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“Qui habet tempus habet vitam” The question of Thessalonica and the crisis in the Balkans-Yugoslavia on the threshold of war : Between diplomacy and coup d'etat (October,1940-March, 1941)

Articles

• Bojovic, Bosko I.

This article treats, with special reference to the question of Salonika, thelong protracted negotiations leading up to the reluctant signing of the TripartitePact by Prince-Regent Paul’s government of the Kingdom of Yugoslaviaon 25 March 1941. Hitler’s respect for the Serbs’ fighting abilities (e.g.on the Salonika front) led him to make considerable concessions to the Yugoslavs.The inviolability of their frontiers and sovereignty was guaranteed,military assistance and the use of their territory for the movement of troopsand military matériel were not insisted upon. Hitler even intimated that Salonikawould be ceded to them. The Yugoslavs thus faced a dilemma. They didnot want the city, in which Yugoslavia had a free zone sufficient for her needsin the Aegean Sea region, for reasons of sentiment; acceptance would havebeen dishonourable, a betrayal of their traditional ally Greece, the land oforigin, indeed, of their ruler’s wife. On the other hand, encircled as they wereby the Axis powers elsewhere, Salonika was their only possible srategic linkwith the Allies with whom their sympathies lay. Furthermore, refusal of suchan offer would, in Hitler’s eyes, have cast doubts upon their sincerity. In the event, against Croat opposition. Serbian pro-Allied sentiment allowed a plot ofofficers to overthrow the government thus provoking Hitler’s wrath andbringing Yugoslavia into World War II with the consequent enormous losses,around 1.500.000 civil and military dead, a demographic loss of 2.438.000,many thousands of maimed persons, horrendous matériel destruction and soon.

• History and Archaeology

• Ιστορία

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