The Military Factor and the Development of the Car Factory in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Cover Image

ВОЈНИ ФАКТОР И ИЗГРАДЊА ФАБРИКЕ АУТОМОБИЛА У КРАЉЕВИНИ ЈУГОСЛАВИЈИ
The Military Factor and the Development of the Car Factory in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Author(s): Dalibor Denda
Subject(s): History
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: Kingdom of Yugoslavia; Yugoslav Army; Motor Industry

Summary/Abstract: The idea of a need to build a car factory in the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia stemmed from persons engaged in the work of the Council of National Defense, but the fi rst serious initiative to resolve this issue through cooperation with the Ford Company originated with the Arch-Bishop of Bar, Dr. Nikola Dobrečić in mid-1920s. It failed because the military authorities, for strategic reasons, refused that the factory be built on Montenegrin coast. Offers of other car-makers were refused because of their demands for monopoly in supplying the State and the Military, which was deemed nefarious to the State. It was only with the start of the preparations, fi rst of totalitarian, but soon also of democratic powers for a future war in which motorization was to play a major part, that the Yugoslav military leadership started championing the development of the domestic car-industry. With the new policy of state interventions in the economy espoused by the government of Milan Stojadinović, the initiative to build the factory was taken over by the State itself. Thus the building of the car-factory within the nationalized Motor Industry inc. in Rakovica was the corollary of the interests of national defense and was part of Yugoslav economic preparations for the impending war. Thus the role of the military factor was decisive in the development of this branch of industry in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

  • Issue Year: 2008
  • Issue No: 3-4
  • Page Range: 9-27
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Serbian