Yugoslavia in the Shadow of War: Veterans and the Limits of State Building, 1903-1945

Description

The Yugoslav state of the interwar period was a child of the Great European War. Its borders were superimposed onto a topography of conflict and killing, for it housed many war veterans who had served or fought in opposing armies (those of the Central Powers and the Entente) during the war. These veterans had been adversaries but after 1918 became fellow subjects of a single state, yet in many cases they carried into peace the divisions of the war years. John Paul Newman tells their story, showing how the South Slav state was unable to escape out of the shadow cast by the First World War. Newman reveals how the deep fracture left by war cut across the fragile states of 'New Europe' in the interwar period, worsening their many political and social problems, and bringing the region into a new conflict at the end of the interwar period.

John Paul Newman is Lecturer in Twentieth-Century European History at Maynooth University, Ireland. He was a postdoctoral fellow at University College Dublin and a research fellow at the Imre Kertesz Kolleg in Jena. He is co-editor (with Julia Eichenberg) of The Great War and Veterans' Internationalism (2013).

'Yugoslavia in the Shadow of War is extremely effective at explaining the complexities and ambiguities of veteran associations and the state's culture of commemoration, drawing on a wide range of archival and printed primary sources.' Rory Yeomans, Slavic Review 'John Paul Newman's book, based on archival research on Yugoslavia's war veterans and the associations they formed, frames these inter-war divisions in a context so fundamental for understanding the new state's social composition that it is surprising a book like this has not been written before.' Catherine Baker, English Historical Review '... the role of the legacy of World War I [in Yugoslav history], the very event that created the conditions for establishing the kingdom, has not received sufficient scholarly attention. John Paul Newman's great book, Yugoslavia in the Shadow of War, makes an excellent contribution to our understanding of that role.' Tea Sindbaek Andersen, Austrian History Yearbook 'The book is meticulously researched, and Newman skilfully guides his reader through the labyrinth of interwar Yugoslav politics and personalities.' Maria Falina, Hungarian Historical Review 'In this fluent, engaging and enlightening study, Newman draws on the scholarship of the threat to democracy in interwar Western Europe to explain the failure of parliamentary democracy in Yugoslavia.' Geoffrey Swain, H-Net 'Yugoslavia in the Shadow of War is thoroughly researched, well-argued and very readable.' Rok Stergar, European History Quarterly 'This succinctly written volume will be a welcome read to both experienced scholars of former Yugoslavia as well as those interested more broadly in military, or rather, post-war history.' Vjeran Pavlakovic, Southeastern Europe