JUGOSLAVIA, or YUGOSLAVIA, a term signifying the Southern Slav State (jugo comes from jug or yug, meaning south). The word derives from the geographical situation of the country, and includes the three branches of a single people known under the names of Serbians, Croatians and Slovenians. The area of the new state is about 75,000 square miles (nearly as large as England and Scotland to gether, or about two-thirds of the size of Italy). Its boundaries are formed by the Adri atic Sea and Isonzo River on the west, and the Hungarian Republic on the north. On the east it is bounded by Rumania and Bulgaria, and on the south by Greece and Albania. The provinces included in Jugoslavia are Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia-Slavonia, Dalmatia, Carniola, Bachka, Banat and parts of Istria, southern Styria and southern Carinthia. The population within the border limits given above is estimated at 14, 000,000 inhabitants, of whom 90 per cent are Slays and 10 per cent belong to other nation alities, scattered on the borders: Rumanians, Albanians and Bulgarians.
The first attempt at Jugoslav unity, which the European War has consummated, dates from the 9th century. Ljudevit Posayski roused the Slavic people, fought the Franks and assembled under his authority the Croa tians of Pannonia, the Slovenes and the Ser bians of the Danube region (819-22.) Dur ing a very short time all the Jugoslav countries situated between the Sava and the Timok rec ognized a common sovereign. But this ephem eral realm was soon destroyed by the Frank and Byzantine powers. However, even dis counting enemies from without, its existence would not have lasted long. Difficulty of rela tionship and communication in the Middle Ages prevented different parts of the same kingdom from becoming acquainted and known to each other. The least natural obstacle was an insurmountable barrier separating members of a single race.
It was thus that the Jugoslav provinces con tinued like fiefs hidden away in their geograph ical limits, ignorant of one another. Every thing held them apart; the numerous rivers and mountains of the rough, hilly country; the ambition and independence of their grand feu dal chiefs, for whom the natural isolation of their subjects was a necessity; rivalry between the two churches: the Catholicism of Rome and the Orthodoxy of Byzance, which split up and disputed over the Jugoslays placed under their two-fold influence. But in spite of all these obstacles, a feeling for inter-communica tion was to be noted among the southern Slays every time an idea of centralization agitated Europe. A Jugoslav prince arose who tried to
realize the union of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Zvonimir, king of Croatia (1076-88), as also Dushan the Mighty (1331-55), emperor of Ser bia, and Tvrtko (1351-91), king of Bosnia, who reunited for a little while the three crowns of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia.
From the 16th to 18th century most Jugo slav provinces fell under the Turkish rule, and the only link which kept the southern Slays to gether was their language and common litera ture, known under the name of the Ragusan literature. The feeling of national unity was reflected in the writings of Ivan Gundulie (1588-1638), George Kriianie (1617-86), Jovan Rale (1726-1801), Urban Jarnik (1784-1844), Dositheus Obradovic (1739-1811) and many others. Thanks to the efforts of all these writers and thinkers, the idea of southern Slav unity was already disseminated among the people. Religious intolerance had lost much of its force. Liberal and democratic ideas prevailed for the moment, and the prin ciple of nationality was proclaimed. Not long afterward the introduction of railroads facili tated communication between the different provinces, heretofore divided by impassable mountains. From this time onward the idea of Jugoslav unity showed itself not only in the works and thoughts of individual men of let ters but in the great achievements of militant nationalism as well. Serbia emancipated her self politically (1804) and with Montenegro became the centre toward which the eyes of all the southern Slays involuntarily turned. Side by side with great political events arose an intellectual movement of equal importance and likewise tending strongly toward emancipation and national unity. The celebrated scholar, Vuk ICaradiic (1787-1864), completely re formed the Serbian literary language by his introduction of the vernacular into literature as the only fit and worthy vehicle of the writ ten thoughts of the nation. His reform found an echo in Croatia where Ljudevit Gaj (1809 72) and his fellow-workers adopted the same tongue. Among the Slovene writers, Stranko Vraz (1810-51) and other contemporary au thors endeavored to adopt the Serbo-Croat tongue as their literary language. Thus the three separate literatures, known before as the Serbian, the Croatian and the Slovenian, were unified and have since then formed one south ern Slav literature. The mental and spiritual union between the different branches of the na tion assumed a definite form and at the end of the 19th century attained its full development.