Radicalization and Fascism in the Ustaša

From Terrorism to Mass Violence in the Western Balkans

Constantin Iordachi, Goran Miljan

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350596108
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

This book explores the radicalization and fascistization of the Ustaša–The Croatian Revolutionary Organization within the interwar Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and later Yugoslavia, whose tumultuous rise led to terrorism and racial cleansing throughout the western Balkans.

Using an interdisciplinary and socio-cultural approach, Constantin Iordachi and Goran Miljan trace the Ustaša's political trajectory from its ideological and organizational roots in the 1920s, to its guerrilla struggle and terrorist activities in the 1930s, to its genocidal rule, violent downfall, and post-1945 metamorphosis in exile.

By considering the paramount role played by prejudice, economic deprivation, and the breakdown of social institutions in fueling grievances against an existing socio-political system, the authors place the emergence of the Ustaša in the context of the interwar Kingdom of Yugoslavia but also in the wider perspective of the emergence of fascist movements and regimes in interwar and wartime Europe.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Introduction: Radicalization, Terrorism, and Fascistization: The Case of the Ustaša
• Chapter 1: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes: A Hothouse of Political Radicalization
• Chapter 2: The Way of the Gun: Path to Political Violence, 1918–29
• Chapter 3: The Fascistization of Ustaša: Transnational Terrorism, Guerilla Violence, and Crusade Against Judeo-Bolshevism, 1930–40
• Chapter 4: Ustaša in Power: Genocide and the Cult of the Martyrs, 1941–5
• Conclusion
• Annexes
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Imprint