Bolje grob nego rob! Bolje rat nego pakt!

The phrase (Better a grave than slavery! Better war than a pact!) became associated with Yugoslav opposition to alignment with the Axis Tripartite Pact in 1941. They express a refusal to treat national autonomy as something that can simply be bargained away under pressure. The Yugoslav government on 25 March 1941 signed a deal with Germany.

Two days later, the Yugoslav government was overthrown by a military coup emboldened by the mass protests. Yes, Germany invaded, and Germany invaded and occupied the country. Five years later, and many body bags on both sides, Germany was defeated by the Allies.

A bad deal has consequences, especially for the larger power trying to bully its way onto other people’s territory.

The protestors were right, and they understood what capitulation meant. Their government did not: they wanted to keep their paper crowns and cushy positions even though they did nothing to prepare for a hostile scenario and they were backed into a corner.

A bad deal is a bad deal. A bad actor has to resisted at all costs: they will not be there forever, especially when resistance erases all their gains. No bigger power is going to go after a smaller one for no reason: the bigger one is weaker than it lets on and targets the smaller one because it has resources the bigger one lacks.

The weak prey upon the strong, after all.

They just know how to use propaganda to confuse its target.

It just doesn’t work when the other side can see it and can plan strategically.