South Slavic state, it expected to play a much larger role than in Austria-Hungary, since Serbia was economically much inferior to the former dual monarchy.

In November 1918, a meeting of representatives of the Serbian government, the Zagreb People's Assembly and the South Slavic Committee, created in London in 1915 by South Slavic politicians who emigrated from Austria-Hungary, met in Geneva. Among those present were the head of the Serbian cabinet, Nikola Pašić, the chairman of the Zagreb People's Assembly, Anton Korošec, and the chairman of the South Slavic Committee, Ante Trumbić. The meeting discussed the issue of uniting the South Slavic regions of the former Austria-Hungary with Serbia. The meeting participants ignored the right of peoples to determine their own state form of government. The behind-the-scenes negotiations that began in Geneva continued after the meeting.

On November 24, 1918, the Zagreb People's Assembly decided to annex the former Austro-Hungarian South Slavic regions to Serbia. On December 1, 1918, the delegation of the People's Assembly presented a letter of loyalty to the Prince Regent of the Kingdom of Serbia, Alexander Karageorgievich, in Belgrade. Montenegro also joined Serbia, where supporters of unification won. On December 4, on behalf of the King of Serbia, the Prince Regent's manifesto on the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (since 1929 - Yugoslavia) was published.

This is how the unification of the South Slavic lands into one state took place. This event had a double meaning. On the one hand, it was a step forward in the historical development of the South Slavic peoples, whose liberation struggle against the Austro-Hungarian monarchy V.I. Lenin called the national revolution of the South Slavs ( See V.I. Lenin, War and Russian Social Democracy, Soch., vol. 21, p. 12.). But, on the other hand, the victory of the popular masses was incomplete, and its fruits were benefited primarily by the Serbian big bourgeoisie. The new multinational state did not represent a democratic union of free and equal peoples, but emerged as a militaristic kingdom pursuing a reactionary domestic and foreign policy.

On December 20, 1918, the first government of the kingdom was formed. It included representatives of various national parties that existed on the territory of the new state, including Croatian and Slovenian right-wing socialists. The leading role in the government from the very beginning belonged to representatives of the Serbian big bourgeoisie. The post of head of the cabinet was taken by the leader of the Serbian Radical Party, Stojan Protic, and the deputy prime minister was taken by the chairman of the clerical People's Party of Slovenia, Anton Koroshec.

National contradictions in the South Slavic state became more acute. The Serbs, who became the dominant nation, made up only half of the country's population. Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Albanians, Hungarians and others had significantly fewer rights than Serbs. Macedonians and Albanians were even prohibited from using their native language in government institutions, schools and the press.

The Protic government, pursuing the policy of Serbian great power, limited the activities of those few representative bodies of national self-government that previously existed in the South Slavic regions of Austria-Hungary and Montenegro. In the established national parliament - the People's Assembly - the Serbian bourgeois parties received the overwhelming majority of mandates.

Economic and political situation in the country

The new state united Serbia (along with most of Macedonia, which was annexed after the Balkan wars of 1912-1913), Montenegro, Croatia, Vojvodina, Slovenia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina - with a total area of 248 thousand square meters. km, with a population of about 12 million people. Its borders were determined in 1919-1920. on the basis of the Saint-Germain, Neuilly and Trianon treaties.

Serbia, around which the unification of the South Slavic lands took place, was predominantly an agricultural country, although industry existed in it and financial capital developed. In terms of economic development, Slovenia and partly Croatia were higher than Serbia. Vojvodina had a much more developed agriculture than Serbia, but had weak industry. The remaining lands lagged even further behind in their economic development. In Montenegro, remnants of the patriarchal-communal way of life and tribal life were preserved. In Bosnia, Herzegovina and Macedonia, semi-serf relations were not eliminated.

The working masses hoped that after the end of the war and the formation of a new state, there would be a radical improvement in their living conditions. They demanded a fight against devastation, the food crisis, speculation, and the provision of democratic rights to the people. However, time passed, and the situation did not change. The political freedoms promised in the manifesto of Prince Regent Alexander remained unfulfilled, labor legislation was not developed, food difficulties were not eliminated, industrial enterprises destroyed or deteriorated during the war years were not restored. The bourgeoisie refrained from financing industrial enterprises, preferring to give their capital for growth or place it in foreign banks.

In 1919, prices for bread, meat, sugar and other food products were 200-300% higher than before the war, and even more for some other essential items. Wage increases lagged far behind price increases. Unemployment has reached enormous proportions.

Describing the post-war economic situation in the new state, the Serbian Social Democratic Workers' Party in its letter to the Communist International reported: “Incredible difficulties, shortages of fuel and clothing, unscrupulous speculation and the cessation of railway communications are causing increasing discontent among the broad masses of the people. With our national unification, things have not moved forward at all. “Our” Yugoslav bourgeoisie has shown its inability to complete the national revolution.”

The revolutionary movement was expanding in the Serbo-Croat-Slovenian state.

Workers', national liberation and peasant movements in 1918

On December 5, 1918, the day after the publication of the manifesto on the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, unrest occurred among Croatian troops in the main city of Croatia - Zagreb in protest against the fact that the manifesto did not say a word about the national rights of Croatia and workers' demands were ignored. These unrest indicated revolutionary sentiments in the army. However, the soldiers' performance was spontaneous and poorly organized. The government quickly suppressed it. At the same time, the leader of the Croatian Peasant Party, Stjepan Radić, demanded the independence of Croatia. The government arrested Radic. But this only led to an increase in his popularity in Croatia.

Clashes between government troops and the population also occurred in several areas of Montenegro and Vojvodina. In Slovenia, where the influence of the Catholic Party, which supported the government, was strong, the authorities managed to keep the masses from active protests. However, even there, the population showed dissatisfaction with the royal manifesto and the first measures of the government.

The monetary reform carried out at the very beginning of 1919 caused strong indignation among the workers. The population of the regions that were formerly part of Austria-Hungary had to pay 4 Austrian crowns per dinar when exchanging old money for Serbian dinars, although its purchasing power was less than one crown. In connection with the currency reform, new unrest broke out in Croatia and some other areas.

At the end of 1918 - beginning of 1919, the strike struggle of the working class intensified. Due to economic difficulties, strikes occurred in Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Mostar, Osijek, Tuzla, Maribor and other cities. The workers also put forward political demands, advocating the democratization of social and political life. The general strike of Bosnian workers in February 1919, involving up to 30 thousand people, took place under the slogan of abolishing police censorship, ensuring freedom of workers' organizations and guaranteeing political and civil rights.

In many areas, the peasant poor rose up to fight. Having not received land from the new government, she began to seize landowners' estates by force. The refusal of peasants to pay taxes became widespread. “Every day,” wrote one of the ministers, right-wing socialist Vitomir Korac, “the ministry received more and more news about peasant unrest in Zagorje, Srem, Vojvodina, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Every day we learned about arson attacks on landowners’ estates and shootouts... The situation was becoming very serious.”

Trying to stop the growing peasant movement, the government hastened to carry out land reform in February 1919. With its help, the bourgeoisie wanted to eliminate the most outdated feudal relations that hindered the development of capitalism and strengthen their class support in the countryside - the kulaks.

The agrarian reform marked the beginning of the liberation of peasants (through ransom) from semi-serfdom in Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Macedonia. But she did not resolve the land issue. Of the 11 million rural residents of the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state, 212 thousand peasant households, the vast majority of them Serbian, received land. The peasants of the oppressed nations - Croats, Macedonians, Slovenes, Albanians, Hungarians, etc. - were bypassed in the distribution of land. One of the clauses of the law on agrarian reform read: “Anyone who, after the publication of this law, willfully seizes land, or makes an unauthorized division, or robs someone else’s property, will be prosecuted...”

After the reform, almost all landowners retained their estates. Only the lands of the Habsburgs and other Austrian and Hungarian land magnates, who were legally declared enemies of the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state, were completely alienated. The remaining landowners transferred to the agrarian reform fund “surpluses” that exceeded the land maximum (for Croatia 150-400 hectares, for Vojvodina 300-500 hectares), and received from the state large monetary compensation for the alienated land. This often turned out to be more profitable for them than maintaining surplus land, which was difficult to cultivate due to the massive refusal of peasants to work on the same terms.

The implementation of this limited reform took more than 20 years. It gave little to the peasantry, but contributed to the development of capitalist relations in the countryside.

Labor movement in the spring and summer of 1919. Creation of the Communist Party

As in 1918, the labor movement in 1919 was particularly strong in Belgrade and other industrial centers of Serbia, as well as in Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The proletariat fought for an 8-hour working day and labor legislation. Advanced workers enthusiastically accepted the ideas of the socialist revolution that took place in Russia and declared their solidarity with the Hungarian and Bavarian proletarian revolutions.

On April 20-25, 1919, the first unification congress of the Socialist Workers' Party of the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state took place in Belgrade. Its work was attended by social democratic parties of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, groups and organizations of left socialists in Croatia, Slovenia, Dalmatia, which by this time had ideologically and organizationally separated from the right, as well as representatives of socialist groups in Vojvodina, Montenegro and Macedonia. Among the participants of the congress were revolutionary figures of the labor movement Djuro Djakovic, Filip Filipovich and others. The congress decided to create a unified Socialist Workers' Party (Communists) of Yugoslavia and its entry into the Communist International.

The formation of the Communist Party was of great importance for the working class, which henceforth acquired its own militant leader. United trade unions and the Communist Youth League soon emerged. However, this was only the beginning of the struggle for the unity of the labor movement. Right-wing Social Democrats organized their own party and carried out subversive, schismatic activities in the working class. Reformist trade unions also caused great damage to the labor movement.

Under the leadership of the Communists, a number of strikes and demonstrations took place in 1919. On May 1, mass rallies took place under the slogans of proletarian solidarity with the working class of Soviet Russia and Soviet Hungary. For the first time, a May Day demonstration was held in Montenegro, in the city of Rijec-Crnojevica. It was led by communists led by Marko Masanovic. The slogans of the demonstration were:

“Long live Lenin!”, “Long live Soviet power!”, “Long live the Third International!” In Serbia, despite the authorities' ban, May Day demonstrations took place in all major cities.

The Yugoslav proletariat, through its struggle, supported the Soviet republics against which the Entente conducted military intervention. In April 1919, when the Entente made the first attempt to send troops of the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state against Soviet Hungary, railway workers, loaders, and metalworkers went on strike in the country, and unrest broke out in military units stationed in the areas bordering Hungary. A general political strike began in July. In Zagreb, Novi Sad, Ljubljana, the coal mining region of Slovenia - Trbovlje and other places, the strike covered the entire working population. A wave of thousands of rallies and meetings also swept across the country, during which the Communist Party called for solidarity with Soviet Russia and Soviet Hungary. In the cities of Maribor and Varazdin, soldiers rebelled. Unrest began again in military units located near the Hungarian border. Serbian soldiers refused to oppose the Hungarian Red Army soldiers and fraternized with them. Under these conditions, the government did not dare to take part in the intervention against Soviet Hungary.

At the end of 1919, after the defeat of Soviet Hungary and some weakening of the revolutionary movement in the Serbo-Croat-Slovenian state, the royal government and the bourgeoisie went on the offensive against the working people. Concessions made to the working class were taken back. Police repression of the Communist Party and other progressive organizations intensified.

Threat of war with Italy Workers' and peasants' movement in 1920

The year 1920 began for the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state in unfavorable conditions. The country was still in economic ruin. Not a single large industrial enterprise destroyed during the war was restored. In Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Slovenia, due to the lack of coal and raw materials, the number of operating enterprises has decreased. Shipping stopped in Dalmatia. Unemployment has increased noticeably.

The government has taken the path of inflation. The amount of paper money in circulation reached 10 billion dinars; The exchange rate of the dinar fell continuously. Many capitalists transferred their money into American, Swiss or British currency. The state budget deficit was almost 2 billion dinars. To cover it, the government increased taxes by more than 50% and doubled railway tariffs.

Capture by an Italian detachment led by Gabriel D'Annunzio in September

1919 Rijeki (Fiume) aggravated the international position of the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state to the extreme. A military clash with Italy seemed inevitable. The conflict was temporarily resolved by the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920, which declared Rijeka (Fiume) a “free city”. At the same time, Serbian militaristic circles, wanting to please the Entente, made plans to help bourgeois Poland and Wrangel in their struggle against Soviet Russia. The White Guards defeated by the Red Army found shelter on the territory of the kingdom; they were allowed to create new military formations here, which caused indignation among the workers.

The working class intensified its struggle against entrepreneurs and the reactionary government. In 1920, there were about 600 strikes with more than 200 thousand participants. Particularly large was the general strike of Railway workers in April 1920. Up to 60 thousand workers and employees took part in it, putting forward demands for increased wages, restoration of the 8-hour working day, abolished shortly before, and recognition of the right to introduce workers' control. The strike lasted more than two weeks, paralyzing the economic life of the country. The ruling circles used all the means at their disposal against the strikers - from the splitting actions of reformist trade unions to the introduction of martial law and the use of soldiers in railway transport. As a result, the strike was crushed.

After this major defeat of the working class, the government, believing in its own strength, began to pursue an even more brutal anti-people policy. In this regard, decadent sentiments began to appear among part of the proletariat and even among individual communists. Various factions arose within the ranks of the Communist Party, including a centrist movement that spoke out against revolutionary methods of struggle and for leaving the Communist International.

At the Second Party Congress, which met in Vukovar on June 20-25, 1920, the struggle against the centrists unfolded. The congress rejected all the proposals of the centrist group, adopted the program and charter in the spirit of the decisions of the Communist International, and renamed the party the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. However, the congress left the centrists in the party, and they continued their factional activities. Only at the end of 1920, after the centrists published a reformist program - the “Manifesto of the Opposition”, they were expelled from the party. At the Second Congress, mistakes in peasant and national issues were also not overcome, expressed in underestimating the revolutionary capabilities of the peasantry and the importance of the national liberation struggle. Despite these shortcomings, the Second Congress of the Communist Party was of great importance for the further development of the labor and revolutionary movement in the country.

In the spring and summer of the same 1920, elections to city municipalities and rural communal administrations took place in Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia.

This was a kind of test of strength before the elections to the Constituent Assembly, which was supposed to adopt the constitution. The Communist Party won significant victories in Belgrade, where it collected a majority of votes, in Kragujevac, Valjevo, Sabce, Leskovec and other cities. The communists also received many votes in the villages of Macedonia and some other regions.

The Minister of the Interior annulled the election results in Belgrade. In response to this, a protest demonstration took place, in which over 20 thousand people participated. But the Communist Party did not dare to call on the masses to more effective resistance.

In the elections to the Constituent Assembly at the end of November 1920, the Communist Party collected almost 200 thousand votes. Having received 58 mandates, she came in third place in the Constituent Assembly. The first and second places were taken by the Serbian bourgeois parties - Democratic and Radical. In Croatia, the Croatian Republican Peasant Party, led by Stjepan Radić, which opposed the Great Serbian government policy, received a significant number of votes.

In the second half of 1920, the peasant movement intensified again in Croatia. In a number of areas, in connection with the forced requisition of horses for the army, unrest occurred, often developing into uprisings. The government used force, but the revolutionary ferment did not stop. An indicator of the mood of the masses were gatherings of thousands of peasants during open meetings of the Croatian Republican Peasant Party. There was also unrest in Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro and other parts of the state. In December 1920, the strike struggle of the working class again assumed wide scale.

In order to suppress the revolutionary movement, the government, which was then headed by one of the leaders of the Serbian radicals, Milenko Vesnic, issued an order on December 30 prohibiting the propaganda activities of the Communist Party, Komsomol and progressive trade unions, the organization of strikes and demonstrations; it was established that in order to hold meetings of members of the Communist Party it was necessary to obtain police permission in each individual case. In just two months (December 1920 - January 1921), about 10 thousand communists and other progressive figures were thrown into prison.

Serbo-Croat-Slovenian state in 1921-1923.

In a climate of terror and repression, the Constituent Assembly - June 28, 1921, St. Vida (on the anniversary of the battle with the Turks on Kosovo in 1389), adopted a constitution called Vidovdan. More than 160 opposition deputies were absent during the voting - communists, representatives of Croatia and Slovenia. Of the deputies from non-Serb areas present, the vast majority refused to vote for the constitution.

The constitution proclaimed the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state a monarchy with a unicameral parliament (assembly) elected for four years; it legitimized the hegemony of the Serbian bourgeoisie in the kingdom and ignored the rights of other nationalities. Women did not receive voting rights. Significant power was left to the king, who was the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and appointed and dismissed the prime minister.

After the adoption of the constitution, national contradictions in the country intensified even more. The government, headed by the chairman of the Serbian Radical Party, Nikola Pasic, pursued an extremely reactionary policy. The Law “On the Protection of the State,” adopted on August 2, 1921, declared the Communist Party dissolved; for belonging to it there was a threat of hard labor for up to 20 years. All 58 communist deputies were stripped of their parliamentary immunity and put on trial. Progressive newspapers were closed and the most severe censorship was established, trade unions under communist influence were dissolved, and democratic rights and constitutional freedoms were limited.

The Communist Party suffered this blow painfully. She turned out to be unprepared for the transition to an illegal position. A large number of organizations completely collapsed, almost the entire party leadership was subjected to repression, and the party’s activities weakened. But even in the difficult conditions of the underground, the best, revolutionary part of the party continued to fight. The government failed to stifle the labor movement.

The economic and political situation of the country, despite some recovery in industry, has not improved. Pasic's government took loans from France and other states, falling more and more into bondage to them. Gradually, foreign monopolies took over the most important sectors of the economy of the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state - mining, electricity, shipbuilding, forestry, tobacco, communications, and put banks under their control. Inflation, rising living costs and a decline in real wages continued.

In 1922-1923 The strike struggle of the working class began again in the country. The most significant were two strikes of miners in Trbovlje (Slovenia) in July - September 1923, a strike of river workers on the Danube, strikes of workers at a carriage factory in Slavinski Brod in 1922-1923, and construction workers in Croatia in the fall of 1923.

The peasant movement in the national regions did not stop, taking place under the slogans of dividing the landowners' land and winning national rights. Macedonian couples (partisan detachments) waged an armed struggle with the gendarmerie and troops. Radić's Croatian Peasant Party organized the collection of signatures for a petition to the People's Assembly demanding the introduction of self-government in Croatia and the resolution of the agrarian question. In March 1923, in the assembly elections, this party received 350 thousand votes and 69 mandates, while all other parties in Croatia taken together barely collected 10 thousand votes. The government, forced to take into account the new balance of forces in parliament, entered into negotiations with the Croatian Peasant Party and made some concessions to it (they were later taken back).

In foreign policy, the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state was oriented towards Western powers, primarily France, which was explained not only by its increasing financial dependence on France, but also by the desire of both states to maintain the position in Europe created by the Versailles system. In 1919, the royal government concluded a military agreement with Greece directed against Bulgaria, in 1920 a defensive alliance with Czechoslovakia against Hungary, and in 1921 a similar alliance with Romania.

The last two treaties formed the basis of a grouping called the Little Entente (Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state, Romania and Czechoslovakia). France took an active part in the creation of the Little Entente.

In 1921, the Little Entente opposed attempts to restore the Habsburgs to the Hungarian throne; mobilization was announced in the countries of this bloc. Such a decisive position of the Little Entente was caused by the fear that in the event of the Habsburg restoration there would be a threat of revision of the territorial provisions of the Paris peace treaties.

At the same time, the activities of the Little Entente were anti-Soviet in nature: the participating states were supposed to serve as military springboards against the Soviet Union.

The Slavs are the largest linguistic and cultural community of peoples in Europe. There is no consensus among scientists about the origin of this name. First ethnonym( 1 } "Slavs" is found among Byzantine authors of the 7th century. in the form of a "clave". Some linguists consider it the self-name of the Slavs and elevate it to the concept of “word”: “those who speak.” This idea goes back to ancient times. Many peoples considered themselves “speaking”, and foreigners, whose language was incomprehensible, considered themselves “dumb”. It is no coincidence that in Slavic languages one of the meanings of the word “German” is “mute”. According to another hypothesis, the name “sklavina” is associated with the Greek verb “kluxo” - “I wash” and the Latin cluo - “I cleanse”. There are other, no less interesting points of view.

Scientists highlight Eastern, Western and Southern Slavs . Easterners include Russians (about 146 million people), Ukrainians (about 46 million) and Belarusians (about 10.5 million). These peoples inhabit eastern Europe and have widely settled in Siberia. Western Slavs - Poles (about 44 million people), Czechs (about 11 million), Slovaks (about 6 million) and Lusatians (100 thousand). All of them are inhabitants of Eastern and Central Europe. South Slavic peoples live in the Balkans: Bulgarians (about 8.5 million people), Serbs (about 10 million), Croats (about 5.5 million), Slovenes (over 2 million), Bosnians (over 2 million), Montenegrins (about 620 thousand).

Slavic peoples are close in language and culture. By religion, the Slavs are Christians, excluding the Bosnians who converted to Islam during Ottoman rule. Russian believers are mostly Orthodox, Poles are Catholics. But among Ukrainians and Belarusians there are many Orthodox and Catholics.

Slavs make up 85.5% of Russia's population. Most of them are Russians - about 120 million people, or 81.5% of the country's inhabitants. There are almost 6 million other Slavic peoples - Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles. Bulgarians, Czechs, Slovaks, and Croats also live in Russia. However, their number is very small - no more than 50 thousand people.

(1) Ethnonym (from the Greek “ethnos” - tribe, “people” and “onima” - “name”) - the name of the people.

HOW THE EAST SLAVIC PEOPLES ARISED

The ancestors of the Slavs were probably the Wends, who settled along the banks of the Vistula and Venedsky (now Gdansk) Bay of the Baltic Sea. Byzantine authors of the 6th century. the name "Sklavins" appeared, but it was applied only to the tribes living west of the Dniester. To the east of this river were placed the Antes, whom many scientists consider to be the direct predecessors of the Eastern Slavs. After the 6th century the name of the Antes disappears, and the names of the East Slavic tribes become known: Polyana, Drevlyans, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Dregovichi, Krivichi, etc. Some historians see them as real tribes, others as a kind of “pre-nationality” or “proto-state.” These communities were not “pure”: they included racially, linguistically and culturally diverse elements. For example, in East Slavic burials of the 10th-11th centuries. the remains of people belonging to no less than six racial types were found, not only Caucasoid, but also Mongoloid.

In the 9th-11th centuries. East Slavic tribes were united into one of the largest states of medieval Europe - Kievan Rus. It extended from the lower reaches of the Danube in the south to lakes Ladoga and Onega in the north, from the upper reaches of the Western Dvina in the west to the Volga-Oka interfluve in the east. Within these borders a single ancient Russian nation arose. She was neither Russian, nor Ukrainian, nor Belarusian - she can be called East Slavic. The consciousness of community and unity among the population of Kievan Rus was very strong. It was reflected in chronicles and literary works telling about the defense of the homeland from the attacks of nomads. In 988 the prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavovich did Christianity state religion of Kievan Rus. Pagan idols were overthrown, and the people of Kiev were baptized in the Dnieper. The adoption of Christianity contributed to close cultural ties with Europe, the flourishing of ancient Russian art, and the spread of writing. A new religion was sometimes introduced by force. So, in Novgorod, half the city was burned. People said: " Putyata( 2 } baptized the people with fire, and Dobrynya( 3 } - with a sword." Under the outer cover of Christianity, "dual faith" was established in Rus': pagan traditions were preserved for several centuries.

The unity of Kievan Rus was not strong, and by the end of the 12th century. the state broke up into independent principalities.

Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians As independent peoples emerged, according to various estimates, in the 14th-18th centuries.

Moscow State - the center of education of the Russian people - first united the lands in the Upper Volga and Oka basins, then in the upper reaches of the Don and Dnieper; even later - the Pskov and Novgorod lands in the Northern Dvina basin and on the White Sea coast.

The fate of the descendants of those tribes who lived in the west of Kievan Rus was much more complicated. From the 13th-14th centuries. Western areas are coming under power of the Lithuanian princes . The state formation that emerged here turned out to be complex: the political power was Lithuanian, and the cultural life was East Slavic. At the end of the 16th century. The Grand Duchy united with Poland . The local population, especially the nobility, began to become more or less Polished, but East Slavic traditions were preserved among the peasants.

In the 16th-17th centuries. two nationalities formed on these lands - Ukrainians and Belarusians. The population of the southern regions (the territories of modern Kyiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Vinnytsia, Khmelnitsky, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Ternopil, Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Chernivtsi regions, Transcarpathia) experienced a strong influence of the Turkic peoples, with whom they fought and traded. Exactly, here it developed as Ukrainians are one people . In the Polotsk-Minsk, Turovo-Pinsk and, possibly, Smolensk lands Belarusians formed . Their culture was influenced by Poles, Russians and Lithuanians.

The languages, culture, and historical destinies of the East Slavic peoples are close. Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are well aware of this and remember their common roots. The Russian-Belarusian closeness is especially pronounced.

{2 } Putyata - Novgorod voivode.

{3 } Dobrynya -educator and governor of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich; princely governor in Novgorod.

UKRAINES

The word “Ukrainians” first appeared at the end of the 12th century. It designated the inhabitants of the steppe “outskirts” of Rus', and by the 17th century. This is how the population of the Middle Dnieper region began to be called.

Under the rule of Catholic Poland, Ukrainians, Orthodox by religion, suffered religious oppression and therefore fled to Sloboda Ukraine( 4 } .

Quite a few of them ended up in the Zaporozhye Sich - a kind of republic of the Ukrainian Cossacks. In 1654, Left Bank Ukraine united with Russia, gaining autonomy. However, in the second half of the 18th century, after the annexation of Right Bank Ukraine, the tsarist government sharply limited the independence of Ukrainian lands and liquidated the Zaporozhye Sich.

After the Russian-Turkish warriors of the late 18th century. The Northern Black Sea region and the Azov region were annexed to Russia. The new territories were named Novorossiya; they were inhabited mainly by Ukrainians. At the same time, Right Bank Ukraine became part of the Russian Empire, and in the first third of the 19th century. - Bessarabia and the mouth of the Danube (Ukrainian colonies also arose here).

Now, out of more than 45 million Ukrainians, more than 37 million live in Ukraine and over 4 million in Russia, where they are the second largest Slavic people in the country. In Russia, Ukrainians live mainly in the Russian-Ukrainian borderlands, as well as in the central regions, in the Urals, in Western Siberia; There are a lot of Ukrainians in the Far East. In mixed Russian-Ukrainian areas they are often called Khokhols - because of the traditional crest on their heads. At first, the nickname was considered offensive, but over time it became familiar and is used as a self-name. One of the ethnologists quotes the following statement from a resident of the Belgorod province: “We are Russians, just crests, turn it around.” And in fact, in Russia there is a rapid assimilation of Ukrainians. In 1989, only 42% of Russian Ukrainians called Ukrainian their native language, and even less spoke it - 16%. City dwellers became the most Russified; Often only their last names speak of their Ukrainian roots: Bezborodko, Paley, Seroshapko, Kornienko, etc.

{4 } Sloboda Ukraine - modern Kharkov and part of Sumy, Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

TRADITIONS OF UKRAINIAN CULTURE

At the same time, many Ukrainians in Russia, even Russified to one degree or another, retain some traditions of their native culture. Their houses in the villages are easy to recognize by clay coating of walls . In Ukrainian you can often see traditional shirt - with a straight cut collar and abundant embroidery . Of course, these days they dress in a modern urban manner, but on holidays the old, and often the young, wear national clothes.

UKRAINIAN FOOD

Russian Ukrainians have well-preserved traditions of folk cuisine. Pastry dishes and products are popular: round or oval yeast bread ("palyanitsa", "khlibina"), flatbreads ("korzhi", "nalisniki"), pancakes, pancakes, pies, noodles, dumplings, dumplings with cottage cheese, potatoes, cherries .

They bake for Christmas and New Year "kalach" , at the meeting of spring - "larks" , at the wedding - "bumps" etc. All sorts of things are in use porridge and something cross between porridge and soup - "kulish" made from millet and potatoes, seasoned with onions and lard. When it comes to soups, Ukrainians eat the most borscht made from various vegetables and often cereals ; from dairy products - "Varenets" (fermented baked milk) and "cheese" (salted cottage cheese).

Ukrainians, unlike Russians, only call meat pork . Distributed cabbage rolls, jellied meat, homemade sausage stuffed with pieces of pork .

Favorite drinks - herbal tea, dried fruit compote ("uzvar"), various types of kvass ; intoxicating - mash, mead, liqueurs and tinctures .

Many Ukrainian dishes (borscht, dumplings, varenets, etc.) received recognition from neighboring peoples, and the Ukrainians themselves borrowed such foods and drinks as cabbage soup and kumis.

UKRAINIAN CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS OF SPIRITUAL CULTURE

The family and social life of Russian Ukrainians is devoid of originality. It everywhere exhibits features of an urban way of life and is distinguished by democratic orders. One of the indicators of this is the large number of nationally mixed families: Ukrainian-Russian, Ukrainian-Belarusian, Ukrainian-Bashkir, etc. However, some customs are still alive. For example, at a Ukrainian wedding in Russia you can meet custom "Viti Giltse" - a branch or tree decorated with flowers and colored ribbons is stuck into the wedding loaf.

The traditions of rich Ukrainian spiritual culture are partially preserved, especially folk .Many of them are related to calendar and family holidays , let's say Christmas caroling( 5 } , wedding ceremony, etc. Ukrainians love songs , in particular lyrical and comic, as well as (especially Cossacks) military-historical.

The emergence of an independent Ukrainian state in the 90s. 20th century gave impetus to the revival of national identity not only in Ukraine itself, but also among Ukrainians in Russia. Cultural societies and folklore ensembles are being created.

{5 } Carols are ritual songs with wishes for health, prosperity, etc.

B E L O R U S S

The third largest Slavic people in Russia are Belarusians. The Belarusian lands became part of the Russian Empire at the end of the 17th century. Some scientists associate the name “White Rus'” with the light hair color and white clothes of the country’s population. According to another theory, "White Russia" originally meant "free Rus', independent of the Tatars." In 1840, Nicholas I forbade the official use of the names “White Rus'”, “Belorussia”, “Belarusians”: the latter became the population of the “North-Western Territory”.

Belarusians realized themselves as a special people relatively late. Only in the middle of the 19th century. The Belarusian intelligentsia put forward the idea of Belarusians as a separate people. However, among broad sections of the population, national self-awareness was developed slowly and was finally formed only after the creation in 1919 Belarusian SSR (since 1991 - Republic of Belarus).

In Russia, Belarusians have long lived alongside Russians in the Smolensk and Pskov regions, as well as in Central Russia, the Volga region and Siberia, where they moved after the Russian-Polish war of the 17th century. and subsequent violent partitions of Poland. Many peasants and artisans left for Russia voluntarily - due to the scarcity of Belarusian lands. Large communities of Belarusians formed in Moscow and later in St. Petersburg.

For the 90s. 20th century About 1.2 million Belarusians lived in Russia. Most of them, especially the townspeople, became Russified. By 1989, only a little more than 1/3 recognized Belarusian as their native language. According to a sample survey conducted in St. Petersburg in 1992, 1/2 of the Belarusians surveyed called themselves people of Russian culture, 1/4 - mixed Russian-Belarusian, and only about 10% - Belarusian. Russian Belarusians have a lot of ethnically mixed families - with Russians, Ukrainians, Karelians.

BELARUSIAN CUISINE

In the everyday life of Russian Belarusians, little remains of their traditional culture. The traditions of national cuisine are best preserved.

Belarusians love flour dishes - pancakes, pancakes, pies, prepare various porridges and cereals, kulesh, oatmeal and pea jelly.

Although, as Belarusians say, “usyamu galava is bread,” “second bread” is in big use. potato . There are up to 200 dishes made from it in traditional cuisine! Some dishes should be eaten not with bread, but with cold potatoes. Widespread potato fritters ("pancakes"), potato casserole with lard ("dragon"), crushed potatoes with lard or milk and eggs (“tavkanitsa”, “bulbian egg”).

The favorite meat of Belarusians is pork .

One of the features of the kitchen is "bleached ", i.e. dishes seasoned with milk, most often soups, and preference is given to vegetable dishes stew from rutabaga, pumpkin, carrots .

Belarusian folk art

You can hear their Belarusian folklore in everyday life "volotherapy"( 6 } songs sung at Easter. Belarusian dances such as “hussars”, “myatselitsa”, “kryzhachok” and others, accompanied by “choruses”, are famous.

In folk fine arts, the traditions of patterned weaving and embroidery on bedspreads, wall rugs, tablecloths, and towels are best preserved. The patterns are mostly geometric or floral.

{6 )Name "volochebny" (rite, songs) is associated with the verb "to drag", meaning "to walk, drag, wander." On Easter Sunday, groups of men (8-10 people each) went around all the houses in the village and sang special songs in which they wished the owners family well-being and bountiful harvest.

POLIAKI

About 100 thousand Poles live in Russia. Unlike Ukraine and Belarus, Poland does not have common borders with Russia, and therefore there is no mixed settlement of Poles and Russians. Polish emigrants, as a rule, did not leave their homeland of their own free will. The tsarist government forcibly resettled them after the anti-Russian uprisings of the late 18th and 19th centuries. Some, in search of free land and a better life, voluntarily moved to Siberia. Most Russian Poles live in the Tomsk, Omsk and Irkutsk regions, Altai and both capitals.

There are many Poles among the Russian intelligentsia. Suffice it to name K.E. Tsiolkovsky, geographer A.L. Chekanovsky, linguist and ethnographer E.K. Pekarsky, ethnographer V. Seroshevsky, artist K.S. Malevich, Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky. In the tsarist army, Poles made up more than 10% of the officer corps. There were Polish cultural and educational organizations in Russia, and in 1917 territorial and cultural autonomy arose, which was liquidated by 1937. This strengthened the Russification of the Poles: in 1989, less than 1/3 of Russian Poles called Polish their native language. In the 90s The restoration of Polish cultural and educational organizations began.

Most Russian Poles live scatteredly, mostly in cities. Even those who consider themselves Polish by nationality have preserved almost nothing of Polish everyday culture. This also applies to food, although certain Polish dishes (for example, “bigos” - fresh or sauerkraut stewed with meat or sausage) have become widespread. Poles are distinguished by their religiosity and strictly observe church rituals. This trait has become a feature of national identity.

The South Slavic regions that separated from Austria-Hungary did not represent a strong state union.

The Zagreb People's Council, which declared itself the supreme power on the territory of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, was not a representative body of all South Slavic lands.

In November 1918, part of Dalmatia, Istria and the Croatian Littoral was occupied by Italian, French and Serbian troops under the pretext of disarming the remnants of the Austro-Hungarian troops.

Italy, based on the secret articles of the London Treaty of 1915, was going to annex a number of South Slavic territories of Austria-Hungary. But these lands were also claimed by Serbia, which had long sought to gain access to the Adriatic Sea.

It was supported by France, whose ruling circles, creating a system of military alliances in Eastern Europe, assigned an important role in their plans to the projected large South Slavic state, designed to serve as a counterweight to Italy in the Balkans and one of the anti-Soviet springboards. The Serbian bourgeoisie also used the slogan of uniting the South Slavs to fight against the developing revolutionary movement.

The meeting discussed the issue of uniting the South Slavic regions of the former Austria-Hungary with Serbia. The meeting participants ignored the right of peoples to determine their own state form of government. The behind-the-scenes negotiations that began in Geneva continued after the meeting.

But, on the other hand, the victory of the popular masses was incomplete, and its fruits were benefited primarily by the Serbian big bourgeoisie. The new multinational state did not represent a democratic union of free and equal peoples, but emerged as a militaristic kingdom pursuing a reactionary domestic and foreign policy.

The leading role in the government from the very beginning belonged to representatives of the Serbian big bourgeoisie. The post of head of the cabinet was taken by the leader of the Serbian Radical Party, Stojan Protic, and the deputy prime minister was taken by the chairman of the clerical People's Party of Slovenia, Anton Koroshec.

National contradictions in the South Slavic state became more acute.

The Serbs, who became the dominant nation, made up only half of the country's population. Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Albanians, Hungarians and others had significantly fewer rights than Serbs. Macedonians and Albanians were even prohibited from using their native language in government institutions, schools and the press.

In the established national parliament - the People's Assembly - the Serbian bourgeois parties received the overwhelming majority of mandates.

The South Slavic regions were not a strong state union. The Zagreb People's Assembly, which declared itself the supreme power on the territory of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, was not a representative body of all South Slavic lands.

In November 1918, part of Dalmatia, Istria and the Croatian Littoral region was occupied by Italian, French and Serbian troops under the pretext of disarming the remnants of the Austro-Hungarian troops. Italy, based on the secret articles of the London Treaty of 1915, was going to annex a number of South Slavic territories of Austria-Hungary. But Serbia, which had long sought to gain access to the Adriatic Sea, also laid claim to these lands. It was supported by France, whose ruling circles, creating a system of military alliances in Eastern Europe, in their plans assigned an important role to the projected large South Slavic state, designed to serve as a counterweight to Italy in the Balkans.

In Montenegro, the second independent South Slavic state, supporters of unification with Serbia and other South Slavic lands and supporters of preserving the old order and the Njegosi dynasty fought among themselves.

The Serbian, Bosnian and some other social democratic parties spoke out for the unification of the South Slavic peoples.

Demonstration in Fiume (Rijeka) against the Habsburg monarchy. Photo. 1918

Cola Pašić, Chairman of the Zagreb People's Assembly Anton Korošec and Chairman of the South Slavic Committee Ante Trumbić. The meeting discussed the issue of uniting the South Slavic regions of the former Austria-Hungary with Serbia.

On November 24, 1918, the Zagreb People's Assembly decided to annex the former Austro-Hungarian South Slavic regions to Serbia. On December 1, 1918, the delegation of the People's Assembly presented an address in Belgrade to the Prince Regent of the Kingdom of Serbia, Alexander Karadjordjevic. Montenegro also joined Serbia, where supporters of unification won. On December 4, on behalf of the King of Serbia, the Prince Regent's manifesto on the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from 1929 - Yugoslavia) was published.

This is how the unification of the South Slavic lands into one state took place.

On December 20, 1918, a new government of the kingdom was formed. It included representatives of various

ny national parties that existed on the territory of the new state, including Croatian and Slovenian right-wing socialists. The post of head of the cabinet was taken by the leader of the Serbian radical party, Stojan Protic, and the deputy prime minister was taken by the chairman of the Clerical People's Party of Slovenia, Anton Korošec.

Macedonians and Albanians were even prohibited from using their native language in government institutions, schools and the press.

On December 5, 1918, the day after the publication of the manifesto on the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, unrest occurred among Croatian troops in the main city of Croatia, Zagreb, in protest against the fact that the manifesto did not say a word about the national rights of Croatia. The soldiers' performance was spontaneous and poorly organized. The government quickly suppressed it. At the same time, the leader of the Croatian Peasant Party, Stjepan Radić, demanded the independence of Croatia. Radić was arrested. But this only led to an increase in his popularity.

Clashes between government troops and the population also occurred in several areas of Montenegro and Vojvodina. In Slovenia, the authorities managed to keep the masses from active protests.

Outrage was caused by the monetary reform carried out at the very beginning of 1919. The population of the regions that were formerly part of Austria-Hungary had to pay 4 Austrian crowns per dinar when exchanging old money for Serbian dinars, although their purchasing power was less than one crown. In connection with currency reform, new unrest broke out in Croatia and some other areas.

Due to economic difficulties, strikes occurred in Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Mosta

re, Osijek, Tuale, Maribor and other cities. The general strike of Bosnian workers in February 1919, involving up to 30 thousand people, took place under the slogan of abolishing police censorship, ensuring freedom of workers' organizations and guaranteeing political and civil rights.

The refusal of peasants to pay taxes became widespread. “Every day,” wrote one of the ministers, right-wing socialist Vitomir Korac, “the ministry received more and more news about peasant unrest in Zagorje, Srem, Vojvodina, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Every day we learned about arson attacks on landowners’ estates and shootouts... The situation was becoming very serious.”

The government hastened to carry out monetary reform in February 1919.

On February 25, 1919, a royal manifesto was issued announcing the implementation of agrarian reform and calling on the peasants to remain calm.

According to the reform, landowners were alienated plots in excess of the land maximum, which was quite high - for Croatia, for example, 150 - 400 hectares, for Vojvodina - 300 - 500. For the alienated land, the landowner received full monetary compensation. Peasants freed from dependence were required to pay a ransom.

Only the lands of the Habsburgs, as well as the Austrian and Hungarian magnates, who were declared enemies of the Serbian-Croatian-Slovenian state, were completely alienated.

The implementation of the reform lasted more than 20 years. The peasantry of the national regions (Croats, Macedonians, Slovenes, Albanians, Hungarians) were bypassed in the distribution of land.

The agrarian reform abolished the most outdated form of semi-feudal relations - kmetchina - in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With this form of relationship, the peasants were not the owners of the land, but only used the landowner's land, giving the landowner part of their harvest or working for it.

State independence of Yugoslavia

On June 28, 1389, the army of the medieval Serbian state fell on the Kosovo field, defeated by hordes of troops of the Turkish Sultan Murad I. Since then, the dark night of foreign domination fell over Serbia for many centuries. Only in 1878, after devastating wars with the Turks, did Serbia finally gain independence.

Montenegro defended its independence for a number of centuries in wars against the Ottoman Empire, and only after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. strengthened its statehood.

As for Croatia and Slovenia, they lost their independence back in the Middle Ages. Croatia in 1102 was included in the Kingdom of Hungary on the basis of a personal union, and in the 16th century. Hungary itself fell under Habsburg rule. At the same time, the territories where the Slovenes lived began to belong to the Habsburgs. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was divided into two parts: Austrian, or Cisleithania. and Hungarian, or Transleithania, the conventional borders between which ran along the Leyte River. Both of these parts were formally equal, although in fact Austria had a number of advantages over Hungary. The Austrian part included Slovenia and Istria. Styria, Carinthia, part of Hungarian - Croatia. Slavonia, Dalmatia. The population of these lands was mixed; Serbs, like their brothers in Serbia, professed Orthodoxy, Croats and Slovenes - Catholicism.

In 1868, an additional agreement was signed between Hungary and Croatia - the so-called “Nagodba”, which granted the latter additional rights that were not available in other Yugoslav lands, Croatia retained its historical name “Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia”, received the right to elect a local parliament - Sabor, create your own government headed by the bearer of state power - the ban. Croatia sent its representatives to the Hungarian parliament, had a national banner, state emblem, and local governments. However, it never became an independent state. largely subordinate to Hungary. The crown, in addition to the ban, appointed its representative to Croatia - the governor or royal commissioner, the Hungarian parliament could suspend any law adopted by the Croatian Sabor, and the fiscal apparatus, the gendarmerie and the highest officials consisted only of Hungarians. Croatia did not have its own army and was deprived of the right to conduct international affairs.

Even fewer rights were granted to the Yugoslav areas in Cisleithania. The population of Slovenia, Istria, Styria and other lands elected their local legislative parliaments - Landtags and executive authorities, but were under the supreme control of governors, who were appointed by Vienna. There was inequality in the standards of representation in the Austrian Reichsrat. Slovenia did not actually participate in the work of the Austrian government.

The fate of both the Bosnians and Herzegovinians was not easy. Back in the 15th century. Bosnia and Herzegovina was conquered by the Turks, occupied by Austria-Hungary in 1878, and finally incorporated into it in 1908. The population of Bosnia and Herzegovina (most of it were Turkified Serbs, called “Muslims”) was infringed on their civil rights. These areas were called Reichsland and were under the jurisdiction of both Austria and Hungary. The supreme executive power in the country belonged to the governor-general, who was also the commander of the military district. The competence of local authorities was extremely limited; the provincial parliament - Sabor in Bosnia - was created only in 1910.

Gaining freedom and independence, the revival of statehood became the task of many Yugoslav peoples.

The system of dualism was increasingly becoming obsolete. It hampered the development of the productive forces and caused discontent among the Yugoslav political parties. Only the bloc that ruled in Croatia - the Croatian-Serbian coalition - continued to support the agreement of 1868. The remaining parties advocated a revision of this system, leaning towards trialism. those. to grant the Yugoslav territories equal rights with Austria and Hungary. These demands were half-hearted, since the parties of the Yugoslav lands did not raise the issue of creating an independent state, limiting themselves to its solution within the framework of the Habsburg monarchy. The social democratic parties of Croatia, Slavonia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina also took reformist positions. Their program provisions also did not go further than demands for the expansion of cultural and national autonomy of the Yugoslav territories.

Significant changes to the political programs of the Yugoslav parties began to be made only during the First World War, which deepened the crisis of the dualistic system.

Formation of the Yugoslav state in 1914-1918

The First World War marked the beginning of a new, turning point in history. These events were not spared by the Balkan states, which relatively recently emerged from the Turkish yoke and also became enemies. Bulgaria joined the Central Coalition. Romania and Greece announced their continued neutrality. Serbia and Montenegro took the side of the Entente countries. Serbia was attacked by Austria-Hungary. Under these circumstances, Serbia began to wage a liberation struggle to maintain its independence. On December 7, 1914, she adopted the Declaration of Nis, thereby declaring her claims to the unifying center of all Slavs under the rule of Austria-Hungary. But the declaration was not officially recognized by the Entente countries, including Russia.

There were defeatist sentiments among the ruling circles of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Count Ottokar Czernin, the future first minister and minister of foreign affairs (1916-1918), considered entering the war “suicide.” “It is impossible to foresee,” he wrote, “what form the collapse of the monarchy would have taken if war had been avoided. But it would undoubtedly have been less terrible. We were doomed to death and had to die. But we could choose the type of death , and we chose the most painful death."

Many people shared a similar point. One of the leading parties in Croatia, the Croatian Party of Law of Ante Starcevic, already in the fall of 1914 came up with a proposal to conclude a truce, set out in the party newspaper “Hrvat”, which asked the question: does Austria-Hungary need conquests, for which they will have to pay with the blood of millions of people ? There were similar sentiments among the intelligentsia of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia.

Great concern in Austria-Hungary was caused by the defeat of its troops in December 1914 from the Serbs in the Battle of the Kolubara River. In these battles, the Austro-Hungarian troops lost almost a third of their strength. “During the Battle of Kolubara,” wrote the English newspaper “Morning Post,” “entire battalions of Austro-Hungarian troops refused to fight.” There were cases when troops consisting of Hungarian Serbs did not go into battle even under the threat of execution. “The Austrians,” wrote Chargé d’Affaires of Russia in Serbia V.N. Shtrandtman, “shot their hastily retreating units with artillery fire.” The Hungarian publicist Magyar Lajos wrote that already in the fall of 1914, a “psychological breakdown” occurred in the Austro-Hungarian troops; the successes of Serbian and Russian weapons dispelled the myth about the possibility of an easy victory for the imperial army. Military defeats of the Austro-Hungarian forces followed one after another. In 1916, they suffered crushing losses during the Brusilov offensive. In 1917, up to 3 million soldiers and officers of the Austro-Hungarian army were captured in Russian, and a significant part surrendered voluntarily. Temporary successes of the Central Coalition at the end of 1915 on the Serbian front did not smooth out the general impression of the weakness of the armed forces of the Danube Empire: they were achieved thanks to German troops.

For the first time during the war years, some Yugoslav political and public figures placed their bets on the victory of the Entente. Two centers of Yugoslav emigration were established in Rome (Italy) and Nis (Serbia). Then the Yugoslav Committee was formed on the basis of the Roman center. Having moved to London, he began to conduct active anti-Austrian propaganda. The committee, headed by a prominent Croatian public figure, Dr. Ante Trumbić, founded branches in Switzerland, Russia, France and the Americas. He established connections with political parties both in Austria-Hungary itself and with the Serbian government. The Committee proclaimed the unity of the three Yugoslav peoples - Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, calling them one nation with three names, and spoke in favor of their unification outside the framework of the Habsburg Empire. The Yugoslav parties in Austria-Hungary itself maintained their previous positions of preserving the monarchy, without raising their demands above territorial-national autonomy.

There was no unity within the Yugoslav Committee itself regarding the post-war future of the Yugoslav lands. But the committee leaders managed to jointly develop a program for the future state based on the principles of federalism.

Initially, the activities of the committee by the Entente countries and the Serbian government were regarded as a charitable, propaganda organization of Yugoslav emigrants from Austria-Hungary and were in alliance with the Serbian government. But the military situation in Serbia made changes in the relationship between the Serbian royal government and the emigrant Yugoslav Committee of Ante Trumbić, which began to seek official recognition from the Entente powers as a representative body of all Yugoslav peoples.

Ante Trumbić sent a memorandum to the English and French governments in which he questioned the legitimacy of the Niš Declaration of the Serbian Assembly of December 7, 1914, arguing that Serbia, having lost the war, no longer has grounds to claim the sole role of a unifier of the South Slavic peoples. Croatia, not Serbia, has more reason to become such a center. It is more economically developed than Serbia, has a more ancient culture, and is a civilized parliamentary state. “The capital of the future Yugoslavia should be Zagreb, not Belgrade,” he argued.

This contradicted the Great Serbian aspirations of the Serbian ruling circles and personally Nikola Pasic and Prince Regent Alexander. In his first public speech, delivered at a parade of Serbian troops, in which he emphasized the idea of creating Greater Serbia: “We,” the regent said, “will fight for Greater Serbia, which unites all Serbs and Yugoslavs.”

It is quite natural that a future state can be created under the condition of collapse. This did not suit the financial circles of London and Paris, which were connected with the banking houses of Vienna. The governments under their influence also did not consider the situation of the collapse of the “patchwork empire”. This was also explained by the fact that Western countries saw Austria-Hungary as a bastion in the east of Europe against the export of revolution from Soviet Russia, and until 1917 they did not want it to strengthen in the Balkans. They are trying to knock Austria-Hungary out of the Central Coalition and thereby deal directly with Germany. On January 5, 1918, British Prime Minister D. Lloyd George said at the British Trade Union Congress: “The collapse of Austria-Hungary does not correspond to our plans.” The French government was more active than others in taking the same position. Until the end of the war, she postponed the decision to create a Yugoslav state.

The new Emperor Charles I, in the face of obvious disaster, was looking for ways to conclude a separate peace with the Entente. The odious Hungarian Prime Minister Count István Tisza was dismissed. In his speech from the throne in parliament (Reichsrat) on May 30, 1917, the emperor announced the need for reforms. Following him were the leaders of the national movements of Austria-Hungary. On behalf of the Yugoslav faction (Yugoslav Club), Slovenian MP Anton Koroshec made a speech called the May Declaration. He proclaimed the unification into a single state organism of all the Yugoslav lands that were part of Austria-Hungary. There was no talk of secession from the empire and the creation of Yugoslavia, but the promulgation of the declaration caused a wide response. The declaration was supported by the Catholic Church in Slovenia and Croatia, the Serbian Metropolitan of Sarajevo, and a number of Yugoslav parties and organizations.

With the promulgation of the May Declaration, the final period of the struggle between the two currents actually began. Both advocated the unification of all Yugoslav lands of Austria-Hungary into a single state-administrative entity, but some politicians saw this unification as part of Austria-Hungary, others as part of federal Yugoslavia. The peak of the struggle came in 1917-1918, when the Habsburg Empire was approaching destruction.

The February Revolution in Russia had a great influence on these parties. The ruling circles of Austria-Hungary were shocked and frightened by the ease of destruction of the Russian monarchy. The emperor himself was alarmed. The Governor-General of Bosnia and Herzegovina, General Stefan Sarkotic, wrote in his diary on March 19, 1917: “Yesterday I visited the young emperor, who said that thoughts about peace occupy him day and night... Turning to a conversation about the Russian revolution, he said, which evaluates it as an event whose consequences are difficult to foresee." “The Russian revolution,” Chernin stated in a secret report to Karl Habsburg on April 12, “is influencing our Slavs.”

Even the most conservative leaders of the Yugoslav parties were forced to admit that after the overthrow of tsarism in Russia, it became impossible to govern the country using old methods. “In our time,” stated one of the functionaries of the Slovenian People’s Party (clerics), Ljubljana Bishop Anton Jeglic Bonaventura, “the ranks of the democratic trend are growing, the influence of the Russian revolution is increasing... We need to change our old methods.” Eglich noted that the program position of the Russian Provisional Government on granting peoples the right to self-determination had a great influence on the Yugoslavs. The idea of separatism, he said, could be taken advantage of by “Serbian propaganda.” Jeglic called for increased autonomy for Slovenia and other national states of Austria-Hungary.

Fundamental changes in the position of the Yugoslav parties of Austria-Hungary began only at the very end of the war.

Complex processes also took place in another part of the Yugoslav political world - in the Serbian government in exile. At the end of 1916, the internal crisis in the Serbian government worsened due to the failure of the offensive on the Soloninsky front and the beginning of internal confrontation between Nikola Pasic and regent Alexander. Prince Alexander relied on a narrow layer of officers, called the “White Hand” in contrast to the Black Hand organization, and Pasic did not want to share power with the green youth. The crisis arose through the fault of Pašić, since he was accustomed to completely rule the country under Peter I and without looking back at the demands of the People's Assembly. Pasic had to make concessions. The officers' organization "Black Hand" went into opposition.

After the February Revolution in Russia, Serbia greatly undermined its position in the Entente camp. Serbia lost its traditional foreign policy support in the person of the tsarist government, and the subsequent October coup in Petrograd and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks actually left Serbia alone with Europe.

In this situation, the Serbian ruling circles entered into serious negotiations with the Yugoslav Committee. In mid-July 1917, a meeting took place between Prime Minister Nikola Pasic and representatives of the Yugoslav Committee. Initially, the positions of the parties were very different: Nikola Pasic and other Serbian nationalists adhered to the position of creating a “Greater Serbia”, and the Yugoslav Committee was in favor of a federal Yugoslavia. But the foreign policy situation dictated the need for a compromise: no one in the world is going to look after the interests of the South Slavs, and they have to rely only on themselves.

Long and difficult negotiations ended with the signing of the Declaration of Corfu on July 20, 1917. It said that the future state - the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes - would include all the Slavic lands of Austria-Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro. The Constitution of the country should be developed by the Constituent Assembly, but it was deliberately decided that the new state would be a constitutional monarchy led by the Karageorgievich dynasty, and not a federation.

The Corfu Declaration was based on the principle of respect for constitutional rights and political freedoms and the complete equality of the three peoples - Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and recognized freedom of religion: Orthodox. Catholic and Muslim (for Turkified Serbs). According to the declaration, the supreme legislative power was exercised by the national parliament - the People's Assembly, elected by the entire population of the country on the basis of equal and universal suffrage by direct and secret ballot. Executive power, according to the declaration, belonged to the government, responsible to the monarch, and locally to self-government bodies.

The Declaration of Corfu, however, was missing a number of important provisions. So. it addressed the issue of the rights of national minorities - Macedonians, Albanians, Hungarians and other peoples. Nothing was said about the competence of local governments; there was no clause on the rights of parliaments and governments of Croatia, Slovenia, Dalmatia and other national regions. The document did not clarify the provisions on the prerogatives of the monarch, and the question of forming the legislative branch was postponed until the convening of the Constituent Assembly.

The compromise nature of the Corfu Declaration is explained by the unequal and precarious position in which both sides were: the Serbian government in exile had an army, the Yugoslav Committee had certain financial resources and the support of Yugoslav emigrants and some politicians in Austria-Hungary. But both sides were suspended in the air, because... the war was not over yet and its outcome was not yet clear and therefore they needed each other. But at the same time, the advantage was on the side of the Serbian government. The government, although in exile, was still officially recognized by the Entente powers as a full ally and had real military force. That is why the Great Serbian sentiments prevailed in the declaration and this was reflected in the subsequent history of interwar Yugoslavia.

Despite the controversial nature of the declaration, it caused a wave of enthusiasm among all Yugoslav peoples. The only loser was the Montenegrin royal dynasty - from now on, King Nicholas of Montenegro remained a king without a kingdom. Back in March 1917, the emigrant Montenegrin Committee of National Salvation was created in Paris, which expressed solidarity with the principles of the Corfu Declaration. The Montenegrin Committee established close ties with the Yugoslav Committee and the Serbian government. In response, the king declared all supporters of the Corfu Declaration “traitors.”

In the summer of 1918, temporary local governments began to emerge on an inter-party basis in the South Slavic provinces of the empire - people's councils. Their goal was to unite all the South Slavic lands of Austria-Hungary into one state. On October 5, 1918, members of the leading parties in Croatia, Slovenia and other regions formed the Central People's Assembly in Zagreb. Its chairman was Anton Koroshec, leader of the Slovenian People's Party. The Veche declared itself to be the representative of all South Slavs in Austria-Hungary. On October 29, 1918, the People's Assembly announced the withdrawal of all South Slavic provinces from Austria-Hungary and the formation of an independent State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. It included Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slavonia, Vojvodina and Dalmatia. Its government was the Central People's Assembly in Zagreb.

That. 2 centers arose that claimed to unite all Yugoslav lands - Zagreb and Belgrade. Belgrade put forward the slogan of uniting all South Slavs with Serbia. Serbia had the authority of a long-term stronghold of the liberation movement in the Balkans. The assemblies of Vojvodina and Montenegro (where King Nikola I Njegos was overthrown) expressed a desire to unite with Serbia. There was also a threat of Italian intervention in the Balkans. France decided to support Serbia because a large South Slavic state could become a counterweight to Italy in the Balkans. During negotiations between representatives of the Serbian government, the Yugoslav Committee and the Central People's Assembly in November 1918, a decision was made to unite all South Slavic lands with Serbia. On November 24, 1918, the People's Assembly in Zagreb decided on the entry of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs into the Kingdom of Serbia. On December 1, 1918, a corresponding appeal was submitted to Belgrade. On December 4, Prince Regent Alexander, on behalf of the Serbian king, issued a manifesto announcing the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The issue of the political and administrative structure of the new state was to be decided by the Constituent Assembly.

That. Almost all Yugoslav lands (except for part of Carinthia, divided between Italy and Austria) were united under the scepter of the Serbian Karadjordjevic dynasty. The positive outcome of this event was the liberation from centuries-old Austro-Hungarian rule. However, the new state was not federal, but unitary, where Serbia played a decisive role, which caused tension in national relations. The first SHS government was created on December 20, 1918 and was of a compromise nature: it was headed by one of the leaders of the Serbian Radical Party, Stojan Protić, Anton Korošec became Deputy Prime Minister, and Ante Trumbić became Minister of Foreign Affairs.

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