The Yugoslav Movement
The Yugoslav Movement

Author(s): Robert J. Kerner
Subject(s): 19th Century, Period(s) of Nation Building, Between Berlin Congress and WW I
Published by: CEEOL Digital Reproductions / Collections
Keywords: Yugoslav unification; Balkan Union;
Summary/Abstract: The Yugoslavs entered their Balkan home from the direction of the Carpathians in the sixth and seventh centuries. Probably speaking more than one dialect of Slavic even then they later became divided geographically in religion and in written language, as well as in economic, social, and cultural life. Historically, they had been forced to live under Magyar, Italian, German, and Turkish overlords, each of whom left a legacy of disunion and chaos in which the guiding principle had been the golden rule of imperialism: divide and rule. It is therefore nothing short of miraculous that the movement for unification was achieved as early as 1918. With the destruction of Yugoslavia in 1941 at the hands of Germans, Italians, Magyars, and Bulgars, Yugoslav unity again became the ideal toward which the nation turned.

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