Mehmed Spaho and the Cvetković-Maček negotiations

Abstract

Although the Cvetković – Maček negotiations on solving of the socalled Croatian issue (from mid-March to the end of August 1939) were held in secrecy, in accordance with principles of secret diplomacy, they were followed by numerous positive or negative public reactions and disputes. Among the very few who almost never publicly declared themselves in this regard were Mehmed Spaho and his closest associates. Having found themselves in a truly ungrateful political position, they did not publicly react even when, in the finale of the negotiations, there was an open discussion about possible division of Bosnia. Trying to detect the causes which led to such a situation, this paper focuses on what Mehmed Spaho was doing during the Cvetković - Maček negotiations and how he reacted to the results of these negotiations outside the public political scene without being able to foresee that he would not live to see the end of that “huge match”, whose results left lasting consequences in this region.