When ethnic considerations were applied to Croatia, Eastern Srijem located between Sid and Srijemska Mitrovica to Zemun was lost to the autonomous province of Vojvodina, which formed part of Serbia. At the same time, Croatia failed to acquire part of Backa especially the areas around Subotica and Sombor which were inhabited predominantly by Croats.
The Serbian Communist lobby also requested Baranja for itself, but failed to do so on the grounds that less than a third of the inhabitants of this region were Serbs. Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1945 reacquired their historical borders, again however at Croatia's expense owing to the fact that the republic retained compact ethnically Croatian territory including the town of Neum inhabited by 90% Croats, a fact which served to cut Croatia into two parts.
Anachronistically, against all historical and ethnic expectations Montenegro gained an important military harbour Boka, which was also predominantly inhabited by Croats as well as part of Herzegovina known as Sutorina.
When during the Croatian Spring of 1971 the issues of the concept of true federalism, the economical exploitation of Croatia and the Croatian right to use its own language etc. were raised, Josip Broz Tito, a Croat by nationality, ordered the adoption of a new constitution according to which all Yugoslav republics gained the status of real states with their rights and borders. Under this constitution, from 1974, all the republics regained the right of sovereignty over their borders which acquired international recognition. Thus Serbia claims erroneously that within Yugoslavia, internal borders were solely administrative in function and temporary in nature. Under the provisions of this constitution Serbia does not have the right to alter the borders of the individual republics to its own benefit in its pursuit of a Great Serbia.
