Thread by @zkusovac

THREAD #OTD in 1918 elected representatives from South Slav lands of former Austria-Hungary address non-elected King of #Serbia expressing their desire to create a joint state, initially under lame name of Kingdom of #Serbs, #Croats & #Slovenes (SHS), later renamed #Yugoslavia /2

2/ An archetypical #Balkans business: well-intended, ill prepared, poorly executed. All sides try to cheat & gain advantage over their partners, with biggest & strongest imposing their will at force whenever they can, at same time paying lip service to equality and brotherhood /3

3/ So begin lies, manipulations & exploitation of good intentions for selfish means. The only politician with a vision who could turn that mess into a sort-of-modern state is assassinated in parliament, precisely for calling to stop endless retelling of myths & move forward /4

4/ King Alexander, indecisive, rigid, unable to raise his over basest instincts, responds by suspending constitution, abolishing fledgling democracy & ruling as dictator, quite incapable. For trying to impose a new Yugoslav nation he is murdered by a coalition of fascists /5

5/ Throne goes to teenage son (complete idiot, as he repeatedly demonstrates when proclaimed king and given the crumbling country to rule over) & toothless regency. With #WWII looming unitarist #Serbs finaly make concessions to federalist #Croats but too little too late: /6

6/ #Yugoslavia falls apart under German attack in 17 days: armed forces are as inefficient and insincere as the state eaten from within; many soldiers do not see morally & politically corrupt country as worth defending. Country is chopped up & pro-Nazi quisling regimes pop up /7

7/ It is resurected in war by Communists who, despite their ideological love for Stalin, prove to be patriots too. Against all odds they bravely fight Nazis & Quislings of all sorts, get recognized by Allies, liberate the country and restore it on a just, federal, basis. /8

8/ Only to have it eventually destroyed from within by a combination of inability of rigid Communists to embrace changes and allow democracy & free market and the desire of petty nationalist autocrats to unleash and exploit nationalist madness to stay in power at all cost. /9

9/ Yugoslav history repeats itself: again most responsibility lays with biggest nation that again refuses to understand desires and fears of others, pushing Yugoslavia to its final demise.
Before you even think of saying it: idea is dead and buried, thankfully and justly. END

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