Encyclopedia > State of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba) was a short-lived state formed from the southernmost parts of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy after its dissolution at the end of the World War I by the resident population of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Note that the Serbs referred to in the State's name are those resident in Bosnia and Croatia, not the population of Serbia.
The State was officially formed on October 29, 1918. Its governing body was the People's Council (Narodno vijeće), composed ad hoc of influential politicians at the time.
The state was not internationally recognized before the People's Council joined it with the Kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro and formed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on December 1, 1918.
Slovene territory settled from the 6th century on reached its greatest extent in the 9th century, covering an area from the Bay of Trieste to the Danube River in the north and Lake Balaton in the east.
Slovene ethnic territory subsequently shrank due to Germanization in the west and north and the arrival of the Hungarians on the Pannonian Plain.
Slovene settlement in Austria waned as early as the 13th century: German colonization reached the Villach Basin in Carinthia, the Graz Basin in Styria, and the Sora River flood plain in Carniola, and Italian colonization dominated the Friulian lowlands.
Relinquishing the Croats and the Slovenes to their own fate, Pasic declared in St. Petersburg to the representatives of the Russian press at the outset of May 1916 that Serbia recognized Italy’s hegemony on the Adriatic and that he was seeking nothing else for Serbia than an outlet to the sea for its commerce.
This greatly alarmed the Slovenes and the Croats in Dalmatia and on the Croatian littoral.
Serbian Exploitation of the state of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
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