The July victims ( hr, Srpanjske žrtve) were members of the

Croatian People's Party Croatian may refer to: *Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * Se ...

who fell victim to a crackdown by the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n Imperial Army on July 29, 1845. In 1845, there were local elections for the government of

Zagreb County Zagreb County ( hr, Zagrebačka županija) is a county in Northern Croatia. It surrounds, but does not contain, the nation's capital Zagreb, which is a separate territorial unit. For that reason, the county is often nicknamed "Zagreb ring" ( hr, ...

, the county containing the capital of

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 = , capi ...

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

Croatian-Hungarian Party Croatian-Hungarian Party ( hr, Hrvatsko-ugarska stranka) was the name of a 19th-century political party in the Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia and the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia which advocated closer ties between Croatia and Hungary. It was official ...

candidate won by

voter fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

. Upon the announcement of election results, members of the People's Party took to St. Mark's Square to protest the result and accused the winners of

vote fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

. The 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 ...

, the ethnic Hungarian

Franz Haller Ferenc Haller, ''count Haller von Hallerkeö'' (24 March 1796 – 5 March 1875) was a Hungarian politician. He served as ban of Croatia-Slavonia between 1842 and 1845 during the Croatian national revival and the Illyrian movement in the 1830s a ...

called on the Austrian Army to empty the square. When the army moved in to empty the square, one of the protesters, Mirko Bogović, attacked an army officer with a sabre. The army officer was defended by a soldier who fired at Bogović. That led to other soldiers believing an order to fire was issued. The army emptied their bullets into the crowd. In the end, thirteen of the People's Party's protesters were killed and 27 were injured. Six of the injured later succumbed to their wounds. Ten victims of the shooting were buried at the St. George Cemetery (today the July Victims Park), and their funeral grew into large-scale political protests. Due in large part to this incident, Ban Haller left his post and bishop

Juraj Haulik Juraj Haulik de Váralya ( sk, Juraj Haulík Váralyai, hu, Haulík Váralyai György; 20 April 1788 – 11 May 1869) was a Croatian cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church of Slovak ethnicity and the first archbishop of Zagreb. He was also acti ...

took his place soon after. In 1855, the July victims' grave was adorned with a sculpture of a sleeping lion. In 1895, their remains July victims were interred in Zagreb's new cemetery,

Mirogoj The Mirogoj City Cemetery (, hr, Gradsko groblje Mirogoj), also known as Mirogoj Cemetery ( hr, Groblje Mirogoj), is a cemetery park that is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in the city of Zagreb. The cemetery inters members ...

. The incident showed the tension developed between Croats who supported the Illyrian movement and the restoration of a unified Croatian Kingdom, and Hungarian-Croatians (Magyars) and the minority of Croats who supported closer relations with Hungary (represented by the

). In the following years, Croatia gained some concessions, as Croatian replaced

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...

as the nation's official language.

References

1845 in Croatia History of Zagreb July 1845 events {{Croatia-hist-stub