considered to be a direct offspring of the resolutions following the First World War. one of Woodrow Wilson's babies, former Yugoslavia will later be destroyed by it's founding ideas; self-determination. this paper will focus on the trials and tribulations of one of the six nations forming the state; the Croats. Created in 1918 ex-Yugoslavia is the fusion of Slovenes, Bosnians, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Serbs and Croats. For the Western World, the creation of Yugoslavia was a huge historical step towards peace. History as a witness, the mix of different nations in the same state is a invitation for conflict. One of the more important and destructive relationship, or lack their of, was the Serb-Croat relations. "The most perplexing problem was that of Serb-Croat relations. the latent distrust of Serbs among the Croats, systematically cultivated and spread by enemies of South Slav unification, was one of the burdens of the past." (Dragnich,

57) the main fear was the one of domination of one another. From the Croatian Peasant Party to the Ustasha, nationalistic attitudes was very common among the Croats and leaders learned, throughout the years, that it was not a force to reckon with. first and foremost it is essential to realize that the problem between the two nations didn't start with the creation of the unified state by lots earlier. in order to really understand the extent o f damages the Serb-Croat relation caused Former Yugoslavia it is important to trace down its historical roots. In 1389, the Serbian state disappeared in a battle against the Ottoman empire and were forced to move into the neighboring states. Since the Serbs were from the same ethnic background and spoke relatively the same language as the Croats, it was obvious that the major part of the Serbian refugees would seek shelter in Croat lands. the Croats weren’t very pleased with the arrangements and the Serbs felt it during the following years. “The Moslem occupation lasted for five centuries: the Serbian refugees had to settle permanently in the regions inhabited by the Croats and which were part of the of the Austrian Monarchy. Born under those conditions, the Serbo-Croatian has been drown out until today.” (Lavergne, 6) following the persecutions and deportations, the nations were lost and none of them were living in their respective territories. for example, Albanians were living in Serbian territory and the Serbs in Croatian lands. “The awakening of Nationalism in Europe in the course of the nineteenth century, despite the aspiration towards Liberalism ,took, in Croatia, the short sighted form of oppression against the Serbs.” (Lavergne 7) the main claim of Croatian nationalism was the historical claim of territory. it is important to point out that the relationship between the two nations didn’t go sour by itself but was worsened by exterior forces. From the influence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the Nazi occupation of former Yugoslavia, exterior dominator forces were also to blame for the situation. stirring up trouble for territorial or religious expansions and not realizing the consequences. “ Vienna incited the Catholics against the Orthodox Serbs in order to contain Serbian expansion and to carry into effect her own policy which was revealed by the occupation and annexation of the province.” (Lavergne 9) the very creation of Yugoslavia was a project realized by the allies after the First World War. it was a solution, the implantation of a democracy. It is now seen as a big mistake, realizing that unifying different nations with so much historical baggage was a certainty for disaster. in fact the creation of Yugoslavia aroused the idea of an autonomous Croatia more than ever. Mistrust, fear and territorial rights were the core of the Croatians nationalist

Some topics in this essay:
Union HDZ, Croatian Serbian, Former Yugoslavia, Charles Loiseau, World War, Led Tito, Slovenia Croatia, Party Ustasha, Croatia Mistrust, Franjo Tudjman, milivojevic 55, former yugoslavia, world war, concentration camps, creation yugoslavia, peasant party, croatian peasant, nazi occupation, croatian peasant party, serbs croats, ballcock milivojevic 55, “the croatian, mainly regional parties,