United States–Yugoslavia relations were the historical foreign relations of the United States with both Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1919 –1941) and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1992). During the existence of the SFRY, relations oscillated from mutual ignorance, antagonism to close cooperation, and significant direct American engagement. The United States was represented in Yugoslavia by its embassy in Belgrade and consulate general in Zagreb.
History
Kingdom of Serbia
The United States recognized the Kingdom of Serbia as a sovereign nation on October 14, 1881, with the signing of consular and commercial agreements. On November 10, 1882, U.S. Consul General Eugene Schuyler presented his credentials to the government of Serbia. At this time, the American Legation in Belgrade was established, though Schuyler was resident at Athens. U.S. and Serbian officials first made overtures to establish diplomatic relations in 1867, but it was not until 1881, three years after the country gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire, that the United States officially recognized the Kingdom of Serbia.
On October 14, 1881, both countries signed two treaties. The first was the Treaty on Commercial Relations to facilitate and develop commercial relations between the two countries signed by U.S. Chargé d’Affaires and Consul-General at Bucharest Eugene Schuyler and Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Čedomilj Mijatović. The second treaty was the Convention on Rights, Privileges, and Immunities of Consular Officers. This agreement defined and regulated the rights, immunities, and privileges of each state’s consular officers. On October 25, 1901, the United States and the Kingdom of Serbia signed a Treaty on Extradition in Belgrade. The treaty promoted justice and confirmed friendly relations between the two nations, and was negotiated by U.S. Minister Charles Spencer Francis and Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Michel V. Vouïtch.
Interwar period
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was created in the aftermath of the World War I under the influence of the Fourteen Points self-determination ideas by the Woodrow Wilson administration. The United States was the first country to diplomatically recognize Yugoslavia.
World War II
During World War II in Yugoslavia, the United States initially supported the royalist Yugoslav government in exile. When the Nazis invaded Yugoslavia in the spring of 1941, the United States decisively supported the Chetniks in the first years of the war. This however changed once British sources recognized Yugoslav Partisans as the only significant resistance movement which will rise to become the most effective anti-Axis resistance movement during the war.
Initial postwar years
In the initial period after the war relations between the two countries were poor with Yugoslavia being perceived as the closest Soviet ally, and the country in which Communist party gained power without any significant Soviet support. This phase lasted in a short period after the end of the World War II in 1945 and before the beginning of the Cold War in 1947. This period was characterized by Soviet conciliatory diplomacy towards the West and much more belligerent Yugoslav foreign policy involved in issues such as the Free Territory of Trieste and Greek Civil War. Relations were further strained when two USAF C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft were shot down over Yugoslavia in the space of two weeks. At the time, relations with United States were given lower priority to country's relations with United Kingdom.