Dragišić, Petar (2020) Walking a Tightrope: Tito`s Regional Ambitions and the Cominform Resolution. In: The Tito-Stalin Split 70 Years After, eds. Tvrtko Jakovina/Martin Previšić. University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences & University of Ljubljana Faculty of Arts – Department of History, pp. 33-44. ISBN 978-961-06-0344-3

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Abstract

In the aftermath of the Second World War Tito's National Liberation Army emerged as the most powerful military force in the Southeast European region. Consequently, the newly established communist regime in Yugoslavia endeavored to capitalize on its strength, the weakness of the Yugoslav neighbors as well as on the favorable geopolitical conditions. In the first post-war years Tito's regime focused its efforts on expanding the territory of Yugoslavia and extending its influence in the neighboring countries (the Trieste crisis, the project of South Slavic federation, the support for the communist “Democratic Army of Greece”, the territorial claims against Austria, etc.). Nevertheless, the conflict with Moscow in 1948 represented a serious blow to the Yugoslav power putting Tito on the defensive. Consequently, Tito gave up his ambitious projects in the Balkans and focused on protecting Yugoslav borders. Given the presence of both global Cold War coalitions on its borders Yugoslavia was constrained to play a demanding simultaneous game in the Balkan minefield. The paper focuses on the relations of Tito's Yugoslavia with its neighbors and the regional strategies of Tito's regime from the final stage of the Second World War and the subsequent establishing of the communist regime in Belgrade to the initial phase of the Tito-Stalin split in 1948/1949. The research will test the hypothesis that the Yugoslav relations with its neighbors were shaped by a blend of global (Cold War bipolarity) and regional (minority issues, pre-war territorial disputes...) factors. The research will focus on principal objectives of Tito's policy towards the Yugoslav neighbors in the first post-war years. In this regard the paper will pay particular attention to the impact of the Tito-Stalin split on the Yugoslav neighborhood policy in 1948/1949. The research is based on an analysis of archive sources (from the Archive of Yugoslavia and the Diplomatic Archive of Serbia), contemporary press articles, published documents and secondary sources.

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