Lipošćak affair

The Lipošćak affair (Croatian: Afera Lipošćak) was an alleged conspiracy led by the former Austro-Hungarian Army General of the Infantry Anton Lipošćak to seize power in the recently proclaimed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs at the end of the First World War. The majority view of the allegations is that they were fabricated by allies of the Croat-Serb Coalition leader Svetozar Pribičević. Lipošćak was arrested on 22 November 1918 under suspicion of treason. He was accused of plotting to establish councils composed of workers, peasants and soldiers in place of the existing authorities with the aim of reviving the Habsburg monarchy, or working on behalf of foreign powers or the Bolsheviks.

The affair came amid widespread unrest in the country, advancing Italian Army forces enforcing territorial claims along the Adriatic Sea coast based on the Treaty of London, and in the immediate aftermath of a conference held in Geneva on 6–9 November. Representatives of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the government of the Kingdom of Serbia, Serbian parliamentary opposition, and the Yugoslav Committee met there to discuss establishment of a common state and produced the Geneva Declaration on a confederation. The agreement was quickly repudiated by Serbia and Pribičević. The Lipošćak affair provided Pribičević a pretext to press demands for speedy unification with Serbia – which took place on 1 December. A month later, Lipošćak was retired from active duty, cleared of charges, and released.