Roman ruins in Zadar
Amphitheatre in Pula
Joseph Broz Tito
Ancient History
Remember Illyria? "Illyria is a country
permeated with the spirit of the Feast of Fools" according to
Shakespeare in "Twelfth Night". The Bard was inspired by
the Dalmatian coast, settled by the Illyrians
about 1000BC.
Mainly known for their assiduous piracy,
the Illyrians were eventually
conquered by the Romans in 12AD who then extended their reach throughout
modern-day Croatia. The Romans made Salona
(Solin) their capital. As in most Roman provinces, the bargain
was simple: Rome built roads, aqueducts, amphitheatres and infrastructure;
the province provided soldiers for the Roman legions. Remnants of
Roman rule in Croatia include the amphitheatre in Pula,
remnants of a Forum in Zadar and the
street plan in Porec.
Dalmatia's most famous contribution
to Rome was Emperor Diocletius who eventually retired to Split
and built a magnificent
palace.
Slavs, Venetians, Hungarians
Slavs began migrating into the region in the 7th
century and organised them into clans. The most powerful was the Hrvat
clan, hence the Slavic name for Croatia, Hrvatska.
The Frankish conquest in 800AD Christianised Croatia
and in 925 Croatia crowned its first king, Tomislav. Unity was short-lived
however and at the turn of the 11th century Venice made its move on
the coast. Meanwhile, northern Croatia was falling into the hands
of the powerful Hungarians to the north. The two superpowers vied
for control of Croatia for the succeeding seven centuries. Venice
retained the coast and Hungary (later Austria-Hungary) controlled
the interior.
Ottomans
The rise of the Ottoman empire in the
16th century brought a fresh threat. Most of the interior fell to
the Turks, even though the coast and Dubrovnik
were never captured.
After the Turks lost the siege
of Vienna in 1683, they relinquished their grip on Croatia
which fell under the control of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Venice
retained the coast until Napoleon's invasion of 1797.The 1815 Congress
of Vienna awarded the coast to Austria and the interior of Croatia
to Hungary.
South-Slavic unity
Throughout the 19th century, Croatia
chafed under foreign rule. A movement called Jugenslavenstvo
emerged which sought the unity of all south-Slavic people
as an autonomous unity within the Austro-Hungarian empire. The leader of this movement was the Croatian hero, Ban Josip Jelacic.
The fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire
in 1918 gave them their wish. The kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
was established but relations between the ethnicities became strained.
WWII
The tensions came to a head when Germany
invaded the Kingdom in 1941. They installed the fervently nationalistic
Ustashe party in power in Zagreb which soon set about eradicating
the Serbian population in Croatia. Serbian resistance took the form
of armed 'Chetniks' who responded by massacring Croats.
Meanwhile, Josip Broz 'Tito'
led the Partizans in heroic resistance to the German
occupation. In 1944, Tito entered Belgrade and was made Prime Minister,subsequently
entering Zagreb in 1945.
The Tito years
After the war, Tito attempted to reconcile the
uneasy ethnic factions and if not, reconcile, use stronger methods
to stamp out dissent or any talk of independence. Nevertheless, the
country prospered economically and many Croats talk nostalgically
of Tito's rule.
When Tito died in 1980, ethnic tensions rose. When
the Serbian, Slobodan Milosevic, became president of Yugoslavia in
1989, many Croats feared the rise of Serbian nationalism. In 1990,
the Croatian nationalist, Franjo Tudjman was elected and quickly moved
toward independence.
The 'Homeland War'
When Croatia declared independence in 1991, the
Serbian community in the Krajina region seceded and
heavy fighting broke out. The Serbian community was supported by the
Federal Yugoslav Army who intervened under the pretext of halting
"ethnic fighting". Much of Croatia fell to Federal forces,
including the city of Vukovar in Slavonia which was
reduced to rubble after a long siege. The walled Adriatic city of
Dubrovnik,
was mercilessly shelled by Serbian-Montenegrin forces.
In 1993, the Croats succeeded in pushing
back the Serbs from the southern Krajina but the Serbs responded by
proclaiming themselves a Republic and 'cleansing' their territory
of remaining Croats.
In 1995, the Croatian military launched
a massive assault on Serbian positions in the Krajina and
recaptured the territory. The Serb army and about 150,000 civilians
fled to Serbia as Croatia consolidated its borders.
Post-War
The Dayton Peace Accord
established Croatia's borders and provided for a gradual return of
the Serb-held province of Slavonia which was accomplished in 1998.
Certain issues remain
contentious since the 'Homeland War'. International organisations
have pressed Croatia to allow displaced Serbs to return but the process
is slow. Croatia has prosecuted some officers for war crimes during
the 1990s but came under much international pressure to turn over
alleged war criminal Ante Gotovina. General Gotovina
was wanted for his role in the massacre of civilians in the Krajina
in 1995. International authorities captured him in the Canary Islands
and returned him to the Hague for prosecution, an action that was highly
controversial in Croatia.
In 2011, Croatia signed an Accession Treaty and will be formally admitted to the European Union in 2013.
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