Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I muri i te 1938 "Anschluss" i waenga o Tiamana me Austria, ka tohaina e Yugoslavia tana rohe ki te raki-ki te hauauru me te Tuatoru o Reich a ka nui haere te pehanga i te wa e piri ana ona hoa tata ki nga mana Axis. I te Paenga-whāwhā o te tau 1939, ka whakatuwheratia e Itari he rohe tuarua me Yugoslavia i a ia e whakaeke ana, e noho ana i te whenua tata o Albania. Whai muri i te pakarutanga o te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao, i kii te kawanatanga o Yugoslavia i tona tuatoru. I waenga i te Mahuru me te Noema 1940, ka uru a Hungary me Romania ki te Tiriti e toru, ka hono atu ki te Axis, me Itari
ka whakaekea a Kariki. I taua wā tata tonu a Yugoslavia ki nga mana Axis me o ratou kaitautoko, a ka kaha ake tana tuakore ki te pakanga. I te mutunga o Hui-tanguru 1941, ka uru atu a Bulgaria ki te Pact. I te ra i muri mai, ka uru mai nga hoia Tiamana ki Bulgaria mai i Romania, ka kati i te mowhiti huri noa i Yugoslavia. I a ia e hiahia ana ki te whakamana i tana taha ki te tonga mo te whakaeke tata ki te Soviet Union, ka tiimata te mana rangatira o Tiamana a Adolf Hitler ki te akiaki i a Yugoslavia kia uru atu ki te Axis. I te 25 o Poutu-te-rangi 1941, i muri i te roa o te roa, i hainatia e te kawanatanga o Yugoslavia te Pact. E rua nga ra i muri mai, he roopu o nga rangatira o te Royal Yugoslav Air Force, he roopu o nga kaitautoko o te Hauauru, Serbian nationalist, i whakakahoretia te rangatira o te whenua, Prince Paul, i roto i te coup d'état kore toto. I whakanohoia e ratou tana taina taiohi a Pita ki runga i te torona ka kawea mai ki te mana he "rangatira kotahitanga o te motu" i arahina e te upoko o te Royal Yugoslav Air Force, General Dušan Simović. I riri a Hitler, i whakahau tonu ia i te whakaekenga o te whenua, i timata i te 6 o Aperira 1941.