This paper looks at the Yugoslav public?s reactions to the rise of fascism and Mussolini?s coming to power in Italy. The main source for the analysis of this change at the top of power structure have been texts published in the contemporary Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian daily press, periodicals and publications. Among their authors were active diplomats of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, influential political figures of diverse political leanings. Observation of the rise of fascism, its violent ?methodology? of disposing of its political rivals, the misplaced response of the traditional centres of power and the ceding of ground to the fascists caused concern on the east side of the Adriatic over further radicalization of Italian nationalism and irredentist claims in spite of the obligations assumed under the treaties concluded by the two governments.

The actions of Balkan insurgents during Eastern Crisis of 1875-1878 were closely followed by Giuseppe Garibaldi and his supporters as well as by the Italian politicians and writers that were a part Mazzini?s school of thought. Garibaldi actively sustained the insurgents and his red shirts went to fight in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first year of the Crisis. When the uprising evolved into a war of Serbia and Montenegro against the Ottomans the involvement of red shirts as well as the one of volunteers in general was considerable reduced, with the exception of the Russian contingent under the commandment of the Russian general Mikhail Chernyaev. However, the interest for the ongoing developments in the Bosnia and Herzegovina only changed the form, since Italian politicians and journalists made several projects trying to mobilize Italian general public to support South Slav cause. The Venetian writer Marco Antonio Canini even imagined a confederal solution for the nations in the Danube basin thus trying to overcome the conflicts between the nascent nationalisms that could dispute among them the territorial heritage of the Austria-Hungary after its projected demise. None of the projects were put in practice, but they remain as testimony of Italian interest and involvement into the Great Eastern Crisis and its consequences.

The documents testifying to the conflict between Serbian king Stefan Uros I (1242/1243-1276) and Hungarian king Bela IV (1235-1270) from the 1260s also bring news about the Serbian king?s reliquary that was seized at the time. Following the destiny and specificities of Zavis?s cross, we indicate the possibility of this being the same precious item.

The First World War brought radical changes to the political map of Europe and took more than 15 million lives on both warring sides. This conflict of unprecedented proportions has left deep traces on the lives of people who found themselves in a whirlwind of war. Therefore, it is no wonder that the theme of war was present in various types of human creativity - through literature (especially autobiographical genres), art, but also popular culture, where movies rightly took centre stage. Even during the period 1914-1918, the film became the main weapon of propaganda. Through this instrument, the message was able to reach quickly a large number of people, regardless of their social status and level of education. After 1918, the film served as a popular medium through which the memory of war events was preserved. The first movies exuded the anti-war spirit at the moment when post-war Europe was facing long-term economic consequences that had surfaced. Pacifist messages could be seen in different film productions, which to a large extent looked up to Hollywood, the most significant film industry in the world. The same was in the case of smaller allied countries such as Greece and Serbia, which both paved a different path of development due to the complexity of historical processes conducted in these Balkan countries. This paper aims to point out these different developments and shed light on lesser-known facts about Yugoslav and Greek WWI cinematography.

The relations between Tito and Togliatti and their respective parties were conditioned by the omnipresent influence that Communist party of Soviet Union had on both partners. During the period of Stalin?s rule, the Italian communist were staunch Stalinists, thus Tito?s split with Stalin and the issue of Trieste were the main obstacles in bilateral relations. Khrushchev?s destalinization process opened new possibilities for inter party relations across the Adriatic, which however continued to be conditioned by the strategy of their Soviet comrades. Khrushchev?s lessening of the control over ?sister? parties give more space for Italians to learn more about Yugoslav path to communism. Nevertheless, the PCI continued to follow the Moscow line, while PCY looked to create its own based on nonaligned movement and self-management, which continued to be closely watched but not applied by PCI during Togliatti?s time in office.

Slobodan Jovanovic made frequent stays in Italy since his earliest childhood, which contributed to his thorough and comprehensive understanding of Italian history, politics, science, culture and arts. His father, Vladimir Jovanovic, maintained close contact with Mazzini, whose liberal nationalism he embraced and followed. Some of their closest family members resided in Rome during the First World War, because Vladimir Jovanovic?s sonin-law, Mihailo Ristic, served as Serbia?s minister to Italy (1914-17). For about half a century Slobodan Jovanovic was an interpreter of Italian political history, of its influence on Serbian and Yugoslav history, and of the work of Italian statesmen and theorists, notably Machiavelli. In the 1930s he taught a doctoral course on Italian public law and corporate system. After the Second World War he lived in exile in London. Some of the works he published there showed that some solutions in the constitution of socialist Yugoslavia, presented as an original invention, had already existed in interwar Italian corporate law.

Yugoslav-Italian relations between two world wars, besides the diplomatic-political, also had a very significant economic aspect. Italy was one of the most important foreign trade partners of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and this paper will explore the trade exchange between the two countries, especially the import of materials necessary for the textile industry, which substantially contributed to the positive balance of trade. Beside a quantitative analysis of statistical data regarding foreign trade, the paper also looks at the impact of political and economic events on the trade relations between the two countries, as well as the relation between the industrialization of Yugoslavia and changes in foreign trade.

In the medieval and early modern periods, the metropolitans and bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church were elected according to the procedure described in the Archieratikon, the bishop?s liturgical book. The procedure prescribed that the archbishop should choose from among the three candidates nominated by the council of bishops of an autocephalous church. Then the elected bishop was confirmed by the ruler. The archiepiscopal (patriarchal) election procedure was not specifically described because the central role in the process in the middle ages was played by the ruler. In the Ottoman Empire, the central role in the election and confirmation of bishops was played by the sultan, but the ecclesiastical canons were not among his considerations. Sometimes persons unworthy of the office of patriarch, metropolitan or bishop were appointed, without the knowledge of or contrary to the will of the synod. In order to prevent the appointment of an unworthy person as head of the Serbian Church, some patriarchs sought to have their successor elected in their own lifetime and to ensure a smooth transfer of office in agreement with the synod. Based on known sources and unpublished Ottoman documents, this paper discusses the questions of the election of Serbian patriarchs, the usurpation of the patriarchal throne and the attitude of the Ottoman administration towards the clergy. It offers a number of fresh insights into events during the patriarchate of Moses Rajovic (1712-24).

Pour le fascisme roumain comme pour la plupart des autres champs historiographiques, 1989 repr?senta une c?sure importante a plusieurs titres. Dans la production domestique, c?est la fin du national-communisme qui d?douanait le fascisme de la Garde de fer de ses origines autochtones et l?attribuait a l?influence ?trangere, italienne et allemande. Dans la production occidentale, l?amplification d?une r?flexion sur les traits d?un fascisme g?n?rique font du cas roumain un exemple important et finissent par influencer la production locale, qui se remarque par une sorte de rattrapage th?orique rapide et une production abondante.

The paper analyzes the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church Municipality in Trieste (SOCM) in Yugoslav-Italian relations in the period from the signing of the London Memorandum in 1954 to the early 1970s. In that period, the SOCM president Dragoljub Vurdelja, an anti-communist and an opponent of socialist Yugoslavia, had a decisive role. Yugoslavia perceived the SOCM under Vurdelja?s leadership as a center of anti-Yugoslav propaganda, so it sought to take control over this church community. To that end, Yugoslavia raised this issue in its relations with Italy and used all available diplomatic means to persuade this country to remove Vurdelja from Trieste. However, the improvement in relations between the SOCM and Yugoslavia began only after Dragoljub Vurdelja died in 1971.