![CroatiaGIF](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/CroatiaGIF.gif)
At the time of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
, the area of modern
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
comprised two Roman provinces,
Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
and
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
. After the
collapse
Collapse or its variants may refer to:
Concepts
* Collapse (structural)
* Collapse (topology), a mathematical concept
* Collapsing manifold
* Collapse, the action of collapsing or telescoping objects
* Collapsing user interface elements
** ...
of the
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...
in the 5th century, the area was subjugated by the
Ostrogoths
The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the larg ...
for 50 years, before being incorporated into the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
.
Croatia, as a polity, first appeared as a
duchy
A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a Middle Ages, medieval country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition.
There once exis ...
in the 7th century, the
Duchy of Croatia
The Duchy of Croatia (; also Duchy of the Croats, hr , Kneževina Hrvata; ) was a medieval state that was established by White Croats who migrated into the area of the former Roman province of Dalmatia 7th century CE. Throughout its existence ...
. With the nearby
Principality of Lower Pannonia, it was united and elevated into the
Kingdom of Croatia Kingdom of Croatia may refer to:
* Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102), an independent medieval kingdom
* Croatia in personal union with Hungary (1102–1526), a kingdom in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary
* Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg) (152 ...
which lasted from 925 until 1102. From the 12th century, the Kingdom of Croatia entered a
personal union
A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...
with the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
. It remained a distinct state with its ruler (''
Ban
Ban, or BAN, may refer to:
Law
* Ban (law), a decree that prohibits something, sometimes a form of censorship, being denied from entering or using the place/item
** Imperial ban (''Reichsacht''), a form of outlawry in the medieval Holy Roman ...
'') and
Sabor, but it elected royal dynasties from neighboring powers, primarily
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
,
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, and the
Habsburg monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
.
The period from the 15th to the 17th centuries was marked by intense struggles between the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
to the south and the
Habsburg Empire to the north.
Following the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the
dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918, Croatian lands were incorporated into the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...
, which was dominated by
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
. Following the German
invasion of Yugoslavia
The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was p ...
in April 1941, the puppet state
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
, allied to the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
, was established. It was defeated in May 1945, after the
German Instrument of Surrender
The German Instrument of Surrender (german: Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Wehrmacht, lit=Unconditional Capitulation of the "Wehrmacht"; russian: Акт о капитуляции Германии, Akt o kapitulyatsii Germanii, lit=Act of capit ...
. The
Socialist Republic of Croatia
The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Social ...
was formed as a
constituent republic
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...
. In 1991, Croatia's leadership severed ties with Yugoslavia and
proclaimed independence amidst the
dissolution of Yugoslavia
The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
.
Prehistoric period
The area known today as Croatia was inhabited by hominids throughout the
prehistoric period
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
. Fossils of
Neanderthals
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...
dating to the middle
Palaeolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
period have been unearthed in northern Croatia, with the most famous and best-presented site in
Krapina
Krapina (; hu, Korpona) is a town in northern Croatia and the administrative centre of Krapina-Zagorje County with a population of 4,482 (2011) and a total municipality population of 12,480 (2011). Krapina is located in the hilly Zagorje region ...
. Remnants of several
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
and
Chalcolithic
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
cultures have been found throughout the country. Most of the sites are in the northern Croatian river valleys, and the most significant cultures whose presence was discovered include the
Starčevo
Starčevo () is a town located in the Pančevo municipality, in the South Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The town has a Serb ethnic majority and its population is 7,473 people ( 2011 census).
The ...
,
Vučedol
Vučedol () is an archeological site, an elevated ground on the right bank of the river Danube near Vukovar that became the eponym of the eneolithic Vučedol culture.
It is estimated that the site had once been home to about 3,000 inhabitants, mak ...
and
Baden cultures. The
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
left traces of the early
Illyrian Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western Europe, Western and Central European Archaeological culture, culture of Late Bronze Age Europe, Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe ...
and the
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture (; ) was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any defini ...
.
Protohistoric period
Greek author
Hecataeus of Miletus
Hecataeus of Miletus (; el, Ἑκαταῖος ὁ Μιλήσιος; c. 550 BC – c. 476 BC), son of Hegesander, was an early Greek historian and geographer.
Biography
Hailing from a very wealthy family, he lived in Miletus, then under Per ...
mentions that around 500 BC, the Eastern Adriatic region was settled by
Histri The Histri were an ancient people inhabiting the Istrian peninsula, to which they gave the name. Their territory stretched to the neighbouring Gulf of Trieste and bordered the Iapydes in the hinterland of Tarsatica. The Histri formed a kingdom.
D ...
ans,
Liburnians
The Liburnians or Liburni ( grc, Λιβυρνοὶ) were an ancient tribe inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the rivers ''Arsia'' ( Raša) and ''Titius'' ( Krka) in what is now Croatia ...
, and
Illyrians
The Illyrians ( grc, Ἰλλυριοί, ''Illyrioi''; la, Illyrii) were a group of Indo-European languages, Indo-European-speaking peoples who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo ...
. Greek colonization saw settlers establish communities on the Issa (
Vis) and Pharos (
Hvar) islands.
Roman expansion
Before the Roman expansion, the eastern Adriatic coast formed the northern part of the
Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria (; grc, Ἰλλυρία, ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; la, Illyria, ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyr ...
n kingdom from the 4th century BC to the
Illyrian Wars
The Illyro-Roman Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Ardiaei kingdom. In the ''First Illyrian War'', which lasted from 229 BC to 228 BC, Rome's concern was that the trade across the Adriatic Sea increased after the ...
in the 220s BC. In 168 BC, the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
established its protectorate south of the
Neretva
The Neretva ( sr-cyrl, Неретва, ), also known as Narenta, is one of the largest rivers of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. Four HE power-plants with large dams (higher than 150,5 metres) provide flood protection, power and water s ...
river. The area north of the Neretva was slowly incorporated into Roman possession until the
province of Illyricum was formally established 32–27 BC.
These lands then became part of the Roman province of
Illyricum. Between 6 and 9 AD, tribes including the
Dalmatae, who gave name to these lands, rose up against the Romans in the
Great Illyrian revolt, but the uprising was crushed, and in 10 AD Illyricum was split into two provinces—
Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
and Dalmatia. The
province of Dalmatia spread inland to cover all of the
Dinaric Alps and most of the eastern Adriatic coast. Dalmatia was the birthplace of the Roman Emperor
Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
, who, when he retired as Emperor in 305 AD, built a
large palace near
Salona
Salona ( grc, Σάλωνα) was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. Salona is located in the modern town of Solin, next to Split, in Croatia.
Salona was founded in the 3rd century BC and was mostly destroyed in t ...
, from which the city of
Split later developed.
![Tabula Peutingeriana - Istra](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Tabula_Peutingeriana_-_Istra.JPG)
Historians such as
Theodore Mommsen and
Bernard Bavant argue that all of Dalmatia was fully Romanized and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
-speaking by the 4th century. Others, such as
Aleksandar Stipčević, argue that the process of
Romanization
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
was selective and involved mostly the urban centers but not the countryside, where previous Illyrian socio-political structures were adapted to Roman administration and political structure only where necessary. has argued that the
Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...
, or Morlachs, were Latin-speaking, pastoral peoples who lived in the Balkan mountains since pre-Roman times. They are mentioned in the oldest Croatian chronicles.
After the
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...
collapsed in 476, with the beginning of the
Migration Period
The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...
,
Julius Nepos briefly ruled his diminished domain from Diocletian's Palace after his 476 flight from Italy. The region was then ruled by the
Ostrogoths
The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the larg ...
until 535 when
Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
added the territory to the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. Later, the Byzantines formed the
Theme of Dalmatia in the same territory.
Migration period
The Roman period ended with the
Avar and
Croat invasions in the 6th and 7th centuries and the destruction of almost all Roman towns. Roman survivors retreated to more favorable sites on the coast, islands, and mountains. The city of
Ragusa Ragusa is the historical name of Dubrovnik. It may also refer to:
Places Croatia
* the Republic of Ragusa (or Republic of Dubrovnik), the maritime city-state of Ragusa
* Cavtat (historically ' in Italian), a town in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Cro ...
was founded by survivors from
Epidaurum Epidaurus ( el, Ἐπίδαυρος, la, Epidaurum) or Epidauros was an ancient Greek colony founded sometime in the 6th century BC, renamed to Epidaurum during Roman rule in 228 BC, when it was part of the province of Illyricum (Roman province), ...
.
According to the work ''
De Administrando Imperio
''De Administrando Imperio'' ("On the Governance of the Empire") is the Latin title of a Greek-language work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is ("To yown son Romanos"). It is a domes ...
'', written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Kar ...
, the Croats arrived in what is today Croatia from
southern Poland and
Western Ukraine
Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...
in the early 7th century. However, that claim is disputed and competing hypotheses date the event between late the 6th-early 7th (mainstream) or the late 8th-early 9th (fringe) centuries.
[Mužić (2007), pp. 249–293] Recent archaeological data established that the migration and settlement of the Slavs/Croats occurred in the late 6th and early 7th centuries.
Duchy of Croatia (800–925)
From the middle of the seventh century until the unification in 925, there were two duchies on the territory of today's Croatia,
Duchy of Croatia
The Duchy of Croatia (; also Duchy of the Croats, hr , Kneževina Hrvata; ) was a medieval state that was established by White Croats who migrated into the area of the former Roman province of Dalmatia 7th century CE. Throughout its existence ...
and
Principality of Lower Pannonia. Eventually, a
dukedom
Dukedom may refer to:
* The title and office of a duke
* Duchy, the territory ruled by a duke
* Dukedom, Kentucky and Tennessee
Dukedom is an unincorporated community in both Graves County, Kentucky and Weakley County, Tennessee, straddling th ...
was formed, the
Duchy of Croatia
The Duchy of Croatia (; also Duchy of the Croats, hr , Kneževina Hrvata; ) was a medieval state that was established by White Croats who migrated into the area of the former Roman province of Dalmatia 7th century CE. Throughout its existence ...
, ruled by
Borna, as attested by chronicles of
Einhard
Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; la, E(g)inhardus; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita ...
starting in the year 818. The record represents the first documented Croatian realms,
vassal state
A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to ...
s of
Francia
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...
at the time.
[Mužić (2007), pp. 157–160] The most important ruler of Lower Pannonia was
Ljudevit Posavski, who fought against the
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
between 819 and 823. He ruled Pannonian Croatia from 810 to 823.
The Frankish overlordship ended during the reign of
Mislav
Mislav ( la, Muisclavo) was a duke () in Croatia from around 835 until his death around 845.
Mislav came to power at some point after Vladislav as the Duke of Dalmatian Croatia. He ruled from Klis in central Dalmatia, when he made Klis Fortress s ...
two decades later.
[Mužić (2007), pp. 169–170] Duke Mislav was succeeded by
Duke Trpimir, the founder of the
Trpimirović dynasty. Trpimir successfully fought against
Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...
, Venice and
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
. Duke Trpimir was succeeded by
Duke Domagoj
Domagoj ( la, Domagoi) was Duke of Croatia from 864 to 876, and the founder of the Domagojević dynasty. He usurped the Croatian throne after the death of Trpimir I and expelled his sons. He took a more active role in the Adriatic Sea than his p ...
, who repeatedly led wars against the Venetians and the Byzantines, and the Venetians called this Croatian ruler "the worst Croatian prince" (dux pessimus Croatorum). According to Constantine VII, the
Christianization of Croats began in the 7th century, but the claim is disputed and generally, Christianization is associated with the 9th century. In 879, under
Branimir Branimir () is a Slavic male given name. It is a combination of the ( Slavic) verb ''braniti'' ("to defend") and the noun ''mir'' ("the world" or "peace" in Old Slavic), and hence means "the one who defends the world/peace". It is especially commo ...
, the duke of Croatia,
Dalmatian Croatia
The Duchy of Croatia (; also Duchy of the Croats, hr , Kneževina Hrvata; ) was a medieval state that was established by White Croats who migrated into the area of the former Roman province of Dalmatia 7th century CE. Throughout its existence ...
received papal recognition as a state from
Pope John VIII.
[Mužić (2007), pp. 195–198]
Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102)
![Pluteus with the figure of a Croatian king](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Pluteus_with_the_figure_of_a_Croatian_king.jpg)
The first king of Croatia is generally considered to have been
Tomislav
Tomislav (, ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, that is widespread amongst the South Slavs.
The meaning of the name ''Tomislav'' is thought to have derived from the Old Slavonic verb "'' tomiti''" or "'' tomit" meaning to "''languish ...
in the first half of the 10th century, who is mentioned as such in letters regarding
Church Councils of Split, as well as in ''
De Administrando Imperio
''De Administrando Imperio'' ("On the Governance of the Empire") is the Latin title of a Greek-language work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is ("To yown son Romanos"). It is a domes ...
''. The latter also describes Tomislav's army driving off the Bulgarian invasion of Croatia in the 926
Battle of Bosnian Highlands.
Other important Croatian rulers from that period are:
Mihajlo Krešimir II
Mihajlo ( sr-cyr, Михајло) is the Serbian variant of the name '' Michael'', predominantly borne by ethnic Serbs. It is also spelled Mihailo (Михаило) and Mijailo (Мијаило).
;Science
*Mihajlo Pupin, Serbian physicist
*Mihajlo ...
, 949-969, who conquered
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
and restored the power of the Croatian kingdom,
Stjepan Držislav Stjepan is a Croatian masculine given name, variant of Stephen, used by ijekavian speakers.
In Croatia, the name Stjepan was among the top ten most common masculine given names in the decades up to 1969.
Notable people with the name include:
* S ...
, 969- 997, is an ally of
Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...
in the war with the
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
emperor
Samuil
Samuel (also Samuil; bg, Самуил, ; mk, Самоил/Самуил, ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died October 6, 1014) was the Tsar (''Emperor'') of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a ...
,
Stjepan, 1030- 1058, restored the Croatian kingdom and founded the
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
in
Knin.
Two Croatian queens are also known from that century, and
Helen of Zadar
Helen of Zadar ( hr, Jelena) (died 8 October 976), also known as Helen the Glorious, was the queen consort of the Kingdom of Croatia, as the wife of King Michael Krešimir II, from 946 to 969, a period which was marked by "peace, order and exped ...
, whose epitaph was found in the
Solin
Solin (Latin and it, Salona; grc, Σαλώνα ) is a town in Dalmatia, Croatia. It is situated right northeast of Split, on the Adriatic Sea and the river Jadro.
Solin developed on the location of ancient city of ''Salona'', which was the ca ...
area at the end of the 19th century during archeological excavations conducted by
Frane Bulić
Frane Bulić (October 4, 1846 - July 29, 1934) was a Croatian priest, archaeologist, and historian.
Biography
Bulić was born in Vranjic (now part of Solin), and studied theology in Zadar and then classical philology and archeology in Vienna ...
.
The medieval Croatian kingdom reached its peak in the 11th century during the reigns of
Petar Krešimir IV Petar ( sr, Петар, bg, Петър) is a South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros cognate to Peter.
Derivative forms include Pero, Pejo, Pera, Perica, Petrica, Periša. Feminine equivalent is Petra.
P ...
(1058–1074) and
Demetrius Zvonimir
Demetrius Zvonimir ( hr, Dmitar Zvonimir, ; died 1089) was a King of Dalmatia and Croatia from 1076 until his death in 1089. He was crowned as king in Solin on 8 October 1076. Zvonimir also served as Ban of Croatia (1064–1074), and was named ...
(1075–1089).
When
Stjepan II died in 1091, ending the
Trpimirović dynasty,
Ladislaus I of Hungary claimed the Croatian crown on the basis of Zvonimir's wife
Jelena (Helen), who was the daughter of Hungarian king
Béla I
Béla may refer to:
* Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater
* Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name
See also
* Bela (disambiguation)
Bela may refer to:
Places Asia
* Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar ...
. Opposition to this claim led to a
war between the army loyal to
Petar Sančić and the army loyal to the Hungarian king Koloman I, and after the defeat of Petar Sančić's army, a
personal union of Croatia and Hungary
The Kingdom of Croatia ( la, Regnum Croatiae; hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska, ''Hrvatsko kraljevstvo'', ''Hrvatska zemlja'') entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102, after a period of rule of kings from the Trpimirović and Svetosl ...
was created in 1102, with
Coloman Coloman, es, Colomán (german: Koloman (also Slovak, Czech, Croatian), it, Colomanno, ca, Colomà; hu, Kálmán)
The Germanic origin name Coloman used by Germans since the 9th century.
* Coloman, King of Hungary
* Coloman of Galicia-Lodomeria ...
. as ruler.
Personal union with Hungary (1102–1527) and the Republic of Venice
Croatia under the Árpád dynasty
![Vinodol](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Vinodol.jpg)
One consequence of entering a personal union with Hungary under the Hungarian king was the introduction of a
feudal system
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
. Later kings sought to restore some of their influence by giving certain privileges to the towns. Over the next four centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia was governed by the
Sabor (parliament) and a
Ban
Ban, or BAN, may refer to:
Law
* Ban (law), a decree that prohibits something, sometimes a form of censorship, being denied from entering or using the place/item
** Imperial ban (''Reichsacht''), a form of outlawry in the medieval Holy Roman ...
(viceroy) appointed by the king.
In the year 1217, the Hungarian king
Andrew II took the
sign of the cross
Making the sign of the cross ( la, signum crucis), or blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by the tracing of an upright cross or + across the body with ...
and vowed to go on the
Fifth Crusade. After assembling his army, he marched from Hungary proper south to
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
and then
Knin, after which he proceeded to
Split on the Adriatic coast. The king and his party sailed to
the Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy L ...
. Andrew's son
King Béla IV had to deal with troubles brought by the
first Mongol invasion of Hungary. Following the Hungarian defeat in the
Battle of the Sajó River in 1241, the king withdrew to Dalmatia, hoping to take refuge there, with the Mongols in pursuit. The Mongols finally withdrew on receiving news of the death of
Ögedei Khan
Ögedei Khagan (also Ogodei;, Mongolian: ''Ögedei'', ''Ögüdei''; – 11 December 1241) was second khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire. The third son of Genghis Khan, he continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun.
...
. As Croatian historian Damir Karbić notes, during Béla's stay in Dalmatia, members of the Šubić noble family earned merit for sheltering him, so in return, the king granted them the County of
Bribir, where their power reached its peak during the time of
Paul I Šubić of Bribir.
This period, therefore, saw the rise of the
Frankopan
The House of Frankopan ( hr, Frankopani, Frankapani, it, Frangipani, hu, Frangepán, la, Frangepanus, Francopanus), was a Croatian noble family, whose members were among the great landowner magnates and high officers of the Kingdom of Croati ...
s and the
Šubićs, native nobility, to prominence. Numerous future Bans of Croatia originated from these two noble families.
The princes of Bribir from the Šubić family became particularly influential, as they asserted their control over large parts of Dalmatia,
Slavonia
Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja ...
, and even Bosnia.
Croatia under the Anjou dynasty
![Ancient Varvaria - Breberium - Bribir 05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Ancient_Varvaria_-_Breberium_-_Bribir_05.jpg)
Lord
Paul Šubić
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
accumulated so much power, that he ruled as a de facto independent ruler. He coined his own money and held the hereditary title of Ban of Croatia. Following the death of king
Ladislaus IV of Hungary, who had no male heir, a succession crisis emerged, and in 1300, Paul invited
Charles Robert of Anjou
Charles I, also known as Charles Robert ( hu, Károly Róbert; hr, Karlo Robert; sk, Karol Róbert; 128816 July 1342) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of ...
to come to the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
and take over its royal seat. A civil war ensued, in which Charles' party prevailed after winning a decisive victory in the
Battle of Rozgony
The Battle of Rozgony or Battle of Rozhanovce was fought between King Charles Robert of Hungary and the family of Palatine Amade Aba on 15 June 1312, on the Rozgony (today Rozhanovce) field. ''Chronicon Pictum'' described it as the "most cruel b ...
in 1312.
Coronations of the kings of Croatia gradually fell into abeyance as a custom. Charles Robert was the last to be separately crowned as King of Croatia in 1301, after which Croatia had a separate constitution. Lord Paul Šubić died in 1312, and his son
Mladen
Mladen () is a South Slavic masculine given name, derived from the Slavic root ''mlad'' (, ), meaning "young". It is present in Bulgarian, Serbian, and Croatian society since the Middle Ages.
Notable people with the name include:
* Mladen (vojv ...
inherited the title of Ban of Croatia. Mladen's power was diminished due to the new king's policy of centralization, after he and his forces were defeated by the royal army and its allies in the
Battle of Bliska
The Battle of Bliska (present day Blizna in the hinterland of Trogir called Zagora, southern Croatia) was fought in 1322 between the army of a coalition of several Croatian noblemen and Dalmatian coastal towns (with the support of the king Charl ...
in 1322. The power vacuum caused by the downfall of Mladen Šubić was used by Venice to reassert control over Dalmatian cities.
The ensuing reign of King
Louis the Great
Louis I, also Louis the Great ( hu, Nagy Lajos; hr, Ludovik Veliki; sk, Ľudovít Veľký) or Louis the Hungarian ( pl, Ludwik Węgierski; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. ...
(1342–1382) is considered the golden age of medieval Croatian history. Louis launched a campaign against Venice, with aim of retaking Dalmatian cities, and eventually succeeded, forcing Venice to sign the
Treaty of Zadar
The Treaty of Zadar, also known as the Treaty of Zara, was a peace treaty signed in Zadar, Dalmatia on February 18, 1358 by which the Venetian Republic lost influence over its Dalmatian holdings. The Treaty of Zadar ended hostilities between Loui ...
in 1358. The same peace treaty caused the
Republic of Ragusa
hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world"
, population_estimate = 90 000 in the XVI Century
, currency = ...
to gain independence from Venice.
Anti-Court Movement
Following Louis' death in 1382, the Kingdom of Hungary and parts of Croatia descended into a civil war between parties led by his daughter
Mary, and her fiancé
Sigismund of Luxemburg on one side, and supporters of the so-called
Anti-Court Movement on another.
Ladislaus of Naples sold the entirety of Dalmatia to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
in 1409. The period saw an increasing threat of
Ottoman conquest and struggle against the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
for control of coastal areas. The Venetians gained control over most of Dalmatia by 1428. With the exception of the
city-state of Dubrovnik
The Republic of Ragusa ( dlm, Republica de Ragusa; la, Respublica Ragusina; it, Repubblica di Ragusa; hr, Dubrovačka Republika; vec, Repùblega de Raguxa) was an maritime republics, aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubr ...
, which became independent,
[Frucht 2005, p. 422-423] the rule of Venice over most of Dalmatia lasted nearly four centuries ( 1420–1797).
In 1490, the estates of Croatia declined to recognize
Vladislaus II until he had taken an oath to respect their liberties and insisted that he strike from the constitution certain phrases which seemed to reduce Croatia to the rank of a mere province. The dispute was resolved in 1492.
Ottoman expansion
As the
Ottoman expansion into Europe started, Croatian lands became a place of permanent warfare. This period of history is considered to be one of the direst for the people living in Croatia. The Ottoman conquest of Croatian lands began after the fall of
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
to the Ottomans in 1463. Armies of Croatian nobility fought numerous battles to counter the Ottoman
akinji and
martolos
The ''martolos'' was an internal security force of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans ('' Rumelia''), mostly active between the 15th to 17th centuries. It initially constituted out of the local mostly Christian populations (Rum Millet), but over ti ...
raids.
The Ottoman forces raided the Croatian countryside, plundering towns and villages, then captured the local inhabitants as slaves. These "
scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, communi ...
" tactics, also called "The Small War", were usually conducted once a year and were intended to soften up the region's defenses, but didn't result in actual conquest of territory. But combined with famines, diseases, and a cold climate, they caused vast depopulation and a refugee crisis, as people fled to safer areas. Croatian historian
Ivan Jurković points out that due to the combination of these factors, Croatia "lost almost three-fifths of its population" and the compactness of its territory. The center of the Croatian medieval state gradually shifted north into western
Slavonia
Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja ...
(Zagreb).
Ottoman conquests led to the 1493
Battle of Krbava field and the 1526
Battle of Mohács
The Battle of Mohács (; hu, mohácsi csata, tr, Mohaç Muharebesi or Mohaç Savaşı) was fought on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, Kingdom of Hungary, between the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary and its allies, led by Louis II, and those ...
, both ending in decisive Ottoman victories.
Croatia in the Habsburg monarchy (1527–1918)
Remnants of the remnants
![Hrvatski skolski muzej zemljovid 3 300109](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Hrvatski_skolski_muzej_zemljovid_3_300109.jpg)
Croats fought an increasing number of battles, but lost increasing swathes of territory to the Ottoman Empire, until being reduced to what is commonly called in Croatian historiography the "Remains of the Remains of Once Glorious Croatian Kingdom" (''Reliquiae reliquiarum olim inclyti regni Croatiae''), or simply the "Remains of the Remains".
A decisive battle with the
Ottomans occurred on Mohács in 1526 where Hungarian king
Louis II was killed. As a consequence, in November of the same year, the Hungarian parliament elected
János Szapolyai
János or Janos may refer to:
* János, male Hungarian given name, a variant of John
Places
* Janos Municipality, a municipality of Chihuahua
** Janos, Chihuahua, town in Mexico
** Janos Biosphere Reserve, a nature reserve in Chihuahua
* Janos ...
as the new king of Hungary. In December 1526, another Hungarian parliament elected Ferdinand Habsburg as King of Hungary.
The Croatian nobles
met in Cetingrad in 1527 and chose Ferdinand I of the
House of Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
as the new ruler of Croatia, on the condition that he contribute to the defense of Croatia against the Ottomans, and respect its political rights.
The Diet of Slavonia, on the other hand, elected Szapolyai. A civil war between the two rival kings ensued, but later both crowns united as the Habsburgs prevailed over Szapolyai. The Ottoman Empire used these instabilities to expand in the 16th century to include most of Slavonia, western Bosnia (then called
Turkish Croatia Turkish Croatia (german: Türkisch Croatien/Kroatien, hr, Turska Hrvatska) was a geopolitical term which appeared periodically during the Ottoman–Habsburg wars between the late 16th to late 18th century. Invented by Austrian military cartographer ...
), and
Lika
Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by ...
. Those territories initially made up part of
Rumelia Eyalet, and subsequently parts of
Budin Eyalet,
Bosnia Eyalet, and
Kanije Eyalet.
Later in the same century, Croatia was so weak that its parliament authorized Ferdinand Habsburg to carve out large areas of Croatia and Slavonia adjacent to the Ottoman Empire for the creation of the
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier (german: Militärgrenze, sh-Latn, Vojna krajina/Vojna granica, Војна крајина/Војна граница; hu, Katonai határőrvidék; ro, Graniță militară) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and l ...
(''Vojna Krajina'', German: ''Militaergrenze'') - a buffer zone for the Ottoman Empire managed directly by the
Imperial War Council
The ''Hofkriegsrat'' (or Aulic War Council, sometimes Imperial War Council) established in 1556 was the central military administrative authority of the Habsburg monarchy until 1848 and the predecessor of the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of War. Th ...
in Austria. This buffer area became depopulated due to constant warfare and was subsequently settled by
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
,
Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...
, Croats, and
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
. As a result of their compulsory military service to the Habsburg Empire during the conflict with the Ottoman Empire, the population in the Military Frontier was free of serfdom and enjoyed much political autonomy, unlike the population living in the parts managed by the Croatian Ban and Sabor, This was officially confirmed by an Imperial decree of 1630 called ''
Statuta Valachorum
''Statuta Valachorum'' ("Vlach Statute(s)", sh, Vlaški statut(i)) was a decree issued by Emperor Ferdinand II of the Habsburg monarchy on 5 October 1630 that defined the rights of "Vlachs" (a term used for a community of mostly Orthodox refugees, ...
'' (Vlach Statutes).
After the town of
Bihać fell to the Ottomans in 1592, little of Croatia remained unconquered. The Ottoman army was successfully repelled for the first time on the territory of Croatia after the
Battle of Sisak
The Battle of Sisak was fought on 22 June 1593 between Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Bosnian forces and a combined Christian army from the Habsburg lands, mainly Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Kingdom of Croatia and Inner Austria. The battle took place ...
in 1593.
Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy
![Spomenik Petru Zrinskom i Franu Krsti Frankopanu ZG katedrala](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Spomenik_Petru_Zrinskom_i_Franu_Krsti_Frankopanu_ZG_katedrala.jpg)
During the 17th century, distinguished Croatian noble
Nikola Zrinski
Nikola () is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek ''Nikolaos'' (Νικόλαος). It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montene ...
became one of the most prominent Croatian generals in the fight against the Ottomans. In 1663/1664 he led a successful incursion into Ottoman-controlled territory. The campaign ended in the destruction of the vital
Osijek
Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
bridge, which served as a connection between the Pannonian plain and the Balkan territories. As a reward for his victory against the Ottomans, Zrinski was commended by French king
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, thereby establishing contact with the French court. Croatian nobility also constructed
Novi Zrin castle which sought to protect Croatia and Hungary from further Ottoman advances. At the same time, emperor
Leopold of Habsburg sought to impose absolute rule on the entire Habsburg territory, which meant a loss of authority for the Croatian parliament and Ban and caused dissatisfaction with Habsburg rule among Croats.
[Macan, 108-110]
In July 1664, a large Ottoman army
besieged and destroyed Novi Zrin. As this army marched on Austrian lands, its campaign ended at the
Battle of St. Gotthard, where it was destroyed by the Habsburg imperial army. Given this victory, Croatians expected a decisive Habsburg counter-offensive to push the Ottomans back and relieve pressure on Croatian lands, but Leopold decided to conclude the unfavorable
Vasvar peace treaty with the Ottomans because it solved problems he had on the Rhine with the French at the time. In Croatia, his decision caused outrage among leading nobles and sparked a conspiracy to replace the Habsburgs with different rulers. After
Nikola Zrinski
Nikola () is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek ''Nikolaos'' (Νικόλαος). It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montene ...
died under unusual circumstances while hunting, his relatives
Fran Krsto Frankopan
Fran Krsto Frankopan ( hu, Frangepán Ferenc Kristóf; 4 March 1643 – 30 April 1671) was a Croatian baroque poet, nobleman and politician. He is remembered primarily for his involvement in the failed Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy. He was a C ...
and
Petar Zrinski supported the conspiracy.
The conspirators established contact with the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
,
Venetians,
Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...
, and eventually even the Ottomans, only to be discovered by Habsburg spies at the Ottoman court who served as the sultan's translators. The conspirators were invited to reconcile with the emperor, to which they agreed. However, when they came to Austria, they were charged with high treason and sentenced to death. They were executed in
Wiener Neustadt in April 1671. Their families, whose history was intertwined with centuries of Croatian history, were subsequently eradicated by imperial authorities, and all of their possessions were confiscated.
Great Turkish War: A revived Croatia
![Map of the Kingdom of Croatia (1848)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Map_of_the_Kingdom_of_Croatia_%281848%29.png)
Despite the decline of Ottoman might in the 17th century, the Ottoman high command decided to
attack the Habsburg capital of Vienna in 1683, as the
Vasvár peace treaty was about to expire. Their attack, however, ended in disaster, and the Ottomans were ultimately routed near Vienna by joint Christian armies defending the city. Soon thereafter, the
Holy League
Commencing in 1332 the numerous Holy Leagues were a new manifestation of the Crusading movement in the form of temporary alliances between interested Christian powers. Successful campaigns included the capture of Smyrna in 1344, at the Battle of ...
was formed and the
Great Turkish War
The Great Turkish War (german: Großer Türkenkrieg), also called the Wars of the Holy League ( tr, Kutsal İttifak Savaşları), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Pola ...
was launched. In the Croatian theater of operations, several commanders distinguished themselves, including friar
Luka Ibrišimović
Fra Luka Ibrišimović, O.F.M. (ca. 1620 – March 1698) was a Croatian friar, cultural worker soldier and a spy, most known for leading an uprising against Ottoman forces in Slavonia during the Great Turkish War.
Biography
Ibrišimović ...
, whose rebels defeated the Ottomans in
Požega, and
Marko Mesić, who led the anti-Ottoman uprising in
Lika
Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by ...
.
Hajduk
A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, p ...
leader
Stojan Janković
Stojan Janković Mitrović ( sr-cyr, Стојан Јанковић Митровић; also known as ''Stoian Jancovich Mitrovich'', ''Stoian Mitrovich'', ''Stoiano Mitrovich''; about 1636 – 23 August 1687) was the commander of the Morlach troo ...
distinguished himself by leading troops in
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
. Croatian Ban
Nikola (Miklos) Erdody led his troops in battles for
Virovitica
Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). It is als ...
, which was liberated from the Ottomans in 1684.
Osijek
Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
was liberated by 1687,
Kostajnica was liberated by 1688, and
Slavonski Brod
Slavonski Brod (), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod was the 7th large ...
was liberated by 1691. A siege of
Bihać was also attempted in 1687 but was called off due to lack a of cannons. In the same year, general
Eugene of Savoy led a 6500-strong army from Osijek into Bosnia, where he raided the seat of
Bosnia Eyalet,
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...
, burning it to the ground. After this raid, large groups of Christian refugees from Bosnia settled in what was then an almost empty Slavonia. After the decisive Ottoman defeat in the
Battle of Zenta
The Battle of Zenta, also known as the Battle of Senta, was fought on 11 September 1697, near Zenta, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Senta, Serbia), between Ottoman and Holy League armies during the Great Turkish War. The battle was the most decis ...
in 1697 by the forces of
Eugene of Savoy, the
Peace of Karlowitz
The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed in Karlowitz, Military Frontier of Archduchy of Austria (present-day Sremski Karlovci, Serbia), on 26 January 1699, concluding the Great Turkish War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the ...
was signed in 1699, confirming the liberation of all of Slavonia from the Ottomans. For Croatia, nonetheless, large chunks of its late medieval territories between the rivers
Una and
Vrbas were lost, as they remained part of the Ottoman
Bosnia Eyalet. In the following years, the use of the German language spread in the new military borderland and proliferated over the next two centuries as German-speaking colonists settled in the borderlands.
Enlightened despotism
![Tounjski most](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Tounjski_most.jpg)
By the 18th century, the Ottoman Empire had been driven out of Hungary, and Austria brought the empire under central control. Since the emperor
Charles VI had no male heirs, he wanted to leave the imperial throne to his daughter
Maria Theresa of Austria, which eventually led to the
War of Austrian Succession of 1741–1748. The Croatian Parliament decided to accept Maria Theresa as a legitimate ruler by drafting the
Pragmatic Sanction of 1712, asking in return that whoever inherited the throne recognize and respect Croatian autonomy from Hungary. The king unwillingly granted this. The rule of Maria Theresa brought limited modernization in education and health care. Croatian Royal Council (''Consilium Regni Croatiae''), which served as the de facto Croatian government, was founded in Varaždin in 1767, but it was abolished in 1779 and its authority was passed to Hungary. The foundation of the Croatian Royal Council in
Varaždin
)
, image_photo =
, image_skyline =
, image_flag = Flag of Varaždin.svg
, flag_size =
, image_seal =
, seal_size =
, image_shield = Grb_Grad ...
made this town the administrative capital of Croatia, however, a large fire in 1776 caused significant damage to the city, so these major Croatian administrative institutions moved to Zagreb.
Maria Theresa's heir,
Joseph II of Austria, also ruled in an enlightened absolutist manner, but his reforms were marked by attempts at centralization and Germanization. In this period, roads were built connecting
Karlovac
Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705.
Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...
with
Rijeka
Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...
, and
Jozefina connecting
Karlovac
Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705.
Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...
with
Senj. With the
Treaty of Sistova
The Treaty of Sistova ended the last Austro-Turkish war (1787–91). Brokered by Great Britain, Prussia and the Netherlands,''The Peace Treaties of the Ottoman Empire'', Karl-Heinz Ziegler, Peace Treaties and International Law in European Histo ...
, which ended the
Austro-Turkish War (1788-1791), the Ottoman-held areas of
Donji Lapac and
Cetingrad, along with the villages of
Drežnik Grad
Drežnik Grad is a village in Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map = ...
and
Jasenovac, were ceded to the Habsburg monarchy and incorporated into the
Croatian Military Frontier.
19th century in Croatia
Napoleonic Wars
![Granica Ilirskih pokrajina Zagreb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Granica_Ilirskih_pokrajina_Zagreb.jpg)
As
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's armies started to dominate Europe, Croatian lands came into contact with the French as well. When Napoleon abolished the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
in 1797, former Venetian possessions in
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
came under Habsburg rule. In 1809, as Napoleon defeated the Austrians in the
Battle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram (; 5–6 July 1809) was a military engagement of the Napoleonic Wars that ended in a costly but decisive victory for Emperor Napoleon's French and allied army against the Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles ...
, French-controlled territory eventually expanded to the
Sava
The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally th ...
river. The French founded the "
Illyrian Provinces
The Illyrian Provinces sl, Ilirske province hr, Ilirske provincije sr, Илирске провинције it, Province illirichegerman: Illyrische Provinzen, group=note were an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province of France d ...
" centered in
Ljubljana
Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center.
During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...
and appointed Marshal
Auguste de Marmont as their governor-general. The French presence brought the liberal ideas of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
to the Croats. The French founded
Masonic lodges, built infrastructure, and printed the first newspapers in the local language in Dalmatia. Called ''
Kraglski Datmatin/Il Regio Dalmata'', it was printed in both Italian and Croatian. Croatian soldiers accompanied Napoleon in his conquests as far as Russia. In 1808, Napoleon abolished the
Republic of Ragusa
hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world"
, population_estimate = 90 000 in the XVI Century
, currency = ...
. Ottomans from Bosnia raided French Croatia and occupied the area of
Cetingrad in 1809. Auguste de Marmont reacted by occupying Bihać on 5 May 1810. After the Ottomans promised to stop raiding French territories and withdraw from the Cetingrad, he withdrew from Bihać.
With the fall of Napoleon, the French-controlled Croatian lands came back under Austrian rule.
Croatian national revival and the Illyrian Movement
![Danicza-horvatska-domovina](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Danicza-horvatska-domovina.png)
Under the influence of German
romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, French political thought and
pan-Slavism, Croatian
romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...
emerged in the mid-19th century to counteract the
Germanization and
Magyarization
Magyarization ( , also ''Hungarization'', ''Hungarianization''; hu, magyarosítás), after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in Austro-Hungarian Transleithan ...
of Croatia.
Ljudevit Gaj
Ljudevit Gaj (; born Ludwig Gay; hu, Gáj Lajos; 8 August 1809 – 20 April 1872) was a Croatian Linguistics, linguist, politician, journalist and writer. He was one of the central figures of the pan-Slavist Illyrian movement.
Biography
Origi ...
emerged as a leader of the Croatian national movement. One of the important issues to be resolved was the question of language, where regional Croatian dialects had to be standardized. Since the
Shtokavian dialect
Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...
, widespread among Croats, was also common with Serbs, this movement likewise had a South-Slavic characteristic.
[Macan, 134-142] At the time, "Croatian" only referred to the population in southwestern parts of what is today Croatia, while "Illyrian" was used throughout the south-Slavic world; wider masses of people were attempted to attract by using the Illyrian name.
Illyrian activists chose the Shtokavian dialect over
Kajkavian as the standardized version of Croatian language. The Illyrian movement was not accepted by the Serbs or the Slovenes, and it remained strictly a Croatian national movement. In 1832, Croatian count
Janko Drašković
Janko Drašković ( Hungarian: ''Draskovich János''; 20 October 1770 – 14 January 1856) was a Croatian politician associated with the beginnings of the 19th-century national revival, the Illyrian movement. He studied law and philosophy befor ...
wrote a manifesto of Croatian national revival called ''
Disertacija'' (''Dissertation''). The manifesto called for the unification of Croatia with Slavonia, Dalmatia, Rijeka, the Military Frontier, Bosnia, and Slovene lands into a single unit inside the Hungarian part of the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
. This unit would have Croatian as the official language and would be governed by
Ban
Ban, or BAN, may refer to:
Law
* Ban (law), a decree that prohibits something, sometimes a form of censorship, being denied from entering or using the place/item
** Imperial ban (''Reichsacht''), a form of outlawry in the medieval Holy Roman ...
.
The movement spread throughout Dalmatia, Istria and among Bosnian
Francisian monks. It resulted in the emergence of the modern Croatian nation and eventually the formation of the first Croatian political parties.
After the usage, the Illyrian name was banned in 1843; the proponents of Illyrianism changed their name to Croatian.
On 2 May 1843,
Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski
Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski (29 May 1816 – 1 August 1889) was a Croatian historian, politician and writer, most famous for the first speech delivered in Croatian before the Parliament. Considered a renowned patriot, Kukuljević was a proponent of ...
held the first speech on
Croatian language
Croatian (; ' ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language used by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina, and other neighboring countries. It is the official ...
in the Croatian Sabor, requesting that the Croatian language be made the official language in public institutions. At this point, this was a significant step, because
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
was still in use in public institutions in Croatia. In the Sabor in 1847 Croatian was proclaimed as an official language in Croatia.
Croats in revolutions of 1848
In the
Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
, the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia, driven by fear of
Magyar nationalism, supported the Habsburg court against Hungarian revolutionary forces.
![Dragutin Weingärtner, Hrvatski sabor 1848](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Dragutin_Weing%C3%A4rtner%2C_Hrvatski_sabor_1848._god.jpg)
During a session of the Croatian Sabor held on 25 March 1848, colonel
Josip Jelačić
Count Josip Jelačić von Bužim (16 October 180120 May 1859; also spelled ''Jellachich'', ''Jellačić'' or ''Jellasics''; hr, Josip grof Jelačić Bužimski; hu, Jelasics József) was a Croatian lieutenant field marshal in the Imperial-Roy ...
was elected as Ban of Croatia and a petition called "
Demands of The People" (''Zahtjevanja naroda'') was drafted to be handed over to the Austrian Emperor. These liberal demands asked for: independence, unification of Croatian lands, a Croatian government responsible to the Croatian parliament and independent from Hungary, financial independence from Hungary, the introduction of the Croatian language in offices and schools, freedom of the press, religious freedom, abolishment of serfdom, abolishment of nobility privileges, the foundation of a people's army, and equality before the law.
As the Hungarian government denied the existence of the Croatian name and nationhood and treated Croatian institutions like provincial authorities, Jelačić severed ties between Croatia and Hungary. In May 1848, Ban's Council was formed which had all the executive powers of the Croatian government. The Croatian parliament abolished feudalism,
serfdom and demanded that the Monarchy become a constitutional federal state of equal nations with independent national governments and one federal parliament in the capital of
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. The Croatian parliament also demanded the unification of the
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier (german: Militärgrenze, sh-Latn, Vojna krajina/Vojna granica, Војна крајина/Војна граница; hu, Katonai határőrvidék; ro, Graniță militară) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and l ...
and
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
with
Croatia proper. Sabor also asked for an undefined alliance with
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...
,
Slovene lands
The Slovene lands or Slovenian lands ( sl, Slovenske dežele or in short ) is the historical denomination for the territories in Central and Southern Europe where people primarily spoke Slovene. The Slovene lands were part of the Illyrian provinc ...
and
parts of southern Hungary inhabited with Croats and Serbs. Jelačić was also appointed the governor of
Rijeka
Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...
and
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
as well as the "Imperial Commander of Military Frontier", thus having most of the Croatian lands under his rule. The breakdown of negotiations between Croats and the Hungarians eventually led to war. Jelačić declared war on Hungary on 7 September 1848. On 11 September 1848, the Croatian army crossed the
river and annexed
Međimurje. Upon crossing Drava, Jelačić ordered his army to switch Croatian national flags with Habsburg Imperial flags.
Despite the contributions of its Ban
Josip Jelačić
Count Josip Jelačić von Bužim (16 October 180120 May 1859; also spelled ''Jellachich'', ''Jellačić'' or ''Jellasics''; hr, Josip grof Jelačić Bužimski; hu, Jelasics József) was a Croatian lieutenant field marshal in the Imperial-Roy ...
in quenching the
Hungarian war of independence, in the aftermath, Croatia was not treated any more favorably by Vienna than the Hungarians and therefore lost its domestic autonomy.
Croatia in Dual Monarchy
The dual monarchy of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
was created in 1867 through the
Austro-Hungarian Compromise. Croatian autonomy was restored in 1868 with the
Croatian–Hungarian Settlement, which was comparatively favorable for the Croatians, but still problematic because of issues such as the
unresolved status of Rijeka. In 1873, the territory of
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier (german: Militärgrenze, sh-Latn, Vojna krajina/Vojna granica, Војна крајина/Војна граница; hu, Katonai határőrvidék; ro, Graniță militară) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and l ...
was demilitarized and in July 1871 a decision was made to incorporate it into Croatia with Croatian ban
Ladislav Pejačević
Count Ladislav Pejačević of Virovitica ( en, Ladislaus Peyachevich of Virovitica, hr, Ladislav Pejačević Virovitički, hu, Pejácsevics László; Sopron, Kingdom of Hungary 5 April 1824 – Našice, 7 April 1901) was a Croatian aristocr ...
taking over the authority. Pejačević's successor
Károly Khuen-Héderváry
Count Károly Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár, born as ''Károly Khuen de Belás'' ( hr, Dragutin Khuen-Héderváry, 23 May 1849 – 16 February 1918) was a Hungarian politician and the Ban of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in the late nine ...
caused further problems by violating the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement through his hardline
Magyarization
Magyarization ( , also ''Hungarization'', ''Hungarianization''; hu, magyarosítás), after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in Austro-Hungarian Transleithan ...
policies in period from 1883 to 1903. Héderváry's magyarization of Croatia led to massive riots in 1903, when Croatian protesters burnt Hungarian flags and clashed with the gendarmes and the military, resulting in the death of several protesters. As a consequence of these riots, Héderváry left his position as Ban of Croatia, but was appointed prime minister of Hungary.
A year earlier, in 1902, ''Srbobran'', the newspaper of
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
Serbs, published an article titled "Do istrage naše ili vaše" (Until us, or you get exterminated). The article was filled with
Greater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia ( sr, Велика Србија, Velika Srbija) describes the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology of the creation of a Serb state which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to S ...
n ideology; its text denied the existence of the Croatian nation and the Croatian language and announced Serbian victory over "servile Croats", who would, the article proclaimed, be exterminated.
The article sparked major anti-Serb riots in Zagreb, in which barricades were raised and Serb-owned properties were attacked. Serbs of Zagreb eventually distanced themselves from the opinions published in the article.
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
brought an end to the Dual Monarchy.
Croatia suffered a great loss of life in World War I. Late in the war, there were proposals to transform the dualist monarchy into a federalist one, with a separate
Croatian/South Slavic section, however, these plans were never carried out, due to
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
's announcement of a policy of
self-determination
The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...
for peoples of Austria-Hungary.
Shortly before the end of the war in 1918, the
Croatian Parliament
The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor ...
severed relations with Austria-Hungary after receiving the news that the
Czechoslovak parts had also separated from Austria-Hungary.
The Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia became a part of the newly created provisional
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. This internationally unrecognized state was composed of all of the South Slavic territories of the old
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy with a transitional government located in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
. Its biggest issue, however, was the advancing Italian army that sought to capture the Croatian Adriatic territories promised to them by the
Treaty of London in 1915. A solution was sought through unification with the
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia ( sr-cyr, Краљевина Србија, Kraljevina Srbija) was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Princi ...
, which had an army capable of confronting the Italians as well as the international legitimacy among the members of the
Entente Cordiale, which was about to carve new European borders at the
Paris Peace Conference.
Croats inside the first Yugoslavia (1918–1941)
![Proglašenje raskida veza s Austro-Ugarskom](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Progla%C5%A1enje_raskida_veza_s_Austro-Ugarskom.jpg)
A
new state was created in late 1918.
Srijem
Syrmia ( sh, Srem/Срем or sh, Srijem/Сријем, label=none) is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia and Croatia. Most of the region is flat, with the exce ...
left Croatia-Slavonia and joined Serbia together with Vojvodina, shortly followed by a referendum to join Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbia. The
People's Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( sh, Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba / ; sl, Država Slovencev, Hrvatov in Srbov) was a political entity that was constituted in October 1918, at the end of World War I, by Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( ...
(''Narodno vijeće''), guided by what was by that time a half-century-long tradition of
pan-Slavism and without the sanction of the Croatian
Sabor, merged with the
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia ( sr-cyr, Краљевина Србија, Kraljevina Srbija) was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Princi ...
into the
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
.
An Italian army eventually took
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...
, started to annex the Adriatic islands one by one, and even landed in
Zadar
Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...
. A partial resolution to the so-called
Adriatic Question came in 1920 with the
Treaty of Rapallo Following World War I there were two Treaties of Rapallo, both named after Rapallo, a resort on the Ligurian coast of Italy:
* Treaty of Rapallo, 1920, an agreement between Italy and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the later Yugoslav ...
.
The Kingdom underwent a crucial change in 1921 to the dismay of Croatia's largest political party, the
Croatian Peasant Party (''Hrvatska seljačka stranka''). The new constitution abolished historical/political entities, including Croatia and Slavonia, centralizing authority in the capital of
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
. The Croatian Peasant Party boycotted the government of the Serbian
People's Radical Party throughout the period, except for a brief interlude between 1925 and 1927, when external Italian expansionism was at hand with her allies,
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
, Hungary,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
, and
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, threatening Yugoslavia as a whole. Two differing concepts of how the new common state should be governed became the main source of conflict between Croatian elites led by the Croatian Peasant Party and Serbian elites. Leading Croatian politicians sought a federalized new state in which Croats would have certain autonomy (similar to what they had before in Austria-Hungary), while Serb-centered parties advocated unitarist policies, centralization, and assimilation. The new country's military was also a predominately Serbian institution; by 1938 only about 10% of all Army officers were Croats. The new school system was Serb-centered with Croatian teachers being either retired, purged, or transferred. Serbs were also posted as high state officials.
The replacement of old
Austro-Hungarian Krones was conducted through an unfair rate of four Krones for one
Serbian Dinar
The dinar ( sr-Cyrl, динар, ; paucal: dinara / динара; Currency symbol, abbreviation: DIN (Gaj's Latin alphabet, Latin) and дин (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Cyrillic); ISO 4217, code: RSD) is the currency of Serbia. One dinar is subd ...
.
In the early 1920s, the Yugoslav government of Serbian prime minister
Nikola Pašić used police pressure on voters and ethnic minorities, confiscation of opposition pamphlets, and
election-rigging to keep the opposition, mainly the
Croatian Peasant Party and its allies, in the minority in the Yugoslav parliament. Pašić believed that Yugoslavia should be as centralized as possible, creating a
Greater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia ( sr, Велика Србија, Velika Srbija) describes the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology of the creation of a Serb state which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to S ...
n national concept of concentrated power in the hands of Belgrade in place of distinct regional governments and identities.
Murders of 1928 and royal dictatorship
During a Parliament session in 1928,
Puniša Račić
Puniša Račić ( sr-cyr, Пуниша Рачић; 12 July 1886 – 16 October 1944) was a Montenegrin Serb leader and People's Radical Party (NRS) politician. He assassinated Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) representatives Pavle Radić and Đuro B ...
, a deputy of the Serbian Radical People's Party, shot at Croatian deputies, resulting in the killing of
Pavle Radić and
Đuro Basariček and the wounding of
Ivan Pernar and Ivan Granđa.
Stjepan Radić
Stjepan Radić (11 June 1871 – 8 August 1928) was a Croat politician and founder of the Croatian People's Peasant Party (HPSS), active in Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
He is credited with galvanizing Cro ...
, a Croatian political champion at the time, was wounded and later succumbed to his wounds. These multiple murders caused the outrage of the Croatian population and ignited violent demonstrations, strikes, and armed conflicts throughout Croatian parts of the country. The Greater Serbian-influenced Royal Yugoslav Court even considered "amputation" of Croatian parts of the country, while leaving Yugoslavia only inside
Greater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia ( sr, Велика Србија, Velika Srbija) describes the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology of the creation of a Serb state which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to S ...
n borders, however,
Croatian Peasant Party leadership rejected this idea.
While Račić was subsequently tried for multiple murders, he served his sentence in a luxurious villa in
Požarevac
Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čačalica (208m). As of 2011, ...
, where he had several servants at his disposal and was allowed to leave and return at any time.
In response to the shooting at the National Assembly, King
Aleksandar
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
abolished the parliamentary system and proclaimed personal dictatorship. He imposed a new constitution aimed at removing all existing national identities and imposing "integral Yugoslavism". He also renamed the country from the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The territory of Croatia was largely divided into the territories of the
Sava
The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally th ...
and
Littoral Banates. Political parties were banned and the royal dictatorship took on an increasingly harsh character.
Vladko Maček
Vladimir Maček (20 June 1879 – 15 May 1964) was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political fig ...
, who had succeeded Radić as leader of the Croatian Peasant Party, the largest political party in Croatia, was imprisoned. This new situation inspired Ante Pavelić to leave Yugoslavia and create the
Ustaše Movement, with the ultimate goal of destroying Yugoslavia and making Croatia an independent country. According to the British historian
Misha Glenny, the murder in March 1929 of Toni Schlegel, editor of the pro-Yugoslavian newspaper ''Novosti'', brought a "furious response" from the regime. In
Lika
Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by ...
and west
Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...
in particular, described as "hotbeds of Croatian separatism", Glenny wrote that the majority-Serb police acted "with no restraining authority whatsoever". In the words of a prominent Croatian writer, Schlegel's death became the pretext for terror in all forms. Politics was soon "indistinguishable from gangsterism". In 1931, the royal regime organized the assassination of Croatian scientist and intellectual
Milan Šufflay on the streets of Zagreb. The assassination was condemned by globally renowned intellectuals such as
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
and
Heinrich Mann. In 1932, the Ustaše Movement made an unsuccessful attempt to spark the
Velebit uprising
The Velebit uprising or Lika uprising ( hr, Velebitski ustanak; Lički ustanak) was a minor action carried out by Ustaše militias against a Yugoslav gendarmerie station on 6 and 7 September 1932.
Preparation
In the area near Gospić, the Ustaš ...
in Lika. Despite the oppressive climate, few rallied to the Ustaša cause and the movement was never able to gain serious support among the Croatian population.
Banovina of Croatia
In 1934, King Aleksandar was assassinated during a state visit to
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
by a coalition of the Ustaše and the Bulgarian
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр ...
(IMRO), thus ending the Royal dictatorship. The government of Serbian Radical
Milan Stojadinović
Milan Stojadinović ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Стојадиновић; 4 August 1888 – 26 October 1961) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and economist who served as the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 1935 to 1939. He also served as Forei ...
, which took power in 1935, distanced Yugoslavia from its former allies of France and the United Kingdom and moved the country closer to Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. In 1937 Yugoslav gendarmes led by Radical Party member Jovo Koprivica killed dozen of youth members of the Croatian Peasant Party in
Senj, because they sang Croatian patriotic songs. With the rise of Nazis in Germany and the looming possibility of another European war, Serbian political elites decided that it was time to fix relations with the Croats, the second largest ethnic group in the country, so that in the event of a new war the country would be united and without ethnic divisions. Negotiations started, resulting in the
Cvetković–Maček Agreement and the creation of
Banovina of Croatia
The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Banovina Hrvatska, Бановина Хрватска) was an autonomous province ( banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1941. It was formed by a merg ...
, an autonomous Croatian province inside Yugoslavia. Banovina of Croatia was created in 1939 out of the two Banates, as well as parts of the Zeta,
Vrbas,
Drina, and Danube Banates. It had a reconstructed Croatian Parliament which would choose a Croatian
Ban
Ban, or BAN, may refer to:
Law
* Ban (law), a decree that prohibits something, sometimes a form of censorship, being denied from entering or using the place/item
** Imperial ban (''Reichsacht''), a form of outlawry in the medieval Holy Roman ...
and Viceban. This Croatia included a part of
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
, most of
Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...
, and the city of
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
and the surroundings.
World War II and the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1945)
![Adolf Hitler meets Ante Pavelić](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Adolf_Hitler_meets_Ante_Paveli%C4%87.1941.jpg)
The
Axis occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941 allowed the Croatian radical right
Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
to come into power, forming the "
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
" (''Nezavisna Država Hrvatska'', NDH), led by
Ante Pavelić, who assumed the role of ''
Poglavnik
() was the title used by Ante Pavelić, leader of the World War II Croatian movement Ustaše and of the Independent State of Croatia between 1941 and 1945.
Etymology and usage
The word was first recorded in a 16th-century dictionary compiled ...
''. Following the pattern of other fascist regimes in Europe, the Ustaše enacted racial laws and formed eight
concentration camps targeting minority Serbs,
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
s, and Jewish populations, as well as
Croatian and
Bosnian Muslim opponents of the regime. The biggest concentration camp was
Jasenovac in Croatia. The NDH had a program, formulated by
Mile Budak
Mile Budak (30 August 1889 – 7 June 1945) was a Croatian politician and writer best known as one of the chief ideologists of the Croatian fascist Ustaša movement, which ruled the Independent State of Croatia during World War II in Yugoslavia ...
, to purge Croatia of
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
, by "killing one third, expelling the other third and
assimilating the remaining third". The main targets for persecution were the Serbs, of whom approximately 330,000 were killed.
Various
Serbian nationalist Chetnik
The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...
groups also committed
atrocities against Croats across many areas of
Lika
Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by ...
and parts of
northern Dalmatia. During
World War II in Yugoslavia
World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the US ...
, the Chetniks killed an estimated 18,000-32,000 Croats.
The anti-fascist communist-led
Partisan
Partisan may refer to:
Military
* Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon
* Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line
Films
* ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film
* ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...
movement, based on a pan-Yugoslav ideology, emerged in early 1941 under the command of Croatian-born
Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...
, and spread quickly into many parts of
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
. The
1st Sisak Partisan Detachment
The Sisak People's Liberation Partisan Detachment ( sh, Sisački narodnooslobodilački partizanski odred), also known as the 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment (''1. Sisački partizanski odred''), was the first Partisan armed anti-fascist resistance un ...
, often hailed as the first armed anti-fascist resistance
unit in occupied Europe, was formed in Croatia, in the
Brezovica Forest Brezovica may refer to:
Croatia
* Brezovica, Osijek-Baranja County, a settlement in the municipality of Marijanci
* Brezovica, Virovitica-Podravina County, a village in Gradina, Virovitica-Podravina County
* Brezovica, Zagreb, a city district ...
near the town of Sisak. As the movement began to gain popularity, the Partisans gained strength from Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs, Slovenes, and Macedonians who believed in a unified, but federal, Yugoslav state.
By 1943, the Partisan resistance movement had gained the upper hand and in 1945, with help from the Soviet
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
(passing only through small parts such as
Vojvodina), expelled the
Axis forces and local supporters. The
State Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH) functioned since 1942 and formed an interim civil government by 1943. NDH's ministers of War and Internal Security
Mladen Lorković
Mladen Lorković (1 March 1909 – April 1945) was a Croatian politician and lawyer who became a senior member of the Ustaše and served as the Foreign Minister and Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World ...
and
Ante Vokić tried to switch to the Allied side. Pavelić was, in the beginning, supporting them but when he found that he would need to leave his position he imprisoned them in Lepoglava prison where they were executed.
Following the defeat of the Independent State of Croatia at the end of the war, a large number of Ustaše, civilians supporting them (ranging from sympathizers, young conscripts, anti-communists, and ordinary serfs who were motivated by Partisan atrocities), Chetniks and anti-Communists attempted to flee in the direction of Austria, hoping to surrender to British forces and to be given refuge. Following the
Bleiburg repatriations, they were instead interned by British forces, and returned to the Partisans where they were subject to mass executions.
Socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1991)
Tito's leadership of the LCY (1945–1980)
Croatia was one of six constituent
socialist republic
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ec ...
s of the
Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. Under the new communist system, privately-owned factories and estates were
nationalized, and the economy was based on a type of planned
market socialism
Market socialism is a type of economic system involving the public, cooperative, or social ownership of the means of production in the framework of a market economy, or one that contains a mix of worker-owned, nationalized, and privately owned ...
. The country underwent a rebuilding process, recovered from World War II, went through industrialization, and started developing tourism.
The country's socialist system also provided free apartments from large companies, which with the
workers' self-management investments paid for the living spaces. From 1963, the citizens of Yugoslavia were allowed to travel to almost any country because of the neutral politics. No visas were required to travel to eastern or western countries or capitalist or communist nations. Such free travel was unheard of at the time in the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
countries, and in some western countries as well (e.g., Spain or
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, both dictatorships at the time). This proved to be helpful for Croatia's inhabitants who found working in foreign countries more financially rewarding. Upon retirement, a popular plan was to return to live in Croatia (then Yugoslavia) to buy more expensive property.
In Yugoslavia, the people of Croatia were guaranteed free healthcare, free dental care, and secure pensions. The older generation found this very comforting as pensions would sometimes exceed their former paychecks. Free trade and travel within the country also helped Croatian industries that imported and exported throughout all the former republics.
Students and military personnel were encouraged to visit other republics to learn more about the country, and all levels of education, including secondary education and higher education, were free. In reality, the housing was inferior with poor heat and plumbing, the medical care often lacking even in the availability of antibiotics, schools were propaganda machines and travel was a necessity to provide the country with hard currency. The propagandists, who want people to believe "neutral policies" equalized Serbs and Croats, severely restricted free speech and did not protect citizens from ethnic attacks.
![Locator map Croatia in Yugoslavia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Locator_map_Croatia_in_Yugoslavia.svg)
Membership in the
League of Communists of Yugoslavia
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...
was as much a prerequisite for admission to colleges and government jobs as in the Soviet Union under
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
or
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
. Private sector businesses did not grow as the taxes on private enterprise were often prohibitive. Inexperienced management sometimes ruled policy and controlled decisions by brute force. Strikes were forbidden, and owners/managers were not permitted to make changes or decisions which would impact their productivity or profit.
The economy developed into a type of socialism called ''samoupravljanje'' (self-management), in which workers controlled socially-owned enterprises. This kind of market socialism created significantly better economic conditions than in the Eastern Bloc countries. Croatia went through intensive industrialization in the 1960s and 1970s with industrial output increasing several-fold and with Zagreb surpassing Belgrade in industry. Factories and other organizations were often named after
Partisans who were declared
national heroes
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''hero ...
. This practice also spread to street names, as well as the names of parks and buildings.
Before World War II, Croatia's industry was not developed, with the vast majority of the people employed in agriculture. By 1991, the country was completely transformed into a modern industrialized state. At the same time, the Croatian
Adriatic coast
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to the ...
had become a popular tourist destination, and the coastal republics (but mostly SR Croatia) profited greatly from this, as tourist numbers reached levels still unsurpassed in modern Croatia. The government brought unprecedented economic and industrial growth, high levels of social security, and a very low crime rate. The country completely recovered from WWII and achieved a very high GDP and economic growth rate, significantly higher than those of the present-day republic.
![Savka Dabcevic Kucar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Savka_Dabcevic_Kucar.jpg)
The constitution of 1963 balanced power in the country between the Croats and the Serbs and alleviated the imbalance coming from the fact that the Croats were again in a minority position. Trends after 1965 (like the fall of
OZNA
The Department for People's Protection or OZNA ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Одељење за заштиту нaрода, Odjeljenje za zaštitu naroda, Odeljenje za zaštitu naroda; mk, Одделение за заштита на народот; sl, Oddele ...
and
UDBA
The State Security Service ( hr, Služba državne sigurnosti, sr, Служба државне безбедности; mk, Служба за државна безбедност; sl, Služba državne varnosti), also known by its original name ...
chief
Aleksandar Ranković from power in 1966), however, led to the
Croatian Spring
The Croatian Spring ( hr, Hrvatsko proljeće), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republic ...
of 1970–71, when students in Zagreb organized demonstrations to achieve greater civil liberties and greater Croatian autonomy. The regime stifled public protest and incarcerated the leaders, but this led to the ratification of a
new constitution in 1974, giving more rights to the individual republics.
Radical
Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
cells of Croatian émigrés based in Australia and Western Europe planned and attempted to carry out acts of sabotage within Yugoslavia, including an
incursion from Austria of 19 armed men in June 1971, who unsuccessfully aimed to incite a popular Croatian uprising against what they called the "Serbo-communist" regime in Belgrade.
Until the breakup of Yugoslavia (1980–1991)
In 1980, after
Tito's death, economic, political, and religious difficulties started to mount and the federal government began to crumble. The crisis in
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
and, in 1986, the emergence of
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...
in Serbia provoked a very negative reaction in Croatia and
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
; politicians from both republics feared that his motives would threaten their republics' autonomy. With the climate of change throughout Eastern Europe during the 1980s, the communist hegemony was challenged (at the same time, the Milošević government began to gradually
concentrate Yugoslav power in Serbia, and calls for free multi-party elections were becoming louder).
['']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', 14 December 1989.
In June 1989, the
Croatian Democratic Union
The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croa ...
(HDZ) was founded by Croatian nationalist dissidents led by
Franjo Tuđman
Franjo Tuđman (; 14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999), also written as Franjo Tudjman, was a Croatian politician and historian. Following the country's independence from Yugoslavia, he became the first president of Croatia and served as p ...
, a former fighter in Tito's Partisan movement and a
JNA General. At this time, Yugoslavia was still a one-party state and open manifestations of Croatian nationalism were considered dangerous, so a new party was founded in an almost conspiratorial manner. It was only on 13 December 1989 that the governing
League of Communists of Croatia
League of Communists of Croatia ( sh, Savez komunista Hrvatske or SKH) was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). It came into power in 1945. Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia (''Komunistička ...
agreed to legalize opposition political parties and hold free elections in the spring of 1990.
On 23 January 1990, at its 14th Congress, the Communist League of Yugoslavia voted to remove its monopoly on political power. The same day, it effectively ceased to exist as a national party when the
League of Communists of Slovenia
The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establis ...
walked out after SR Serbia's President
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...
blocked all their reformist proposals, which caused the
League of Communists of Croatia
League of Communists of Croatia ( sh, Savez komunista Hrvatske or SKH) was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). It came into power in 1945. Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia (''Komunistička ...
to further distance themselves from the idea of a joint state.
Republic of Croatia (1991–present)
Introduction of multi-party political system
![FranjoTudman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/FranjoTudman.JPG)
On 22 April and 7 May 1990, the 1990 Croatian parliamentary election, first free multi-party elections were held in Croatia.
Franjo Tuđman
Franjo Tuđman (; 14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999), also written as Franjo Tudjman, was a Croatian politician and historian. Following the country's independence from Yugoslavia, he became the first president of Croatia and served as p ...
's
Croatian Democratic Union
The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croa ...
(HDZ) won by a 42% margin against Ivica Račan's reformed communist Social Democratic Party of Croatia, Party of Democratic Change (SDP) who won 26%. Croatia's first-past-the-post election system enabled Tuđman to form the government relatively independently, as the win translated into 205 mandates (out of 351 total). The HDZ intended to secure independence for Croatia, contrary to the wishes of some ethnic Serbs in the republic and federal politicians in Belgrade. The excessively polarized climate soon escalated into complete estrangement between the two nations and spiraled into sectarian violence.
On 25 July 1990, a Serbian Assembly was established in Srb, north of Knin, as the political representation of the Serbian people in Croatia. The Serbian Assembly declared "sovereignty and autonomy of the Serb people in Croatia".
Their position was that if Croatia could secede from Yugoslavia, then the Serbs could secede from Croatia. Milan Babić, a dentist from the southern town of
Knin, was elected president. The rebel Croatian Serbs established some paramilitary militias under the leadership of Milan Martić, the police chief in Knin.
On 17 August 1990, the Serbs of Croatia began what became known as the Log Revolution, where barricades of logs were placed across roads throughout the South as an expression of their secession from Croatia. This effectively cut Croatia in two, separating the coastal region of
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
from the rest of the country. The Croatian government responded to the road blockades by sending special police teams in helicopters to the scene, but they were intercepted by SFR Yugoslav Air Force fighter jets and forced to turn back to
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
.
The Constitution of Croatia, Croatian constitution was passed in December 1990, categorizing Serbs as a minority group along with other ethnic groups. On 21 December 1990, Babić's administration announced the creation of a SAO Krajina, Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina (or ''SAO Krajina''). Other Serb-dominated communities in eastern Croatia announced that they would also join SAO Krajina and ceased paying taxes to the
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
government.
On Easter Sunday, 31 March 1991, the first fatal clashes occurred when police from the Croatian Ministry of the Interior (Croatia), Ministry of the Interior (MUP) entered the Plitvice Lakes National Park to Plitvice Lakes incident, expel rebel Serb forces. Serb paramilitaries ambushed a bus carrying Croatian police into the national park on the road north of Korenica, sparking a day-long gun battle between the two sides. During the fighting, one Croat and one Serb policeman were killed. Twenty other people were injured and twenty-nine Krajina Serb paramilitaries and policemen were taken prisoner by Croatian forces.
[Ivo Goldstein, ''Croatia: A History'', p. 220. (C. Hurst & Co, 2000)] Among the prisoners was Goran Hadžić, who would later become the President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina.
On 2 May 1991, the Croatian parliament voted to hold an independence referendum. On 19 May 1991, with a turnout of almost 80%, 93.24% voted for independence. Krajina boycotted the referendum. They had held their referendum a week earlier on 12 May 1991 in the territories they controlled and voted to remain in Yugoslavia. The Croatian government did not recognize their referendum as valid.
On 25 June 1991, the
Croatian Parliament
The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor ...
declared independence from Yugoslavia. Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia on the same day.
War of Independence (1991–1995)
![Croatian War of Independence collage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Croatian_War_of_Independence_collage.jpg)
During the Croatian War of Independence, the civilian population fled the areas of armed conflict ''en masse'', with hundreds of thousands of Croats moving away from the Bosnian and Serbian border areas. In many places, masses of civilians were forced out by the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), which consisted mostly of conscripts from Serbia and Montenegro, and irregulars from Serbia, participating in what became known as ethnic cleansing.
The border city of Vukovar underwent a three-month siege during the Battle of Vukovar. It left most of the city destroyed and a majority of the population was forced to flee. The city was taken over by the Serbian forces on 18 November 1991 and the Vukovar massacre occurred.
Subsequent United Nations-sponsored cease fires followed, and the warring parties were mostly entrenched. The Yugoslav People's Army retreated from Croatia into Bosnia and Herzegovina where a new cycle of tensions was escalating—the Bosnian War was about to start. During 1992 and 1993, Croatia also handled an estimated 700,000 refugees from Bosnia, mainly Bosnian Muslims.
Armed conflict in Croatia remained intermittent and mostly small-scale until 1995. In early August, Croatia embarked on Operation Storm, an attack that quickly reconquered most of the territories from the Republic of Serbian Krajina authorities, leading to a mass exodus of the Serbian population. Estimates of the number of Serbs who fled before, during and after the operation range from 90,000 to 200,000.
As a result of this operation, a few months later the Bosnian War ended with the negotiation of the Dayton Agreement. A peaceful integration of the remaining SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, Serbian-controlled territories in eastern Slavonia was completed in 1998 under UN supervision. The majority of the Serbs who fled from former Krajina did not return due to fears of ethnic violence, discrimination, and property repossession problems; and the Croatian government has yet to achieve the conditions for full reintegration. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, around 125,000 ethnic Serbs who fled the 1991–1995 conflict are registered as having returned to Croatia, of whom around 55,000 remain permanently.
Since the end of the war
Croatia became a member of the Council of Europe in 1996. While the years 1996 and 1997 were a period of post-war recovery and improving economic conditions, in 1998 and 1999 Croatia experienced an economic depression resulting in the unemployment of thousands.
The remainder of former Republic of Serbian Krajina, Krajina, adjacent to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia, negotiated a peaceful reintegration process with the Croatian government. The so-called Erdut Agreement made the area a temporary protectorate of the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium. The area was formally re-integrated into Croatia by 1998.
Franjo Tuđman
Franjo Tuđman (; 14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999), also written as Franjo Tudjman, was a Croatian politician and historian. Following the country's independence from Yugoslavia, he became the first president of Croatia and served as p ...
's government started to lose popularity as it was criticized for its involvement in Croatian privatization controversy, suspicious privatization deals in the early 1990s, as well as for international isolation. The country experienced a mild recession in 1998 and 1999.
Tuđman died in 1999 and in the early 2000 Croatian parliamentary election, 2000 parliamentary elections, the nationalist
Croatian Democratic Union
The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croa ...
(HDZ) government was replaced by a center-left coalition under the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, with Ivica Račan as prime minister. At the same time, 2000 Croatian presidential election, presidential elections were held which were won by a moderate, Stjepan Mesić. The new Račan government amended the constitution, changing the political system from a presidential system to a parliamentary system, transferring most executive presidential powers from the president to the institutions of the parliament and the prime minister.
The new government also started several large building projects, including state-sponsored housing, more rebuilding efforts to enable refugee return, and the building of the A1 (Croatia), A1 highway. The country achieved notable economic growth during these years, while the unemployment rate continued to rise until 2001 when it finally started falling. Croatia became a World Trade Organization (WTO) member in 2000 and started the Accession of Croatia to the European Union in 2003.
![Croatia EU flags](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Croatia_EU_flags.jpg)
In late 2003, 2003 Croatian parliamentary election, new parliamentary elections were held and a reformed HDZ party won under the leadership of Ivo Sanader, who became prime minister. European accession was delayed by controversies over the extradition of army generals to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), including the runaway Ante Gotovina.
Sanader was reelected in the closely contested 2007 Croatian parliamentary election, 2007 parliamentary election. Other complications continued to stall the EU negotiating process, most notably Slovenia's blockade of Croatia's EU accession in 2008–2009. In June 2009, Sanader abruptly resigned from his post and named Jadranka Kosor in his place. Kosor introduced austerity measures to counter the economic crisis and launched an anti-corruption campaign aimed at public officials. In late 2009, Kosor signed an agreement with Borut Pahor, the premier of
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
, that allowed the EU accession to proceed.
In the Croatian presidential election, 2009–2010, Ivo Josipović, the candidate of the SDP won a landslide victory.
Sanader tried to come back into HDZ in 2010 but was then ejected, and USKOK soon had him arrested on several corruption charges.
In November 2012, a court in Croatia sentenced former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, in office from 2003 to 2009, to 10 years in prison for taking bribes. Sanader tried to argue that the case against him was politically motivated.
In 2011, the accession agreement was concluded, giving Croatia the all-clear to join.
The 2011 Croatian parliamentary election was held on 4 December 2011, and the Kukuriku coalition won. After the election, the center-left government was formed led by new prime minister Zoran Milanovic.
![Pelješac bridge - Most Pelješac - Croatia - 2022-06-16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Pelje%C5%A1ac_bridge_-_Most_Pelje%C5%A1ac_-_Croatia_-_2022-06-16.jpg)
Following the ratification of the Treaty of Accession 2011 and the successful 2012 Croatian European Union membership referendum, Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013.
In the 2014–15 Croatian presidential election, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović became the first Croatian female President.
The 2015 Croatian parliamentary election resulted in the victory of the Patriotic Coalition (Croatia), Patriotic Coalition which formed a new government with the Bridge of Independent Lists. However, a vote of no confidence brought down the Cabinet of Tihomir Orešković. After the 2016 Croatian parliamentary election, the Cabinet of Andrej Plenković was formed.
In January 2020, the former prime minister Zoran Milanović, Zoran Milanovic of the Social Democrats (SDP) won the presidential election. He defeated center-right incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). In March 2020, the Croatian capital Zagreb 2020 Zagreb earthquake, experienced a 5.3 magnitude earthquake which caused significant damage to the city. In July 2020, the ruling center-right party HDZ won the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election, parliamentary election. On 12 October 2020 right-wing extremist Danijel Bezuk 2020 Zagreb shooting, attempted an attack on the building of the Croatian government, wounded a police officer in the process, and then killed himself. In December 2020. Banovina (region), Banovina, one of the less developed regions of Croatia 2020 Petrinja earthquake, was shaken by a 6.4 M earthquake which killed several people and destroyed the town of Petrinja. Throughout two and half years of the global COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia, COVID-19 pandemic, 16,103 Croatian citizens died from the disease. In March 2022, a Soviet-made 2022 Zagreb Tu-141 crash, Tu-141 drone crashed in Zagreb, most likely due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 12 July 2022, Croatia was set to become a Eurozone member from 1 January 2023. On 26 July 2022, Croatian authorities opened Pelješac Bridge, thus connecting the southernmost part of Croatia with the rest of the country.
See also
*Croatian art
*Culture of Croatia
*List of rulers of Croatia
*Military history of Croatia
*History of Dalmatia
*History of Istria
*History of Zagreb
*History of Hungary
*Timeline of Croatian history
*Croatian History Museum
References
Bibliography
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* Patterson, Patrick Hyder. "The futile crescent? Judging the legacies of Ottoman rule in Croatian history". ''Austrian History Yearbook'', vol. 40, 2009, p. 125+
online
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External links
Croatian Institute of HistoryMuseum Documentation Center''Journal of Croatian Studies''Overview of History, Culture, and ScienceHistory of Croatia: Primary DocumentsDr. Michael McAdams: Croatia – Myth and RealityHistorical Maps of CroatiaCroatia under Tomislav -from Nada Klaic book*The History Files
A brief history of CroatiaThe Early History of CroatiaCroatia since Independence 1990-2018
{{DEFAULTSORT:Croatia (history)
History of Croatia,