The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" was its colloquial name due to its origins. The official name of the state was changed to "Kingdom of Yugoslavia" by King Alexander I on 3 October 1929.
The Croatian Peasant Party is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that the realization of Croatian statehood was possible within Austria-Hungary, but that it had to be reformed as a Monarchy divided into three equal parts – Austria, Hungary, Croatia. After the creation of Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918, Party requested for the Croatian part of the Kingdom to be based on self-determination. This brought them great public support which culminated in 1920 parliamentary election when HPSS won all 58 seats assigned to Croatia.
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was a political entity that was constituted in October 1918, at the end of World War I, by Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Prečani) residing in what were the southernmost parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although internationally unrecognised, this was the first incarnation of a Yugoslav state founded on the Pan-Slavic ideology. Thirty-three days after it was proclaimed, the state joined the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Montenegro to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs became merged with the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Montenegro to form the nation of Yugoslavia in 1918. The formation of Yugoslavia began with the formation of the Yugoslav Committee, a collection of mostly Croats, then Serbs and later Slovenes, whose goal was to form a single south Slavic state. In October 1918 the Croatian Parliament declared the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia as an independent state, which, in December that same year, incorporated into the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, merged with Kingdom of Serbia and Kingdom of Montenegro and created the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The kingdom would be renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929, and ruled by Serbian Karađorđević dynasty till Second World War. After the formation of Yugoslavia, Serbia attempted to create a "Greater Serbia" by using police intimidation and vote rigging to establish a Serbian controlled Yugoslavia. From 1929-1941 Serbian controlled Yugoslavia established control over Croatia through Royal Yugoslav police force brutality and assassinations of important Croatians.
Ante Trumbić was a Yugoslav and Croatian lawyer and politician in the early 20th century.
Svetozar Pribićević was a Croatian Serb politician in Austria-Hungary and later Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He was one of the main proponents of Yugoslavism and a federalized South Slavic state which would later turn out to be Yugoslavia. However, he later became a bitter opponent of the same policy that was promoted by King Alexander I.
The Cvetković–Maček Agreement, also known simply as the Sporazum in English-language histories, was a political compromise on internal divisions in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was settled on August 26, 1939, by Yugoslav prime minister Dragiša Cvetković and by Vladko Maček, a Croat politician. The agreement established the Banovina of Croatia, with boundaries drawn to include as many ethnic Croats as possible. This effectively created within unitary Yugoslavia an autonomous Croatian sub-state, a demand of Croat politicians since the 1918 founding of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia). The Banovina later provided a model for eventual post-war constitutional arrangements in Federal Yugoslavia (1943–1945).
The Montenegrin Federalist Party, sometimes known simply as the Montenegrin Party, was a Montenegrin political party in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which stood for preservation of Montenegrin autonomy and a decentralized federalised Yugoslavia. It pursued the ideology of the Greens who lost the Christmas Uprising, but in a peaceful and democratic manner. Its best known leader was Sekula Drljević.
Juraj Krnjević was a Croatian politician who was among the leaders of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS). He was the party's General Secretary since 1928 and President since 1964. He also served as the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone of Yugoslavia between 1942 and 1943.
The Independent Democratic Party was a social liberal political party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was established by Svetozar Pribićević as a breakaway faction of the Democratic Party in 1924. It was formed by three different groups: by far the largest group were the Serbs from the areas of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, that is Croatian, Bosnian and Vojvodina Serbs, with the prevalence of the first. The second most influential group were Slovene centralist liberals. The third group was composed by Croat liberals, mostly from Dalmatia and Zagreb.
The Vidovdan Constitution was the first constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was approved by the Constitutional Assembly on 28 June 1921 despite the opposition boycotting the vote. The Constitution is named after the feast of St. Vitus (Vidovdan), a Serbian Orthodox holiday. The Constitution required a simple majority to pass. Out of 419 representatives, 223 voted for, 35 voted against and 161 abstained.
Ivan Lorković was a Croatian politician from Zagreb. He was a prominent member of the Croat-Serb coalition, a supporter of the Republican organization and member of the United Croatian and Serbian academic youth organization. Between 1926 and 1929, he became the leader of the Croatian Federalist Peasant Party.
The Party of Rights was a Croatian nationalist political party in Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and later in Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
The 1927 local elections in Zagreb were held on 4 September, 7 days before the parliamentary elections. The Croatian Bloc coalition won a majority in the City Assembly and reelected Vjekoslav Heinzel as mayor.
Josip Torbar was a Croatian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) involved in leading of the party in the interwar period during the tenure of Vladko Maček and during the World War II. He was a member of the parliament of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and a minister in the governments of Dragiša Cvetković and Dušan Simović. During the World War II, Torbar met several times with Ante Pavelić, the head of the puppet regime of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) ruled by Ustaše. In the meetings, Torbar attempted to secure a more favourable position for the HSS which was formally banned by Ustaše. Alternatively, Torbar tried to persuade Pavelić to change specific policies, remove certain officials from power, release arrested HSS members or hand over power to the HSS if the Western Allies prevail over the Nazi Germany.
Mate Drinković was a physician and Croatian and Yugoslavian politician. He graduated from the University of Graz obtaining a degree in medicine before practising in Ston, Vodice, and Šibenik. Drinković was a supporter of the Party of Rights and became a member of the leadership of the party's Dalmatian chapter in 1908. In the 1908 Dalmatian parliamentary election, he was elected a member of the Diet of Dalmatia on the Party of Rights ticket. Drinković supported the Rijeka Resolution calling on the unification of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia. He also advocated for the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the creation of a common South-Slavic state. This led to Drinković's arrest, trial, and conviction of treason in 1914. He was imprisoned until a general amnesty in 1917. A year later, Drinković took part in the establishment of the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs carved out of Austria-Hungary at the conclusion of the World War I. He was a member of the central committee of the National Council, and national defence commissioner of the new state. In the latter capacity, Drinković took part in organisation of 1918 occupation of Međimurje resulting in the addition of Međimurje region to the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He was a member of the National Council's delegation sent to Belgrade to arrange establishment of the new South-Slavic state through the unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with the Kingdom of Serbia.
Karla Kovačević, also Dragutin Kovačević and Karlo Kovačević was a Croatian and Yugoslavian politician and a leading member of the Croatian People's Peasant Party (HSS) from 1905 until 1920s. He was elected a member of the Croatian Sabor in the 1910 Croatian parliamentary election in the constituency of Novska. In 1918, Kovačević was appointed a member of the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs—a body working towards political unification of the South Slavs in the processes of dissolution of Austria-Hungary and establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Together with party leader Stjepan Radić, he was appointed a member of the Temporary National Representation, the provisional legislative body of the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Kovačević was elected to the Constitutional Assembly in the 1920 election, as well as in 1923 and 1925 elections in Požega County and in 1927 election in Virovitica County. Following the introduction of the 6 January Dictatorship in Yugoslavia, Kovačević supported the dictatorship of king Alexander. In turn, Kovačević was promoted by the dictatorial regime as the leader of the peasantry in the country in the 1930s. In that period, Kovačević publicly criticised the HSS as well as Croatian emigre fascist and ultranationalist organisation Ustaše. Kovačević joined the Yugoslav Radical Peasants' Democracy and became its vice-president in 1933. As a JNS candidate, Kovačević was elected in the 1931 Yugoslavian parliamentary election and the deputy president of the Assembly of Yugoslavia. Following an electoral defeat in the 1935 election, he left politics. After the World War II Axis powers Invasion of Yugoslavia and establishment of the Axis puppet state of Independent State of Croatia in 1941, Kovačević was imprisoned—initially in Novska and Zagreb. He was then moved to the Jasenovac concentration camp and finally to the Stara Gradiška concentration camp where he was killed.
The Croatian Union was a Croatian political party in Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The party was founded through the merger of the Mile Starčević faction of the Party of Rights and the Progressive Democratic Party. Thus formed party, led by Ivan Lorković and Matko Laginja, had its representatives in the country's provisional legislative body, the Temporary National Representation.
