Administrative divisions of Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia had various administrative divisions in different time periods.

1918–1922

Provinces of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

From 1918 to 1922, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes continued to be subdivided into the pre–World War I divisions (districts, counties and kingdoms) of the Habsburg Monarchy and the formerly independent Balkan kingdoms of the Serbia and the Montenegro.

The provinces (pokrajine) were:

Slovenia
Croatia and Slavonia
Dalmatia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Banat, Bačka, Baranja
Serbia
- Northern Serbia
- Southern Serbia
Montenegro

1922–1929

Oblasts of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

The Vidovdan Constitution of 1921 established the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes as a unitary state and, in 1922, 33 new administrative oblasts (provinces) ruled from the center were instituted:

Oblast of Banja Luka
Oblast of Belgrade
Oblast of Bihać
Oblast of Bitola
Oblast of Cetinje (Zeta Oblast)
Oblast of Čačak (Raška Oblast)
Oblast of Ćuprija
Oblast of Dubrovnik
Oblast of Karlovec
Oblast of Kragujevac (Šumadija Oblast)
Oblast of Kruševac
Oblast of Ljubljana
Oblast of Maribor
Oblast of Mostar
Oblast of Niš
Oblast of Novi Sad (Bačka Oblast)
Oblast of Osijek
Oblast of Požarevac
Oblast of Pristina (Kosovo Oblast)
Oblast of Sarajevo
Oblast of Smederevo (Podunavlje Oblast)
Oblast of Split
Oblast of Skopje
Oblast of Šabac (Podrinje Oblast)
Oblast of Štip
Oblast of Travnik
Oblast of Tuzla
Oblast of Užice (Zlatibor Oblast?)
Oblast of Valjevo
Oblast of Vranje
Oblast of Vukovar (Syrmia Oblast)
Oblast of Zagreb
Oblast of Zaječar (Timok Oblast)

1929–1941

From 1929, the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia and was subdivided into nine new provinces called banovinas. Their borders were intentionally drawn so that they would not correspond either to boundaries between ethnic groups, or to pre–World War I imperial borders. They were named after various geographic features, mostly rivers. Slight changes to their borders were made in 1931 with the new Yugoslav Constitution. The banovinas were as follow:

Drava Banovina (Dravska banovina), with its capital in Ljubljana (1929–1941)
Sava Banovina (Savska banovina), with its capital in Zagreb (1929–1939)
Littoral Banovina (Primorska banovina), with its capital in Split (1929–1939)
Vrbas Banovina (Vrbaska banovina), with its capital in Banja Luka (1929–1941)
Drina Banovina (Drinska banovina), with its capital in Sarajevo (1929–1941)
Zeta Banovina (Zetska banovina), with its capital in Cetinje (1929–1941)
Danube Banovina (Dunavska banovina), with its capital in Novi Sad (1929–1941)
Morava Banovina (Moravska banovina), with its capital in Niš (1929–1941)
Vardar Banovina (Vardarska banovina), with its capital in Skopje (1929–1941)
The City Administration of Belgrade, together with Zemun and Pančevo was also an administrative unit.

As an accommodation to Yugoslav Croats, the Banovina of Croatia (Banovina Hrvatska) was formed in 1939 from a merger of the Littoral (Maritime) and Sava Banovinas, with some additional territory from the Vrbas and Zeta Banovinas. Like Sava, its capital was Zagreb.

1941–1944

Axis occupation and partition of Yugoslavia in World War II

During World War II, Kingdom of Yugoslavia was occupied and partitioned by the Axis powers and was divided into 3 Axis puppet states:

Independent State of Croatia
Italian governorate of Montenegro (later German occupied territory of Montenegro)
the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia (including autonomous German-ruled Banat)

Other parts of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were occupied by German, Italian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Albanian Axis troops.

1945–1992

Republics and provinces of the SFR Yugoslavia

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was divided into 6 republics and two autonomous provinces:

Serbia (including autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo)
Montenegro
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
Slovenia
Macedonia

Federal subdivisions were further down divided into cities and srezs, second of which were constituted by several municipalities. In 1955 srez level units were abolished with only cities and municipalities remaining in place.

SR Croatia 1945–1992

Communities of Municipalities in 1986 in Socialist Croatia (colored differently).

In the Socialist Republic of Croatia srez level units were known as kotars.^[1] Socialist epoch was a period of numerous reforms and changes in administrative organization. 1947 law divided Croatia into 81 kotar, 18 cities and 2278 local people's boards/units.^[1] In 1949 the Republic was divided into 6 oblasts (Bjelovar, Osijek, Karlovac, Rijeka, Split and Zagreb) and the City of Zagreb which remained in place only until 1951.^[1] In 1952 municipalities (općinas) were reintroduced alongside kotara and cities leading to significant reform in 1955 when the republic was divided into 299 municipalities and 27 kotars (decreasing the previous number of 737 municipalities and 96 kotars).^[1] Number of municipalities was further decreased in following years reaching the number of 111 municipalities in 1963.^[1] Kotars were abolished in 1967 while the new republican constitution of 1974 requested municipalities to join into Communities of Municipalities with participation becoming voluntary in 1988.^[1] Following the first multi party elections and before formal independence administrative division turned into prominent issue leading to the Croatian War of Independence. 1990 construction introduced counties of Croatia and formally reintroduced (in practice never implemented) kotars in the case of Autonomous Kotar of Knin and Autonomous Kotar of Glina.^[1] The new counties were effectively defined and introduced only in 1992.