The Forgotten Romanian-Croatian Alliance: New Axis Borderlands in the Balkans, 1941–1944

Authors:

Pages: 143-152
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/NAWU1553

Abstract:

The Balkan war, launched in April 1941 after the Belgrade coup d’état and the Italian failure in Greece, marked the disappearing of Yugoslavia. On April 10, 1941, Croatia proclaimed its own independence and, at the same time, Serbia requested an ordinary German occupied province, with soft autonomy leaded by General Milan Nedić. The worst political-military attitude toward Ustaša régime on the part of Budapest caused increasingly anti-Hungarian perceptions in Zagreb: because of them, Croats became most radical and incisive in the political-diplomatic new Little Entente project, in 1941–1943. As small and medium-sized powers, Romania, Croatia and Slovakia had a vital interest in their collective security success. The three states focused more attention on their diplomatic relationships: the increasing Marshal Antonescu’s geopolitical influence in South-Eastern Europe requested a very fast diplomatic recognition between Romania and Croatia: May 6, 1941, soon after Poglavnik, Ante Pavelić official recognition from part of Germany, Italy and Hungary (April 11, 1941), Slovakia (April 15, 1941) and Bulgaria (April 22, 1941). On June 1, 1941 Romanian Minister Dimitrie Buzdugan started his diplomatic office in the new Romanian Legation in Zagreb, where he remained until October 1943, soon after the Italian coup d’état against “Il Duce”. Meanwhile, relationships between Romania and Croatia followed strictly geopolitical interests, into the Danube region and also in the Balkans. It is a truism that since the second half of 1941, Croatian authorities had made large propaganda in favour of Romanian leadership in the region. All Croatian media presented large excerpts on Romanian history, culture and civilisation and Poglavnik Ante Pavelić induced to its collaborators that a strong support for Romania would cut Fascist Italian influence in Zagreb, especially concerning Ustaša internal affairs. On February 23, 1942, in a speech at the Parliment, Mladen Lorković urged the sustaining of Croatian political elites in the way of building a „perfect agreement” with Romania. Lorković argued that the quoted ally represented ”the greatest nation in all European South-East, with an army which followed just general and common interest of the whole new Balkans”. Members and also official partners of Marshal Antonescu’s regime officially visited Croatia in 1942–1943. Radical political challenge in Romania on August 23, 1944, together with the occupation of the Northern Balkans by the Red Army in the very beginning of the autumn of 1944, entirely stopped all negotiations between Bucharest and Zagreb.

Keywords:

Romania, Croatia, Little Entente in the Second World War, alliance, the Balkans

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