The December 1st unification acts: Goals and deviations

Abstract

The December 1st acts for the unification of South Slavs in a common state represented the end of the realization of the great idea of unification and the beginning of the process of the dissolution of the new state. The face of the realization of this idea is the chronology of events, which points out the ascending path of the work of Serbia and the National Council on the ultimate unification. The back is represented by the confusion of the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the work of the National Council in those circumstances. Often with some of its members having no feeling for the reality of events, the Central committee of the National Council formulated a "Naputak" (binding instructions for its delegation sent to Belgrade on 28th November 1918.). Pressed by the speed of events and real dangers (Italian pretensions, the impossibility of maintaining order without armed forces etc.), the delegation gave up on the contents of the instructions and adjusted it in the Address to regent Aleksandar, which was followed by the declaration of the unification into a common state on the 1st December 1918. The consequences of this kind of union are felt even today.

Keywords

• uniting
• binding instructions
• national council
• 1st december