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{{History of Croatia}}
At the time of the [[Roman Empire]], the area of modern [[Croatia]] comprised two Roman provinces, [[Pannonia]] and [[Dalmatia (Roman province)|Dalmatia]]. After the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|collapse]] of the [[Western Roman Empire]] in the 5th century, the area was subjugated by the [[Ostrogoths]] for 50 years, before being incorporated into the [[Byzantine Empire]].

Croatia, as a polity, first appeared as a [[duchy]] in the 7th century, the [[Duchy of Croatia]]. With the nearby [[Pannonian Slavs#Principality|Principality of Lower Pannonia]],<ref>{{Citation|last1=Rao|first1=D. Vijaya|title=Preface|work=Armies, Wars and their Food|pages=ix–x|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-81-7596-938-4|last2=Rao|first2=D. Vijaya|year=2012|doi=10.1017/upo9788175969384.002}}</ref> it was united and elevated into the [[Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102)|Kingdom of Croatia]] which lasted from 925 until 1102. From the 12th century, the Kingdom of Croatia entered a [[personal union]] with the [[Kingdom of Hungary]]. It remained a distinct state with its ruler (''[[Ban of Croatia|Ban]]'') and [[Croatian Parliament|Sabor]], but it elected royal dynasties from neighboring powers, primarily [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]], [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], and the [[Habsburg monarchy]].

The period from the 15th to the 17th centuries was marked by intense struggles between the [[Ottoman Empire]] to the south and the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Empire]] to the north.

Following the [[World War I|First World War]] and the [[dissolution of Austria-Hungary]] in 1918, Croatian lands were incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]]. Following the German [[invasion of Yugoslavia]] in April 1941, the puppet state [[Independent State of Croatia]] the [[Axis powers]] satellite state, was established. It was defeated in May 1945, after the [[Bleiburg repatriations]]. The [[Socialist Republic of Croatia]] was formed as a [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia#Federal units|constituent republic]] of the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]]. In 1991, Croatia's leadership severed ties with Yugoslavia and [[Independence of Croatia|proclaimed independence]] amidst the [[Breakup of Yugoslavia|dissolution of Yugoslavia]].

== Prehistoric period ==
{{See also|Prehistoric Croatia}}
The area known today as Croatia was inhabited by hominids throughout the [[prehistoric period]]. Fossils of [[Neanderthals]] dating to the middle [[Paleolithic|Palaeolithic]] period have been unearthed in northern Croatia, with the most famous and best-presented site in [[Krapina]].<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Acta medico-historica Adriatica|publisher=Hrvatsko znanstveno društvo za povijest zdravstvene kulture|issn=1334-4366|date=December 2010|volume=8|issue=2|author=Igor Salopek|title=Krapina Neanderthal Museum as a Well of Medical Information|pages=197–202|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=95232|access-date=15 October 2011|pmid=21682056}}</ref> Remnants of several [[Neolithic]] and [[Chalcolithic]] cultures have been found throughout the country.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Opvscvla Archaeologica Radovi Arheološkog Zavoda|publisher=[[University of Zagreb]], Faculty of Philosophy, Archaeological Department|issn=0473-0992|title=Study of the Neolithic and Eneolithic as reflected in articles published over the 50 years of the journal Opuscula archaeologica|pages=93–122|volume=30|issue=1|date=April 2008|author=Tihomila Težak-Gregl|access-date=15 October 2011|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=34026}}</ref> Most of the sites are in the northern Croatian river valleys, and the most significant cultures whose presence was discovered include the [[Starčevo culture|Starčevo]], [[Vučedol culture|Vučedol]] and [[Baden culture]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Opvscvla Archaeologica Radovi Arheološkog Zavoda|publisher=University of Zagreb, Faculty of Philosophy, Archaeological Department|issn=0473-0992|title=The Kostolac horizon at Vučedol|pages=25–40|volume=29|issue=1|date=December 2005| author=Jacqueline Balen|access-date=15 October 2011|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=26644}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Opvscvla Archaeologica Radovi Arheološkog Zavoda|publisher=University of Zagreb, Faculty of Philosophy, Archaeological Department|issn=0473-0992|title=Prilog poznavanju neolitičkih obrednih predmeta u neolitiku sjeverne Hrvatske|trans-title=A Contribution to Understanding Neolithic Ritual Objects in the Northern Croatia Neolithic|language= hr|pages=43–48|volume=27|issue=1|date=December 2003|author=Tihomila Težak-Gregl|access-date=15 October 2011|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=26644}}</ref> The [[Iron Age]] left traces of the early [[Illyrians|Illyrian]] [[Hallstatt culture]] and the [[Celts|Celtic]] [[La Tène culture]].<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Prilozi Instituta Za Arheologiju U Zagrebu|publisher=Institut za arheologiju|issn=1330-0644|volume=19|issue=1|date=July 2002|trans-title=A Contribution to Understanding Continuous Habitation of Vinkovci and its Surroundings in the Early Iron Age|title= Prilog poznavanju naseljenosti Vinkovaca i okolice u starijem željeznom dobu|language=hr|pages=79–100|author1=Hrvoje Potrebica|author2=Marko Dizdar|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=1560|access-date=15 October 2011}}</ref>

=== Protohistoric period ===
[[File:Japodske kape i druga materijalna kultura.jpg|thumb|250x250px|[[Iapodian]] headwear and other material culture from [[Gacka|Gacka valley]], Croatia.]]
Greek author [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] mentions that around 500 BC, the Eastern Adriatic region was inhabited by local tribes such as [[Histri]]ans, [[Liburnians]], and [[Illyrians]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Matijašić |first=Robert |title=Povijest hrvatskih zemalja u antici do cara Dioklecijana |publisher=Leykam international |year=2009 |isbn=978-953-7534-31-8 |location=Zagreb |pages=30–47}}</ref> Greek colonization saw settlers establish communities on of Issa ([[Vis (town)#History|Vis]]), Korkyra Melaina ([[Korčula]]) and Pharos ([[Stari Grad, Croatia|Starigrad on Hvar]]) islands<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Nv6SPRKqs8C|author=John Wilkes|title=The Illyrians|year=1995|publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]]|location=Oxford, UK|isbn=978-0-631-19807-9|page=114|quote=in the early history of the colony settled in 385&nbsp;BC on the island Pharos (Hvar) from the Aegean island Paros, famed for its marble. In traditional fashion they accepted the guidance of an oracle... |access-date=15 October 2011}}</ref> as well as trading outposts of Tragurion ([[Trogir]]) and Epetion ([[Stobreč]]).<ref name=":15">{{Cite book |last=Zaninović |first=Marin |title=Od Helena do Hrvata |publisher=Školska knjiga |year=1996 |location=Zagreb |pages=195–196 |chapter=Delmatsko-grčki odnosi na Jadranu}}</ref> Somewhere in 3rd century by, Greek colony of Issa formed an alliance with then emerging [[Roman Republic]]. As Isseian maritime trade became affected by Illyrian [[Piracy|pirating activities]], they asked for Roman intervention against the [[Illyrian kingdom]], leading to the First Illyrian War in 229. BC and beginning of Roman expansion on the Eastern Adriatic.<ref name=":15" />

== Roman expansion ==
{{Further|Pannonia (Roman province)|Dalmatia (Roman province)}}
Before the Roman expansion, the eastern Adriatic coast formed the northern part<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cheyne |first1=Thomas Kelly |last2=Black |first2=John Sutherland |title=Encyclopaedia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political and Religious History, the Archaeology, Geography, and Natural History of the Bible |date=1899}}</ref> of the [[Illyria]]n kingdom from the 4th century BC to the [[Illyrian Wars]] in the 220s BC. In 168 BC, the [[Roman Republic]] established its protectorate south of the [[Neretva]] river. The area north of the Neretva was slowly incorporated into Roman possession until the [[Illyricum (Roman province)|province of Illyricum]] was formally established {{circa}} 32–27 BC.

These lands then became part of the Roman province of [[Illyricum (Roman province)|Illyricum]]. Between 6 and 9 AD, tribes including the [[Dalmatae]], who gave name to these lands, rose up against the Romans in the [[Bellum Batonianum|Great Illyrian revolt]], but the uprising was crushed, and in 10 AD Illyricum was split into two provinces—[[Pannonia]] 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]], who, when he retired as Emperor in 305 AD, built a [[Diocletian's Palace|large palace]] near [[Salona]], from which the city of [[Split, Croatia|Split]] later developed.<ref>[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17691 C.Michael Hogan, "Diocletian's Palace", The Megalithic Portal, Andy Burnham ed., 6 October 2007]</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Edward Gibbon|author-link=Edward Gibbon|author2=John Bagnell Bury|author2-link=John Bagnell Bury|author3=Daniel J. Boorstin|author3-link=Daniel J. Boorstin|title=The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|publisher=[[Modern Library]]|year=1995|location=New York|page=335|isbn=978-0-679-60148-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdKLyie1M50C|access-date=27 October 2011}}</ref>
[[File:Tabula Peutingeriana - Istra.JPG|thumb|300x300px|left|A map of the Istrian peninsula from the Roman map ''[[Tabula Peutingeriana]]'', made sometime in the 4th century]]
Historians such as [[Theodore Mommsen]] and [[Bernard Bavant]] argue that all of Dalmatia was fully Romanized and [[Latin]]-speaking by the 4th century.<ref>''Dalmatia'' Dmitar J. Čulić (1962). p. 9</ref> Others, such as [[Aleksandar Stipčević]], argue that the process of [[Romanization]] 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.<ref>A. Stipčević, ''Iliri'', Školska knjiga Zagreb, 1974, page 70</ref> {{Interlanguage link|Stanko Guldescu|hr}} has argued that the [[Vlachs]], 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.<ref>Stanko Guldescu, The Croatian-Slavonian Kingdom: 1526–1792, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 1970, p.67, {{ISBN|9783110881622}}</ref>

After the [[Western Roman Empire]] collapsed in 476, with the beginning of the [[Migration Period]], [[Julius Nepos]] briefly ruled his diminished domain from Diocletian's Palace after his 476 flight from Italy.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xw4fAAAAMAAJ|author=J. B. Bury|author-link=J. B. Bury|title=History of the later Roman empire from the death of Theodosius I. to the death of Justinian|page=408|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]]|year=1923|access-date=15 October 2011}}</ref> The region was then ruled by the [[Ostrogoths]] until 535 when [[Justinian I]] added the territory to the [[Byzantine Empire]]. Later, the Byzantines formed the [[Theme of Dalmatia]] in the same territory.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deliso |first1=Christopher |title=The History of Croatia and Slovenia |date=2020 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=9781440873232 |page=30}}</ref>

=== Migration period ===
{{See also|Origin hypotheses of the Croats|White Croats|White Croatia}}
The Roman period ended with the [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avar]] and [[Croats|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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.croatia-in-english.com/images/maps/3-5cen.jpg|title=Map of Roman Dalmatia area, with added actual croatian names}}</ref> The city of [[Dubrovnik|Ragusa]] was founded by survivors from [[Epidaurum]].<ref name="AAPatton">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_NBAAAAYAAJ|title=Researches on the Danube and the Adriatic|author=Andrew Archibald Paton|year=1861|pages=218–219|publisher=Trübner|access-date=15 October 2011}}</ref> According to the work ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'', written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor [[Constantine VII]], the Croats arrived in what is today Croatia from [[Lesser Poland|southern Poland]] and [[Western Ukraine]] 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.<ref name="Mužić-249-293">Mužić (2007), pp. 249–293</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Danijel |last=Dzino |year=2010 |title=Becoming Slav, Becoming Croat: Identity Transformations in Post-Roman and Early Medieval Dalmatia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UbOtJcF8rQC |publisher=BRILL |pages=175, 179–182 |isbn=9789004186460}}</ref> Recent archaeological data established that the migration and settlement of the Slavs/Croats occurred in the late 6th and early 7th centuries.<ref name="Belos00">{{cite journal |last1=Belošević |first1=Janko |date=2000 |title=Razvoj i osnovne značajke starohrvatskih grobalja horizonta 7.-9. stoljeća na povijesnim prostorima Hrvata |url=https://morepress.unizd.hr/journals/index.php/pov/article/view/2231 |language=hr |journal=Radovi |volume=39 |issue=26 |pages=71–97 |doi=10.15291/radovipov.2231|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fabijanić |first=Tomislav |date=2013 |chapter=14C date from early Christian basilica gemina in Podvršje (Croatia) in the context of Slavic settlement on the eastern Adriatic coast |title=The early Slavic settlement of Central Europe in the light of new dating evidence |location=Wroclaw |publisher=Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences |pages=251–260 |isbn=978-83-63760-10-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bekić |first1=Luka |date=2016 |title=Rani srednji vijek između Panonije i Jadrana: ranoslavenski keramički i ostali arheološki nalazi od 6. do 8. stoljeća |trans-title=Early medieval between Pannonia and the Adriatic: early Slavic ceramic and other archaeological finds from the sixth to eighth century |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348500715 |location=Pula |publisher=Arheološki muzej Istre |language=hr, en |pages=101, 119, 123, 138–140, 157–162, 173–174, 177–179 |isbn=978-953-8082-01-6}}</ref>

== Duchy of Croatia (800–925) ==
{{main|Pannonian Slavs#Principality|Duchy of Croatia}}
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]] and [[Principality of Lower Pannonia]]. Eventually, a [[dukedom (administrative division)|dukedom]] was formed, the [[Duchy of Croatia]], ruled by [[Borna of Croatia|Borna]], as attested by chronicles of [[Einhard]] starting in the year 818. The record represents the first documented Croatian realms, [[vassal state]]s of [[Francia]] at the time.<ref name="Mužić-157-160">Mužić (2007), pp. 157–160</ref> The most important ruler of Lower Pannonia was [[Ljudevit (Lower Pannonia)|Ljudevit Posavski]], who fought against the [[Franks]] between 819 and 823. He ruled Pannonian Croatia from 810 to 823.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ljudevit Posavski {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/Natuknica.aspx?ID=37767 |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref>
[[File:Hl.SpasP1030130.JPG|thumb|250x250px|Late 9th century [[Church of Holy Salvation, Cetina|Church of Holy Salvation]], built at the time of duke [[Branimir of Croatia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Milošević |first=Ante |year=2009 |title=Sarkofag kneza Branimira |url=https://www.academia.edu/18348228 |journal=Histria Antiqua |volume=18 |pages=564}}</ref> ]]
The Frankish overlordship ended during the reign of [[Mislav of Croatia|Mislav]] two decades later.<ref name="Mužić-169-170">Mužić (2007), pp. 169–170</ref> Duke Mislav was succeeded by [[Duke Trpimir]], the founder of the [[Trpimirović dynasty]]. Trpimir successfully fought against [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]], Venice and [[Bulgaria]]. Duke Trpimir was succeeded by [[Domagoj of Croatia|Duke Domagoj]], who repeatedly led wars against the Venetians and the Byzantines, and the Venetians called this Croatian ruler "the worst Croatian prince" (dux pessimus Croatorum)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Domagoj {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://enciklopedija.hr/Natuknica.aspx?ID=15823 |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=enciklopedija.hr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Traces of history - Turistička zajednica grad Metković |url=https://www.tzmetkovic.hr/en/activities-and-attractions/item/136-traces-of-history.html |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=www.tzmetkovic.hr |archive-date=29 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229113853/https://www.tzmetkovic.hr/en/activities-and-attractions/item/136-traces-of-history.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Bogoslovska smotra|publisher=University of Zagreb, Catholic Faculty of Theology|issn=0352-3101|date=April 1968|issue=3–4|volume=37|author=Antun Ivandija|title=Pokrštenje Hrvata prema najnovijim znanstvenim rezultatima|trans-title=Christianization of Croats according to the most recent scientific results|language=hr|pages=440–444|format=PDF|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=64623|access-date=18 October 2011}}</ref> In 879, under [[Branimir of Croatia|Branimir]], the duke of Croatia, [[Dalmatian Croatia]] received papal recognition as a state from [[Pope John VIII]].<ref name="Mužić-195-198">Mužić (2007), pp. 195–198</ref>

==Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102)==
{{main|Kingdom of Croatia (medieval){{!}}Croatian Kingdom}}
[[File:Croatia Counties 10th century with Gacka, Krbava, Lika.png|left|thumb|A map of 10th-century Croatian counties ([[Counties of Croatia|županije]]), as they were mentioned in ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]''. The counties marked in blue represent the territories governed by the Croatian Ban.]]
The first king of Croatia is generally considered to have been [[Tomislav of Croatia|Tomislav]]<ref name="Posavec">{{cite journal |author=Vladimir Posavec |date=March 1998 |title=Povijesni zemljovidi i granice Hrvatske u Tomislavovo doba |trans-title=Historical maps and borders of Croatia in age of Tomislav |url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=62779 |journal=Radovi Zavoda Za Hrvatsku Povijest |language=hr |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=281–290 |issn=0353-295X |access-date=16 October 2011}}</ref> in the first half of the 10th century, who is mentioned as such in notes from [[Councils of Split|Church Councils of Split]] and the [[:s:hr:Pismo pape Ivana X. kralju Tomislavu i knezu Mihajlu|letter]] of [[Pope John X]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jedinstvena rekonstrukcija života vladara koji je ujedinio Hrvatsku |url=https://www.vecernji.hr/kultura/kralj-tomislav-povijest-rekonstrukcija-ruza-rados-curic-1228906 |access-date=2023-06-18 |website=www.vecernji.hr |language=hr |quote=Spomen kralja Tomislava nalazi se u tek jednom znanstveno relevantnom dokumentu. Riječ je o pismu pape Ivana X. (914. – 928.) kojim je 925. godine sazvan Prvi splitski crkveni sabor. Prijepis pisma nalazi se u dodatku poznate kronike Historia Salonitanorum pontificum atque Spalatensium (skraćeno: Historia Salonitana) u kojoj je splitski arhiđakon Toma (?1200/1. – ?1268.) sredinom 13. stoljeća opisao povijest salonitanske i splitske Crkve od rimskog doba do 1266. godine.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=RUŠIMO HRVATSKE MITOVE Je li Tomislav stvarno bio prvi hrvatski kralj? |url=https://www.index.hr/clanak.aspx?id=992000 |access-date=2023-06-18 |website=www.index.hr |language=hr |quote=Kronološki najbliža vremenu Tomislava jesu pisma pape Ivana X. vezana uz održavanje crkvenog sabora u Splitu 925. u kojima se Tomislav eksplicitno titulira kraljevskim naslovom (rex).}}</ref>

Other important Croatian rulers from that period are:
* [[Michael Krešimir II of Croatia|Mihajlo Krešimir II]], 949–969, who conquered [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]] and restored the power of the Croatian kingdom. Two Croatian queens are also known from 10th century. The first one is [[Domaslava]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-02-21 |title=Jutarnji list - POVIJESNA SENZACIJA: Kraljica Domaslava, najstarija hrvatska vladarica, živjela je u 10. stoljeću! |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/povijesna-senzacija-kraljica-domaslava-najstarija-hrvatska-vladarica-zivjela-je-u-10.-stoljecu-1640706 |access-date=2022-05-05 |website=www.jutarnji.hr |language=hr-hr}}</ref> and the second one is [[Helen of Zadar]], whose epitaph was found in the [[Solin]] area at the end of the 19th century during archeological excavations conducted by [[Frane Bulić]]. The latter was also a mother of King [[Stephen Držislav of Croatia|Stjepan Držislav]], 969–997. He sided with [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]] in a war against [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] emperor [[Samuel of Bulgaria|Samuil]], so Bulgarians, in response, [[Croatian–Bulgarian wars#Third war|raided Croatia]] and ravaged it as far as [[Zadar]] before retreating back to Ohrid.<ref name=":16" /> Byzantine emperor [[Basil II]] in return named Stjepan Držislav a hereditary King of Croatia and Dalmatia and sent him royal insignia.<ref name=":16">{{Cite web |title=DRŽISLAV STJEPAN I. - Hrvatski biografski leksikon |url=https://hbl.lzmk.hr/clanak/5532 |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=hbl.lzmk.hr}}</ref>
* Stjepan, 1030–1058, restored the Croatian kingdom and founded the [[diocese]] in [[Knin]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Braniteljski |date=2020-07-22 |title=Vladari srednjovjekovne Kraljevine Hrvatske |url=https://braniteljski.hr/vladari-srednjovjekovne-kraljevine-hrvatske/ |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=Braniteljski |language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Povjesnica : Red Hrvatske Krune |url=http://www.rhk.hr/povjesnica/ |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=www.rhk.hr}}</ref>

The medieval Croatian kingdom reached its peak in the 11th century during the reigns of Petar Krešimir IV (1058–1074) and Demetrius Zvonimir (1075–1089).<ref name="Margetić">{{cite journal |author=Lujo Margetić |author-link=Lujo Margetić |date=January 1997 |title=Regnum Croatiae et Dalmatiae u doba Stjepana II. |trans-title=Regnum Croatiae et Dalmatiae in age of Stjepan II |url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=76963 |journal=Radovi Zavoda Za Hrvatsku Povijest |language=hr |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=11–20 |issn=0353-295X |access-date=16 October 2011}}</ref> King [[Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia|Petar Krešimir IV]] used [[East–West Schism|The Great Schism]] of 1054 which weakened the Byzantine rule over Dalmatian cities to assert his own control over them.<ref name=":10">Macan 37-39</ref> He left the cities a certain amount of self-rule, but also collected a certain amount of tribute and demanded their ships in the case of war.<ref name=":10" /> Except for croatization of old cities such as Zadar and Split, Petar Krešimir IV encouraged the development of new cities such as Biograd, Nin, Karin, Skradin and Šibenik.<ref name=":10" /> He also encouraged the foundation of new monasteries and gave donations to the Church.<ref name=":10" /> Historians such as Trpimir Macan consider that during Krešimir's reign medieval Croatian kingdom reached its greatest extent.<ref name=":10" /> Modern historians also consider that his rule probably ended when he was captured by Norman count [[Amicus of Giovinazzo]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Petar Krešimir IV. {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?id=47856 |access-date=2023-07-28 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref>[[File:Pluteus with the figure of a Croatian king.jpg|thumb|The [[Split, Croatia|Split]] pluteus with the figure of a king, dating from the 11th century. It is hypothesized to depict a Croatian king, probably [[Petar Krešimir IV]] or [[Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia|Zvonimir]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kurelić |first=Robert |date=2016 |title=Ritual deditio na reljefu hrvatskoga vladara |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/264780 |journal=Zbornik |language=hr |volume=34 |pages=2–3 |doi=10.21857/m3v76tz0wy}}</ref> It was originally situated in [[Hollow Church]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Tahy |first=Franjo |title=English: Info panel next to the Hollow Church site. |date=2022-11-12 |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%C5%A0uplja_crkva,_info_plo%C4%8Da.jpg |access-date=2022-11-14}}</ref>]]{{Blockquote
|text=I Demetrius, also called Zvonimir, by God's mercy duke of Croatia whom you Gebizon - the deputy of Holy See, after receiving the authority from our pope Gregory [...] crowned with a flag, sword, scepter and crown [...] - I pledge to you [...] to fullfill everything His Honourable Holiness orders me. [...] I shall respect justice, defend the churches, take care of everything that belongs to Church, [...] I shall protect the poor, widows and impoverished [...] I shall object to selling people [...] After counselling with my best men I order that each year on Easter my kingdom pays a tribute of 200 Byzantine golden coins to the Saint Peter and I confirm that this will be continued forever by those who succeed me. [...] I also donate and confirm the monastery of St. Gregory, also called Vrana with all its treasures to the Holy See, that is; with a silver box, [...] two crosses, grail, [...] and two golden crowns decorated by jewelry [...] may it forever be a resting place for the deputies of the Holy See and in their complete control [...] which I as well as my successors shall defend. -
|source=<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klaić |first=Nada |title=Izvori za hrvatsku povijest do 1526. godine |publisher=Fortuna |year=2019 |isbn=978-953-7704-18-6 |location=Zagreb |pages=68–69 |language=hr}}</ref>
|title=king Zvonimir's coronation oath}}Krešimir IV was succeeded by [[Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia|Demetrius Zvonimir]] who married Hungarian princess [[Helena of Hungary, Queen of Croatia|Helen]] and ruled from [[Knin]] as his capital. Zvonimir's rule was marked by stability.<ref>Macan, 41</ref> He was a papal vassal and enjoyed a papal protection as seen when his kingdom was threatened by an invasion of knight Wezelin, who was deterred after pope threatened to excommunicate him.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=Zvonimir {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?ID=67581 |access-date=2023-07-28 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref> He had a son named Radovan who died at young age, so Zvonimir left no male heir when he died in 1089.<ref name=":11" /><ref>Macan, 42</ref>

Meanwhile, in 1096, a group of crusaders led by [[Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse|Raymond of Toulouse]] going on first crusade passed through mountainous parts of Croatia. The crusaders were met with hostile locals who attacked crusader columns, while Raymond of Toulouse brutally retailated by mutilating those attackers whom they managed to capture. Historian Krešimir Kužić explains these hostilities by the "state of anarchy" which was then in Croatia.<ref>Kužić, Hrvati i križari, 24-27</ref>

King Zvonimir was succeeded by [[Stephen II of Croatia|Stjepan II]] who died in 1091, ending the [[House of Trpimirović|Trpimirović]] dynasty. As Kingdom of Croatia descended in another feudal power struggle, Zvonimir's widow [[Helena of Hungary, Queen of Croatia|Jelena (Helen)]], who was the daughter of Hungarian king [[Béla I of Hungary|Béla I]], invited her brother [[Ladislaus I of Hungary]] to come to Croatia and claim Croatian royal crown. Meanwhile, in Croatia, [[Petar Snačić]], another pretender to the royal throne arose, <ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-09-14 |title=HRVATSKI KRALJEVI (12) Petar Snačić, posljednji kralj narodne krvi, poginuo je od mađarske ruke na Gvozdu |url=https://www.croexpress.eu/hrvatski-kraljevi-12-petar-snacic-posljednji-kralj-narodne-krvi-poginuo-je-od-madarske-ruke-na-gvozdu/ |access-date=2022-11-17 |website=CroExpress │Informativni medij Hrvata izvan Republike Hrvatske}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Posljednji hrvatski kralj Petar bio je Snačić |url=https://vojnapovijest.vecernji.hr/vojna-povijest/posljednji-hrvatski-narodni-kralj-petar-bio-je-snacic-a-ne-svacic-925272 |access-date=2022-11-17 |website=vojnapovijest.vecernji.hr |language=hr}}</ref> but his army was defeated by Hungarians in [[Battle of Gvozd Mountain]] where Snačić was killed. Hungarian king Coloman continued to lay claims on throne of Croatia and eventually a [[Croatia in personal union with Hungary|personal union between Croatia and Hungary]] was created in 1102 with Hungarian king as its ruler.<ref name="HR-HU-Heka">{{cite journal|journal=Scrinia Slavonica|issn=1332-4853|publisher=Hrvatski institut za povijest – Podružnica za povijest Slavonije, Srijema i Baranje|title= Hrvatsko-ugarski odnosi od sredinjega vijeka do nagodbe iz 1868. s posebnim osvrtom na pitanja Slavonije|trans-title=Croatian-Hungarian relations from the Middle Ages to the Compromise of 1868, with a special survey of the Slavonian issue|language=hr|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=68144|author= Ladislav Heka|date=October 2008|volume=8|issue=1|pages=152–173|access-date=16 October 2011}}</ref> This meant that Croatia and Hungary still remained separate kingdoms which are connected only by a common king.<ref name=":9">Macan, 45</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hungary - Politics and Society under Stephen's Successors |url=https://countrystudies.us/hungary/7.htm |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=countrystudies.us |quote=In 1090 Laszlo I (1077-95) occupied Slavonia, and in 1103 Kalman I (1095-1116) assumed the title of king of Croatia. Croatia was never assimilated into Hungary; rather, it became an associate kingdom administered by a ban, or civil governor.}}</ref> One example of this was a coronation process as new kings of Hungary had to be separately crowned kings of Croatia. There was also an institution of [[Ban of Croatia|ban (viceroy) of Croatia]] representing a royal deputy, separate tax system, money and army.<ref name=":9" /> According to one group of historians, during this interregnum, Croatia was simply conquered by Hungarians, while another group of historians thinks that king Coloman and Croatian nobility possibly reached some kind of agreement.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pacta conventa - Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/pacta-conventa |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref>

==Personal union with Hungary (1102–1527) and the Republic of Venice==
{{Main|Croatia in personal union with Hungary|Republic of Ragusa|Republic of Poljica|the Republic of Venice}}

=== Croatia under the Árpád dynasty ===
[[File:Vinodol.jpg|left|thumb|300x300px|The [[Law code of Vinodol|Law Code of Vinodol]] from 1288, written in [[Glagolitic script]], is the earliest legal text written in the Croatian language. This code regulated relations between inhabitants of the town of [[Novi Vinodolski|Vinodol]] and their overlords, the [[Frankopan family|counts of Krk]].]]
One consequence of entering a personal union with Hungary under the Hungarian king was the introduction of a [[feudalism|feudal system]]. Later kings sought to restore some of their influence by giving certain privileges to the towns.<ref name="Povijest-saborovanja">{{cite web|url=http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?sec=404 |title=Povijest saborovanja |trans-title=History of parliamentarism |language=hr |publisher=[[Sabor]] |access-date=18 October 2010 |archive-date=28 April 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428013806/http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?sec=404 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Somewhere between [[Second Crusade|Second]] and [[Third Crusade]], [[Knights Templar]]s and [[Knights Hospitaller|Hospitallers]]<ref>Dobronić, 126</ref> appeared in Croatian lands for the first time.<ref name=":13" /> According to historian Lelja Dobronić the purpose of their arrival appears to be to secure transport routes and protect travelers going from Europe towards the Middle East.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Dobronić |first=Lelja |title=Templari i Ivanovci u Hrvatskoj |publisher=Dom i svijet |year=2002 |location=Zagreb |pages=26–27 |language=Croatian}}</ref>

After proclamation of [[Fourth Crusade|Fourth crusade]] in 1202, the crusader army could not afford to pay the agreed amount of money to the Venetians who were supposed to provide the maritime transport to the Holy Land. Venetians in turn requested that crusaders compensate this difference by capturing town of [[Zadar|Zadar (Zara)]] which was then supposed to be handed over to Venice. The pope issued sharp warnings against this kind of attack and some crusaders refused to participate. When Venetian-crusader army arrived before Zadar, its citizens posted signs of cross on their town walls to demonstrate their catholic faith. Despite everything, in November 1202 crusader-Venetian army [[Siege of Zara|launched an attack on Zadar, captured it and then looted it]].<ref name=":8">Kužić, 31-35</ref> In response, pope [[Excommunication|excommunicated]] entire crusader army.<ref name=":8" /> [[Emeric, King of Hungary|Hungarian-Croatian king Emeric]] also provided no real help to town. He merely wrote a letter to pope [[Pope Innocent III|Innocent III]], where he asked him to make crusaders return Zadar to its legitimate ruler.<ref name=":8" />

In year 1217, the Hungarian king [[Andrew II of Hungary|Andrew II]] took the [[sign of the cross]] and vowed to go on the [[Fifth Crusade]]. After assembling his army king marched by so-called ''"via exercitualis"'' (English: the military road) from Hungary proper southwards to [[Koprivnica]] and further towards: [[Križevci]], [[Zagreb]], [[Topusko]], [[Bihać]] and then [[Knin]], eventually reaching town of [[Split, Croatia|Split]] on the Adriatic coast.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kužić |first=Krešimir |title=Hrvati i križari |publisher=Hrvatski institut za povijest |year=2003 |isbn=953-6324-37-7 |location=Zagreb |pages=51–59 |language=Croatian}}</ref> After staying in Split for three weeks for logistical reasons and realising that Croatians will not be joining his crusade, king and his army sailed off to [[Holy Land|the Holy Land]].<ref>Thomas The Archdeacon, ''Historia Salonitana'', chapter: De passagio Andree regis</ref> Historian Krešimir Kužić attributes this low desire of Croatians to join king Andrew's crusade to earlier bad memories related to destruction and looting of Zadar in 1202.<ref>Kužić 34-35</ref> When king Andrew II returned from the crusade, he brought back a number of [[relic]]s, some of which remain stored in the [[Zagreb Cathedral#Treasury|treasury of Zagreb Cathedral]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sve tajne crkvenog blaga: Skrivali ga od ratova, lukavih kradljivaca, a njegova je vrijednost - neprocjenjiva |url=https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/sve-tajne-crkvenog-blaga-skrivali-ga-od-ratova-lukavih-kradljivaca-a-njegova-je-vrijednost-neprocjenjiva-foto-20190310 |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=tportal.hr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-06-23 |title=Relikvije, kosti, krv, ljubavna pisma: RTL Direkt otkriva zanimljivosti riznice zagrebačke katedrale! |url=https://danas.hr/zanimljivosti/relikvije-kosti-krv-ljubavna-pisma-rtl-direkt-otkriva-zanimljivosti-riznice-zagrebacke-katedrale-bbec596c-b9ee-11ec-a1ee-0242ac120051 |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=danas.hr |language=hr-HR}}</ref>

Andrew's son [[Béla IV of Hungary|King Béla IV]] was forced to deal with troubles brought by the [[first Mongol invasion of Hungary]]. Following the Hungarian defeat in the [[Battle of Mohi|Battle of the Sajó River]] in 1241, the king withdrew to Dalmatia, hoping to take refuge there, with the Mongols in pursuit. The Mongol army followed the king to Split hinterland, which they ravaged.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Toma |first=Arhiđakon |title=HISTORIA SALONITANA |publisher=Književni krug |year=2003 |location=Split |language=Croatian |chapter=O bijegu Tatara, O okrutnosti Tatara}}</ref> The king took refuge in nearby town of [[Trogir]], hoping to make use of its island-like fort which offered some protection from Mongol onslaught.<ref name=":12" /> 
[[File:HR-Festung-Klis-07.jpg|thumb|250x250px|[[Fortress of Klis|Klis Fortress]] in the hinterland of town of [[Split, Croatia|Split]] was one of the places that saw action during the [[First Mongol invasion of Hungary]] in 1242.]]
Meanwhile, Mongols thinking that the king is hiding in [[Fortress of Klis|Klis fortress]] attempted to clib up the steep cliffs of Klis, while the fort defenders hurled rocks on their heads.<ref name=":12" /> Eventually hand-to-hand combat ensued inside the fortress, but upon realising that king isn't in Klis, the Mongols abandoned their attempts to take the fort and headed towards Trogir. As Mongols prepared to attack Trogir, king Bela prepared boats in an attempt to flee across the sea.<ref name=":12" />

This decisive Mongol attack on Trogir never happened as they withdrew upon receiving news about the death of [[Ögedei Khan]]. 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, Šibenik-Knin County|Bribir]] in hereditary possession, where their power grew until reached the peak in the time of [[Paul I Šubić of Bribir]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Karbić |first=Damir |title=Šubići Bribirski do gubitka nasljedne banske časti (1322.) |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/11821 |journal=Zbornik Odsjeka za povijesne znanosti Zavoda za povijesne i društvene znanosti Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti |pages=8–10}}</ref>

This period, therefore, saw the rise of the [[Frankopan]]s and the [[Šubić]]s, native nobility, to prominence. Numerous future Bans of Croatia originated from these two noble families.<ref name="Font">{{cite journal |author=Márta Font |date=July 2005 |title=Ugarsko Kraljevstvo i Hrvatska u srednjem vijeku |trans-title=Hungarian Kingdom and Croatia in the Middle Ages |url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=13778 |journal=Povijesni prilozi |language=hr |publisher=Croatian Institute of History |volume=28 |issue=28 |pages=7–22 |issn=0351-9767 |access-date=17 October 2011}}</ref> The princes of Bribir from the Šubić family became particularly influential, as they asserted their control over large parts of Dalmatia, [[Slavonia]], and even Bosnia.

=== Croatia under the Anjou dynasty ===
[[File:Ancient Varvaria - Breberium - Bribir 05.jpg|thumb|250x250px|One of the seats of 14th-century magnate [[Paul I Šubić of Bribir|Paul Šubić]], in [[Bribir, Šibenik-Knin County|Bribir]]. Paul held the hereditary titles of the [[Ban of Croatia]] and [[Banate of Bosnia|Lord of Bosnia]]. Croatian historians sometimes refer to Paul as "the uncrowned king of Croatia".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bribir: Napušteni grad Šubića, hrvatska Troja |url=https://www.vecernji.hr/lifestyle/bribir-napusteni-grad-subica-hrvatska-troja-1025056 |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=www.vecernji.hr |language=hr |quote=Stjepkov sin Pavao I., najznačajnija osoba obitelji Šubića i hrvatski ban od 1273.-1312., svoju vlast proširio je na cijelu Hrvatsku, Bosnu i Hum. Pavao je bio neokrunjeni kralj Hrvatske koji je kovao čak i svoj novac. Umro je 1. svibnja 1312. i pokopan u Bribiru.}}</ref>]]
By the early 14th century lord [[Paul I Šubić of Bribir|Paul Šubić]] 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 I of Hungary|Charles Robert of Anjou]] to come to the [[Kingdom of Hungary]] and take over its royal seat.<ref>Karbić, 15</ref> A civil war ensued, in which Charles' party prevailed after winning a decisive victory in the [[Battle of Rozgony]] 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 II Šubić of Bribir|Mladen]] 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]] in 1322. The power vacuum caused by the downfall of Mladen Šubić was used by Venice to reassert control over [[Dalmatian city-states|Dalmatian cities]].

The ensuing reign of King [[Louis the Great]] (1342–1382) is considered the golden age of medieval Croatian history.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vardić |first1=Zrinka Pešorda |title=The crown, the king and the town – the relation of Dubrovnik community toward the crown and the ruler in the beginning of movement against the Court |journal=Historische Beiträge |date=2004 |volume=23 |issue=26 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/22245}}</ref> Louis launched a campaign against Venice, with aim of retaking Dalmatian cities, and eventually succeeded, forcing Venice to sign the [[Treaty of Zadar]] in 1358. The same peace treaty caused the [[Republic of Ragusa]] to gain independence from Venice. Somewhere around 1350, first instance of Croatian [[Croatian Parliament|Assembly]] ([[Croatian Parliament|hrvatski Sabor]]), attested by historical sources, was held in village of Podbrižane near [[Benkovac]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zasjedanje prvog Općeg sabora Kraljevine Dalmacije i Hrvatske 1350. godine |url=http://www.sabor.hr/hr/o-saboru/povijest-saborovanja/zanimljivosti/zasjedanje-prvog-opceg-sabora-kraljevine-dalmacije-i |access-date=2024-07-21 |website=Hrvatski sabor |language=hr}}</ref> The assembly was summoned by [[ban of Croatia]] in August and it gathered members of [[Twelve noble tribes of Croatia|twelve Croatian noble families]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jakšić |first=Nikola |date=1998-11-05 |title=The Mediaeval Sabor (Assembly) ofNoble Croats at Podbrižane |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/137251 |journal=Starohrvatska Prosvjeta |language=hr |volume=III |issue=25 |pages=109–126 |issn=0351-4536}}</ref>

=== Anti-Court struggles period ===
{{See also|Bloody Sabor of Križevci|Venetian Dalmatia}}
[[File:Burg Vrana Pagano.jpg|left|thumb|250x250px|A 16th century depiction of [[Priory of Vrana|Vrana monastery]], seat of [[John of Palisna]].]]

After king Louis The Great died in 1382, the Kingdom of Hungary and Croatia descended into a period of destructive [[War of succession|dynastic struggles]] called The Anti-Court movement. The struggle was waged between two factions, one of which was centered around late king's daughter [[Mary, Queen of Hungary|Mary]], her mother [[Elizabeth of Bosnia|queen Elizabeth]], and her fiancé [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund of Luxemburg]]. The faction which opposed them was a coalition of Croatian nobility which supported [[Charles III of Naples|Charles of Durazzo]] to become a new king of Hungary and Croatia.<ref>Macan, 63</ref> This faction consisted of powerful [[John of Palisna]], and [[John Horvat|Horvat brothers]], who opposed the idea of being ruled by a female and, secondly, of being ruled by Sigismund of Luxemburg whom they considered alien.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klaić |first=Vjekoslav |title=Povijest Hrvata |publisher=Matica hrvatska |year=1988 |volume=II |pages=244}}</ref> As alternative, they arranged for [[Charles III of Naples|Charles of Durazzo]] to come to Croatia and crowned him as new king of Hungary-Croatia in [[Székesfehérvár|Szekezfehervar]] in December 1385. Charles' opponents - queen Elizabeth and princess Mary, responded by organizing Charles' assassination in [[Buda]] in February 1386.<ref>Povijest Hrvata Vol 2, 256-257</ref> Enraged anti-court supporters then retaliated by making an ambush for two queens near Gorjani in July 1386, where their escort was eliminated and both queens were taken to captivity in [[Novigrad Castle]] near [[Zadar]].<ref>Povijest Hrvata Vol 2, 258-261</ref> Once in Novigrad, queen Elizabeth was strangled to death, but her daughter Mary was eventually rescued by her fiancé Sigismund.<ref>Povijest Hrvata Vol 2, 258-268</ref>[[File:Novigrad Croatia.jpg|thumb|250x250px|[[Novigrad Castle]], near [[Zadar]] was a place where anti-court supporters held queens Mary and Elizabeth in captivity. [[Velebit|Velebit mountain]] can be seen in castle's background.  ]]
In 1387, Sigismund of Luxemburg crowned himself a new king of Hungary-Croatia. In following period he too became engaged in power struggle against opposing Croatian and Bosnian nobility in order to assert his rule over the realm. In 1396, Sigismund organized a crusade against the expanding Ottomans which culminated in [[Battle of Nicopolis]]. When the battle ended, it was unclear whether Sigismund got out alive or not, so [[Stephen II Lackfi]] proclaimed [[Ladislaus of Naples]] a new king of Hungary-Croatia. When Sigismund, nonetheless did returned to Croatia, he summoned [[Bloody Sabor of Križevci|diet in Križevci in 1397]], where he confronted his adversaries and eliminated them.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Sigismund Luksemburgovac {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?ID=55872 |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref> Sigismund was again forced fight for the control, but by 1403 entire southern Croatia and Dalmatian cities defected to [[Ladislaus of Naples]].<ref name=":7" /> Sigismund eventually managed to crush anti-court movement by winning [[1408 Battle of Dobor]] in Bosnia.<ref name=":7" />  Since [[anti-king]] Ladislaus lost hope of prevailing in struggle against Sigismund, he sold all his nominal possessions in Dalmatia to [[Republic of Venice]] for 100 000 [[Ducat]]s in 1409.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ladislav Napuljski {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/Natuknica.aspx?ID=35067 |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref> The Venetians asserted their control over most of Dalmatia by 1428.<ref name="frucht422">Frucht 2005, p. 422-423</ref> The rule of Venice over most of Dalmatia continued on for nearly four centuries ({{circa}} 1420–1797) until the end of [[Republic of Venice|The Republic]] by [[Treaty of Campo Formio]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Campoformio {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?id=10616 |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref> Another long term consequence of Anti-Court struggles was arrival of Ottomans to neighbouring [[Kingdom of Bosnia]] at the invite of powerful Bosnian duke [[Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić]] to help him fight against forces of king Sigismund.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hrvatinić, Hrvoje Vukčić {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?id=26387 |access-date=2023-06-10 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref> The Ottomans gradually strengthened their influence in Bosnia until finally completely conquering the kingdom in 1463.

=== Ottoman invasions ===
{{main|Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War}}{{See also|Ghaza thesis|}}[[File:Battle of Krbava Field.jpg|thumb|225x225px|The woodcut by [[Leonhard Beck]], from {{circa}} 1515, depicts the [[Battle of Krbava Field]] between the Army of Croatian nobility and Ottoman akinjis.]]

Serious Ottoman attacks on Croatian lands began after the fall of [[Kingdom of Bosnia|Bosnia]] to the Ottomans in 1463. At this point main Ottoman attacks were not yet directed towards Central Europe, with [[Vienna]] as its main objective, but towards renaissance Italy with Croatia standing on their way between.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Matica hrvatska - Hrvatska revija 2, 2015. - Croato-Turcica: pregled povijesne interakcije Globalni okvir |url=https://www.matica.hr/hr/459/croato-turcica-pregled-povijesne-interakcije-globalni-okvir-24928/ |access-date=2023-03-10 |website=www.matica.hr}}</ref> As the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] launched expansion further into Europe, 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. Baroque poet [[Pavao Ritter Vitezović]] subsequently described this period of Croatian history as "[[Plorantis Croatiae saecula duo|two centuries of weeping Croatia]]".

Armies of Croatian nobility fought numerous battles to counter the Ottoman [[akinji]] and [[martolos]] raids.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Jurković |first=Ivan |title=Vrijeme sazrijevanja, vrijeme razaraja |publisher=Matica hrvatska |year=2019 |isbn=978-953-341-144-6 |location=Zagreb |pages=99–111 |language=Croatian |chapter=Migracije. Raseljenička kriza za osmanske ugroze: "U bašćini mojoj ne dadu mi priti"}}</ref> The Ottoman forces frequently raided the Croatian countryside, plundering towns and villages and captured the local inhabitants as slaves. These "[[scorched earth]]" tactics, also called "The Small War", were usually conducted once a year with intention to soften up the region's defenses, but didn't result in actual conquest of territory.<ref name=":0" /> According to historian [[James Tracy (historian)|James Tracy]], the armies Croatian ban could muster proved too few to counter akinji raids along the long border with the Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, armies of Croatian nobility could never mobilize fast enough to intercept akinji raids "head on", instead, Croatians hoped to intercept Ottoman raiders on their return, as they were slowed down by their booty and hostages.<ref>Tracy, 43</ref>

{{Blockquote
|text=And after conquering [[Byzantine Empire|Greece]] and [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]], [[Kingdom of Bosnia|Bosnia]] and Albania, [Turks] flocked onto people of Croatia by sending many armies. Many warlords started frequent battles with Christian people fighting on the fields and in mountain passes and on river fords. That's when all Croatian and Slavic lands were enslaved all the way to [[Sava]] river and [[Drava]] and even [[Moslavačka gora|Mons Claudius]], all settlements of [[Carniola]] all the way to sea, by enslaving, robbing, burning houses of Lord and crushing Lord's altars. They attacked old people using weapons, young women [...] widows and even squealing children; not only that they took people of God in violent sorrow, shackled in chains, but they also sold people on markets like it is accustomed to do with the cattle.
|source=[[Martinac (priest)|''The Record of Father Martinac'']], 15th century Croatian scribe<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mijatović |first=Anđelko |title=Bitka na Krbavskom polju 1493. godine |publisher=Školska knjiga |year=2005 |isbn=953-0-61429-2 |location=Zagreb |pages=118–119 |language=hr}}</ref>
}}

[[Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War|Frequent Ottoman raids]] eventually led to the 1493 [[Battle of Krbava field]] which ended in Croatian defeat.

Meanwhile, after king [[Matthias Corvinus|Mathias Corvinus]] died in 1490, a [[War of the Hungarian Succession|succession war ensued]], where supporters of [[Vladislaus II of Hungary|Vladislaus Jagiellon]] prevailed over those of [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian Habsburg]], another contester to the throne of Kingdom of Hungary-Croatia. Maximilian gained many supporters among Croatian nobility and a favourable peace treaty he concluded with Vladislaus enabled Croatians to increasingly turn towards Habsburgs when seeking protections from the Ottoman attacks, as their lawful king Vladislaus turned out unable to provide any.<ref>Klaić, Book IV, 219</ref> On same year, the estates of Croatia also declined to recognize [[Vladislaus II of Hungary|Vladislaus II]] as a ruler 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.<ref name="archive.org3">{{cite web |title=R. W. SETON -WATSON:The southern Slav question and the Habsburg Monarchy page 18 |url=https://archive.org/stream/southernslavques00seto/southernslavques00seto_djvu.txt |access-date=24 April 2012}}</ref>

==Croatia in the Habsburg monarchy (1527–1918)==
{{Main|1527 election in Cetin|Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)|Budin Eyalet|Bosnia Eyalet|Kanije Eyalet|Kingdom of Slavonia|Triune Kingdom of Croatia|Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia|Illyrian Provinces|Kingdom of Dalmatia|Croatia during World War I}}A decisive battle between Hungarian army and the [[Battle of Mohács|Ottomans occurred on Mohács]] in 1526, where Hungarian king [[Louis II of Hungary|Louis II]] was killed and his army was destroyed. As a consequence, in November of the same year, the Hungarian parliament elected [[John Zápolya|János Szapolyai]] as the new king of Hungary. In December 1526, another Hungarian parliament elected Ferdinand Habsburg as King of Hungary.<ref>{{cite book |author=Robert A. Kann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cG570mijBF4C&pg=PA611 |title=A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526–1918 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1980 |isbn=9780520042063 |page=611}}</ref>

=== 1527 Cetingrad Assembly ===
[[File:Isprava o izboru Ferdinanda I., Cetin 1527.jpg|thumb|200x200px|The 1527 Cetingrad Charter, preserved in the [[National Archives of Austria]] contains seals of most distinguished Croatian nobles such as: [[Ivan Karlović]], [[Nikola III Zrinski]] as well as seal with [[Croatian checkerboard]]. ]]
According to historian {{ill|Milan Kruhek|hr|lt=Milan Kruhek}}, the crucial decision determining next four centuries of Croatian history happened when Croatian nobles [[1527 election in Cetin|assembled in Cetingrad in 1527 and chose]] [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]] of the [[House of Habsburg]] as the new ruler of Croatia. Albeit Habsburg delegation composed of Pavao Oberstein, [[Nikola Jurišić]] and Ivan Puchler arrived in [[Cetin Castle|Cetingrad]], Croatia, as early s [[Christmas Eve]] 1526, they had to wait, as Croat high dignitaries spent Christmas holidays at home. After finally assemblying on New Year's Eve 1526, Croats publicly proclaimed their decision on a mass held next day in Francisian Monastery in Cetin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kruhek |first=Milan |title=Cetin: grad izbornog sabora Kraljevine Hrvatske 1527. |publisher=Karlovačka žzpanija |year=1997 |isbn=953-97378-0-X}}</ref> In turn, the present Habsburg delegation confirmed that new Habsburg rulers will contribute to the defense of Croatia against the Ottomans, and respect its political rights.<ref name="Povijest-saborovanja" /><ref name="frucht422" /><ref name="archive.org">{{cite web |title=R. W. SETON -WATSON:The Southern Slav question and the Habsburg Monarchy page 18 |url=https://archive.org/stream/southernslavques00seto/southernslavques00seto_djvu.txt |access-date=24 April 2012}}</ref> 

As Assembly of neighbouring 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]]), and [[Lika]]. Those territories initially made up part of [[Rumelia Eyalet]], and subsequently parts of [[Budin Eyalet]], [[Bosnia Eyalet]], and [[Kanije Eyalet]].{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

=== Remnants of the remnants ===
[[File:Hrvatski skolski muzej zemljovid 3 300109.jpg|thumb|250x250px|"Remnants of the Remnants" (''Reliquiae Reliquiarum''), shown on this map in yellow, represent the territory under the jurisdiction of Croatian-Slavonian [[Croatian Parliament|Sabor]] at the height of the Ottoman advance<ref name="enciklopedija.hr">{{Cite web |title=reliquiae reliquiarum {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?id=52389 |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref>]]
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".<ref name="enciklopedija.hr"/> By the late 16th century Remnants of the Remnants stretched at around 18200 km2. The eastern border towards the Ottoman Empire went through the [[Pitomača]] - Rača - [[Moslavina]] line. Southern border towards the Ottoman Empire went a bit below the line [[Sisak]] - [[Petrinja]] - [[Karlovac]] and continued southwest towards the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]]. The western border towards [[Carniola]] and [[Styria (Slovenia)|Styria]] were rivers [[Kupa]] and [[Sutla]], while [[Mur (river)|Mura]] and [[Drava]] rivers made frontier towards the Hungary.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buntak |first=Franjo |title=Povijest Zagreba |publisher=Nakladni zavod Matice hrvatske |year=1996 |location=Zagreb |page=288}}</ref>

==== Amalgation of medieval Croatia and medieval Slavonia ====
{{Main|Kingdom of Slavonia (medieval)}}
[[File:Croatia 1260 (cropped).png|thumb|250x250px|Medieval Croatia (dark green) south of [[Mala Kapela|Gvozd Mountain]] shown in relation to medieval Slavonia (green) spanning between [[Sava]] and [[Drava]] rivers.|left]]
The area centered around [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zagreb|Diocese of Zagreb]] - spanning between rivers [[Sava]] and [[Drava]] - during medieval period came to be known as Slavonia. Its first recorded Assembly of nobles was held in 1273 in Zagreb.<ref name=":17">{{Cite web |title=Slavonija - Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/slavonija |access-date=2024-07-21 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref> Albeit Slavonia shared certain ties with medieval Croatia, it was more tightly connected to Hungary than Croatia Proper was. In 15th century, during the rule of [[Vladislaus II of Hungary|Vladislaus Jagiellon]], Slavonia was granted the status of Kingdom.<ref name=":17" />  At the same time, ongoing Ottoman attacks on Croatia, coupled with famines, diseases, and a cold climate, led to widespread depopulation and a refugee crisis as people fled to safer areas. Croatian historian [[:hr:Ivan Jurković|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. Consequently, the center of the medieval Croatian state gradually shifted northwards into western [[Slavonia]], around Zagreb.<ref name=":0" /> As both nobility and commoners migrated from Croatia to Slavonia, the territory also gradually began to be called Croatia. On assembly session held on 7 March 1577, [[Zagreb]] was for the first time called the capital city of Croatia-Slavonia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buntak |first=Franjo |title=Povijest Zagreba |publisher=Nakladni zavod Matice hrvatske |year=1996 |location=Zagreb |pages=278–279 |language=Croatian}}</ref> On 1 September 1558, due to Ottoman pressure, the two assemblies of [[Slavonia#Middle Ages|Kingdom of Slavonia]] and [[Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)|Kingdom of Croatia]] were permanently merged into one single assembly then called The Assembly of Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia (Croatian: Sabor Kraljevine Hrvatske i Slavonije), held in Zagreb.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jedinstveni staleški Sabor |url=http://www.sabor.hr/hr/o-saboru/povijest-saborovanja/zanimljivosti/jedinstveni-staleski-sabor |access-date=2024-03-31 |website=Hrvatski sabor |language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=James D |first=Tracy |title=Balkan Wars: Habsburg Croatia, Ottoman Bosnia, and Venetian Dalmatia, 1499–1617 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |year=2016 |pages=17–25}}</ref>

==== Formation of Military Frontier ====
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]] (''Vojna Krajina'', German: ''Militaergrenze'') - a buffer zone for the Ottoman Empire managed directly by the [[Hofkriegsrat|Imperial War Council]] in Austria.<ref>{{cite book|author=Charles W. Ingrao|title=The Habsburg Monarchy, 1618–1815|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SD_Vr3CTEooC|date=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-78505-1|page=15}}</ref> This buffer area became devastated and depopulated due to constant warfare and was subsequently settled by [[Serbs]], [[Vlachs]], Croats, and [[Ethnic German|Germans]]. 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramet |first=Sabrina P. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44953841 |title=Whose democracy? : nationalism, religion, and the doctrine of collective rights in post-1989 Eastern Europe |date=1997 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=0-585-08084-4 |location=Lanham, Md. |pages=83 |oclc=44953841}}</ref> They were considered free peasant-soldiers who were granted land without the usual feudal obligations, except for the military service.{{sfn|Kaser|1997|p=53}} This was officially confirmed by an Imperial decree of 1630 called ''[[Statuta Valachorum]]'' (Vlach Statutes).

The territory of Military Frontier was initially divided into areas of [[Varaždin Generalate]], Karlovac Generalate and Žumberak District.{{sfn|Kaser|1997|p=77}} The area between villages of Bović and Brkiševina was called Banska Krajina (or subsequently Banovina, Banija).{{sfn|Kaser|1997|p=54}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Banija ili Banovina? Oba su oblika dopuštena i pravilna, niti je Banija srpski niti je Banovina "hrvatskije" |url=https://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/kaze-li-se-banija-ili-banovina---635515.html |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=Dnevnik.hr |language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-01-03 |title=Jutarnji list - Piše Inoslav Bešker: Kaže li se Bànija ili Bánovina? Evo zašto su obje inačice podjednako legitimne |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/pise-inoslav-besker-kaze-li-se-banija-ili-banovina-evo-zasto-su-obje-inacice-podjednako-legitimne-15040397 |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=www.jutarnji.hr |language=hr-hr}}</ref> The difference between latter and remaining Military Frontier was that Banska krajina (Ban's Frontier) was under command and financing of ban of Croatia so its defense was basically the responsibility of Croatia.{{sfn|Kaser|1997|p=201}} Unlike remaining Military Frontier which was under direct command of Imperial Military Authorities, Banska Krajina was not taken away from Croatia.{{sfn|Kaser|1997|p=202}}

==== The Long War: Hasan Pasha's Great Offensive ====
{{See also|Long Turkish War|}}[[File:Bitka pri Sisku 1593-Valvasor.jpg|thumb|250x250px|The climax of Hasan Pasha's Great Offensive was [[Battle of Sisak|third Battle of Sisak]] on 22 June 1593. The battle is depicted here by [[Johann Weikhard von Valvasor]].]]
In 1590's belligerent [[Telli Hasan Pasha|Teli Hasan Pasha]] was appointed new governor of Ottoman [[Bosnia Eyalet|Bosnian Eyalet]]. He launched his great offensive on Croatia, aimed at completely conquering Croatian "Remnants of the Remnants". In order to do that, he mobilized all available troops from his Bosnian Eyalet. Although his offensive did achieve substantial success against Croatians and their allies, such as victories in [[Siege of Bihać (1592)|Siege of Bihać]] (which Croatians never managed to retake again) or in [[Battle of Brest (1592)|Battle of Brest]], his campaign was ultimately stopped in [[Battle of Sisak|June 1593 Battle of Sisak.]] Not only the Ottomans lost this battle, but Hasan Pasha got killed in the fray. News of Bosnian Pasha's defeat near Sisak caused outrage in Constantinople. Now, the Ottomans officially decided to declare war to Habsburg Monarchy, triggering the start of [[Long Turkish War]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smičiklas |first=Tadija |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=escJAAAAIAAJ&q=tadija+smi%C4%8Diklas+poviest+hrvatska |title=Poviest hrvatska II |publisher=Tisak K. Albrechta |year=1879 |location=Zagreb |pages=82–83}}</ref> In strategic sense, the Ottoman defeat near Sisak led to stabilization of border between Croatia and the Ottoman Empire. Historian {{ill|Nenad Moačanin|hr|lt=Nenad Moačanin}} claims that this stability of Croatian-Ottoman border was a general characteristic of the 17th century, as Ottoman Empire's might started declining.<ref name=":6" />


=== Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy ===
{{main|Magnate conspiracy}}
[[File:Ozalj Castle.jpg|left|thumb|300x300px|[[Ozalj Castle]] - one of Zrinski-Frankopan conspirators center<ref>Macan, 111</ref> and a center of Ozalj literary-linguistic circle<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ozalj {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?ID=46006 |access-date=2023-06-09 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref> which produced Croatian [[baroque literature]] such as: [[Putni tovaruš]], [[Ivan Belostenec|Gazophylacium]] or [[Gartlic za čas kratiti]].]]
During the 17th century, distinguished Croatian noble [[Miklós Zrínyi|Nikola Zrinski]] 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]] 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]], thereby establishing contact with the French court. Croatian nobility also constructed [[Novi Zrin|Novi Zrin castle]] which sought to protect Croatia and Hungary from further Ottoman advances. At the same time, emperor [[Leopold I, Holy Roman 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.<ref name=":2">Macan, 108-110</ref>

In July 1664, a large Ottoman army [[Siege of Novi Zrin (1664)|besieged and destroyed Novi Zrin]]. As this army marched on Austrian lands, its campaign ended at the [[Battle of Saint Gotthard (1664)|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 [[Peace of Vasvár|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 [[Miklós Zrínyi|Nikola Zrinski]] died under unusual circumstances while hunting, his relatives [[Fran Krsto Frankopan]] and [[Petar Zrinski]] supported the conspiracy.<ref name=":2" />

The conspirators established contact with the [[Kingdom of France|French]], [[Republic of Venice|Venetians]], [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poles]], 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.<ref name=":2" />

=== Great Turkish War: A revived Croatia ===
{{main|Great Turkish War|Croatian-Slavonian theater in Great Turkish War}}
[[File:Map of the Kingdom of Croatia (1848).png|thumb|200x200px|Croatian borders similar to those established with the [[Peace of Karlowitz]] in 1699. Although the peace treaty meant relief from Ottoman pressure, Croatia lost the compactness of its territory.]]
Despite the decline of Ottoman might in the 17th century, the Ottoman high command decided to [[Siege of Vienna (1683)|attack the Habsburg capital of Vienna]] in 1683, as the [[Peace of Vasvár|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 (1684)|Holy League]] was formed and the [[Great Turkish War]] was launched. In the Croatian theater of operations, several commanders distinguished themselves, including friar [[Luka Ibrišimović]], whose rebels defeated the Ottomans in [[Požega, Croatia|Požega]], and [[Marko Mesić (priest)|Marko Mesić]], who led the anti-Ottoman uprising in [[Lika]]. [[Hajduk]] leader [[Stojan Janković]] distinguished himself by leading troops in [[Dalmatia]]. Croatian Ban [[Miklós Erdődy|Nikola (Miklos) Erdody]] led his troops in [[Siege of Virovitica (1684)|Siege of Virovitica]], which was liberated from the Ottomans in 1684. [[Osijek]] was liberated by 1687, [[Hrvatska Kostajnica|Kostajnica]] was liberated by 1688, and [[Slavonski Brod]] was liberated by 1691.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Šišić |first=Ferdo |title=Povijest Hrvata 1526.-1918. |publisher=Marijan tisak |year=2004 |location=Split |pages=331–333 |language=Croatian}}</ref> An attempt [[Siege of Bihać (1697)|to retake Bihać]] was also made in 1697 but was eventually called off due to lack a of cannons.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pad Bihaća u ruke Osmanlija 1592. |url=https://vojnapovijest.vecernji.hr/vojna-povijest/pad-bihaca-u-ruke-osmanlija-1592-1255790 |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=vojnapovijest.vecernji.hr |language=hr}}</ref> In the same year, general [[Prince Eugene of Savoy|Eugene of Savoy]] led a 6500-strong army from Osijek into Bosnia, where he raided the seat of [[Bosnia Eyalet]], [[Sarajevo]], burning it to the ground.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SARAJEVO GA PAMTI PO ZLU: Znate li šta je Eugen Savojski zapisao u svom dnevniku o spaljivanju Sarajeva? |url=https://www.slobodna-bosna.ba/vijest/130367/sarajevo_ga_pamti_po_zlu_znate_li_sta_je_eugen_savojski_zapisao_u_svom_dnevniku_o_spaljivanju_sarajeva.html |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=slobodna-bosna.ba |language=bs-BA}}</ref> After this raid, large groups of Christian refugees from Bosnia settled in what was then an almost empty Slavonia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lešić |first=Antun |title=Stanovništvo Slavonije krajem 17. i početkom 18. stoljeća |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/271855 |access-date=4 May 2022}}</ref> After the decisive Ottoman defeat in the [[Battle of Zenta]] in 1697 by the forces of [[Prince Eugene of Savoy|Eugene of Savoy]], the [[Treaty of Karlowitz|Peace of Karlowitz]] 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 (Sava)|Una]] and [[Vrbas (river)|Vrbas]] were lost, as they remained part of the Ottoman [[Bosnia Eyalet]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ritter Vitezović |first=Pavao |title=Dva stoljeća uplakane Hrvatske |publisher=Matica hrvatska |year=2019 |editor-last=Blažević |editor-first=Zrinka |pages=290–291 |language=Croatian}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Drago Roksandić|chapter=Controversy on German Cultural Orientation|title=The Germans and the East|editor1-last=Ingrao|editor2-last=Szabo|publisher=Purdue University Press|year= 2008|pages=134}}</ref>

===Enlightened despotism===
[[File:Tounjski most.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Tounj bridge on [[Josephina (road)|Jozephina]] road|left]]
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, Holy Roman 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.<ref>Macan, 119-120</ref> 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]] 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kraljevinsko vijeće {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?id=33697 |access-date=2022-10-31 |website=enciklopedija.hr}}</ref>

Maria Theresa's heir, [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|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]] with [[Rijeka]], and [[Josephina (road)|Jozefina]] connecting [[Karlovac]] with [[Senj]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-27 |title=Like - Karolina, Jozefina, Lujzijana&nbsp;... Jeste li za road trip slavnim hrvatskim povijesnim cestama? |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/like-putovanja/lijepa-nasa/karolina-jozefina-lujzijana-jeste-li-za-road-trip-slavnim-hrvatskim-povijesnim-cestama-15113337 |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=www.jutarnji.hr |language=hr-hr}}</ref> With the [[Treaty of Sistova]], which ended the [[Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791)|Austro-Turkish War]] (1788–1791), the Ottoman-held areas of [[Donji Lapac]] and [[Relief of Cetingrad|Cetingrad]], along with the villages of [[Drežnik Grad]] and [[Jasenovac, Sisak-Moslavina County|Jasenovac]], were ceded to the Habsburg monarchy and incorporated into the [[Croatian Military Frontier]].<ref name="Pavicic62">{{citation |last=Pavičić |first=Stjepan |title=Seobe i naselja u Lici |date=1962 |journal=Zbornik za narodni život i običaje Južnih Slavena |volume=41 |issue=III |publisher=[[Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts]] |language=hr |pages=17, 86–88, 99, 103, 120–121, 130–131, 136, 144, 230–231}}</ref>

=== 19th century in Croatia ===

==== Napoleonic Wars ====
[[File:Granica Ilirskih pokrajina Zagreb.jpg|thumb|200x200px|A border marking of Illyrian Provinces on Sava river shores in modern-day [[Zagreb]].]]
{{main|Illyrian Provinces}}

As [[Napoleon]]'s armies started to dominate Europe, Croatian lands came into contact with the French as well. When Napoleon abolished the [[Republic of Venice]] in 1797, former Venetian possessions in [[Dalmatia]] came under Habsburg rule. In 1809, as Napoleon defeated the Austrians in the [[Battle of Wagram]], French-controlled territory eventually expanded to the [[Sava]] river. The French founded the "[[Illyrian Provinces]]" centered in [[Ljubljana]] and appointed Marshal [[Auguste de Marmont]] as their governor-general. The French presence brought the liberal ideas of the [[French Revolution]] to the Croats. The French founded [[Masonic lodge]]s, built infrastructure, and printed the first newspapers in the local language in Dalmatia. Called ''[[Il Regio Dalmata – Kraglski Dalmatin|Kraglski Datmatin/Il Regio Dalmata]]'', it was printed in both Italian and Croatian.<ref>{{Cite web |last=eZadar |title=Na današnji dan 12. srpnja 1806. godine izašle prve novine na hrvatskom jeziku Kraglski Dalmatin |url=https://ezadar.net.hr/kultura/4258790/na-danasnji-dan-12-srpnja-1806-godine-izasle-prve-novine-na-hrvatskom-jeziku-kraglski-dalmatin/ |access-date=2022-08-11 |website=ezadar.net.hr |date=12 July 2022 |language=hr}}</ref> Croatian soldiers accompanied Napoleon in his conquests as far as Russia. In 1808, Napoleon abolished the [[Republic of Ragusa]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jagačić |first=Boris |date=2013-08-27 |title=Napoleon ukida Dubrovačku Republiku |url=https://zg-magazin.com.hr/napoleon-ukida-dubrovacku-republiku/ |access-date=2022-08-11 |website=ZG-magazin |language=hr-HR |archive-date=22 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222012116/https://zg-magazin.com.hr/napoleon-ukida-dubrovacku-republiku/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mittheilungen des k.u.k. Kriegs-Archivs - Supplement (1892) &#124; Könyvtár &#124; Hungaricana |url=https://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/view/MitKuKKriegsArch_1892_Supplement/?pg=33&layout=s |website=library.hungaricana.hu}}</ref>

With the fall of Napoleon, the French-controlled Croatian lands came back under Austrian rule.

==== Croatian national revival and the Illyrian Movement ====
[[File:Danicza-horvatska-domovina.png|thumb|204x204px|The 1835 issue of the magazine ''Danicza'', with lyrics of what would later become the Croatian national anthem "[[Lijepa naša domovino]]" ("Our Beautiful Homeland").|left]]
Under the influence of German [[romanticism]], French political thought, and [[pan-Slavism]], Croatian [[romantic nationalism]] emerged in the mid-19th century to counteract the [[Germanization]] and [[Magyarization]] of Croatia. [[Ljudevit Gaj]] 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|Shtokavian dialect]], widespread among Croats, was also common with Serbs, this movement likewise had a South-Slavic characteristic.<ref name=":4">Macan, 134-142</ref> 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{{clarify|date=November 2022}} by using the Illyrian name.<ref name=":4" /> 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]] 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]]. This unit would have Croatian as the official language and would be governed by [[Ban of Croatia|Ban]].<ref name=":4" /> The movement spread throughout Dalmatia, Istria and among Bosnian [[Franciscans|Francisian monks]]. It resulted in the emergence of the modern Croatian nation and eventually the formation of the first Croatian political parties.<ref name=":4" /> After the usage, the Illyrian name was banned in 1843; the proponents of Illyrianism changed their name to Croatian.<ref name=":4" />

On 2 May 1843, [[Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski]] held the first speech on [[Croatian language]] 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]] was still in use in public institutions in Croatia. In the Sabor in 1847 Croatian was proclaimed as an official language in Croatia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Govor Ivana Kukuljevića Sakcinskog u Saboru 2. svibnja 1843. |url=http://www.sabor.hr/hr/o-saboru/povijest-saborovanja/znameniti-govori/govor-ivana-kukuljevica-sakcinskog-u-saboru-2 |access-date=2022-10-31 |website=Hrvatski sabor |language=hr}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Povijest saborovanja |url=http://www.sabor.hr/hr/o-saboru/povijest-saborovanja |access-date=2022-10-31 |website=Hrvatski sabor |language=hr}}</ref>

According to Croatian historian Nenad Moačanin, appearance of Romanticism also affected portion of [[Vlachs]] settled in Croatian depopulated areas who declared themselves as Serbs.<ref>{{Cite web |title='Prije 19. stoljeća nema koncepcije velike Srbije. Korijen sukoba je u 20. stoljeću' |url=https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/dvostruki-identitet-tko-su-zapravo-vlasi-1244255 |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=www.vecernji.hr |language=hr |quote=Uz ukorjenjivanje visoke hijerarhije Srpske pravoslavne crkve, više ne u Turskoj, nego u Ugarskoj, dolazi do stvaranja kulturne elite. Dositej Obradović, prosvjetiteljska strujanja... Pismenost je na nuli, ali počinju prvi skromni koraci, knjige se tiskaju i pomalo se širi pismenost, od središta do središta. Onda je s romantizmom i Vukom Karadžićem u 19. stoljeću došlo konačno formiranje vlaškoga identiteta kao srpskoga}}</ref>

==== Croats in revolutions of 1848 ====
In the [[the Revolutions of 1848 in Habsburg areas|Revolutions of 1848]], the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia, driven by fear of [[Hungarian nationalism|Magyar nationalism]], supported the Habsburg court against Hungarian revolutionary forces.
[[File:Dragutin Weingärtner, Hrvatski sabor 1848. god.jpg|thumb|250x250px|Ban [[Josip Jelačić]] at the opening of the first Croatian civic Parliament (''Sabor'') whose deputies were elected on 5 June 1848. In earlier Sabors, members represented feudal estates rather than citizens. The Croatian tricolor flag can also be seen in the background. Dragutin Weingärtner, 1885.]]
During a session of the Croatian Sabor held on 25 March 1848, colonel [[Josip Jelačić]] was elected as Ban of Croatia, and a petition called "[[Demands of the Nation|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.<ref>Macan, 144 -148</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Holjevac |first=Željko |title=Hrvati i manjine u Hrvatskoj: moderni identiteti |url=https://www.azoo.hr/app/uploads/uvezeno/manjine/05.html |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=www.azoo.hr}}</ref> In May 1848, Ban's Council was formed which had all the executive powers of the Croatian government. The Croatian parliament abolished feudalism,<ref name=":5" /> 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]]. The Croatian parliament also demanded the unification of the [[Military Frontier]] and [[Dalmatia]] with [[Croatia proper]]. Sabor also asked for an undefined alliance with [[Istria]], [[Slovene Lands|Slovene lands]] and [[Slavonia|parts of southern Hungary inhabited with Croats and Serbs]].<ref>Macan, 152</ref> Jelačić was also appointed the governor of [[Rijeka]] and [[Dalmatia]] 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.<ref>Macan, 154</ref> Jelačić declared war on Hungary on 7 September 1848. On 11 September 1848, the Croatian army crossed the [[Drava]] river and annexed [[Međimurje County|Međimurje]]. Upon crossing Drava, Jelačić ordered his army to switch Croatian national flags with Habsburg Imperial flags.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mijatović |first=Anđelko |title=Ban Jelačić |publisher=Mladost izdavačka radna organizacija |year=1990 |isbn=86-05-00528-9 |location=Zagreb |pages=55–65}}</ref>

Despite the contributions of its Ban [[Josip Jelačić]] in quenching the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|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 ====
[[File:A zágrábi horvát nemzeti szinház zárkövének letétele 1895.png|thumb|195x195px|A [[1895 visit by Emperor Franz Joseph to Zagreb|visit of Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Joseph to Zagreb]] in 1895, where he officially opened the [[Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb|Croatian National Theatre]] building. ]]
The dual monarchy of [[Austria-Hungary]] was created in 1867 through the [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867|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 [[Corpus separatum (Fiume)|unresolved status of Rijeka]].{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}  In 1873, the territory of [[Military Frontier]] was demilitarized and in July 1871 a decision was made to incorporate it into Croatia<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vojna krajina {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?id=65199 |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref> with Croatian ban [[Ladislav Pejačević]] taking over the authority.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pejačević, Ladislav {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?ID=47327 |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref> Pejačević's successor [[Károly Khuen-Héderváry]] caused further problems by violating the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement through his hardline [[Magyarization]] 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.<ref>Macan, 182-183</ref>

A year earlier, in 1902, ''Srbobran'', the newspaper of [[Zagreb]] Serbs, published an article titled "Do istrage naše ili vaše" (Until us, or you get exterminated).{{Clarify|post-text=(see [[Talk:History of Croatia|talk]])|date=September 2022}} The article was filled with [[Greater Serbia]]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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=''S Olujom je završila mučna epizoda duga četiri godine. Nažalost na takav način, ali to je bio srpski izbor'' |url=https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/s-olujom-je-zavrsila-mucna-epizoda-duga-cetiri-godine-na-zalost-na-takav-nacin-ali-to-je-bio-srpski-izbor-1607120 |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=www.vecernji.hr |language=hr}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2018-08-20 |title=Globus - DVA STOLJEĆA HRVATSKO-SRPSKOG RATA I MIRA Kako su opasne nacionalističke koncepcije preživjele od 19. do 21. stoljeća i postale još opasnije |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/globus/politika/dva-stoljeca-hrvatsko-srpskog-rata-i-mira-kako-su-opasne-nacionalisticke-koncepcije-prezivjele-od-19-do-21-stoljeca-i-postale-jos-opasnije-7738548 |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=www.jutarnji.hr |language=hr-hr}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":3" />
[[File:Austria-Hungary map new.svg|left|thumb|200px|Two parts of the Triune Kingdom: Croatia-Slavonia (number 17) and Dalmatia (number 5) within Austria-Hungary]]
[[World War I]] brought an end to the Dual Monarchy. [[Croatia during World War I|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 [[Trialism in Austria-Hungary|Croatian/South Slavic section]], however, these plans were never carried out, due to [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s announcement of a policy of [[self-determination]] for peoples of Austria-Hungary.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

Shortly before the end of the war in 1918, the [[Croatian Parliament]] severed relations with Austria-Hungary after receiving the news that the [[Czechoslovak declaration of independence|Czechoslovak parts had also separated]] from Austria-Hungary. [[Triune Kingdom|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]].{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} 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 (1915)|Treaty of London]] in 1915. A solution was sought through unification with the [[Kingdom of Serbia]], 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 (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]].

== Croats inside the first Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ==
{{Main|Creation of Yugoslavia|Croatian affairs in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia}}
[[File:Proglašenje raskida veza s Austro-Ugarskom.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Proclamation of severing ties with [[Austria-Hungary]] in front of [[Croatian Parliament|Croatian Sabor]] in 1918. ]]
A [[creation of Yugoslavia|new state]] was created in late 1918. [[Syrmia]] left Croatia-Slavonia and joined Serbia together with Vojvodina, shortly followed by a referendum to join Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbia. The [[State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs|People's Council of 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 Parliament|Croatian Sabor]], merged with the [[Kingdom of Serbia]] into the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes]].

An Italian army eventually took [[Istria]], started to annex the Adriatic islands one by one, and even landed in [[Zadar]]. A partial resolution to the so-called [[Adriatic question]] came in 1920 with the [[Treaty of Rapallo (1920)|Treaty of Rapallo]].

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]]. 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]], [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]], [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]], and [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], 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.<ref name=":1" /> The replacement of old [[Austro-Hungarian krone]]s was conducted through an unfair rate of four Krones for one [[Yugoslav dinar|Serbian Dinar]].<ref name=":1" />

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,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080220082638/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,846181,00.html "Balkan Politics"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', 31 March 1923</ref> and [[Electoral fraud|election-rigging]] to keep the opposition, mainly the [[Croatian Peasant Party]] and its allies, in the minority in the Yugoslav parliament.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080112220024/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719894,00.html "Elections"], ''Time'', 23 February 1925</ref> Pašić believed that Yugoslavia should be as centralized as possible, creating a [[Greater Serbia]]n national concept of concentrated power in the hands of Belgrade in place of distinct regional governments and identities.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080220081455/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,720153,00.html "The Opposition"], ''Time'', 6 April 1925</ref>
[[File:Atentat u skupstini.JPG|left|thumb|250x250px|The assassination of Croatian MPs in the National Assembly in Belgrade was one of the events which greatly damaged relations between Serbs and Croats in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.]]

=== Murders of 1928 and royal dictatorship ===
During a Parliament session in 1928, [[Puniša Račić]], 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 (politician, born 1889)|Ivan Pernar]] and Ivan Granđa. [[Stjepan Radić]], 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]]n borders, however, [[Croatian Peasant Party]] leadership rejected this idea.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Macan |first=Trpimir |title=Hrvatska povijest |publisher=Matica hrvatska |year=1995 |isbn=953-150-030-4}}</ref> While Račić was subsequently tried for multiple murders, he served his sentence in a luxurious villa in [[Požarevac]], where he had several servants at his disposal and was allowed to leave and return at any time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Crnogorci postavili ploču atentatoru koji je pucao na Stjepana Radića i prvake HSS-a |url=https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/crnogorci-postavili-plocu-atentatoru-koji-je-pucao-na-stjepana-radica-i-prvake-hss-a-20170713 |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=tportal.hr}}</ref>

In response to the shooting at the National Assembly, [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|King Alexander]] abolished the parliamentary system and proclaimed a [[6 January Dictatorship|royal dictatorship]]. He imposed a [[1931 Yugoslav Constitution|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 among the [[Sava Banovina]] and the [[Littoral Banovina]]. Political parties were banned and the royal dictatorship took on an increasingly harsh character. [[Vladko Maček]], who had succeeded Radić as leader of the Croatian Peasant Party, the largest political party in Croatia, was imprisoned. Ante Pavelić was exiled from Yugoslavia and created the [[Ultranationalism|ultranationalist]] [[Ustaše|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]] and west [[Herzegovina]] in particular, described as "hotbeds of Croatian separatism", Glenny wrote that the majority-Serb police acted "with no restraining authority whatsoever".<ref>Misha Glenny, ''The Balkans 1804–1999'', Granta Books, London 1345, pp. 431–432</ref> 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".<ref>Josip Horvat, ''Politička povijest Hrvatske 1918–1929'' (Political History of Croatia 1918–1929), Zagreb, 1938</ref> 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]] and [[Heinrich Mann]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Šufflay, Milan {{!}} Hrvatska enciklopedija |url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?id=59985 |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=www.enciklopedija.hr}}</ref> In 1932, the Ustaše Movement unsuccessfully planned the [[Velebit uprising]] 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]] by a coalition of the Ustaše and the Bulgarian [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] (IMRO), thus ending the Royal dictatorship. The government of Serbian Radical [[Milan Stojadinović]], 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 dozens of youth members of the Croatian Peasant Party in [[Senj]] because they sang Croatian patriotic songs.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-09 |title=Župan Petry položio vijenac u sjećanje na Senjske žrtve |url=https://www.novilist.hr/rijeka-regija/sjecanje-na-senjske-zrtve/ |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=Novi list |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Senjske žrtve: Obljetnica tragične pogibije sedam mladih Gospićana |url=https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/senjske-zrtve-obljetnica-tragicne-pogibije-sedam-mladih-gospicana-285482 |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=www.vecernji.hr |language=hr}}</ref> 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]], 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 Banovina|Vrbas]], [[Drina Banovina|Drina]], and Danube Banates. It had a reconstructed Croatian Parliament which would choose a Croatian [[Ban (title)|Ban]] and Viceban. This Croatia included a part of [[Bosnia (region)|Bosnia]], most of [[Herzegovina]], and [[Dubrovnik]] and its surroundings.

==World War II and the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1945)==
{{Main|World War II in Yugoslavia|Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia|The Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia|Chetnik war crimes in World War II}}
{{See also|World War II}}
[[File:Flag_of_Independent_State_of_Croatia.svg|left|thumb|Flag of the [[Independent State of Croatia]]]]
[[File:Adolf Hitler meets Ante Pavelić.1941.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Poglavnik of the Independent State of Croatia, [[Ante Pavelić]], shakes hands with [[Adolf Hitler]] in 1941.]]
The [[Axis occupation of Yugoslavia]] in 1941 allowed the Croatian radical right [[Ustaše]] to come into power, forming the "[[Independent State of Croatia]]" (''Nezavisna Država Hrvatska'', NDH), led by [[Ante Pavelić]], who assumed the role of ''[[Poglavnik]]''. Following the pattern of other fascist regimes in Europe, the Ustaše enacted racial laws and formed eight [[concentration camp]]s targeting minority Serbs, [[Romani people|Roma]]s, and Jewish populations, as well as [[Croatians|Croatian]] and [[Bosnian Muslim]] opponents of the regime. The biggest concentration camp was [[Jasenovac concentration camp|Jasenovac]] in Croatia. The NDH had a program, formulated by [[Mile Budak]], to purge Croatia of [[Serbs]], by "killing one third, expelling the other third and [[Cultural assimilation|assimilating]] the remaining third".<ref>Tapon (2012), p. 347</ref> The main targets for persecution were the Serbs, of whom approximately 330,000 were killed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005449 |title=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum about Jasenovac and Independent State of Croatia |publisher=Ushmm.org |access-date=3 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090916030858/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005449 |archive-date=16 September 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>''Genocide and Resistance in Hitler's Bosnia: The Partisans and the Chetniks, 1941–1943'' p. 20</ref>

Various [[Serbian nationalist]] [[Chetnik]] groups also committed [[Chetnik war crimes in World War II|atrocities]] against Croats across many areas of [[Lika]] and parts of [[Dalmatian Hinterland|northern Dalmatia]].<ref>{{cite book  | last1 = Cooke  | first1 = Philip  | last2 = Shepherd  | first2 = Ben H.  | title = European Resistance in the Second World War  | publisher = Pen and Sword  | year = 2013  | isbn = 9781473833043  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KpFABAAAQBAJ  | page = 222}}</ref> During [[World War II in Yugoslavia]], the Chetniks killed an estimated 18,000-32,000 Croats.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Vladimir Geiger|publisher=Croatian Institute of History|title=Human Losses of the Croats in World War II and the Immediate Post-War Period Caused by the Chetniks (Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland) and the Partisans (People's Liberation Army and the Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia/Yugoslav Army) and the Communist Authorities: Numerical Indicators|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/103223|page=86|journal=Review of Croatian History|volume=VIII|issue=1|year=2012}}</ref>

The anti-fascist communist-led [[Yugoslav Partisans|Partisan]] movement, based on a pan-Yugoslav ideology, emerged in early 1941 under the command of Croatian-born [[Josip Broz Tito]], and spread quickly into many parts of [[Yugoslavia]]. The [[1st Sisak Partisan Detachment]], often hailed as the first armed anti-fascist resistance [[Military unit|unit]] in occupied Europe, was formed in Croatia, in the [[Brezovica Forest]] 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]] (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]] 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.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

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 or anti-communists), 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) ==
[[File:Coat of Arms of the Socialist Republic of Croatia.svg|thumb|220px|right|Coat of arms of the [[Socialist Republic of Croatia]]]]
{{Main|Socialist Republic of Croatia|Tito–Stalin split}}

===Tito's leadership of the LCY (1945–1980)===
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2023}}
Croatia was one of six constituent [[socialist republic]]s of the [[Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia]]. Under the new communist system, privately owned factories and estates were [[nationalization|nationalized]], and the economy was based on a type of planned [[market socialism]]. 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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071122220854/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942012,00.html "Socialism of Sorts"]. ''Time''. 10 June 1966.</ref> Such free travel was unheard of at the time in the [[Eastern Bloc]] countries, and in some western countries as well (e.g., Spain or [[Portugal]], 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.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

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.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Vojvodic |first1=Katarina |last2=Terzic-Supic |first2=Zorica |last3=Todorovic |first3=Jovana |last4=Gagliardi |first4=Cristina |last5=Santric-Milicevic |first5=Milena |last6=Popovic |first6=Marina |date=March 2022 |title=Financial Burden of Medical Care, Dental Care, and Medicines among Older-Aged Population in Slovenia, Serbia, and Croatia |journal=Int J Environ Res Public Health|volume=19 |issue=6 |page=3325 |doi=10.3390/ijerph19063325 |doi-access=free |pmid=35329013 |pmc=8953375 }}</ref> 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.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

[[File:Locator map Croatia in Yugoslavia.svg|left|thumb|Croatia in the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]]]]

Membership in the [[League of Communists of Yugoslavia]] was as much a prerequisite for admission to colleges and government jobs as in the Soviet Union under [[Joseph Stalin]] or [[Nikita Khrushchev]]. 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.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

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.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} 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 (Yugoslavia)|Partisans]] who were declared [[People's Hero of Yugoslavia|national heroes]]. 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]] 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.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} 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.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

[[File:Savka Dabcevic Kucar.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Savka Dabčević-Kučar]], [[Croatian Spring]] participant; Europe's first female prime minister]]
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]] and [[UDBA]] chief [[Aleksandar Ranković]] from power in 1966),<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080214134039/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905720,00.html "The Specter of Separatism"], ''Time'', 7 February 1972</ref> however, led to the [[Croatian Spring]] 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 [[1974 Yugoslav Constitution|new constitution in 1974]], giving more rights to the individual republics.

Radical [[Ustaše]] cells of Croatian émigrés based in Australia and Western Europe planned and attempted to carry out acts of sabotage within Yugoslavia, including an [[Bugojno group|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.<ref>Mate Nikola Tokić. [https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6b94/291581c216274f2a921893852a9df1d6f2e6.pdf Avengers of Bleiburg: Émigré Politics, Discourses of Victimhood and Radical Separatism during the Cold War]. Croatian Political Science Review, Vol. 55, No. 2, 2018, p. 72.</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20120527035551/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,905959,00.html "Conspiratorial Croats"], ''Time'', 5 June 1972</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080112210555/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,906151,00.html "Battle in Bosnia"], ''Time'', 24 July 1972</ref>

===Until the breakup of Yugoslavia (1980–1991)===

In 1980, after [[Death and state funeral of Josip Broz Tito|Tito's death]], economic, political, and religious difficulties started to mount and the federal government began to crumble. The crisis in [[Kosovo]] and, in 1986, the emergence of [[Slobodan Milošević]] in Serbia provoked a very negative reaction in Croatia and [[Slovenia]]; 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 [[Anti-bureaucratic revolution|concentrate Yugoslav power in Serbia]], and calls for free multi-party elections were becoming louder).<ref name="New York Times, 14 December 1989">''[[The New York Times]]'', 14 December 1989.</ref>

In June 1989, the [[Croatian Democratic Union]] (HDZ) was founded by Croatian nationalist dissidents led by [[Franjo Tuđman]], a former fighter in Tito's Partisan movement and a [[Yugoslav National Army|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]] agreed to legalize opposition political parties and hold free elections in the spring of 1990.<ref name="New York Times, 14 December 1989"/>

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]] walked out after SR Serbia's President [[Slobodan Milošević]] blocked all their reformist proposals, which caused the [[League of Communists of Croatia]] to further distance themselves from the idea of a joint state.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sekulic |first1=Dusko |last2=Massey |first2=Garth |last3=Hodson |first3=Randy |date=1994 |title=Who Were the Yugoslavs? Failed Sources of a Common Identity in the Former Yugoslavia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2096134 |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=83–97 |doi=10.2307/2096134 |jstor=2096134 |issn=0003-1224}}</ref>

==Republic of Croatia (1991–present)==

===Introduction of multi-party political system===
{{main|Independence of Croatia}}

[[File:FranjoTudman.JPG|thumbnail|[[Franjo Tuđman]], the 1st president of the modern independent [[Republic of Croatia]]]]
On 22 April and 7 May 1990, the [[1990 Croatian parliamentary election|first free multi-party elections]] were held in Croatia. [[Franjo Tuđman]]'s [[Croatian Democratic Union]] (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".<ref name="icty babic2">{{cite web |title=The Prosecutor vs. Milan Martic (paragraph 127–150) |url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/martic/tjug/en/070612.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514052826/http://www.icty.org/x/cases/martic/tjug/en/070612.pdf |archive-date=2011-05-14 |url-status=live |publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia |date=12 June 2007 |access-date=11 August 2010}}</ref> 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]] 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]].{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

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]] 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.<ref name="goldstein">Ivo Goldstein, ''Croatia: A History'', p. 220. (C. Hurst & Co, 2000)</ref><ref>Mihailo Crnobrnja, ''The Yugoslav Drama'', p. 157; (McGill-Queens University Press, 1996)</ref> Among the prisoners was [[Goran Hadžić]], who would later become the President of the [[Republic of Serbian Krajina]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Tim Judah |title=The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia |pages=175–76, 244|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2001}}</ref>

On 2 May 1991, the [[Croatian parliament]] voted to hold an independence referendum.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeno/1991/0646.htm |title= Odluka Predsjednika RH o raspisu referenduma |publisher=[[Narodne novine]] |language=hr| access-date=1 August 2012}}</ref> 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]] declared independence from Yugoslavia. Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia on the same day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onwar.com/aced/nation/cat/croatia/fcroatia1991.htm |title=Yugoslavia Serbia Croatia War 1991 |publisher=Onwar.com |access-date=24 April 2012}}</ref>

===War of Independence (1991–1995)===
[[File:Croatian War of Independence collage.jpg|thumb|right|Clockwise from top left: The central street of [[Dubrovnik]], the ''[[Stradun (street)|Stradun]]'', in ruins during the [[Siege of Dubrovnik]]; the damaged [[Vukovar water tower]], a symbol of the early conflict, flying the [[Flag of Croatia|Croatian tricolor]]; soldiers of the [[Croatian Army]] getting ready to destroy a [[Republic of Serbian Krajina|Serbian]] tank; the [[Vukovar]] Memorial Cemetery; a Serbian [[T-55]] tank destroyed on the road to [[Drniš]]]]
{{Main|Croatian War of Independence}}
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]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ethnic cleansing {{!}} War Crimes & Genocide Prevention {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/ethnic-cleansing |access-date=2024-05-29 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/d0cd11bdf1350357802566d60046e3b7?Opendocument |title=Croatian report from 1995 |publisher=Unhchr.ch |access-date=24 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/document/?indexNumber=eur64%2f002%2f2005&language=en|title=Document|website=www.amnesty.org}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/world-report-2011/croatia |title=World Report 2011: Croatia &#124; Human Rights Watch |publisher=Hrw.org |date=24 January 2011 |access-date=24 April 2012 |archive-date=1 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601005322/http://www.hrw.org/en/world-report-2011/croatia |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.hrw.org/en/node/79189 |title=Croatia &#124; Human Rights Watch |chapter=Croatia: Events of 2008 |date=14 January 2009 |publisher=Hrw.org |access-date=24 April 2012}}</ref>

===Transition period===
{{main|History of Croatia since 1995}}

Croatia became a member of the [[Council of Europe]] in 1996.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Croatia: New Member Joins Council Of Europe|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1082386.html|access-date=2021-02-11|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=9 April 2008 |language=en}}</ref> Between 1995 and 1997 Franjo Tuđman became increasingly more authoritiarian and refused to formally acknowledge local election results in City of Zagreb, leading to the [[Zagreb crisis]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-12-17 |title=Globus - Rat je završen, 'Tuđman je Bog'; 1995. – 1999.: Od pobjedničke Oluje do poraza tuđmanizma |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/globus/politika/rat-je-zavrsen-tudman-je-bog-1995-1999-od-pobjednicke-oluje-do-poraza-tudmanizma-15037534 |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=www.jutarnji.hr |language=hr-hr}}</ref> In 1996 his government attempted to shut down [[Radio 101 (Croatia)|Radio 101]], a popular radio station which was critical towards HDZ and often made fun of HDZ and Tuđman himself. When Radio 101's broadcasting rights were revoked in 1996, some 120,000 Croatian citizens protested in [[Ban Jelačić Square]] against the decision.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |title=Protiv gašenja Stojedinice 1996. ustalo je 120 tisuća građana |url=https://www.vecernji.hr/vecernji60/protiv-gasenja-stojedinice-1996-ustalo-je-120-tisuca-gra-ana-1352722 |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=www.vecernji.hr |language=hr}}</ref> Tuđman gave the order to suppress the protest with a [[riot police]], but then-[[Ministry of the Interior (Croatia)|minister of the internal affairs]] Ivan Jarnjak disobeyed his order for which he was subsequently dismissed from his position.<ref name=":14" /> 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]]'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]] (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.
[[File:Croatia EU flags.jpg|thumb|The [[flag of Croatia]] was hoisted together with the [[flag of Europe]] on the building of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs in Zagreb as a symbol of Croatia's membership in both the [[Council of Europe]] and the [[European Union]]|left]]
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]], 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8450380.stm|title=Josipovic elected Croatia leader|date=11 January 2010|via=BBC News}}</ref>
Sanader tried to come back into HDZ in 2010 but was then ejected, and [[USKOK]] soon had him arrested on several corruption charges.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://seenews.com/news/former-croatian-pm-sanader-arrested-on-power-abuse-charges-205433|title=Former Croatian PM Sanader Arrested on Power Abuse Charges|website=seenews.com|date=11 December 2010 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20407006|title=Croatia jails ex-PM Ivo Sanader for taking bribes|work=BBC News |date=20 November 2012}}</ref>

In 2011, the accession agreement was concluded, giving Croatia the all-clear to join.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/824&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en |title=EUROPA – Press Releases – EU closes accession negotiations with Croatia |work=Europa (web portal) |date=30 June 2011 |access-date=24 April 2012}}</ref>

The [[2011 Croatian parliamentary election]] was held on 4 December 2011, and the [[Kukuriku coalition]] won.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/kukuriku_wins_croatian_parliamentary_election/24412199.html|title=Croatian Opposition Hails Election Win|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}</ref> After the election, the center-left government was formed led by new prime minister [[Zoran Milanović]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://inavukic.com/2011/12/28/zoran-milanovic-not-flash-gordon-or-zorro-but-speedy-gonzales-perhaps/|title=Zoran Milanovic – not Flash Gordon or Zorro but Speedy Gonzales, perhaps?|date=28 December 2011|website=Croatia, the War, and the Future}}</ref>

=== the European Union membership (2013–present) ===
{{see also|Croatia in the European Union}}
[[File:Pelješac bridge - Most Pelješac - Croatia - 2022-06-16.jpg|thumb|300x300px|[[Pelješac Bridge]] in June 2022. ]]
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://euobserver.com/enlargement/120688|title=Croatia becomes 28th EU member state|website=EUobserver|date=July 2013 }}</ref>

In the [[2014–15 Croatian presidential election]], [[Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović]] became the first Croatian female President.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/11/croatian-conservative-on-course-to-win-presidential-vote|title=Croatia elects conservative in presidential election runoff|date=11 January 2015|website=The Guardian}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://balkaneu.com/plenkovic-named-prime-minister-designate/|title=Plenković Named Prime Minister-Designate|date=10 October 2016|access-date=17 March 2021|archive-date=19 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019025819/https://balkaneu.com/plenkovic-named-prime-minister-designate/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In January 2020, the former prime minister Zoran Milanović of the Social Democrats (SDP) won the [[2019–20 Croatian presidential election|presidential election]]. He defeated center-right incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/croatia-election-ex-leftist-pm-zoran-milanovic-wins/a-51894144|title=Croatia election: Ex-leftist PM Zoran Milanovic wins &#124; DW &#124; 05.01.2020|website=Deutsche Welle}}</ref> In March 2020, the Croatian capital Zagreb [[2020 Zagreb earthquake|experienced a 5.3 magnitude earthquake]] which caused significant damage to the city.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Shaun |title=Zagreb hit by earthquake while in coronavirus lockdown |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/croatia-earthquake-causes-widespread-damage-zagreb |work=The Guardian |date=22 March 2020}}</ref> In July 2020, the ruling center-right party HDZ won the [[2020 Croatian parliamentary election|parliamentary election]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Croatia's ruling conservatives win parliamentary election |url=https://www.euronews.com/2020/07/04/croatia-election-will-the-ruling-party-s-early-election-gamble-pay-off |work=euronews |date=4 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pešić |first=Milenko |title=Desni ekstremizam problem tek kad zapuca i na Banske dvore |url=https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/464721/Desni-ekstremizam-problem-tek-kad-zapuca-i-na-Banske-dvore |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=Politika Online}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Godinu od potresa u Petrinji i dalje ruševine |url=https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/hrvatska-potres-petrinja-godisnjica/31631818.html |access-date=2022-07-16 |website=Radio Slobodna Evropa |date=29 December 2021 |language=sh |last1=Zebić |first1=Enis }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-12-30 |title=Petrinja je neprepoznatljiva, razoran potres uništio grad |url=https://portal53.hr/petrinja-je-neprepoznatljiva-razoran-potres-unistio-grad/ |access-date=2022-07-16 |website=Portal53 |language=hr}}</ref> Throughout two and half years of the global [[COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia|COVID-19 pandemic]], 16,103 Croatian citizens died from the disease.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-07-09 |title=Jutarnji list - Broj zaraženih koronavirusom u značajnom porastu, ali bolnice se ne pune jer je bolest najčešće blaža |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/broj-zarazenih-koronavirusom-u-znacajnom-porastu-ali-bolnice-se-ne-pune-jer-je-bolest-najcesce-blaza-15220454 |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=www.jutarnji.hr |language=hr-hr |quote=The number of 16 103 dead is a number from beginning of the pandemic until 9 July 2022.}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dron koji je pao u Zagrebu izvučen iz zemlje, slijedi analiza |url=https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/dron-koji-je-pao-u-zagrebu-izvucen-iz-zemlje-slijedi-analiza-foto-20220313 |access-date=2022-07-16 |website=tportal.hr}}</ref> On 26 July 2022, Croatian authorities opened [[Pelješac Bridge]], thus connecting the southernmost part of Croatia with the rest of the country.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-07-16 |title=Jutarnji list - Svi detalji otvorenja: Rimčeva Nevera prva će prijeći most koji se ipak neće zvati kako se mislilo |url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/svi-detalji-otvorenja-rimceva-nevera-prva-ce-prijeci-most-koji-se-ipak-nece-zvati-kako-se-mislilo-15223433 |access-date=2022-07-16 |website=www.jutarnji.hr |language=hr-hr}}</ref> On 1 January 2023 Croatia became a member of both the [[Eurozone]] and [[Schengen Area]].<ref name="BBC-Croatia-EU">{{cite news |publisher=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64144309 |title=Croatia begins new euro and Schengen zone era |date=1 January 2023 |access-date=1 January 2023}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Croatia}}
* [[Bans of Croatia]]
* [[Croatian art]]
* [[Croatian History Museum]]
* [[Croatian Military Frontier]]
* [[Croatian nobility]]
* [[Culture of Croatia]]
* [[History of Dalmatia]]
* [[History of Hungary]]
* [[History of Istria]]
* [[Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War]]
* [[Kingdom of Dalmatia]]
* [[Kingdom of Slavonia]]
* [[Kings of Croatia]]
* [[List of noble families of Croatia]]
* [[List of rulers of Croatia]]
* [[Military history of Croatia]]
* [[Timeline of Croatian history]]
* [[Turkish Croatia]]
* [[Twelve noble tribes of Croatia]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|30em}}
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*{{cite book|author1=Damir Agičić|author2=Dragutin Feletar|author3=AnitaFilipčić|author4=Tomislav Jelić|author5=Zoran Stiperski|title=Povijest i zemljopis Hrvatske: priručnik za hrvatske manjinske škole|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9SArPwAACAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Nakladna kuća "Dr. Feletar" |isbn=978-953-6235-40-7|language=hr|trans-title=History and Geography of Croatia: Minority School Manual|access-date=18 October 2011}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KfqbujXqQBkC|author=Ivo Banac|author-link=Ivo Banac|title=The national question in Yugoslavia: origins, history, politics|publisher=[[Cornell University Press]]|isbn=978-0-8014-9493-2|year=1984|access-date=18 October 2011}}
*{{cite book|author=Mark Biondich|title=Stjepan Radić, the Croat Peasant Party, and the politics of mass mobilization, 1904–1928|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dZBgIIZ18WMC|year=2000|publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]]|isbn=978-0-8020-8294-7|access-date=18 October 2011}}
*{{cite book|author=Peterjon Cresswell|title=Time Out Croatia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kwOYuX-Oy18C|access-date=10 March 2010|edition=First|date=10 July 2006|publisher=Time Out Group Ltd & Ebury Publishing, [[Random House]]|location=London, Berkeley & Toronto|isbn=978-1-904978-70-1}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TiFZQHwAjQC|author=Sharon Fisher|title=Political change in post-Communist Slovakia and Croatia: from nationalist to Europeanist|year=2006|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|isbn=978-1-4039-7286-6|access-date=18 October 2011}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWTrLQAACAAJ|author1=Joerg Forbrig|author2=Pavol Demeš|title=Reclaiming democracy: civil society and electoral change in central and eastern Europe|year=2007|isbn=978-80-969639-0-4|publisher=[[The German Marshall Fund of the United States]]|access-date=18 October 2011}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVBB1a0rC70C|author=Richard C. Frucht|title=Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture|year=2005|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-800-6|access-date=18 October 2011}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7sVAQAAIAAJ|editor=Mirjana Kasapović|language=hr|title=HRVATSKA POLITIKA 1990.-2000.|trans-title=Croatian Politics 1990–2000|publisher=[[University of Zagreb]], Faculty of Political Science|year=2001|isbn=978-953-6457-08-3|access-date=18 October 2011}}
*{{cite book |last=Kaser |first=Karl |author-link=Karl Kaser (historian) |title=Slobodan seljak i vojnik: rana krajiška društva, 1545–1754 |trans-title=Free Peasant and Soldier: Early Krajina Societies, 1545–1754 |publisher=Naprijed |year=1997 |location=Zagreb |language=hr}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ORSMBFwjAKcC|author1=Matjaž Klemenčič|author2=Mitja Žagar|title=The former Yugoslavia's diverse peoples: a reference sourcebook|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2004|isbn=978-1-57607-294-3|access-date=17 October 2011}}
*{{cite book|author=Frederic Chapin Lane|title=Venice, a Maritime Republic|publisher=JHU Press|year=1973|isbn=978-0-8018-1460-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQpU2JGJCMwC|access-date=18 October 2011}}
*{{cite book|author=Branka Magaš|title=Croatia through history: the making of a European state|publisher=Saqi Books|year=2007|isbn=978-0-86356-775-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OY5pAAAAMAAJ|access-date=18 October 2011}}
*{{cite book|author=Ivan Mužić|title=Hrvatska povijest devetoga stoljeća|trans-title=Croatian Ninth Century History|language=hr|url=http://www.muzic-ivan.info/hrvatska_povijest.pdf|isbn=978-953-263-034-3|year=2007|publisher=Naklada Bošković|access-date=14 October 2011|archive-date=8 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808024028/http://www.muzic-ivan.info/hrvatska_povijest.pdf|url-status=dead}}
* Patterson, Patrick Hyder. "The futile crescent? Judging the legacies of Ottoman rule in Croatian history". ''Austrian History Yearbook'', vol. 40, 2009, p.&nbsp;125+. [https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A199912458/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=015ae8f3 online]. 
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GlbAmn_cajYC|title=The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us|last=Tapon|first=Francis|year=2012|publisher=WanderLearn Press|isbn=9780976581222}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|History of Croatia}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091005195007/http://www.isp.hr/index.php?lang=en Croatian Institute of History]
*[http://www.mdc.hr/ Museum Documentation Center]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090203102549/http://hismus.hr/english/main.htm The Croatian History Museum]
*[https://www.pdcnet.org/jcroatstud ''Journal of Croatian Studies'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101212010304/http://croatia.aventin.hr/croatia/history.htm Short History of Croatia]
*[http://www.croatianhistory.net/ Overview of History, Culture, and Science]
*[http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_Croatia:_Primary_Documents History of Croatia: Primary Documents]
*[http://www.hr/darko/etf/etfss.html Overview of History, Culture and Science of Croatia]
*[http://vlib.iue.it/history/europe/croatia.html WWW-VL History:Croatia]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040216002953/http://mirror.veus.hr/myth/ Dr. Michael McAdams: Croatia – Myth and Reality]
*[http://www.felbar.com/siteindex/create.php?lang=en&rtype=1&mnav=maps&ext=htm Historical Maps of Croatia]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091027044912/http://geocities.com/hrvatskapovijest/img/09.gif Croatia under Tomislav -from Nada Klaic book]
*The History Files: [http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsEurope/EasternCroatia.htm Croatia]
*[http://www.metodios.org/brief.history.croatia A brief history of Croatia]
*[http://www.tourcroatia.co.uk/early-history-croatia/ The Early History of Croatia]
*[http://croatia.org/crown/content_images/2018/Croatia_1990-2018.pdf Croatia since Independence 1990-2018]

{{Croatia topics|state=collapsed}}
{{History of Europe}}
{{European history by country}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Croatia (history)}}
[[Category:History of Croatia| ]]