ABSTRACT
The First World War served to both unite different factions within Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), with the Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats and Muslims fighting together against Austro-Hungary and its allies. Bosnian leaders established a National Council for Bosnia and with the founding of the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Bosnian representatives negotiated and the six Bosnian provinces retained the borders agreed by the Austro-Hungarians at the Congress of Berlin. Serbs controlled most of the rest of Yugoslavia as Bosnia was reduced to just two banovines, in which the majority populations were Serbian. The political and social changes being experienced, Yugoslavia was also impacted by the worldwide economic slump. The socialist movement continued to grow and the various organizations unified to become the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. The Communist Party continued its support for BiH as a separate region within a federated Yugoslavia but with equal rights for its multi-ethnic citizens.
