Iraj Hashi The Disintegration of Yugoslavia: Regional Disparities and the Nationalities Question ● The end of the First World War and the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires witnessed the birth of a number of new states in Europe. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, as Yugoslavia was originally called, was one of these new states which came into existence in 1918. Sanctioned by the peace treaties of St. Germain, Neuilly and Trianon, its western and southern constituent parts separated from the former territories of Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey and joined the kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro which had existed as independent states before the War. Economically, socially and culturally the new state was one of the most diverse and heterogeneous countries of Europe: its population was made up of eight major and about twenty minor ethnic groups (Serbs being the largest group, followed by Croats), speaking four languages (Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian and Albanian), practicing three religions (catholic and orthodox Christianity and Islam), writing in two scripts (Latin and Cyrillic), and displaying massive social, cultural and economic differences. These differences played a major part in subsequent events and 41