National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs

The National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Croatian: Narodno vijeće Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba) claimed to represent South Slavs living in Austria-Hungary and, after its dissolution, in the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The council's membership was largely drawn from various representative bodies operating in the Habsburg crown lands inhabited by South Slavs. The founding of the National Council in Zagreb on 8 October 1918 fulfilled the Zagreb Resolution to concentrate South Slavic political forces, adopted earlier that year on the initiative of the Yugoslav Club. The council elected Anton Korošec as the president and Svetozar Pribičević and Ante Pavelić as vice-presidents.

On 19 October 1918, the National Council declared itself the supreme body of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. This position was upheld by the Croatian Sabor meeting on 29 October to sever ties between Croatia-Slavonia, Dalmatia and the city of Rijeka on one hand and the Kingdom of Hungary and Austria-Hungary on the other. The National Council took part in negotiating the Geneva Declaration in early November as an agreement on unification with the Kingdom of Serbia in a confederal state. The declaration was quickly repudiated. Instead, the National Council sent a delegation to Serbia to request speedy unification, as it was facing pressure from widespread violence and disorder in the countryside and the advancing Italian Army. The delegation ignored the instructions provided by the National Council and asked for unification without any specific conditions. By early December 1918, the National Council declared the bulk of its work completed.