LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE FORMATION OF THE FIRST YUGOSLAV STATE

Ideas related to the formation of a single state for all the South Slavic peoples arose in the middle of the XIX century. But in that historical period, all the South Slavic peoples were under the yoke of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. As a result of the long liberation struggle of their peoples for independence, Serbia and Montenegro gained the status of sovereign states in 1878, but the South Slavic peoples of Austria-Hungary remained within the Empire until the beginning of the First World War. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a result of the loss in the First World War provided a historic chance for the Yugoslav peoples of the former Empire to unite with Serbia and Montenegro into one sovereign state in December 1918. Although more than a century has passed since the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, scientists are still discussing the legal qualification of this epoch-making event, the analysis of which is presented in this article.

Нишская декларация, Королевство Сербов, Хорватов и Словенцев, Хорватов и Сербов, Югославянский комитет, Парижская мирная конференция, Государство Словенцев