Yugoslav Committee

The members of the Yugoslav Committee had different positions on topics such as the method of unification, the desired system of government, and the constitution of the proposed union state.

[9] A group of Royal Serbian Army officers known as the Black Hand exerted pressure to expand Serbia; they carried out a May 1903 coup that brought the Karađorđević dynasty to power and then organised nationalist actions in the "unredeemed Serbian provinces", specified as Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, an Old Serbia – meaning Kosovo – Macedonia, Central Croatia, Slavonia, Syrmia, Vojvodina, and Dalmatia.

[10] This echoed Garašanin's 1844 Načertanije, a treatise that anticipated the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, and which called for the establishment of Greater Serbia to pre-empt Russian or Austrian expansion into the Balkans by unifying all Serbs into a single state.

[11] In the first two decades of the 20th century, Croat, Serb, and Slovene national programmes adopted Yugoslavism in different, conflicting, or mutually exclusive forms.

[12] In October 1914, Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić learnt the Government of the United Kingdom was considering expanding the alliance against the Central Powers, which at that time consisted of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary.

[13] In response, Pašić directed two Bosnian Serb members of the Austro-Hungarian Diet of Bosnia, Nikola Stojanović and Dušan Vasiljević, to contact the émigré Croatian politicians and lawyers Ante Trumbić and Julije Gazzari, in order to resist the pro-Hungarian British proposals and to create a Slavic alternative.

[14] In January 1915, Frano Supilo, who was once a leading figure in the Croat-Serb Coalition, the ruling political party of the Austro-Hungarian realm of Croatia-Slavonia,[c] met with British foreign secretary Sir Edward Grey and Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, providing them with the manifesto of the nascent Yugoslav Committee and discussing the benefits of South Slavic unification.

A committee that was tasked with determining the country's war aims produced a program to establish a single South-Slavic state through the addition of Croatia-Slavonia, the Slovene Lands, Vojvodina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Dalmatia.

[20] The declaration called on South Slavs to struggle to liberate and unify "unliberated brothers",[21] "three tribes of one people" – referring to Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

The Serbian government wanted to appeal to fellow South Slavs because it feared little material support would be delivered from its Entente Powers allies as it became clear the war would not be short.

[26] Trumbić and Supilo became convinced that because of the Government of Serbia's expansionist policy, the proposed unification would be perceived within Croatian-inhabited areas of Austria-Hungary as a Serbian conquest rather than as a liberation.

[13] The Entente Powers ultimately concluded an alliance with Italy by offering it large areas of Austria-Hungary that were inhabited by South Slavs, mostly Croats and Slovenes, along the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea.

[27] The matter became closely related to the Entente's simultaneous efforts to obtain an alliance with Bulgaria, or at least to secure its neutrality, in return for territorial gains against Serbia.

[29] The Yugoslav Committee was formally founded in the Hôtel Madison, Paris, on 30 April 1915, a few days after signing of the London Agreement ensuring Italy's entry into the World War I.

Prominent non-member supporters included Rikard Katalinić Jeretov [hr] and Josip Marohnić, the latter being the president of the North American Croatian Fraternal Union, which collected money for the Yugoslav Committee.

[19] He advocated for the establishment of a federal state within which Slovene Lands, Croatia (consisting of pre-war Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia (expanded to include Vojvodina), and Montenegro would become the five constituent elements.

[24] Croat members of the Yugoslav Committee, except Hinković, thought the federal units would ensure preservation of the historical, legal, and cultural traditions of the individual parts of the new state.

[27] The Yugoslav Committee worked to be recognised by the Entente Powers as the legal representative of South Slavs living in Austria-Hungary, but Pašić consistently prevented any formal recognition.

[41] Supilo thought the Yugoslav Committee had to confront Italian and Hungarian attempts to encroach on lands inhabited by South Slavs and the Greater Serbian expansionist designs pursued by Pašić.

Supilo protested by informing the Yugoslav Committee he had sent a memo to Grey, proposing an independent Croatian state should be established unless Serbia agreed to treat Croats and Slovenes as equal to Serbs.

His principal complaint was that the Entente Powers thought of Croatia and other Austro-Hungarian territories as compensation to Serbia for the loss of Macedonia and concessions in Banat instead of treating the populations of these areas as equal partners.

In early May 1916, Pašić declared Serbian recognition of Italian dominance in the Adriatic, causing Gazzari, Trinajstić, and Meštrović to ask for a meeting of the committee.

He hoped to obtain Italian support for the idea, because Italy was displeased with the prospect of the unification of South Slavs close to its borders, and thereby pressure Pašić and the Serbs into giving into his demands.

[45] The Serbian position was weakened following the loss of Russian support after the February Revolution and President of the United States Woodrow Wilson's refusal to honour secret agreements that had promised territorial rewards.

Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav Committee's preferred name for the unified country, was rejected and the bulk of the constitutional matters were left to be decided later because Trumbić felt some agreement was necessary to curb threats of Italian expansion.

[56] In October, Lloyd George discussed the potential preservation of a reformed Austria-Hungary with Pašić, saying Serbia could annex any areas occupied by the Royal Serbian Army before an armistice.

[58] In the process of the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, following the monarchy's military defeat in 1918, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was proclaimed in the South Slavic-inhabited lands of the former empire.

The Prince Regent accepted the offer on behalf of Peter I of Serbia[67] and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was subsequently renamed Yugoslavia, was established with no agreement on the nature of the new political union.

On 12 February, Trinajstić convened a meeting, with Trumbić attending; the majority of the committee members decided not to dissolve the body despite Protić's instructions.

[70] Czech historian Milada Paulová wrote a book examining the relationship between the Yugoslav Committee and the Serbian government, and its translation was published in 1925.