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 France |  Yugoslavia |
|---|---|
France–Yugoslavia relations (French:Relations France-Yougoslavie;Serbo-Croatian:Francusko-jugoslavenski odnosi,Француско-југословенски односи;Slovene:Francosko-jugoslovanski odnosi;Macedonian:Односите Франција-Југославија) were the historical foreign relations betweenFrance andYugoslavia. These spanned from just after theFirst World War, to the eventualbreak-up of Yugoslavia in the aftermath of theCold War. Over this period, there were several successive governments in both countries. France was variously: theThird Republic,Free France, the wartimeProvisional Government, the post-warFourth Republic, and the modernFifth Republic. Coterminously, the states governing what is today theformer Yugoslavia were: theKingdom of Yugoslavia, the wartimegovernment in exile, the wartime provisionalDemocratic Federal Yugoslavia, and theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
During theSecond World War, there were additionally theAxis puppets ofVichy France, theGovernment of National Salvation (Nedic's Serbia), and theIndependent State of Croatia (NDH), which governed portions of the respective territories of the three occupied countries.
| Common name | France | Yugoslavia |
|---|---|---|
| Official name | French Republic | Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia |
| Coat of arms |  | .svg) |
| Flag |  | .svg) |
| Capital | Paris | Belgrade |
| Largest city | Paris | Belgrade |
| Population | 56,970,155 | 23,229,846 |
| Government | Unitarysemi-presidential republic | Socialist republic |
| Official languages | French | No official language Serbo-Croatian (de facto state-wide)Slovene (inSlovenia) andMacedonian (inMacedonia) |
| First leader | Joseph Broz Tito | |
| Last leader | Milan Pančevski | |
| Religion | Catholicism (de facto),state atheism (de jure) | Secular state (de jure),state atheism (de facto) |
| Alliances | EEC,NATO | Non-Aligned Movement |
Following the earlier experience of the alliance between France and theKingdom of Serbia, theKingdom of Yugoslavia was a strong follower of the French political strategies ininterbellumcentral Europe.[1] A declaration of Franco-Yugoslav friendship was signed inBelgrade on 11 November 1927 and was ratified in Paris that same day.[2] In 1928, quoting inopportune timing, the French government rejected a Yugoslav general staff proposal for military cooperation.[1] The French holiday ofBastille Day was celebrated in Yugoslavia, through which Yugoslavs commemorated the French lives lost in theBalkans during theFirst World War.[2] On 11 November 1930, theMonument of Gratitude to France was opened on theBelgrade Fortress.[1] Economic cooperation was nevertheless limited and decreasing. In 1934 France ranked only sixth among suppliers and eleventh among trade customers of Yugoslavia.[1]
Following the French participation in theFour-Power Pact of 1933, pro-French states such as Yugoslavia became increasingly worried about their reliance on France, and began strengthening their own security arrangements. Consequently,Greece,Romania,Turkey, and Yugoslavia signed theBalkan Pact on February 9, 1934.[1]
On 9 October 1934, Yugoslav kingAlexander I and French foreign ministerLouis Barthou wereassassinated in Marseilles during the former'sstate visit to France.[1]
Yugoslav policy in the following period reoriented itself towardsrapprochement withBulgaria,Hungary,Fascist Italy, andNazi Germany.
DuringWorld War II, both countries came underAxis occupation. Parts of their territories were ruled by Axis powers directly, while other territories were given over to nominally-independentpuppet regimes:Vichy France and theIndependent State of Croatia (NDH). These regimes conducted limited diplomacy with one another: the NDH maintained a consulate in Vichy France.[3]
Both countries had prominentresistance movements against the occupiers. In the later stages of the war,Yugoslav partisans wrested significant swathes of territory from Axis control. Partisans in Slovene territory rescued hundreds of Allied airmen, prisoners of war, and slave labourers, among whom 120 were French.[4]
TheSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia established itself in the aftermath of the war. Yugoslavia was one of only two postwar socialist states in Europe to retain diplomatic independence from theSoviet Union (the other beingAlbania). This was a period in which Belgrade intended to use its relations with France to maintain this independence.[2] In April 1946, a Franco-Yugoslav friendship society was created. Further policy disagreements with the Soviet Union led to the 1948Tito–Stalin split, after which Yugoslav relations with allEastern Bloc countries were either suspended or significantly strained. Meanwhile, Yugoslavia reoriented its policy towards neutral European countries, andcooperated closely with Non-Aligned countries elsewhere in the world. In the period from 1951 to 1954, France, together with the United States and the United Kingdom, participated in the Tripartite Aid programme for Yugoslavia.[2] However, in 1953 France's National Assembly ended its participation in the program, leading to a diminution of its influence in Yugoslavia.[2]
During theAlgerian War, Yugoslavia provided significant logistical and diplomatic support to the Algerian side which badly affected its relations with France. France believed that theclose link between Egypt and Yugoslavia would continue to strongly influence the latter's policy towards Algeria.[2] Yugoslavia officially recognized the independence of Algeria on 5 September 1961, making it the first country in Europe to do so.[5] Relations started to improve once again after 1966, and in 1969 Tito even invited France to attend the Non-Aligned Conference.[2] Despite disagreements over Algeria, France recognized the mediator role which non-aligned Yugoslavia (a country with no colonial past) could play between France and thenewly independent Francophone African countries.[6] In June 1970, the two nations established a Franco-Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce in Paris.[2]
During theearly 90s crisis, France initially favoured the preservation of a unified Yugoslav state, in contrast toGermany, which promptly recognized the new states ofSlovenia andCroatia. Contemporary commentators interpreted PresidentFrançois Mitterrand's approach as being based upon a fear of a resurgentreunified Germany, and the memory of the historical friendship withSerbia.[2] French diplomacy nevertheless stressed the primacy of a unified common European approach in order not to threaten theMaastricht Treaty nor thenational referendum on its passing in September 1992, and was therefore willing to follow the German insistence onCroatian andSlovenian independence.[2]
As Yugoslavia continued to violently disintegrate, France committed peacekeeping forces underUnited Nations auspices. The French contribution peaked at 6,500 troops, mainly around Sarajevo.[7] They predominantly fought Serb troops, many of whom owed allegiance to theYugoslav rump state. As aNATO member, France later took part inthe coalition's intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its subsequentbombing campaign against the FR Yugoslavia.
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