Pasic & Trumbic: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

by Dejan Djokić, Haus Publishing

Nicola Pasic and Ante Trumbic: The book will provide the first parallel biographies of two key Yugoslav politicians of the early 20th century: Nikola Pasic, a Serb, and Ante Trumbic, a Croat. It will also offer a brief history of the creation of Yugoslavia (initially known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes), internationally accepted at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-20 (at the Treaty of Versailles). Such an approach will fill two major gaps in the literature - scholarly biographies of Pasic and Trumbic are lacking, while Yugoslavia's formation is due a reassessment - and to introduce the reader to the central question of South Slav politics: Serb-Croat relations. Pasic and Trumbic's political careers and their often troubled relationship in many ways perfectly epitomize the wider Serb-Croat question.

Genres: History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published August 10, 2006

About the author

Professor Dejan Djokić is a historian.
Broadly speaking, his research spans across, and brings together, three main strands: the Yugoslav war; global and cultural history of the Cold War; and history of Southeastern Europe since the Middle Ages.

He is a Professor of History at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth and Fellow at the Chair of Southeast European History at Humboldt University of Berlin.

Reviews

[Tiago F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've wanted to look deeper into the history of Yugoslavia, and given that it was created post-WW2, I thought this book could have some useful insights.

It's almost exclusively focused on the Yugoslav delegation at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-20, which tried to settle the post-war compensations and border disputes. At the time, Yugoslavia, not even called that at the time, but instead the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was trying to get internationally recognized.

There are several major conflicts in this story. The first is within Yoguslavia with the two leading figures, Pašić and Trumbić. They were the ones forming the delegation in the conference, which they were allowed to attend even though in the beginning Yugoslavia was not yet a recognized state. While they were both advancing the Yugoslav unification and recognition, there was nevertheless a slight dispute between them.

Pašić was from Serbia, and he was mostly concerned with border disputes against Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. Especially Bulgaria, which caused Serbia a great loss in WW1 and war crimes were committed. He wanted to make sure that couldn't be repeated. Furthermore, he also seemed to have a greater Serbia bias, viewing it as the core of the new state rather than seeing all Slavic regions on equal footing. Almost as the intent of some to form a "Greater Serbia although not quite that far. On the other hand, Trumbić was Croatian and was mostly concerned with Western border disputes, more so in the Dalmatia and Istria region which was claimed by Italy.

This conflict was internal, meaning that Pašić and Trumbić had to decide what to prioritize. If you ask for everything, you increase the chances of getting nothing. Furthermore, the two different disputes had different reasoning behind them. If Yugoslavia claimed that its right as a state was based on ethnicity, then it would be hard to argue for regions that didn't have a Yugoslavia majority. On the other hand, if they wanted to mostly argue for national determination, they couldn't focus so much on the ethnic aspect.

A dispute between Pašić and Trumbić also showed up in other formats, such as how aggressive to be when dealing with the allies. If one isn't assertive, you may get the worse deal because it is a play of power and largely a zero-sum game. But if one is too disagreeable, there is the risk of alienating the major powers of Europe which Yoguslavia desperately needed their help for international recognition and border disputes. The right balance wasn't always agreed upon between Pašić and Trumbić.

After the conference, they were also other disagreements, such as how centralized Yugoslavia should be. Despite all differences, they managed to work well together given their circumstances, and while there were many aspects where Yugoslavia didn't get its way, the conference as a whole was considered successful, and it is agreed that Pašić and Trumbić dealt with it rather well.

The external aspect of the conflict was mostly about the same issues - recognition and borders, but instead of what to prioritize between Pašić and Trumbić, it was trying to get the allies on their side. This was particularly problematic with the "Adriatic" question since Italy joined WW1 specifically because of being promised that area.

The book has roughly 3 parts. An introduction to WW1 and the creation of Yugoslavia, a short biography of both Pašić and Trumbić, and finally detailing how the peace conference went. I found the first two the most enjoyable. The latter seemed very overkill for the layman. I still found it somewhat interesting to read, as it gave some insight into how post-war reparations and negotiations are like, but it does get a bit tedious at times. Especially because it took a long time and it was a difficult deal to make.

I don't regret reading it, although perhaps I should have only skimmed the last parts. But I can't say I recommend it. It's a very specific book that likely won't have any interest for most people. Even me who is interested in Yugoslavia, I would be happy with a summary and it wasn't worth the 160 pages of detail.

I did appreciate the new lens it offered. Especially regarding the general attitude towards Yugoslavia. Another book I read gave the impression that the start of Yugoslavia was a bit of an artificial creation from the Versailles treaty, but it's clearly not the case. Overall the book is fairly well written and organized. It dealt with the topic well, it's just that the subject at hand isn't the most exciting.