"For Yugoslavia, the triumph of independent statehood following World War I became a tragedy seventy years later." "Yugoslavia was born in 1918 as the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, with King Alexander its sovereign. In 1929 the country was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After the Nazi invasion in World War II, Slovenia became part of Greater Germany, Croatia a Fascist state ruled by the Ustashi. Mass killings by the Ustashi followed, in concentration camps, churches, and homes, of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies. Killings of Serbs by Croats - both Slavic peoples and neighbors, speaking the same language but divided by religion and cultural allegiances." "In this highly informative and lucid account, Professor Dragnich discusses the ideals and hopes that the South Slavs brought to Yugoslavia, their tortured attempt to create a workable political system, and the reasons behind the chaos and violence of recent months."--Jacket.