By the way, Ducky, I'm going to have to share a country history with you, since the Slovenes, Croats, and Serbians used to have this not-so-awesome country until they decided to divide each other up.
Also, application:
Nation: Republic of Slovene-Croatia
Leader: Janez Dvornik
History: Similar to many Balkan nations at the time, Slovenia and Croatia were occupied by Austria-Hungary during the Great War; in this time, the two countries were about to face the winds of change. The Balkan countries were unfortunately affected by the Great War, with battles continuously occurring in their country, often causing the destruction of many cities and loss of lives as some were conscripted by their mother country, Austria-Hungary.
As Austria-Hungary neared collapse, Slovene and Croat nationalism escalated, with frequent riots and rebellions Austria-Hungary had to put down with force. In the early 1920s, Slovenia and Croatia went into a period of political thought, mostly of the recent political system of "socialism". In 1922, however, Austria-Hungary collapsed, which subsequently declined the so-called political "socialist revolution" as the population was more focused on the creation of the idealized Yugoslavia. Slovenes, Croats, Bosnians, Serbs, and other ethnic groups came together; as one of the top priorities after the creation of the young country, Yugoslavia attempted to rebuild itself from the ashes of the Great War.
Problems quickly came. When the Serbian Bojan Boris rose into power, several ethnic groups that were non-Serbian began to resent his rule; the Slovenes and Croats were no exception. They believed that Yugoslavia's government was dominated only by the Serbs. Soon, the former socialist revolution met a revival in the late 1940s. In 1949, within Yugoslavia, the "Balkan Socialist League" was formed in Split, Croatia, by a man called Miroslav Vlatkovic, a believed communist. The BSL remained relatively hidden in western Yugoslavia until the 1950s, and managed to directly oppose Bojanism with the people's support. Finally, the BSL had stopped hiding and now was threatening Serbia and its supporters from eastern Yugoslavia; Vlatkovic intended to instigate an overthrow of the dictator Bojan.
Before he can do so, however, Serbia, Kosovo, and Montenegro split with Yugoslavia, preventing the need of an overthrow. With little resistance, Vlatkovic renamed the "Republic of Yugoslavia" into the "Yugoslavian Union of Socialist States" – YSS, for short – in 1954, and declared himself the Chairman of Yugoslavia. Cautious of Serbia's unpredictable actions, Vlatkovic closed off all roads to the new Serbia, keeping watch on the border and building it's own military to match that of Serbia's. Yugoslavia and Serbia cut off any relation they had. Vlatkovic often intensified the conflict between Serbia, often showing off Yugoslavia's military power and being strictly anti-Bojanist, while supporting socialism/communism.
To many, Vlatkovic was a dictator no better than Bojan who often tried to restrict the people's beliefs; he was infamously known throughout the world for the Zagreb Massacre of 1960, where he ordered the paramilitary to fire at what he claimed to be "counter-revolutionaries". Yet others see him as a reformer, improving the country's economy with the "Homeland Restoration Plan" in 1958, as well as modernizing Yugoslavia. Vlatkovic died in August 1966 as a controversial man; Anton Kosir succeeded him as Chairman.
Anton Kosir had different thoughts than Vlatkovic; he wanted to consider peace talks with Serbia and was worried that war was imminent and that publicly creating weapons would hinder Yugoslavia's chance of diplomacy with Serbia. Kosir did not want to risk using deterrence as a way to stop Serbia's "aggression". He also increased commercial trade with other countries, and attempted to improve relations with nearby countries. Sadly, he grew unpopular in the eyes of Slovenes, Croats, Bosnians, and even his own party members alike due to his "sympathy with Serbs". Hoping not to get discharged by the Balkan Socialist League, he resigned in April 1975.
The third Chairman, Milan Saric, succeeded Kosir in 1975 – a turbulent time for Yugoslavia. The relationship between Slovenes and Croats against Bosnians and ethnic minorities were severing as they began to seek different goals, along with losing a sense of unity. Chairman Saric did not deal with this problem lightly, and after several revolts in eastern Yugoslavia (Bosnia), he mobilized military troops in Sarajevo and other cities to keep order. This only turned the revolts into all-out rebellions, which began the Yugoslav Civil War after Bosnia seceded from Yugoslavia.
The war lasted for another three years, with 55,000 or so Bosnian soldiers and civilians killed, and 40,000 Yugoslav soldiers and civilians killed. When the war ended with the Treaty of Zagreb, all of what was left of Yugoslavia was Slovenia and Croatia. Saric declared Yugoslavia defunct and dissolved, renaming the country Slovene-Croatia after an agreement to place the names of the two major ethnic groups: Slovenes and Croats. The flag was also modified as well; Saric removed the star and added a red and white checkered shield, which is the Croatian coat of arms, along with the new Slovenian coat of arms next to it: Mount Triglav, the highest point in Slovene-Croatia. Some, however, dislike this new flag, and will sometimes use two separate flags.
Saric, as the 1st President of Slovene-Croatia, allowed elections to take place in Slovene-Croatia in 1980. Janez Dvornik won the elections with a popular vote majority of 56.37%. While most of the infrastructure in Bosnia was destroyed during the civil war, Slovene-Croatia suffered less damage due to most of the fighting taking place in Bosnia itself. As a result, Slovene-Croatia has recovered somewhat, being a small but fairly industrialized country that is steadily pacing up to its developed counterparts. There is still some political strife, however, within the country, with the Slovene-Croatian Democratic Union (SCDU), First People's Party, and the old Socialist League.
More recently, there has been issues with Serbia mobilizing it's troops to the weakened Bosnia. Dvornik, worried of Serbia's possible invasion of the country, signed a non-aggression pact with Prussia and made an agreement to allow them to use their ports if they provide them Prussian armed forces. As of far, Slovene-Croatia and Serbia still have tensions.
Mangrale