Yugoslavia is most famous for falling apart with economic and government Mala ethnic tensions and finally Civil War putting an end to the Yugoslav experiment but given that nationalism and separatism from the states varied people is what killed Yugoslavia why was it formed in the first place so the idea of a South Slavic State predates World War I and the formation of Yugoslavia by about a century in the late 19th century Serbia was the only independent Slavic state in the region and it looked to the unification of Italy as guidance for its own future this desire for a strong and independent South Slavic nation was echoed by many who lived in either the Ottoman Empire to the South or Austria Hungary to the north as you'll likely know the Ottoman Empire went through a bit of a rough patch in the early 20th century a series of revolts saw these nations team up to form the Bulan League which soon pushed the Ottomans out of the region Serbia did very well militarily and captured all of this territory but the great Powers decided that it could only keep this which it soon refused to relinquish and as such Bulgaria invaded thus beginning the second Balan War Bulgaria was soon surrounded on all sides and promptly lost and these were the finalized borders this expansion saw Serbia become home to many macedonians which improved its credentials as a pan Slavic State the issue now was the austr Hungarian Empire to the north Austria Hungary was home to a large Slavic population made up of serbs croats slovin and recently bosnians and they all had one thing in common they really didn't want to be ruled from Vienna or Budapest on their own these individual ethnicities breaking away and forming their own countries wouldn't work Austria Hungary was to too large and too powerful but together with the help of the kingdom of Serbia to the South there was maybe a potential chance for Freedom as such yugoslavism as a concept became extremely popular although some were concerned that the house of kaj gorovich wouldn't be much better than the house of hapsburg furthermore those opposed to a Yugoslavia pointed out that nobody actually knew how this state would work that said nobody really cared at this time because without breaking away from Vienna all of this was moot the South slaves in Austria Hungary wouldn't have to wait long before Arch duuk France Ferdinand got some surprise acupuncture the first world war which followed saw the hapsburg domain start to break apart at which point Slavic leaders from within and without started to discuss what was going to happen in 1917 the Serbian government in Exile met with exiled academics from Austria Hungary to discuss what the postwar state would look like Serbia just wanted to Annex them all and deal with the details later but given that its government had been defeated and its territory occupied it had to make concessions the main fear was that Austria Hungary would make peace and them reform to turn the jeel monarchy into the trial monarchy thereby leaving Serbia with nothing and most of the South slav stuck with the habsburgs furthermore the promises to Italy meant that even if the habsburgs were removed Rome would still take much of the Adriatic Coast as such together they signed the Corfu declaration this declared that the South Slavic people not the bulgarians wish for unification above all else it promised that all South slaves that lived there would be treated equally that it would be ruled by the Serbian royal family that it would have Democratic elections and notably that it 100% would never be called Yugoslavia it soon became clear that Austria Hungary was done for and after months of secret meeting meetings in the Serbian onon Army on the southern border the South Slavic regions declared their independence the new nation they created the state of slovin croats and serbs was only supposed to act as a claim on territory before its merger with Serbia and ultimately this was successful with Italy only getting this territory which then allowed the South slaves to finally decide what sort of country they wish to be it would take until the early 1930s to actually figure this out but from then on the south slaves lived in their own country under their own rules a country that was now called Yugoslavia I hope you enjoyed this episode with a special thanks to my patrons James Bizet Sky Chappelle kitka Udan Wang Anthony Becket Wan hockey AF firly Alex Schwin Captain pyg Gustav Swan the mcer Robert C Perkins the flying deut land Cardinal blue rod D Martin Marvin CAU spena lightford shenin Maggie patkowski murza Ahmed copper tone Michael hbert Castle Bravo spinning three plates Andy McGee Arthur hos Jr Danny atanasio kimun Yun Winston kwood Remco hoisan Jim Stromberg Beck tobot Charles first and Lord beak