From the very beginning the military was given a privileged position in the new state both in military and in political terms. However, the institution faced in the first place immense legitimacy problems. Paradoxically the military’s (Serbian) core consisted of the officer corps with a distinguished war record. Yet the predominantly Serb army and its transformation into a Yugoslav institution met significant obstructions both with Serbs and non-Serbs. Serbs were proud of their army which had completed the historical mission and expected it to guard these achievements in peacetime. The fragile Yugoslav construction had to be protected from both external and internal enemies. ₃₅ The latter were not difficult to identify since from the very beginning Yugoslavia was faced with harsh opposition and even violent upheavals. _{thirty six} The Serbian army had acquired a rich experience in domestic intervention in the pre-war period, but now the situation seemed very simple since the ‘enemies’ could have been identified through national and alleged political criteria.

The main of the Standard Staff, the latest famous Vojvoda Misic individually checked the challenge within the Croatia and provided a depressing report inside Belgrade. In the Professional dating app reviews look at the condition that have Croats are impossible and then he advised a simple solution – to go out of Croats so you’re able to secede and mark the new ‘just’ boundaries between them says together ethnic and you may ‘historical’ criteria. Needless to say he previously in mind your panels off an elevated Serbia as opposed to Higher Yugoslavia and that would have been going to supply the Serbs army quality. Even when King Aleksandar declined new proposition the brand new conduct of military on ‘new territories’ gained they an adverse term. The new tortures and you may severe reprisals of civilian population worse the brand new whole venture of brand new condition-building and you may ruined new institutional authenticity of the ‘new’ military definitively:

First of all, the fresh new officers off Slovene, Croat and you will Montenegrin resource needed to get entryway towards army, whilst it was not necessary regarding the Serb officials

This was a blatant misappropriation of authority, quite contrary to the realities that led to the unification, and endangered great discomfiture, especially since the army applied brutal, coercive, and, as one historian dubbed them, Milos-style punishments, frequently even without the formality of a military court-ous of these was the practice of meeting out corporal punishment by blows with clubs or truncheons. ₃₇

One of the most critical problems of the new state was institution building. While the other political institutions had to be created from scratch, the military was only to be transferred from the Serbian state. The units of the former Austria-Hungarian army were disbanded. The non-Serbs saw the military as a continuation of the Serbian army with the command language, insignia and all other details directly transferred from the Serbian Kingdom. The regime declared that it supported an open-door policy regarding the officers from the former Habsburg army. In reality, however, there were many problems to surmount, the question of loyalty having been in the background in the majority of cases. Furthermore, the position of the non-Serb officers was humiliating. They faced huge obstacles in terms of promotion, subordination, the question of rank etc. The figures show that they were also underrepresented, which does not necessarily imply that it was a result of a planned action. For instance, in 1938 only 10 per cent of the Yugoslav officers and only 31 per cent of 191 generals were Croats. ₃₈

The brand new Croat and you will Slovene officials believed premium when you look at the academic and you may elite group terminology, when you’re uneducated Serbian officials got glorious conflict records

There’s a giant pit between your officers increased during the various other military social environment, with another type of armed forces ethos, cultural source and you may, above all, combat sense. The Serbian military had gone compliment of a real Golgotha within the battle where all of the next male did not survive. One listings in military ladder got become occupied by the combat heroes have been not to stop trying costly gained ranking. Serbian officers thought of the fresh new addition of your own officials on the (former) challenger armed forces often while the a keen insult on their brave opposition or since the an indication of kindness and forgiveness on the enemy’s combat sins. The fresh peasant-such as for instance soldiers and you may officials had an inferiority complex about your ‘noble’ and you can better-knowledgeable Austria-Hungarian officers. A few of them had been defectively hurt, enjoying their combat units’ flags are replaced by Yugoslav around three-coloured banner. Petar Jovic, a fighter throughout the Salonica Side and you will president of your Association of 1912-1918 Volunteers said: