The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

Battle of Kosovo. Exactly one month later, politicians in Vienna declared
war on Serbia. The European leaders of that day, themselves locked in
struggles over territory, weren’t interested in trying to find a peaceful solution
to the conflict. Russia came to the aid of its Orthodox brethren in
Serbia, other countries followed suit, and supported their allies.
Twelve million people died during the four years of the First World War,
four empires collapsed, and the political map of Europe was fundamentally
redrawn. The disappearance of Austria-Hungary left a power vac -
uum in which many problems remained unresolved, and later led to the
Second World War.
Ideas and identities in the first common state
The Serbian leadership fought on the side of the victorious Allies to expand
its territory. In Croatia, after the declaration of independence from
Austria-Hungary, there was as yet no broad consensus on union with
Serbia. However, when the Italians started to occupy the Croatian and
Slovenian areas promised them by the Allies, the formation of a common
state was hastily agreed to by the Slovene leadership, and by parts
of the Croat leadership as well. A three-quarters majority of a constituent
assembly was to decide on the question of whether to establish a repub -
lic or a kingdom. With no consideration for this agreement, Prince Regent
Alexander Karageorgevich on December 1, 1918 announced the
foundation of the “Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes”.
The news that Croatia was now under the supremacy of a Serbian dyn -
asty raised doubts in Zagreb as to the realization of the longed-for “national
right to self-determination”. The response of the state leadership
in Belgrade was the myth of a triple-named Yugoslav nation. The conflicts
were now to be settled by drafting a common constitution. The
fight for national and economic special interests broke out immediately,
however. The constitution was adopted on June 28, 1921, again the anniversary
of the Battle of Kosovo, by a simple majority in parliament. The
Serb majority thus asserted itself against the representatives of the
Croat and Slovene peoples. The officially proclaimed unitarism was raised
to a constitutional principle, the administration was centralistically
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