ABSTRACT

The Italo-Yugoslav territorial question took on more precise form as a result of the First World War. Yet Wilsonian propaganda regarding national self-determination, coupled with a sense of obligation arising from Serbia's massive sacrifice of lives, made it difficult for the Americans, British and French to satisfy Italy at the expense of the Yugoslav state that emerged in 1918. Slovene and Croation nationalists felt that the Serb-dominated Yugoslav government was willing to make territorial sacrifices at their expense. The Italians had every reason to be pleased, yet within little more than a year their relations with Yugoslavia worsened markedly. The ostensible reason for the deterioration was Albania's passage from Yugoslav to Italian patronage in November 1926. Yet political developments in Italy and Yugoslavia were more decisive. The Partito Comunista Italiano position perfectly complemented the line the Comintern was imposing on the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.