Совјетски савез и југословенско-аустријски територијални спор после Другог светског рата
The Soviet Union and the Yugoslav-Austrian Territorial Dispute After WWII

Author(s): Petar Dragišić
Subject(s): Political history, International relations/trade, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Geopolitics
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: Yugoslavia; Austria; Koruška; Soviet Union; territorial dispute;
Summary/Abstract: One of the key elements of the Yugoslav foreign policy during the first years after WWII was the attempt of the new Yugoslav authorities to strengthen their position in the region and to expand their territory at the expense of the neighboring countries. Already in the last phase of the war Yugoslavia raised territorial claims against Austria. Yugoslavia was particularly interested in annexing parts of Carinthia, justifying territorial demands by the fact that a larger number of members of the Slovenian national minority had lived there. The Yugoslav attempt to put the Allies before a fait accompli by invading Carinthia in the last phase of the war, failed. While the Soviet side was willing to accept the participation of Yugoslav troops in the occupation of Austria, the Western Allies insisted on withdrawal of the Yugoslav army from the occupied territories in Austria. In its diplomatic campaign to annex the border parts of Austria the Yugoslav regime enjoyed the support of the Soviet Union. Unlike the diplomatic representatives of the Western powers, the Soviet representatives lent their support to the Yugoslav territorial demands against Austria at the conferences on the peace treaty with Austria in 1947 and 1948. The Soviet attitude changed after the Resolution of the Informbuerau. Already in mid-1949 the Soviet diplomacy withheld its further support to Yugoslav claims against Austria, which led to the breakdown of the Austrian policy of the Yugoslav regime and eventually opened the way to the conclusion of the Austrian State Treaty.

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