It was most commonly known as "Jugoslavska mati" during the early days of Yugoslavia and served a similar purpose as "La Marseillaise" in France.
[1][2] The rise of Pan-Slavism in the 19th century led to calls for unity within the South Slavic people, including Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
Proponents of the movement believed in unifying the South Slavic people through similarities in their language, culture, and ethnicity.
It was during this time in Prague that the Sokol movement was founded and quickly spread throughout the Slavic lands.
'falcon') would become a popular motif in national songs and writings during both the times of Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
One of the earliest writings of the song were found in the 1919 journal Jugoslavenska Njiva, where the local people were described as singing "Zovi, samo zovi" along with "Vive La France" and "La Marseillaise".
Various regions of Yugoslavia were added into the lyrics, including those in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.
One of the early mentions of the lyrics "zovi samo zovi" comes from the writings of Croatian author Slavko Ježić in a 1923 publication describing the singing in the streets of Zagreb: "And indeed, out of the streets there was loud singing in the room: Call, just call!
i narodni nas genij zove, jer je kucnuo odlučan čas, a mi Hrvati-)[6] Oj Hrvatska mati, nemoj tugovati.
Petar Pekić in his 1939 book "History of the liberation of Vojvodina" mentions that this song with the lyrics "Oj Srbijo mati, nemoj tugovati" was first sang in 1918 among the Serbs in southern Banat.