IN TROUBLED YUGOSLAVIA: A TERRIBLE COMPLICATION.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20454, 6 November 1934, Page 6

IN TROUBLED YUGOSLAVIA: A TERRIBLE COMPLICATION.

To-day's Special Article

King Alexander Was an Element of Stability in the European Situation.

By

Wickham Steed.

LONDON, October y The tragic end of King Alexander of Yugoslavia at the hands of a Croat assassin comes as a terrible complication into the Central and South-eastern European situation, already complicated and delicate beyond measure. The ancient feud between the two main branches of the Southern Slavic race—a feud embittered by the late King’s highhanded methods of government — may have found bloody, expression without entailing international hostilities. Yet it is premature to assume that the repercussions even of a Southern Slav domestic quarrel will not affect the international situation. There have been too many foreign intrigues among the Croats and Slovenes in recent years for the possibility of serious developments to be ruled out, and there is no guarantee that all foreign governments will keep their fingers out of this terrible pie. ALEXANDER KARAGEORGEVITCH, unity. But the Croats in exile retained .... - their bitterness.

whom I knew quite well during the war, was a soldier first and foremost. Of his gallantry and steadfastness under the severest ordeal which a modern prince ever had to undergo, recent history speaks with a convincing voice. Politically, he was less gifted. Though he made the ideal of Yugoslav unity his own and proclaimed it publicly during an official visit to London in 191 G, I he yielded later to the “ great Serbian ” influence of the veteran Premier Pashitch, who compromised him in such a fashion that he became virtually a prisoner of the Serbian military organisation known as the “ White Hand.” Partly for this reason, Alexander failed to win the full confidence of the Croat, or principal Roman Catholic branch of the Southern Slav race, whose leaders attribute 'to him, personally, some share of the responsibility - for the shooting of the Croat peasant leader, Stefan Radich, in the Belgrade Parliament some years ago. In January, 1929, Alexander took the fatal step of establishing a personal dictatorship, under which he installed a mainly Serbian military Government. This Government and its successors treated Croatia as an occupied province, set up a stringent police rule, interned or imprisoned the Croat leader. Matchek. and dealt hardly less severely with the leader of the other Roman Catholic section of the Southern Slavs, the Slovenes, who inhabit the northwestern province of the country. Numbers of young Croats were driven into exile. Feared Two Years Ago. Even in Serbia proper. Liberal feeling began to turn against the King. Two years ago a distinguished Serbian diplomatist came secretly from Belgrade to tell me of his fears. “ Anything may happen at any moment, even the worst,” he said. I answered, “ You mean assassination of the King?” He nodded. “ It would be the last and worst blunder Yugoslavia could make.” I declared. Since then. conditions had improved somewhat, thanks mainly to resentment against Italian Fascist propaganda among the Croats and clear signs that Mussolini was seeking to foster disintegration of the country. These signs caused the Croats at home to postpone their own quarrel with the King and resolve that, whatever their domestic grievances might be, they would stand together, Serbs and Slovenes, in defence of their national independence and

Latterly, Nazi emissaries from Germany have been active both among the Slovenes and Croats, as well as in military circles in Belgrade, with the object of detaching Yugoslavia from the Little Entente and promoting an alliance between Berlin and Belgrade. Quite recently, a group of Serbian staff officers presented a memorandum to King Alexander demanding reorganisation of the country on Nazi lines and adherence of Yugoslavia to a German-Polish-llvmgarian combination against Italy. To these representations, Alexander probably paid little heed. He sought to •strengthen the Yugoslav position by cultivating the friendship of Bulgaria. He himself remained loyal to the Little Entente and the defensive alliance with France. But the danger of an armed clash with Italy, in case Italian forces should enter Austrian territory in order to defend it against German Nazis, made it imperative that Alexander know how far he could rely upon French support. A Baffling Situation.

The recent improvement in FrancoItalian relations seemed to hold out the prospect that French influence in Rome might bring about a better understanding between Italy and Yugoslavia. It was mainly to discuss and concert a joint policy to this end that Alexander undertook an official visit to Paris, which now is tragically prevented. The death of the French Foreign Minister. Barthou, who held all the threads of this intricate situation in his own hands, adds yet another unknown quantity to the many uncertainties of the oxitlook. At no moment since 1914 has the European situation seemed more precarious. Indeed, that situation is an agglomeration of instabilities. Thanks to his manly, soldierly virtues, and despite his political shortcomings, Alexander was in a high degree a calculable factor and an element of stability in Southeastern Central Europe. Now that he has been struck down, the position of Yugoslavia baffles foresight, and the possible repercussions in Central Europe defy calculation. 1 he chief hope for avoiding international disaster seems to lie in the chance that Great Britain and France may immediately and jointly sc-t their faces against war. If they do this with the moral support of other peace-loving nations, the worst consequences of to-day’s bloody deed may be staved off, if not definitely averted. But there is no time to lose.— (N.A.N.A.)