In which we exploit Austria's Civil War to liberate the Balkans

In February of 1937, negotiations at the Ausgliech held in Vienna fell apart leading to Civil War breaking out in the Habsburg Empire. Austria aimed to centralise the empire while Hungary desired independence.

A few days after the war broke out Romania and Italy declared war on Hungary and Austria respectively to regain their rightful territories. We too will soon be exploiting this moment of weakness in the empire.

Galicia uses the war as an excuse to slip away and reunite with Poland while Bohemia declares independence. In spite of this Austria makes no attempt to declare war on these breakaway nations.

This makes it obvious that Austria is overwhelmed by the war and will not contest encroachments on their empire. With this in mind, we decide to make the historic decision to declare war on Bosnia and liberate not just the Serbs living there, but all Southern Slavs. Onwards!

War is declared on the 22nd of February and our forces immediately begin marching into Sarajevo. The Bosnian army is mostly made up of militia regiments as the Austrians wished to keep the Bosnian military small and outdated. Due to this we expect to quickly defeat the enemy and occupy their country before Austria can even react.

...However with the Bosnian army distracted by our invasion, Serbian Nationalists used the opportunity to launch a Putsch and overthrow the government. It seems that our earlier aid to the Serbian nationalists in Bosnia has paid off!

The new Bosnian government requests to unite Bosnia with our state to which we promptly agree. In the end a costly invasion was not needed which has saved many Bosniak and Serb lives.

Austria raises no opposition to our liberation of Bosnia just as we expected. Just 10 years ago we could not even choose our own leader without Austrian intervention. How the mighty have fallen!

Our new state borders. Serbia's land mass has doubled overnight and now we rule over a diverse population of Serbs, Bosniaks and a small number of Croats. Any internal doubts about our foreign policy have been swept aside by this triumph.

Serbian nationalists only achieved mass support in Bosnia due to the unfair distribution of land in the country where Muslim landlords controlled all available farmland. In accordance to the local population's wishes we begin an ambitious land redistribution program to grant the land back to the people. The Muslim Elite will be compensated to some extent however we are still a poor country so many elites will be furious with our decision.

Inspired by our victory nationalists begin an uprising in the Austrian-controlled Montenegro. Cut off from the rest of the empire, it seems unlikely that the Austrians will be able to maintain control.

To ensure Montenegrin victory we send vast quantities of military supplies across the border. This includes volunteers who will take part directly in the fighting.

The Montenegrins are grateful for our aid which has no doubt brought us a certain amount of goodwill from the population there.

In the East we receive word of a grand coalition that has been formed to finally defeat the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps the Egyptians, Arabs and Persians can finally put the sick man of Europe out of his misery?

As part of our modernisation program we have decided to finally industrialise Serbia. At the moment our industry is limited just to light production in Belgrade in spite of the fact that there are a wealth of resources located just under our soil. By modernising our industry we will join the advanced countries of the world.

Montenegro take control of their capital and expel all Austrian forces from their country. Short of a naval landing, Montenegro is now safe from any attempts to restore control by the Empire.

Romania's invasion has proceeded well as they have established control over most of Transylvania. Hopefully peace is made soon as we do not want Hungary to become completely crippled before we have taken full advantage of Austria's weak state.

Our old enemy Ukraine joins the International to our great concern. While France probably won't be able to assist them with another invasion into Romania, their entry into the Syndicalist alliance will attract German attention to the Balkans.

Having positioned our army in Bosnia, we now feel confident with the next stage of our liberation of the Balkans. Vojvodina and Dalmatia are both home to large numbers of ethnic Serbs so the liberation of these provinces is vital. We shall send a demand for these provinces to both Hungary and Croatia.

Already overwhelmed by Austria and Romania, Hungary agrees to our demands and hands Vojvodina over without a fight. Our nation grows greater by the day!

Croatia on the other hand rejects our territorial demand and subsequently declares war on our country. While we do not wish to fight our Croatian brothers, they have brought this war upon themselves. By refusing to declare war on Austria they have made it clear that they are merely Habsburg puppets.

Our troops begin their assault on Zagreb...

...while our mountaineers further south move towards the coast. Arriving at the Adriatic sea, many men in our army bathe in it, glad to have finally reached what has always been a historically Serbian sea.

Hungary surrenders Transylvania to Romanian control almost bringing our allies' borders to their full, natural extent. With this the Austrians should face more pressure from the Hungarians which we will no doubt be able to exploit.

After a bitter battle in the Croatian capital we force a Croatian retreat as we begin to take control of the city. Croatia's days are numbered.

Croatian militias are cut off in Vojvodina leaving them vulnerable to our cavalry. Mass desertions are reported.

Zagreb and Split soon fall under our control as the Croatian state begins to collapse.

With a decisive victory we have the choice to demand the return of Dalmatia to Serbian control. We decide to put aside our original wargoal and instead press for a full annexation of Croatia. We were going to unite with Croatia at some point so why not now while we have occupied the country?

We fully annex Croatia further expanding our Kingdom. Another South Slavic nation has been liberated from foreign control!

Reception of our control over Croatia has been mixed. Some Croats see us as liberators from Austrian oppression while others see us as new tyrants. A military presence will be maintained in the country until we have properly stabilised and devolved legislative powers.

With control over Dalmatia we have ceased being a landlocked nation as we have brought our control to the Adriatic Sea. The popularity of our government in Serbia has never been higher.

We begin to construct a grand navy to protect our new territorial waters. Serbian vessels will be based off of British, Italian and French designs.

Realising the futility of remaining at war with Montenegro, Austria recognises their independence. Another triumph for a free Balkans!

Montenegro requests an alliance with our state to which we of course agree to. By bringing our two nations together in this way, we have brought about the possibility of a peaceful unification with Montenegro some time in the future. Pan-Slavic unity grows stronger by the day.

With Croatia under our control we now directly border the Austrian state.

Slovenia has been kept as a central part of Austria for decades meaning that it was not given partial independence after the 1927 Ausgliech. The people of Slovenia and Istria remain the last South Slavic peoples still under Habsburg oppression and as such they are our next target for liberation.

With our population on side and Austria embroiled in a two front war, we believe that we will be able to successfully defeat the Austrians and liberate our brother peoples. The Austrians have a large, advanced military however this will be our best chance to finally avenge the humiliation that we suffered during the Weltkrieg.

With this in mind, we declare war on the Austrians. Onwards! For Yugoslavia!