yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 2
decentralization of the Yugoslav state; the ypa’s pursuit of its selfdefined
role of saving a federated socialist Yugoslavia, which saw the
ypa gradually come to share the ambitions of the Serbian nationalist
elite; the ypa’s role in installing Milošević in power; its transformation
into a purely Serbian institution; and its involvement in the
wars in Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia.
A BULWARK OF THE STATE:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ARMY UP TO THE 1970S
Dissatisfied with the territories granted it at the Congress of Berlin,
Serbia made preparations for territorial expansion in the direction
of its historical heartlands of Kosovo and Macedonia. Such
appetites inevitably boosted the political profile of the army, a profoundly
conservative body that distrusted parliamentarianism and
advocated an aggressive foreign policy.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, an alliance of military,
political, and intellectual elites seeking popular support had
opted to solve the Serbian national question by war, a decision that
was to ensure the centrality of the military in Serbia’s political life.
The two Balkan wars of 1912 -13 were fundamentally wars of conquest
enabling Serbia to expand its territory considerably. But before
it had time to integrate the newly conquered territories, Serbia found
itself sucked into the vortex of World War I, during which Serbia’s
armed forces suffered staggering losses at the hands of the superior
Austro-Hungarian and German armies.
Early on in the war, on December 7, 1914, Serbia proclaimed in a
document known as the Declaration of Niš that one of its war aims
was the liberation and unification of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy made this goal
attainable. For the Serbs, the creation of Yugoslavia meant the fulfilment
of the dream of all Serbs living in one state. It also meant that
the Serbs found themselves in the unaccustomed position of being