Croatia

The Republic of Croatia, in Croatian Republika Hrvatska (in the Yugoslavian languages, "r" is occasionally a vowel. Don't ask me why). The Croats were a Slavic tribe who probably came from somewhere in modern Poland and Ukraine before crossing over the Carpathian basin to settle in modern Croatia during the 600s, when that region had been devastated by nomadic raiders.

In the early 7th century the Croats arrived in area of present-day Croatia. They organised the state into two dukedoms by the 9th century. Tomislav became the first king by 925 AD, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Peter Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir. Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne.

After a series of defeats, the fortunes of the war against the Ottomans began to change, and Croatia would slowly regain its lost territory, though the process would only end near the end of the 19th century.

But in the 19th century another important change began to gain momentum: the long-dormant national spirit of the Croats re-asserted itself in literature and learning. When the Hungarians rose up and tried to assert their rule over Croatia, the Croats sided with the Hapsburgs, but after Vienna restored control, they got nothing to show for it. Dalmatia was returned to Austria after the fall of Venice during the Napoleonic Wars, but the Austrian government refused to reunite it with the inland regions of Croatia right until the very end of the 19th century.

A second shock to the Austrian system in 1867 ended up created a Croatia that was divided between Austria and Hungary within their joint empire but also autonomous in culture and politics.

The bitterness of the Croats would show during WW 1, when many of them refused to take up arms against their "brother" Serbs and Russians. The Hapsburg monarchy fell apart and the Croats, in a rush of Yugoslavist enthusiasm, joined the new Yugoslav kingdom (though to be fair, they had little choice: had they refused, their state would have been torn apart as the victorious Serbs and Italians scrambled over the "spoils of war").

There were problems from the start, however. Croats wanted autonomy, but there was no clean dividing line between Serbs and Croats. As an answer to this and other pro-national movements, the Serb king put up a dictatorial regime, which lasted until he was assassinated by a violent terrorist outfit backed by Fascist Italy called the Ustase ("Oostahshee"). His successor was more even-handed and, after long and tricky negotiations, a large autonomous Croatia was created in 1939. But soon after that Adolf Hitler began his campaign to conquer Europe...

The Yugoslav government stayed neutral at first, then joined the Axis under German pressure in 1941, but almost immediately a British-backed military coup reversed the decision. Hitler would have nothing of it, and Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria invaded the country and conquered it in 2 weeks.

The Germans and Italians put the Ustase in charge of Croatia and the whole of Bosnia, while Italy placed a large part of the Croatian coastland under its direct rule (and Hungary took a small part of northern Croatia). Without any prompting from Germany, they set out of destroy Jews, Roma, Gypsies, Serbs, and "antifascists". The last covered the better part of the Croatian population, who were mostly enthusiastic supporters of the communist Partisan freedom-fighters.

Soon after the German invasion of the USSR in 1941, two movements sprang up in Croatia (and most of the former Yugoslavia): the multinational and predominantly communist Partisans and the royalist and Serb-nationalist Chetniks. The two movements soon realized their goals were incompatible and fought each other as well as the Axis forces. The Chetniks soon started collaborating with the Axis forces (thinking the partisans were a greater threat), but despite all this the Partisans gained the upper hand by 1943. After Italy surrendered later in the same year, the partisans gained a lot of captured equipment, as well as aid from the British air force based in Italy and the Croatian islands.

The war was extremely bloody and brutal, with more than 1.1 million dead in the whole of Yugoslavia, out of a total population of around 20 million. The remnants of the Ustashe and Chetniks forces tried to surrender to the British troops in Austria and Italy, but were turned back, which led to many of them being summarily executed. In addition, many German and Italian residents were driven out of the country almost immediately after the war.

Under Yugoslavia and its Tito, Croatia enjoyed autonomy within boundaries fairly similar to those of 1938. This left many Serbs still in the country, and many Croats still in Bosnia, as the differant peoples were all mingled together. In the 70s, Croatia gained more power under a decentralised constitution. Living standards in communist Yugoslavia were much better than in the Eastern Block, and the country was more open towards the West. That said, Yugoslavia was a prominent member of the Non-aligned movement and firmly refused to join either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. It did, however, reestablish relations with both German republics.

After the fall of many communist regimes in the early 90s, Croatia tried to follow the lead of Slovenia and leave crumbling Yugoslavia, but the Serbian areas seceded. A long and bitter war across Croatia and Bosnia followed. Thousands of Serbs had to flee the country, while in Bosnia it was Croats who suffered persecution alongside the Bosniaks. The two eventually united to fight the local Serbs. The war ended with Croatia independent and much of its Serbian population fled, and Bosnia divided into a Serb zone and a joint Croat-Bosniak zone.

Now the Croats have a fully independent state, but the population still remains bitterly divided over its troubled political past and current situation.

Some miscellaneous info on Croatia

• Croatian mercenaries, some of who were rather famous in their time, gave the world the cravat (though the original version looked rather different than the modern one).
• Some of the world's first fountain pens came from Croatia.
• Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia.
• The Croatian language has three major dialects, identified by three different words for "what" ća, kaj and što.
• The chequerboard design on the coat-of-arms (and flag) is echoed on most of their sports uniforms, and Croatia are the only national team to play in checks. Their football team has been very successful since independence - they came third in the World Cup in 1998, their first appearance.
• World heritage sites in Croatia include: Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian, Old City of Dubrovnik, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the Historic Centre of Poreč, Historic City of Trogir, The Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik, The Stari Grad Plain on the island of Hvar.
• Croatia is a candidate member for the European Union and a member of NATO since 2008.
• Mira Furlan, aka Babylon 5's Ambassador Delenn, is Croatian; the accent she uses is her native accent. Delenn's scathing What the Hell, Hero? to the Grey Council in the episode "Severed Dreams" was infused with Furlan's own rage against the European powers who failed to come to the aid of the Balkans in the early nineties, just a few years before the episode first aired.

the Croatian flag