What if in the aftermath of World War I, Yugoslavia was never created and instead the minorities (Bosnians, Serbs, Croatians, etc) received their own individual countries?
The problem is that they'd be relatively weak countries and become easy prey to hungry neighbors. Why Croats and Slovenes were willing to gie the Yugoslav idea under Serbia a shot, while sceptical about the outcome, was exactly because of this. Yes, Yugoslavia ended up being nothing like it was supposed to, and everything they feared. But how long could a Croatian nation resist Italian ambitions in Dalmatia. Or a Slovene nation resist being partitioned by it's neighbors?What if in the aftermath of World War I, Yugoslavia was never created and instead the minorities (Bosnians, Serbs, Croatians, etc) received their own individual countries?
I didn't know that was why the Croats and Slovenes were willing to give Yugoslavia a shot. However, I was going to suggest that the POD would be a different dissolution of Austria-Hungary, with Serbia annexing Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy Dalmatia (in addition to its OTL gains) and the rest remaining with the rumps of Austria and Hungary, which is roughly the last two sentences of the above quote brought forward to 1919.The problem is that they'd be relatively weak countries and become easy prey to hungry neighbors. Why Croats and Slovenes were willing to gie the Yugoslav idea under Serbia a shot, while sceptical about the outcome, was exactly because of this. Yes, Yugoslavia ended up being nothing like it was supposed to, and everything they feared. But how long could a Croatian nation resist Italian ambitions in Dalmatia. Or a Slovene nation resist being partitioned by it's neighbors?