Y

Yalta Conference Meeting between STALIN, CHURCHILL, and President Roosevelt February 4–11, 1945. Following the TEHRAN CONFERENCE of 1943, these negotiations in the Crimea occurred when victory in Europe at the end of WORLD WAR II was in sight. Although coordination of the final advances into Germany formed part of the agenda, the “Big Three” were now beginning to focus more sharply on the political and diplomatic issues surrounding their impending defeat of HITLER. They made some progress on the zonal occupation arrangements for Germany and Austria, including reversal of the ANSCHLUSS and provision for French participation in the relevant Allied Control Commissions. With much of eastern Europe already controlled by the RED ARMY, the SOVIET UNION won acquiescence for a reconfigured map of POLAND, bounded by the 1920 CURZON LINE to the east and (at least as a de facto expedient) by the ODER–NEISSE LINE to the west. The Americans and British also agreed that all Soviet citizens falling into their hands be returned to Russia – a potentially murderous concession that continued to fuel recriminations long after the war's end. Yalta also produced a Declaration on Liberated Europe. While this reflected the Allied leaders' shared rhetorical commitment to democracy, it could not bridge the gulf that existed in the practical meaning of popular authority and “free elections” as between Stalin and the West. The Yalta Conference also reflected both Soviet and American distrust with regard to Churchill's hopes for Britain's imperial regeneration (see IMPERIALISM). This was a consideration that led the ailing Roosevelt to settle directly and secretly with Stalin the gains available once the Soviet Union entered the Far Eastern theater of warfare so as to hasten Japan's defeat. The American and British leaders have been much criticized for the weaknesses of their diplomacy at Yalta. Yet it might be said in mitigation that, because of the Red Army's advances by early 1945, Stalin entered these particular negotiations already possessing the strongest hand, as well as the ability to exploit such advantage ruthlessly. Moreover, by the end of the next Allied summit, the POTSDAM CONFERENCE, six months later, only he of the wartime Big Three would still be in power to influence the shape of Europe during the opening phase of the ensuing COLD WAR.

Yeltsin, Boris (1931–2007), President of RUSSIA (1991–9). An engineer by training, Yeltsin joined the Communist Party in 1961 and rose to become its leader in his native region of Sverdlovsk. There, in 1977, he ordered with characteristic impetuosity the destruction of the house where Tsar NICHOLAS II and his family had been murdered after the RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS OF 1917. By the time that the reformist GORBACHEV assumed leadership of the SOVIET UNION in 1985, Yeltsin's support for change facilitated his swift promotion to the key position of mayor of Moscow. However, he was then dismissed from that office towards the end of 1987 because of his increasingly public criticisms about the inadequate pace of transformation. Already seen as a rival to Gorbachev even before the REVOLUTIONS OF 1989–91 began to spread across the communist bloc, Yeltsin now cultivated a distinctive power-base in the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. By May 1990 he was chairman of its Supreme Soviet, and thus effectively its premier. In June 1991, having already resigned from the Party, he won election to what was now becoming the democratic presidency of the Russian republic. He thereby defeated a candidate backed by the Soviet leader himself. However, when two months later a group of hardline communists mounted a coup against Gorbachev (who was away from Moscow) and set troops around Yeltsin's own headquarter in the capital, it was the latter whose dramatic confrontation with the tanks inspired the mass counter-demonstrations that ended the brief rebellion. Fêted on global television for bravely saving Gorbachev from that particular kind of overthrow in August, Yeltsin was in no mind to sustain his former patron for much longer. In November he banned the Communist Party throughout the Russian republic, and in December proclaimed, standing alongside the leaders of UKRAINE and BELARUS, the dissolution of the USSR (see also COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES). By the end of 1991 Gorbachev had resigned, and the Soviet Union's former seat at the United Nations had been transferred to the newly-independent Russia headed by President Yeltsin.

The second half of 1991 proved to be the apogee of Yeltsin's career – the point beyond which it descended into confusion, and even vodka-fuelled farce. Russia's economic transition towards post-communist privatization was disastrously handled. The shift profited mainly an entrepreneurial minority (though one large enough to embrace quite a few survivors from the former NOMENKLATURA) which was bent on turning the new CAPITALISM into mere asset-stripping. By 1993 Yeltsin's own increasingly overbearing, eccentric, and unpredictable manner had produced a constitutional crisis. This nearly caused his impeachment by the new Russian parliament, and ended with him ordering troops into its chamber and imposing a revised constitution that enlarged his own presidential powers. Late in 1994, going against the grain of most domestic and international opinion, he ordered the clumsily conducted military operations that were intended to quell attempted secession by the CHECHNYA region. Despite worsening health, he managed with the help of heavy control over the COMMUNICATIONS media to win re-election in 1996. Henceforth his grasp of complex issues weakened further, and abrupt dismissal of whole cabinets became almost habitual. In 1999, during the KOSOVO crisis, he confirmed his growing resemblance to an old-style Soviet leader from the COLD WAR era, by threatening to use Russian forces against any deployment of NATO ground troops. On December 31 of that year, with parliamentary and popular opposition running strongly against him and with most of his international support long exhausted, Yeltsin resigned his presidential functions. These were then taken over, initially on a temporary basis, by PUTIN.

Yezhovshchina (see under GREAT PURGES)

Young Czechs Known as Mladočeši, these formed, during the late nineteenth century, their nation's leading political grouping within the HABSBURG EMPIRE. Having come together in the 1860s as critics of the more conservative “old Czechs,” in 1874 they formed themselves into a new National Liberal Party. Under the chairmanship of Emanuel Engel, this challenged the Austro-Hungarian AUSGLEICH by seeking for the Czech regions greater governmental autonomy, as well as improved civil liberties and faster economic development. The party's influence reached its high-point in 1897 when the Austrian premier, Kazimierz Badeni, introduced reforms giving the Czech language equal status with German in the administrative affairs of BOHEMIA and Moravia. After Emperor FRANCIS JOSEPH I swiftly yielded to pressures in Vienna that were hostile to this concession, support for the Young Czechs declined. Often viewed as representing essentially middle-class and business interests, their National Liberal Party was now losing out to rivals that concentrated on agrarian or socialist concerns. By the time that universal male suffrage was granted in 1905, the Mladočeši had become merely one of the elements operating within an increasingly fragmented spectrum of Czech NATIONALISM.

Young Italy (see under MAZZINI)

Young Plan Settlement agreed in 1929–30 to resolve the issue of the REPARATIONS required from Germany by the VERSAILLES TREATY of 1919. While the DAWES PLAN of 1924 had reduced the amount of payments, the WEIMAR REPUBLIC was still failing to meet its obligations, though many historians believe Berlin could have paid off those debts had it so chosen. Experts were appointed by the Allied Reparation Committee, for an investigation chaired by the American industrialist and businessman Owen D. Young. Reporting in June 1929, they recommended that the sum of reparations should be reduced to $26.35 m, now payable over a period of nearly sixty years. The Plan also specified the annual totals and called for international financial machinery to regulate payments. In Germany, where the scheme helped to fan right-wing extremism, the adjusted demands still seemed harsh. Conversely, Britain and France were uneasy about the concessions. Even so, the Plan was duly adopted at the second Hague Conference of January 1930. By then the impact of the Wall Street Crash was beginning to be felt worldwide. As the GREAT DEPRESSION[2] worsened in 1931, US President Hoover achieved a one-year moratorium on reparations. A year later, at the Lausanne Conference, the creditor states acknowledged that, since Germany could no longer afford to pay, the Plan must be abandoned. The point was reinforced in 1933 when HITLER came to power with a policy of repudiating all such obligations.

Young Turks Label for a number of groups that first combined in late-nineteenth-century Turkey (see TURKEY AND EUROPE) to oppose the autocratic rule of Sultan ABDUL HAMID II, whose reform promises of 1876 had proved largely worthless. Known from 1895 as the Committee for Union and Progress and led largely by reformist military officers, they campaigned for constitutional government and for a heightened NATIONALISM. In 1908 their open rebellion led to the calling of a parliament. When Abdul Hamid attempted a counter-stroke in 1909, the Young Turks proceeded to replace him with Muhammad V. Four years later, amid the humiliations of the BALKAN WAR, they engineered another coup, under Enver Pasha's leadership. This gave them even greater control of policy until the end of WORLD WAR I, including the crucial decision to maintain in that conflict an alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. While the Young Turks proved incapable of halting their country's imperial decline, many aspects of their reformist program resurfaced during the early years of the new republic established under ATATÜRK in 1922–3.

Ypres, Battles of Three major engagements conducted in Belgium during WORLD WAR I, in the vicinity of the Flanders town of Ypres and around the low ridges of Passchendaele, Menin, and Messines. The strategic importance of this location for German and Allied logistics made it a particularly vital part of the Western Front.

[1] 1914. The first so-called Battle of Ypres, which took place in October–November 1914 as the Germans and Allies extended their lines to the sea, left the latter in possession of the town and a salient around it, albeit at the cost of 80,000–100,000 casualties.

[2] 1915. The second battle, conducted during April–May 1915 and involving Germany's first use of gas on the Western Front, saw the Allies losing some ground.

[3] 1917. The third battle (see also PASSCHENDAELE, BATTLE OF) lasted from July to November 1917, when the area beyond the town was the scene of major attacks by British, Australian, and Canadian troops. Fought in appalling conditions and with enormous losses, it would become a byword for the futility of conflict.

The fighting along the nearby river Lys as part of LUDENDORFF'S final offensive against the Allies in the spring of 1918 is sometimes referred to as a fourth battle of Ypres. Throughout the war, the town remained under Allied control, though most of its infrastructure was destroyed by shelling. Today its rebuilt cloth hall houses one of the most impressive museums dedicated to remembrance of the Great War, and bugles still sound each evening at the nearby Menin Gate memorial.

Ypsilantis,Alexander (1792–1828), Greek soldier and nationalist. Ypsilantis was born at Constantinople into a family with a distinguished tradition of service to the Ottoman Empire. Nonetheless, at the start of the RUSSO-TURKISH WAR of 1805 his father sided with Russia, and thus it was there that the young Ypsilantis rapidly advanced his military career. In 1820, when he was already a major-general, he accepted leadership of the secret Hetairia Philiké (Society of Friends) whose aim was to free Greece from Ottoman rule. Accordingly, in February 1821 he launched a rising in the DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES that precipitated the wider GREEK WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. However, his own particular and unauthorized initiative was condemned by Tsar ALEXANDER I, and soon suppressed by the Turks. Ypsilantis fled to Austria, where he was imprisoned until 1827 on the insistence of METTERNICH. He died there the following year, shortly before Greece attained independence and he himself became posthumously hallowed as one of the new state's national heroes.

Yugoslavia This new BALKAN state was created in December 1918, after the HABSBURG EMPIRE'S collapse at the end of WORLD WAR I, as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Confirmed by the 1919 PARIS PEACE SETTLEMENT, it was popularly known as Yugoslavia (“land of the south Slavs”) even before its formal relabeling as such in 1929. From the outset it was vulnerable to Hungarian and Bulgarian claims for revision of the postwar treaties of TRIANON and NEUILLY. To guard against such ambitions, the Belgrade government entered into the LITTLE ENTENTE with Czechoslovakia and Romania, and nurtured close relations with France. Yugoslavia also had to contend with Italian claims on FIUME. On the domestic front, ethnic tensions persisted. The Serbs, who dominated the government and favored greater centralization, were generally resented by the Croats and Slovenes, while most inhabitants of the KOSOVO region favored its transfer to ALBANIA. In 1929 King ALEXANDER I, with army backing, instituted a personal dictatorship and banned separatist political movements. Though democratic procedures were partially restored in 1931, such measures failed to bring about the desired stability, and Alexander was assassinated by the members of the Ustaše, PAVELIĆ'S Croatian paramilitary group, while visiting France in 1934. The rise of FASCISM in the 1930s only compounded the regime's difficulties as Italy and Germany encouraged Croatian and Macedonian separatism.

On the outbreak of WORLD WAR II, Yugoslavia declared its NEUTRALITY. Yet this did not save it from HITLER'S designs, and on March 25, 1941 Prince Paul (regent for the young King Peter) reluctantly declared an alliance with the AXIS. When this was countered by an attempt at a pro-British military coup, the Führer invaded Yugoslavia on Apri 6 and defeated it within a fortnight. Territorial reorganization followed. Northern SLOVENIA, along with Banat and parts of SERBIA, were absorbed by Germany, while Bulgaria, Italy, and Albania also helped themselves to the spoils. An “independent state of CROATIA,” including BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA and bits of Dalmatia, was established under the control of the fascist (and broadly Catholic) Ustaše, which went on to commit a wide range of atrocities against its ethno-religious enemies. This Nazi-puppet state found itself fighting two principal groups. One comprised the CHETNIKS, the rump of the old army and police force, who desired a restoration of Serb-dominated Yugoslavia and yet were willing to collaborate with the Germans; the other featured the Partisans, dominated by the Communists under TITO. Unlike many other RESISTANCE movements the Partisans, periodically assisted by the RED ARMY, caused the Germans real military difficulties, and by April 1945 had succeeded in expelling Axis forces.

Tito's popularity and broader communist influence thwarted Allied hopes for the return of King Peter's government-in-exile. Instead Yugoslavia was reconstituted, on federal principles (see FEDERALISM[1]), into six People's Republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, MONTENEGRO, MACEDONIA, and Serbia. The last-named included the two autonomous provinces of Kosovo and the VOJVODINA. It soon became clear that Tito – heading a communist regime not directly dominated by a Russian military presence – was determined to maintain independence from the Soviet bloc that STALIN was rapidly consolidating. Thus, in 1948, Yugoslavia was expelled from the Cominform (see THE INTERNATIONAL). Tito (who assumed the title of president from 1953) proceeded to develop a state that was often heralded as representing a more progressive version of COMMUNISM than any operative elsewhere in eastern Europe. Even so, it remained both repressive and highly dependent on his personal leadership. For some historians, Tito's death in 1980 marks the point at which the dissolution of Yugoslavia began, but others see that break-up as foreshadowed by the 1974 constitution. Though this had made him “president for life,” it had also been designed to accommodate separatist sentiments, especially on the part of the Croats, by weakening federal institutions and granting greater authority to the individual republics. Federalism now survived principally with reference to the People's Army, and to the new mechanism for a rotating presidency that became effective at the start of the 1980s. These devices proved incapable of meeting the challenges of that decade: economic stagnation, government corruption, and, most seriously, the rise of ethnic tensions. Such rivalries were most deliberately exploited by MILOŠEVIĆ, who aimed to restore Serbian dominance.

The collapse of the SOVIET UNION and of its communist hegemony over eastern Europe (see REVOLUTIONS OF 1989–91) accelerated a process of classic small-state “balkanization” within Yugoslavia itself, and thus of descent into the period of bitter civil warfare that raged particularly from 1991 until the 1995 DAYTON ACCORD (see also MILOŠEVIĆ; SREBRENICA MASSACRE). Even by the time that a new version of federal Yugoslavia had been proclaimed in March 1992, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia were already viewing themselves as independent, leaving only the “rump” of Serbia (including Kosovo and the Vojvodina) and Montenegro. Having formally abandoned the name Yugoslavia in 2003, this pair became separate sovereign states in 2006. Two years later the secession and independence of Kosovo was also recognized by most of the international community, but not by Serbia or Russia.