Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WWII & the Second Yugoslavia
During WWII Hitler invaded Yugoslavia on multiple fronts. The Italians followed on their
coat-tails. After routing the Yugoslav army, Germany and Italy divided the country into a
patchwork of areas of control. The Italians controlled Montenegro and parts of neighbour-
ing Dalmatia. Some anti-union Montenegrins collaborated with the Italians in the hope
that the Petrović dynasty would be reinstated. Meanwhile, Tito's Partisans and the Serbian
Četniks (royalists) engaged the Italians, sometimes lapsing into fighting each other. The
most effective antifascist struggle was conducted by Partisan units led by Tito. With their
roots in the outlawed Yugoslav Communist Party, the Partisans attracted long-suffering in-
tellectuals and antifascists of all kinds. They gained wide popular support with an early
manifesto which, although vague, appeared to envision a postwar Yugoslavia based on a
loose federation.
Although the Allies initially backed the Serbian Četniks, it became apparent that the
Partisans were waging a far more focused and determined fight against the Nazis. With the
diplomatic and military support of Churchill and other Allied powers, the Partisans con-
trolled much of Yugoslavia by 1943. The Partisans established functioning local govern-
ments in the territory they seized, which later eased their transition to power. Hitler made
several concerted attempts to kill Tito and wipe out the Partisans, but was unsuccessful.
As the tide of the war turned, the Italians surrendered to the Allies and, with the Partisans
harassing them, the Germans withdrew. On 20 October 1944 Tito entered Belgrade with
the Red Army and was made prime minister.
The communist federation of Yugoslavia was established. Tito was determined to create
a state in which no ethnic group dominated the political landscape. Montenegro became
one of six republics - along with Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, BiH and Slovenia - in a
tightly configured union. Tito effected this delicate balance by creating a one-party state
and rigorously stamping out all opposition whether nationalist, royalist or religious. The
border of the modern state was set: Montenegro won Kotor, but lost some areas of Kosovo
in the horse-trading that Tito undertook in order to establish a balance between the various
Yugoslav republics.
In 1948 Tito fell out with Stalin and broke off contacts with the USSR. This caused
some consternation in Montenegro given its historical links with Russia. Of all the
Yugoslav republics, Montenegro had the highest per capita membership of the Communist
Party, and it was highly represented in the army.
