The Damage Suffered by Danube Bridges in Yugoslavia During the Twentieth Century

During the “short” twentieth century, the Yugoslav state on several occasions faced wars or conflicts in which it temporarily or permanently disappeared. The Second World War irrevocably destroyed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was occupied, fragmented, and came out of the war with a changed socio-political structure. When the fire of war spread again to Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Danube bridges were also damaged. They were destroyed by the Yugoslav army in an attempt to slow down the advance of German troops. At that time, the symbolic bridges of Belgrade and Novi Sad — the Bridge of King Peter the Second and the Bridge of Prince Tomislav — were destroyed. Temporary or rebuilt bridges were also damaged in the final phase of the war in 1944, either by Allied bombing raids or during the withdrawal of German troops, who demolished them in order to slow the invasion of the Yugoslav People’s Liberation Army and the Red Army. Half a century later, the bridges were damaged again. During the NATO aggression on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999, the most important roads were also hit. Among others, several Danube bridges were damaged, including all three bridges in Novi Sad — Varadin Bridge, Žeželj’s Bridge, and the Bridge of Freedom. The Danube bridges in Yugoslavia shared the fate of the state that built them. They were demolished and rebuilt, and their story is a metaphor for the history of a country that no longer exists, and which once covered a significant part of the course of the Danube.