alternatehistory.com

This is my alternate history of how a greater Yugoslavia could have been created following World War II.

Greater Yugoslavia would have consisted of four republics:

1. Slovenia (capital Ljubljana)
2. Croatia (capital Zagreb)
3. Serbia (capital Belgrade)
4. Bulgaria (capital Sofia)

These four republics would correspond to the four constituent nations of Yugoslavia:

1. Slovenians
2. Croatians
3. Serbians
4. Bulgarians

Yugoslavia would also consist of seven autonomous provinces:

1. Istria (capital Trst)
2. Dalmatia (capital Split)
3. Bosnia (capital Sarajevo)
4. Vojvodina (capital Novi Sad)
5. Montenegro (capital Podgorica)
6. Macedonia (capital Skopje)
7. Rumelia (capital Plovdiv)

Each autonomous province was considered constitutionally to be part of one of the republics. I will list below which provinces belonged to which republic with my arguments as to why I made that decision

1. Istria was an autonomous province of Slovenia

Istria had been a part of Italy before WWII and had a large Italian minority although the majority of the population was Slavic. After WWII Tito's Partisans were able to incorporate the province into Yugoslavia and secure the city of Trieste (Trst) as its capital. The reason it was made an autonomous province within Slovenia was because 1) Slovenia lacked access to the sea and this would have satisfied Slovenian nationalists who always wanted a coastline, 2) it helped incorporate the large Italian majority and ease their fears of being seperated from their home country 3) although the province had a large Croat and Serb population there had always been a strong sense of local identity among the inhabitants and finally 4) Tito did not want the republican boundaries to correspond to national lines. If Slovenia ever wanted to secede from Yugoslavia, it would never be able to do so with Istria due to the Croat and Italian population and would therefore likely back of secessionist demands knowing it would lose its autonomous province and territory.

2. Dalmatia was an autonomous province of Croatia

Although Dalmatia had a Croat majority, the province had for most of its history never been a part of Croatia. In 1815 it was ceded by the Republic of Venice to the Austrian half of the Habsburg Monarchy, unlike Croatia which was a part of Hungary. Although the inhabitants considered themselves Croats, there was a strong regional identification as Dalmatians, similar to that of Montenegro in relation to Serbia. Therefore Dalmatia was made an autonomous province of the republic of Croatia with its capital in Split.

3. Bosnia was an autonomous province of Serbia

Many people will not agree with this decision of mine, however I will list my arguments anyway and welcome any criticism. Bosnia was a very complicated situation because 1) it contained a large Muslim population consisting of Slavs who had converted to Islam during Turkish rule and 2) Serbia and Croatia had always rivals each other over who the province legitimately belonged to. Croats argued that the Muslims of Bosnia were Croats who had converted to Islam while Serbs claimed them as Serbs. There are a number of reasons why Bosnia was included as an autonomous province of Serbia: 1) The Serbs formed a majority in the province before WWII and experienced mass slaughter at the hands of the Ustashe who ended up losing the war. If Ante Pavelic had won the war then it would have made sense to include Bosnia within Croatia, however since he lost Croatia in many ways lost its claims to the area. 2) The majority of Tito's Partisans were in fact Serbs from Bosnia who were fleeing from the Ustashe and since they had such a huge role to play in the Partisan victory, Tito rewarded them by attaching Bosnia to Serbia, a dream Serbs had nurtured ever since the Berlin Congress of 1878 when Bosnia was occupied by Austro-Hungary instead of included in an independent Serbia. Finally, because Serbia lacked a large coastline, the area of Dubrovnik and what had traditionally part of the Mljet republic was attached to Bosnia as its Herzegovin coast. Because Bosnia was a province of Serbia, this gave Serbia a much needed coastline, although it was still the smallest coast of all the other republics.

4. Montenegro was an autonomous province of Serbia

Serbia's second autonomous province was Montenegro which had traditionally been populated by Serbs but because of the region's history of independent statehood was granted provincial status. However, in my version of history, Montenegro's territory was greatly expanded to include 1.) all of the Sandzhak including the city of Novi Pazar 2) all of Metohija with cities like Pec and Prizren. These areas had before 1913 actually been a part of the Kingdom of Montenegro so it made sense that they would be made part of the province's territory. And 3) Montenegro included all of Kosovo including the cities of Pristina, Gnjilane, K. Mitrovica. These three areas (Sandzak, Metohija, and Kosovo) were traditionally known as "old serbia" before WWII. The region of Kosovo however had a majority Albanian population which had always been restive in the interwar years. By making these areas a part of Montenegro the Yugoslav authorities hoped that it would dilute the Albanian majority in the area and make it harder for them to pursue secession. It also pleased Montenegrins who although they considered themselves Serbs, were very happy to be given an autonomous province they could consider as their own country, and be given such an expanded territory.

5. Vojvodina was an autonomous province of Serbia

Serbia's third autonomous province was Vojvodina which had belonged to Austria-Hungary before the WWI but voted to join Serbia in 1918. It had a majority Serbian population, however to incorporate the large Hungarian minority it was given autonomous status. It was also necessary to create a third province within Serbia in order to dilute the influence of Serbs in the country as a whole and balance out the interests of Serbs Bulgars Croats and Slovenes with each other

6. Macedonia was an autonomous province of Bulgaria

Similar to the way Bosnia had always been contested between Serbs and Croats, Macedonia had always been contested between Bulgarians and Serbs. Bulgaria had annexed the area during WWII to create a greater Bulgaria, however following the Axis defeat and the victory of partisans, the region was returned to Yugoslavia. However, Tito faced a dilemma when it came to Macedonia, in particular because his ultimate desire was to have Bulgaria join the Yugoslav federation and finally achieve the complete unification of the South Slavs or "Yugoslav" peoples. Since Bulgarians were Slavs as well, he wanted to incorporate Bulgaria into his Greater Yugoslavia. However, Bulgaria had been an independent state since almost 1885 and had frequently gone to war with Serbs and Yugoslavia over Macedonia and would be reluctant to give up its sovereignty. So Tito decided the best way to finally unite all the South Slavs would be to make Macedonia an autonomous province of Bulgaria in exchange for Bulgaria's entry into Yugoslavia. This satisfied the Bulgarians dream of finally creating a Greater Bulgaria, and also satisfied Tito's wish of uniting all the Yugoslavs. And although Serbs were in many ways dissatisfied with the loss of what they considered "South Serbia" the huge territorial gains they made by being given Bosnia was to most considered a fair deal.

7. Rumelia was an autonomous province of Bulgaria

Rumelia was given autonomous status within Bulgaria because 1) the region had a large Turkish minority and this was a way to appease their seperatism and integrate them into the Yugoslav state. 2) including the whole of Bulgaria into Yugoslavia as a unified republic would have made it territorially too large and powerful when compared to the other republics and provinces giving it the largest population and territory. It was therefore necessary for Tito to reduce the size of Bulgaria in order to equal it out with the rest of the republics. 3) Historically Rumelia had been a seperate region within the Ottoman Empire all the way until 1908 when Bulgaria formally declared its independence. Therefore there was a historical and regional precedent to base a province out of it.

So, there you go. The Yugoslav federation would have consisted of four republics and seven autonomous provinces as shown below. I've calculated what the population would have been today for the country and its republics/provinces using the 1991 census for Yugoslavia and the 1992 census for Bulgaria. Here it is:

Yugoslavia: 32,712,876

Republic of Serbia: 14,897,408
-Serbia Proper: 5,551,057
-Province of Bosnia: 4,503,382
-Province of Montenegro: 2,829,080
-Province of Vojvodina: 2,013,889

Republic of Bulgaria: 10,982,352
-Bulgaria Proper: 5,450,931
-Province of Rumelia: 3,497,457
-Province of Macedonia: 2,033,964

Republic of Croatia: 4,130,460
-Croatia Proper: 3,204,052
- Province of Dalmatia: 926,408

Republic of Slovenia: 2,702,656
-Slovenia Proper: 1,766,284
-Province of Istria: 936,372


I've gotten tired of writing so anyone who actually reads this and finds it interesting I'd love to hear your opinion and debate any issues you have. I'll write more later if I get a good response.
Top