Post-WW1 division of Bosnia and Herzegovina

How would Bosnia and Herzegovina be divided?

  • Use pre-existing kreise: Serbs get Banjaluka, Donja Tuzla, and Sarajevo while Croats get the rest

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • Same as the first choice, but Serbs also get the bezirke of Travnik, Zenica, and Zepce

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • Same as the second, but Serbs get some of Mostar and/or Bihac

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • Serbs only get the kreise of Banjaluka and Donja Tuzla, Croats get everything else

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Same as above but Serbs don't even get entirety of Banjaluka and Donja Tuzla

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Use rivers: Serbs get everything east of the Vrbas and Neretya river

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Use rivers: Serbs get everything east of the Sana and Neretva river

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other (Please explain)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    6

BigBlueBox

Banned
Let's say that at the end of World War 1, there is no Yugoslavia and Serbia doesn't get Slovenia or Croatia. Maybe this is because the Entente decides that Yugoslavia is a bad idea and Croatia should be independent, or Austria-Hungary has a separate peace earlier in the war and somehow manages to stick together and becomes Trialist. The PoD isn't the main issue here. The question is: How would Bosnia and Herzegovina be divided between the Serbs and Croats? Let's assume that the Entente gives some weight to the notion of self-determination, but also values nice borders, balance of power, and geopolitics. Let's also assume that while the Entente ideally wants borders that will promote longstanding peace and stability without provoking Croat irredentism, it leans in favor of the Serbs; the Entente also doesn't care much what Muslim Bosniaks want. How would the border being Greater Serbia and the Croat state be drawn? Serbia is still uniting with Montenegro it doesn't need to get coastal access from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but would still appreciate it anyways.
bosnia-herzegovina-river-map.gif

800px-Administrativna_podjela_BiH_1895._godine.png

I've attached the following two maps. The first is a geographic map of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the second is an administrative map of Bosnia and Herzegovina while it was under A-H rule. The borders of the A-H administrative units were copied from the Ottomans. The bold black lines represent kreise, the lighter grey lines represent bezirke. It seems that the southern part of the Mostar kreise became part of SR Croatia and independent Croatia OTL, but that doesn't necessarily have to happen TTL.
 
Last edited:
Assuming we go Wilsonian couldn't we just have elections for the locals to decide:

a) Serbia
b) Croatia
c) Independent

Then fudge the boundaries for geographic realities. I would suspect the bezirke adjacent to Serbia would probably end up with Serbia. While the rest would end up independent to decide.

Question: Would the substantial muslim population prefer Croatia or Serbia?
 
Let's say that at the end of World War 1, there is no Yugoslavia and Serbia doesn't get Slovenia or Croatia. Maybe this is because the Entente decides that Yugoslavia is a bad idea and Croatia should be independent, or Austria-Hungary has a separate peace earlier in the war and somehow manages to stick together and becomes Trialist. The PoD isn't the main issue here. The question is: How would Bosnia and Herzegovina be divided between the Serbs and Croats? Let's assume that the Entente gives some weight to the notion of self-determination, but also values nice borders, balance of power, and geopolitics. Let's also assume that while the Entente ideally wants borders that will promote longstanding peace and stability without provoking Croat irredentism, it leans in favor of the Serbs; the Entente also doesn't care much what Muslim Bosniaks want. How would the border being Greater Serbia and the Croat state be drawn? Serbia is still uniting with Montenegro it doesn't need to get coastal access from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but would still appreciate it anyways.
bosnia-herzegovina-river-map.gif

800px-Administrativna_podjela_BiH_1895._godine.png

I've attached the following two maps. The first is a geographic map of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the second is an administrative map of Bosnia and Herzegovina while it was under A-H rule. The borders of the A-H administrative units were copied from the Ottomans. The bold black lines represent kreise, the lighter grey lines represent bezirke. It seems that the southern part of the Mostar kreise became part of SR Croatia and independent Croatia OTL, but that doesn't necessarily have to happen TTL.

Serbs get everything, with or without a treaty. The army will be there anyway and I don't see Croatia keeping the Serbs away when A-H falls apart (unless the Bosnian Muslims overwhelmingly support Croatia). I can't see the allies intervening in favor Croatia when there is more region to intervene.

It would be surprising for Serbia not even trying to get Krajina back.
 
42 of the 54 counties of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared themselves annexed to the Kingdom of Serbia in 1918. So if someone was particularly interested in enforcing Wilsonian principles, you could go by county-level administrative divisions and give the other 12 counties to Croatia (they were all in the southwest anyway, IIRC).
 
Top