ЗНАЧАЈ ДУНАВА И УЛОГА РЕЧНЕ РАТНЕ ФЛОТИЛЕ ЈУГОСЛОВЕНСКЕ ДРЖАВЕ (1918‒1953)
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DANUBE RIVER AND THE ROLE OF THE YUGOSLAV RIVER FLOTILLA (1918–1953)

Summary/Abstract: The part of the Danube within the region of Southeast Europe was often at the center of numerous conflicts and military confrontations during both world wars, as well as the subject of intelligence activities of foreign powers. Therefore, the existence of a modern and strong River Flotilla was of great importance for the Yugoslav state and the defence of its vital interests. The subject of this research is the development of the Yugoslav River Flotilla on the Danube river from the end of the First World War to 1953, analyzing the contents of available literature and documents, while the main aim is to learn whether the investment in equipping and strengthening this unit was comparable to the strategic importance that the Danube had for the great European powers of that time, as well as for other countries in the Danube basin region, but above all for the Yugoslav State. The basic research question is whether the River Flotilla was given strategic importance in terms of equipment and technical condition of ships, considering the challenges that this unit was facing with. The geographical position of the Danube puts it among the most important geopolitical and strategic points on our continent. Through the events in the First and Second World War, history has shown that the Danube played a very important role in combat operations and that the activities of the River Flotillas influenced the further war outcomes. There is no doubt that the Yugoslav State, in the context of the opportunities provided by the Danube with all its tributaries, needed a developed and modern river fleet. However, that did not happen, considering the fact that for the most of the time from the end of the First World War, the renewal of ships and other important means was out of the spot, comparing it to naval units. The conclusion might be that investing in the River Flotilla was inversely proportional to the strategic importance that the Danube had, especially in crucial moments.

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