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After assasination of king Alexander, who was pro English, in 1934 (the assassins were belived to be Croatian pro-nazi nationalists), Yugoslav govenment was pro German and in first decided to join the Hitler's Pact. This government was lead by prince Paul, actig as regent for Alexander's underage son Peter.

However, a majority of people opposed that and in 1941 the military stated a coo, declaring Yugoslavia to be an ally of England. They declared Peter king.

Hitler could not allow Yugoslavia to be his enemy for two reasons. First, it would be a message of weakness to allow a small country oppose him, but more important was the geographical location of Yugoslavia, which lay on the south border of the Reich. If Hitler had an enemy in the south it would be very dangerous to him, since he planned to attack Russia. His troups would have to fight on three fronts at the same time.

On April 6th they attacked Yugoslavia without officialy declaring a war. Yugoslavia capitulated in 11 days, but some experts belive this war was very important, because Hitler had to postpone his plans to attack Russia for several months and his advance were stopped by the harsh winter before he could rach Moscow.

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14y ago

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