Journalist Rebecca Wests 1937 journey through Yugoslavia began in Cro

Journalist Rebecca West’s 1937 journey through Yugoslavia began in Croatia, and in the city of Zagreb she confessed to being perplexed at having stumbled on “the strangest episode of sovereignty I have ever chanced upon in any land.” West sets out to solve this riddle, which involves the Croats’ irrational but persistent attachment to the Habsburg dynasty that ruled Austria. Why would the Croats continue to feel loyalty toward the Austrians, who sold out Croatia to Hungary over and over again?

In a Zagreb square, West sees a statue of the Croat general Yellatchitch. For West, this statue crystallizes the paradox of the Croats’ enduring desire for a stable alliance with the much larger Austria in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Croatia’s desire to put itself under Austrian control was a conundrum because Croatia had recently liberated itself from Hungarian rule. Yellatchitch came to the defense of the Habsburgs when Hungary threatened to depose them in 1848, leading the Croat army to victory in Austria’s name. But after offering their fervent support to Austria, the Croats received only treachery and betrayal in return. Instead of guaranteeing Croat autonomy, the Habsburgs consigned them once again to subjection under Hungary, the empire the less-powerful Croats had so recently vanquished.

For West, the statue of Yellatchitch stands as a reminder of a brief but lapsed moment when liberation from imperial power seemed imminent but did not ultimately arrive. It is a perverse commemoration of the dashed hopes of 1848. If for the Croats the victory “might as well have been a defeat,” and for the Hungarians vice versa, why leave the statue in the middle of the town square? West writes that, for the Croats who encounter it every day as they go about their mundane errands, the statue embodies their ardor for meaningless sacrifice.

Given the facts presented in the passage, it is possible to validly infer all of the following EXCEPT:

a. Croatia was at a disadvantage when fighting Hungary.
b. The Habsburgs ceded Croatia to Hungary as a form of punishment.
c. The 1848 battle between Croatia and Hungary cost many lives.
d. West believes the monument to General Yellatchitch is not agreeable or appropriate
e. General Yellatchitch led troops into war because he anticipated a favorable result for Croatia.
In the first paragraph, the idiom “sold out” is closest to the meaning of which of the following?

a. Received money in payment for
b. No longer in stock
c. Transferred power of
d. Betrayed
e. Lost control of