yugoslavias implosion

Unlike Croats, the Serbs had a “husbandlike attitude towards the
state” and “the state and the concerns of the state were foremost” in
their minds. This difference in attitude was attributed to a difference
in culture: Serbian culture bore “an epic, heroic, historic stamp,”
whereas Croat culture was
quotidian, accommodative, made up of folklore and of an international
material heritage; they [Croats] glorify, celebrate in verse, delineate
and dwell upon everyday occurrences such as birth, marriage, death,
harvest, ploughing and the joys and mishaps associated with their daily
work and merriment. So if one is to have a state, the Serb attitude must
prevail. The propensity towards compromise which characterizes the
Croats is not a trait of independent peoples such as the Serbs. … The
Serbs want a strong state that rises above individual interests to make
sure that Serb interests as a whole are not trampled upon. 11
The choice of the lands incorporated into the Banovina of Croatia
also provoked strong objections. The inclusion of Dalmatia in the
Banovina of Croatia was seen as a direct threat to the Serbs. Dalmatia—or,
more specifically, access to the seas off the Adriatic coast—
was and remains a major aspiration of Serbian nationalists: “without
a Serb Dalmatia there can be no strong Serbdom.” 12
Because the Croats were preoccupied with their banovina,
the Serbs’ task became that of taking care of the “state as a whole.”
The Serbs would “combine their forces to defend what is ours.”
(A minority of Serbian nationalists were more accommodating. Slobodan
Jovanović, for instance, urged greater awareness among Serbs
that “there can be no Yugoslavia without a community with the Croats”
because the state could not be held together by the government
11 Srpski glas, No . 15, February 22, 1940 .
12 Srpski glas, No . 23, April 18, 1940 .
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