Editing Corfu Declaration (section)

==Background==
[[File:Ante Trumbić (2).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photograph of Ante Trumbić |[[Ante Trumbić]] led the [[Yugoslav Committee]] in the run-up to the [[creation of Yugoslavia]].]]
During the [[First World War]], pressure developed in the parts of [[Austria-Hungary]] inhabited by its [[South Slavs|South Slavic]] population – the [[Croats]], the [[Serbs]], the [[Slovenes]], and the Muslim Slavs ([[Bosniaks]]) – in support of [[Trialism in Austria-Hungary|trialist reform]],{{sfn|Ramet|2006|pp=40–41}} or the establishment of a common South Slavic state independent of the empire. This common state was meant to be achieved through the realisation of [[Yugoslavism|Yugoslavist ideas]] and unification with the [[Kingdom of Serbia]].{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2003a|pp=27–28}}

Serbia considered the war an opportunity for territorial expansion. A committee tasked with determining the country's war aims produced a programme to establish a wider South Slavic state by adding the South Slav-inhabited parts of the [[Habsburg lands]] – [[Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia|Croatia-Slavonia]], [[Slovene Lands]], [[Serbian Vojvodina|Vojvodina]], [[Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia and Herzegovina]], and [[Kingdom of Dalmatia|Dalmatia]] – to Serbia.{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2003a|p=29}} In its December 1914 [[Niš Declaration]], the [[National Assembly (Serbia)|National Assembly of Serbia]] announced the struggle to liberate and unify "unliberated brothers" as its national war aim.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=40}} This contravened the interests of the [[Triple Entente]], which favoured the continued existence of Austria-Hungary as a counterweight to the influence of the [[German Empire]].{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2003a|pp=33–35}} In late 1915, combined Austro-Hungarian, German and [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgarian]] forces defeated and occupied Serbia, forcing its government and remaining troops to [[Great Retreat (Serbian)|withdraw across Albania]] and seek refuge on the [[Kingdom of Greece|Greek]] island of [[Corfu]].{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2003b|pp=60–61}}

In April 1915, the [[Yugoslav Committee]] was established as an ''[[ad hoc]]'' group with no official capacity.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=43}} Partially funded by the Serbian government, it consisted of intellectuals and politicians from Austria-Hungary claiming to represent the interests of South Slavs.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=41}} [[Ante Trumbić]] was the Committee's president,{{sfn|Glenny|2012|p=368}} but [[Frano Supilo]], the co-founder of the ruling [[Croat-Serb Coalition]] in Croatia-Slavonia, was its most prominent member. Supilo advocated for a [[federation]] consisting of Serbia (including Vojvodina), Croatia (encompassing Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and [[Kingdom of Montenegro|Montenegro]].{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2003a|p=31}}

On 30&nbsp;May 1917, South Slavic members of the Vienna [[Imperial Council (Austria)|Imperial Council]] established the Yugoslav Club chaired by [[Slovene People's Party (historical)|Slovene People's Party]] president [[Anton Korošec]]. The Yugoslav Club presented the council with the [[May Declaration]] – a manifesto demanding the unification of Habsburg land inhabited by Croats, Slovenes, and Serbs into a democratic, free and independent state under Habsburg dynastic rule. The demand was made with reference to the principles of national self-determination and [[Croatian state right]].{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2003a|p=32}}