The Kingdom of Yugoslavia in World War II
"Clear and concise explanations and 480 carefully selected pictures of the illustrated “The Kingdom of Yugoslavia in World War II” provide a simple and complete overview of the basic facts about the war and the warring parties in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The author successfully refutes a widely held belief that history is written by the winners (in this case the communists)."
Retired colonel Dragan Kersmanovic, former Chief of the Military Archives in Belgrade
Le Royaume de Yougoslavie dans la Seconde Guerre mondiale
"Par des explications limpides et concises et à l’aide de 480 photos méticuleusement choisies, offre un répertoire simple et clair des faits de base concernant la guerre et les forces en présence dans le Royaume de Yougoslavie. L’auteur réussit à démentir la conviction d’usage selon laquelle l’Histoire est écrite par les vainqueurs (en l’occurrence, les communistes)."
Dragan Kersmanovic, colonel en retraite de l’Armée Serbe et ancien directeur des Archives militaires de Belgrade
Why this book
On January 25th 2006, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly promulgated Resolution 1481 that, in its final passage, calls on the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe “…to reassess the history of communism and their own past” as “…freedom of conscience, thought and expression…” In much of Eastern Europe, during the communist era, this process could not exist before the fall of the Iron Curtain. Communist governments prevented objective historical account of the time (especially during WWII). The document was sent out to “historians throughout the world to continue their research aimed at the determination and objective verification of what took place”. However, for different reasons many countries did not welcome the Resolution as….
- Firstly, after the fall of the Berlin Wall coming to power of politicians with potential democratic conviction in the Eastern European countries were not instantaneously visible and a call to review historical events were rarely instigated. Communist parties did not have the distinct adjective (communist) in their names any longer, but the fundamentals of the doctrine remained. Apart from that, they won the first multi-party elections as key members of the newly established democratic parties and were conspicuously influential in the former totalitarian communist system in which they held high offices or were senior academic lecturers in Marxist studies.
- Secondly, communist veterans in every eastern European country continued to strengthen “achievements of national liberation struggle” either directly, or through their own offspring in other political parties.
- Thirdly, the historiography of the socialist countries, especially Yugoslavia, during the past decades, not only influenced their own public, but the historiography of the Western Countries also. Western scholarly literature, often quoting Communist books and adopting the views of their authors, can be seen as the indisputable testimony. It is intriguing that a small number of western historians studied documents in the Yugoslav archives; none of the researchers focused on the relatively longer works, bearing in mind the language barrier (Cyrillic alphabet) and the high cost of translation.
Ultimately it can be perceived that theWestern Historiography coincided with the Easter European Historiography counterpart to a somewhat large extent as the East, and West were allies in WW II, and that in turn brought about the unique view of Yugoslavia. What is worth mentioning is certainly the absence of almost any difference between the arguments of the official British History of World War II, in the multiple-volume “Grand Strategy” and the historical account of the Broz regime. This could be explicated by the British background in the overthrow of King Peter II and in bringing Broz to power. However, Heather Williams and the contemporary generation of British historians attempt to reformulate the “Grand Strategy” view.
This work, making no huge claims, is an attempt to more closely explicate the core of the key events that shook the occupied Yugoslav Kingdom from 1941 until 1945. Unlike the clear front lines of WW I, in World War II 22 formations were active on the soil of the occupied Yugoslav Kingdom. These formations had their own and very often covert interests, even if they were on the same side. Unfortunately, interests of the three great power blocks (theWest, Germany and the Soviet Union) clashed on this terrain and the Western politics had undergone a radical shift in political affiliation turning from the Monarchy to the Communists.
Bearing all this in mind the best approach would be to show a chronological record of events illustrated by photos and maps. “Main Events” refer to the formations, their leaders, the war objectives, the actions, the victims, the international factor and the weapons.
In Kragujevac, Serbia
January 2013. Miloslav Samardzich
https://www.pogledi.fr/en/content/why-book
"Clear and concise explanations and 480 carefully selected pictures of the illustrated “The Kingdom of Yugoslavia in World War II” provide a simple and complete overview of the basic facts about the war and the warring parties in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The author successfully refutes a widely held belief that history is written by the winners (in this case the communists)."
Retired colonel Dragan Kersmanovic, former Chief of the Military Archives in Belgrade
Le Royaume de Yougoslavie dans la Seconde Guerre mondiale
"Par des explications limpides et concises et à l’aide de 480 photos méticuleusement choisies, offre un répertoire simple et clair des faits de base concernant la guerre et les forces en présence dans le Royaume de Yougoslavie. L’auteur réussit à démentir la conviction d’usage selon laquelle l’Histoire est écrite par les vainqueurs (en l’occurrence, les communistes)."
Dragan Kersmanovic, colonel en retraite de l’Armée Serbe et ancien directeur des Archives militaires de Belgrade
Why this book
On January 25th 2006, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly promulgated Resolution 1481 that, in its final passage, calls on the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe “…to reassess the history of communism and their own past” as “…freedom of conscience, thought and expression…” In much of Eastern Europe, during the communist era, this process could not exist before the fall of the Iron Curtain. Communist governments prevented objective historical account of the time (especially during WWII). The document was sent out to “historians throughout the world to continue their research aimed at the determination and objective verification of what took place”. However, for different reasons many countries did not welcome the Resolution as….
- Firstly, after the fall of the Berlin Wall coming to power of politicians with potential democratic conviction in the Eastern European countries were not instantaneously visible and a call to review historical events were rarely instigated. Communist parties did not have the distinct adjective (communist) in their names any longer, but the fundamentals of the doctrine remained. Apart from that, they won the first multi-party elections as key members of the newly established democratic parties and were conspicuously influential in the former totalitarian communist system in which they held high offices or were senior academic lecturers in Marxist studies.
- Secondly, communist veterans in every eastern European country continued to strengthen “achievements of national liberation struggle” either directly, or through their own offspring in other political parties.
- Thirdly, the historiography of the socialist countries, especially Yugoslavia, during the past decades, not only influenced their own public, but the historiography of the Western Countries also. Western scholarly literature, often quoting Communist books and adopting the views of their authors, can be seen as the indisputable testimony. It is intriguing that a small number of western historians studied documents in the Yugoslav archives; none of the researchers focused on the relatively longer works, bearing in mind the language barrier (Cyrillic alphabet) and the high cost of translation.
Ultimately it can be perceived that theWestern Historiography coincided with the Easter European Historiography counterpart to a somewhat large extent as the East, and West were allies in WW II, and that in turn brought about the unique view of Yugoslavia. What is worth mentioning is certainly the absence of almost any difference between the arguments of the official British History of World War II, in the multiple-volume “Grand Strategy” and the historical account of the Broz regime. This could be explicated by the British background in the overthrow of King Peter II and in bringing Broz to power. However, Heather Williams and the contemporary generation of British historians attempt to reformulate the “Grand Strategy” view.
This work, making no huge claims, is an attempt to more closely explicate the core of the key events that shook the occupied Yugoslav Kingdom from 1941 until 1945. Unlike the clear front lines of WW I, in World War II 22 formations were active on the soil of the occupied Yugoslav Kingdom. These formations had their own and very often covert interests, even if they were on the same side. Unfortunately, interests of the three great power blocks (theWest, Germany and the Soviet Union) clashed on this terrain and the Western politics had undergone a radical shift in political affiliation turning from the Monarchy to the Communists.
Bearing all this in mind the best approach would be to show a chronological record of events illustrated by photos and maps. “Main Events” refer to the formations, their leaders, the war objectives, the actions, the victims, the international factor and the weapons.
In Kragujevac, Serbia
January 2013. Miloslav Samardzich
https://www.pogledi.fr/en/content/why-book
History of WWII on the territory of the Kingdom
of Yugoslavia. Illustrated with 480 photographs.
Hardcover, weight 1400 grams, B4 (32x25cm),
240 pages, category "beautiful books". Bilingual
edition in French and English.
Cover version: English.
Dimensions: 32 cm × 25 cm × 2.5 cm
Weight: 1400 g
Price: €39,95 VAT included
Le Royaume de Yougoslavie dans la Seconde Guerre mondiale
L’Histoire de la Seconde guerre mondiale entre
1941 et 1945 sur le territoire du Royaume de
Yougoslavie, par Miloslav Samardjic.
Illustrée par 480 photos. Couverture rigide,
catégorie «Beaux livres». Edition bilingue en
français et anglais.
Version de 1ère de couverture: Français.
Dimensions: 32 cm × 25 cm × 2.5 cm
Poids: 1400 g
Prix : €39,95 TTC
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If you would like to get in touch with me, Aleksandra, please feel free to contact me at ravnagora@hotmail.com
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