From the very beginning the military was given a privileged position in the new state both in military and in political terms. However, the institution faced in the first place immense legitimacy problems. Paradoxically the military’s (Serbian) core consisted of the officer corps with a distinguished war record. Yet the predominantly Serb army and its transformation into a Yugoslav institution met significant obstructions both with Serbs and non-Serbs. Serbs were proud of their army which had completed the historical mission and expected it to guard these achievements in peacetime. The fragile Yugoslav construction had to be protected from both external and internal enemies. thirty five The latter were not difficult to identify since from the very beginning Yugoslavia was faced with harsh opposition and even violent upheavals. thirty six The Serbian army had acquired a rich experience in domestic intervention in the pre-war period, but now the situation seemed very simple since the ‘enemies’ could have been identified through national and alleged political criteria.
The principle of one’s Standard Staff, the fresh popular Vojvoda Misic personally examined the issue into the Croatia and you can offered a discouraging statement inside the Belgrade. Inside the view the condition having Croats are hopeless and he recommended a solution – to go away Croats so you can secede in order to mark this new ‘just’ boundaries between the two says collectively cultural and ‘historical’ standards. Definitely he’d in your mind the project regarding a greater Serbia instead of Higher Yugoslavia hence would have been browsing provide the Serbs armed forces quality. Even though King Aleksandar denied the fresh new offer new behavior of the armed forces from the ‘new territories’ won it a detrimental name. The new tortures and you may harsh reprisals of your civilian inhabitants worse this new entire endeavor of the brand new county-building and you can damaged the fresh institutional authenticity of one’s ‘new’ army definitively:
First of all, the newest officials out-of Slovene, Croat and you can Montenegrin supply had to get entry into army, while it wasn’t necessary from the Serb officials
This was a blatant misappropriation of authority, quite contrary to the realities that led to the unification, and endangered great discomfiture, especially since the army applied brutal, coercive, and, as one historian dubbed them, Milos-style punishments, frequently even without the formality of a military court-ous of these was the practice of meeting out corporal punishment by blows with clubs or truncheons. 37
One of the most critical problems of the new state was institution building. While the other political institutions had to be created from scratch, the military was only to be transferred from the Serbian state. The units of the former Austria-Hungarian army were disbanded. The non-Serbs saw the military as a continuation of the Serbian army with the command language, insignia and all other details directly transferred from the Serbian Kingdom. The regime declared that it supported an open-door policy regarding the officers from the former Habsburg army. In reality, however, there were many problems to surmount, the question of loyalty having been in the background in the majority of cases. Furthermore, the position of the non-Serb officers was humiliating. They faced huge obstacles in terms of promotion, subordination, the question of rank etc. The figures show that they were also underrepresented, which does not necessarily imply that it was a result of a planned action. For instance, in 1938 only 10 per cent of the Yugoslav officers and only 31 per cent of 191 generals were Croats. 38
The latest Croat and you can Slovene officials sensed superior when you look at the academic and you may professional terms and conditions, whenever you are uneducated Serbian officers got wonderful conflict ideas
There is a giant pit between your officers elevated inside different armed forces social environments, and with another armed forces ethos, cultural provider and you can, to start with, conflict Professional dating sense. Brand new Serbian armed forces had gone owing to a genuine Golgotha in the conflict where every 2nd male did not survive. 1st postings in army steps had started filled from the combat heroes who were to not ever throw in the towel pricey gathered positions. Serbian officials recognized the newest inclusion of officials on (former) enemy army either as the a keen insult to their heroic opposition otherwise because an indication of kindness and you will forgiveness to your enemy’s war sins. The latest peasant-including troops and you can officers got an inferiority state-of-the-art regarding your ‘noble’ and you will really-educated Austria-Hungarian officers. Some of them was in fact badly damage, enjoying their combat units’ flags are replaced because of the Yugoslav three-colored banner. Petar Jovic, an effective fighter regarding Salonica Front side and you can chairman of your own Organization of 1912-1918 Volunteers said: