The Kupa Manoeuvres of the Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1937.

Abstract

Every army aims to demonstrate, both domestically and internationally, that it is well led and equipped, and capable of defending its country. Military manoeuvres are an effective means for a country’s army to demonstrate its capabilitites in peacetime. The same can be said for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its army during the interwar period (1918–1939). During that period the Yugoslav army performed military manoeuvres of different scales and levels of importance. The Kupa manoeuvres in 1937 were the the Yugoslav army’s key exercises during the interwar years. They took place on Croatian and Slovenian soil, which heightens their interest to Croatian and Slovenian interwar historiography. The aim of this paper is to describe how the Kupa manoeuvres were organized and implemented by the army and the state authorities of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In addition, the ambition is to explain the importance of the Kupa monoeuvres for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its army at that time. For this purpose, the domestic and international aspects of the Kupa manoeuvres are addressed. The ultimate aim is to shed new light on the military history of the Yugoslav army and on the presence of that army on Croatian soil during the interwar period.