ABSTRACT
World War II proved to be watershed period in the history of Yugoslavia, as it was for the rest of Europe. Economically, Yugoslavia's problems were shared by most of Eastern Europe. Yugoslavia first allied itself officially with the Axis powers when Germany forced it to sign the Axis Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941. In 1934, France refused to use its influence with Italy to stem Rome's oppression of its Yugoslav minority and its financing of the Croatian Ustase. In 1938 directive to the Ustase, Ante Pavelic declared that Bosnia and Herzegovina was not considered a country in its own right. In hindsight, many consider the declarations made at Jajce to be at least an implicit recognition of a distinct Bosnian Muslim national identity. Although some Bosnian Muslims were clearly linked to the occupying fascist powers, the remaining Bosnian Muslim population was not necessarily compromised.
