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Post-imperial and Post-war Violence in the South Slav Lands, 1917–1923

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2010

JOHN PAUL NEWMAN
JOHN PAUL NEWMAN*
Affiliation:
School of History and Archives, Newman Building, University College Dublin, Belfield Campus, Dublin 4, Ireland; [email protected].
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Abstract

This article looks at the transition of the Habsburg South Slav lands, in particular Croatia, from empire into (Yugoslav) nation-state from 1917 to 1923, and the violence which attended it. While this transition was less cataclysmic in the South Slav lands than in other parts of the former Habsburg Empire, patterns of paramilitary violence and counter-revolution similar to those elsewhere in Europe were also present here. The article looks at these patterns from a transnational perspective and shows that although state control was effectively restored in Croatia by 1923, paramilitary networks forged during 1917–23 would return as Yugoslavia faced greater external threats and internal disequilibrium in the 1930s.

La violence post-impériale et d'après-guerre dans les terres slaves du sud, 1917–1923

Cet article analyse la transition des territoires slaves du Sud des Habsbourg, en particulier la Croatie, de la monarchie à l'Etat-nation (yougoslave) entre 1917 et 1923, et la violence qui l'a accompagné. Même si cette transition fut moins cataclysmique dans les terres slaves du Sud que dans d'autres parties de l'ancien Empire des Habsbourg, des formes de violence paramilitaire et de contre-révolution similaires à celles qui s'observent ailleurs en Europe y étaient aussi présentes. L'auteur analyse celles-ci en partant d'une perspective transnationale. Il démontre qu'en dépit de la restauration du contrôle étatique en Croatie en 1923, les réseaux paramilitaires qui s'y étaient mis en place entre 1917 et 1923 réapparurent lorsque la Yougoslavie fut confrontée à des menaces extérieures et des troubles intérieurs croissants durant les années 1930.

Postimperiale gewalt und nachkriegsgewalt in den südslawischen ländern, 1917–1923

Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht den Übergang der Habsburger Südslawischen Länder, insbesondere Kroatiens, von der Monarchie in den (jugoslawischen) Nationalstaat. Besonderes Augenmerk gilt der Gewalt, die diesen von 1917 bis 1923 andauernden Prozess begleitete. Obwohl sich der Übergang in den Südslawischen Ländern weniger katastrophal gestaltete als in anderen Regionen der Doppelmonarchie, waren paramilitärische Gewalt und Konterrevolution, hier ebenso präsent. Dies betrachtet der Beitrag aus einer transnationalen Perspektive im Vergleich mit ähnlichen Entwicklungen in anderen Teilen Europas. Der Artikel zeigt, dass obwohl staatliche Herrschaft in Kroatien 1923 wieder etabliert werden konnte, die Kontinuitäten der zwischen 1917 und 1923 gegründeten paramilitärischen Netzwerke bis in die 1930er Jahre fortdauerten, um dann, als Jugoslawien bedeutenden externen Bedrohungen und inneren Unruhen ausgesetzt war, erneut an Einfluss zu gewinnen.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 19 , Issue 3: Aftershocks: Violence in Dissolving Empires after the First World War , August 2010 , pp. 249 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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