Thursday, March 25, 2021

March 25, 1941. Yugoslavia signs the Tripartite Pact

Prince Paul signed the Tripartite Pact over the opposition of his ward, King Peter II. Paul was his cousin. Peter was 17 years old.

King Peter II in 1944 in the uniform of an RAF officer.

Paul didn't sign it because he was a Nazi sympathizer, but due to realpolitik. Indeed, Yugoslavia was a constitutional democracy and its parliament had ratified entering the agreement a few days earlier. Yugoslavia had faced a German ultimatum to throw in with Germany or face invasion. Given that, the country had sought British assurance that the British would supply forces to aid it, but that request was unrealistic in context and while the British urged Yugoslavia not to enter into the agreement, it was in no position to supply troops to the country.

On the same day street demonstrations broke out in Belgrade against the Axis, giving an interesting example of average people demonstrating against the Nazis prior to being occupied by them. Of course, Yugoslavians were well aware that joining the Tripartite Pact meant going to war, and war with Germany, even if that war was not yet as wide as it would become.

Indeed, in that context the calculations of the Yugoslavian government made some sense. At the time, the war in the area was with Greece, and while the Yugoslavs had no desire to fight in Greece, that being in the Axis would soon mean war with the Soviet Union could only be guessed at.

Except, oddly enough, it didn't mean war with Greece. Prince Paul and Hitler had agreed to a secret protocol allowing Germany to transport troops across Yugoslavia for their anticipated assault on Greece while allowing Greece to remain neutral in that conflict. Yugoslavia would be complicit in Greece's subrogation, but it wouldn't have to fire a shot itself. The country could hope, therefore, that Germany wouldn't drag it into a wider war, and it could hope that the war would have some unforeseen negotiated conclusion that wouldn't damage its interest.

Today in World War II History—March 25, 1941

A severe snowstorm hit Maine on this day in 1941:

25 March 1941 Maine Snowstorm

No comments:

Lex Anteinternet?

This blog has been around since 2009. In the very first post, we asked the question: "What the heck is this blog about?"

Our answer to the question was: "The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?"

We also noted: "Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book."

All of this is still true, but the focus of the blog has changed somewhat. It now focuses on the era from 1890 to 1920 in general, rather than on the law and lawyers specifically, although that may be far from obvious. It's also become the location where we comment on anything we feel moved to comment on.

We hope you'll feel moved to comment as well. While we moderate every comment, so as to weed out Spam, we greatly appreciate the comments where they are offered, and hope to see more.

Thank you for stopping in!