The final weeks of the First World War saw a revolutionary upheaval in Europe as old empires collapsed and new, self-proclaimed 'nation-states' emerged in their place. For its advocates, the Yugoslav state created in 1918 represented a largely uniform culture and identity. But as its official name—the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes—suggested, its population was by no means homogeneous and Britain, who had been instrumental in the birth of the state at Versailles, as well as other Europeans and the Americans, came to appreciate that divisions of religious affiliation and historical tradition continued to override linguistic unity.
Through analysing British ideas and assumptions about the region's history and culture, James Evans assesses how these were reshaped by newly prevalent ideas about Yugoslav nationality. Attitudes and preconceptions first formed during this period would prove remarkably enduring, making their mark on British responses to events in Yugoslavia throughout the country's troubled history.
Great Britain and the Creation of Yugoslavia sheds valuable light not only on attitudes to Yugoslav nationality in the early twentieth century, but also on western responses to the violent demise of the Yugoslav state at the close of the century.
