Lyla Lindsey
The idea of Austria-Hungary-Croatia was not a far-fetched one, as Croatia had been a part of the Lands of the Hungarian Crown and the Habsburg monarchy since 1527. The Kingdom of Croatia, along with the Kingdom of Slavonia, was joined to create the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Hungarian part of the empire in 1868. The Croatian–Hungarian Settlement (Nagodba) of 1868 recognised Croatia as a distinct political unit with its own territory and permitted the Croats to elect their own legislative assembly. However, the governor of Croatia was to be nominated by the Hungarian prime minister and appointed by the king, and Croatia's representation in Hungary's parliament was restricted. While there was opposition to this settlement, it remained in effect until the end of World War I when Croatia seceded from Hungary. The idea of a triple monarchy with the creation of a South Slavic kingdom was discussed in the later years of Austria-Hungary, and it is speculated that Franz Ferdinand would have tried to implement it had he survived.
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What You'll Learn
Croatian national revival
The Croatian national revival was a movement that aimed to establish a Croatian national identity within the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. It had its roots in the early modern period and was revived in the first half of the 19th century, particularly in the 1830s and 1840s, by a group of young Croatian intellectuals, including language reformer Ljudevit Gaj.
The movement, known as the Illyrian movement, was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign. It sought to unify all South Slavs through a common language and orthography, which would serve as a means of cultural and national unification. The Illyrians, as they were known, envisioned a single literary language that would be a counterweight to Hungarian, which had been imposed as the official language in Hungary and Croatia. They also promoted Croatian written literature and official culture.
The Illyrian movement was successful in its cultural goals, fostering support in Croatia for its ultimate goal of creating an "Illyrian state". It formed the basis for the common Serbo-Croatian language and kept alive the idea of Yugoslavism, or South Slav unity within a federated Habsburg state. However, it failed to achieve its political goals, and Croatia remained a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire until World War I.
The Croatian national revival occurred against a backdrop of Croatian dissatisfaction with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Croats felt threatened by Hungarian nationalism and sought national unification and autonomy within the Empire. When they sided with the Austrian dynasty against the Hungarians in the Revolution of 1848, they were subjected to increased central control and Germanization. This led to the development of the Party of Right, which emphasized Croatian "state rights" and aspired to an independent Great Croatia.
The Croatian national revival was also influenced by the historical awareness of the modern Croat nation, which traced its origins to the medieval Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia. This proto-national state gave the Croats a sense of traditions of statehood, even though their kingdom had been united with Hungary since 1102. The Croatian nobility was often impoverished and culturally assimilated, and they struggled to withstand the Habsburg centralization and Germanization that began in the 18th century.
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Austro-Hungarian dualism crisis
The Compromise of 1867, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, which was a military and diplomatic alliance of two sovereign states. The compromise put an end to the 18-year-long military dictatorship and absolutist rule over Hungary that Emperor Franz Joseph I had instituted after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. The territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Hungary was restored, and the old historic constitution of the Kingdom was reinstated.
However, the Compromise was not without its issues. While Vienna viewed the agreement as linking two autonomous parts of a supranational state, the Hungarians saw the Monarchy as merely an external framework for two sovereign states. This differing interpretation of the Compromise led to tensions between the two halves of the empire, with the Hungarians using the agreement to obtain further concessions. For instance, in 1897, when negotiations on the economic and customs alliance and the quotas for contributions to the joint budget stalled, the deep schism between the two halves became evident, and the radical forces in both Vienna and Budapest threatened the stability of the Monarchy.
The crisis of dualism continued to plague the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy up until World War I. The inadequacies in the Monarchy's emergency decrees during the war, which differed in the two halves of the empire, did not go unnoticed by the general public. Living standards also varied noticeably between the two halves, as well as between different nationalities within the same provinces. These disparities, along with rising nationalism, contributed to the eventual downfall of the Monarchy.
The crisis of Austro-Hungarian dualism also had implications for Croatia, which was a territory within the Monarchy. Croatia, along with Slavonia, was placed under Hungarian jurisdiction as a result of the Compromise of 1867. This led to opposition from many Croats who sought full autonomy for the South Slavs of the empire. Despite the internal autonomy granted to Croatia, the governor (ban) of the region was to be nominated by the Hungarian prime minister and appointed by the king, and Croatia's representation in Hungary's parliament and access to central government institutions were restricted. The dissatisfaction with this arrangement contributed to the development of Croatian nationalism and the desire for an independent Great Croatia.
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Croatian-Hungarian Settlement
The Croatian-Hungarian Settlement, also known as the Nagodba, was a pact that governed Croatia's political status as a territory of Hungary until the end of World War I. The Settlement was established in 1868, one year after the creation of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy, and merged Croatia with Slavonia under Hungarian jurisdiction. While the Nagodba recognised Croatia as a distinct political unit with its own territory and permitted the Croats to elect their own legislative assembly, it also designated that the governor of Croatia would be nominated by the Hungarian prime minister and appointed by the king, and restricted Croatia's representation in Hungary's parliament.
The Kingdom of Croatia had been part of the Lands of the Hungarian Crown but was subject to direct Imperial Austrian rule for significant periods, including its final years. Its capital was Zagreb. The kingdom included only a small north-western part of present-day Croatia around Zagreb and a small strip of coastland around Rijeka that were not part of the Ottoman Empire or the Croatian Military Frontier until the 18th century. In the 16th century, the kingdom suffered large territorial losses in wars with the Ottoman Empire.
In 1527, following the fall of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács, Croatian and Hungarian nobles chose to join the Habsburg monarchy under the Austrian king Ferdinand I of Habsburg. The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was formed in 1868 when the territories of the Kingdom of Slavonia, which had been recovered from the Ottoman Empire and made subordinate to the Croatian Kingdom in 1744, were merged with Croatia.
The Croatian-Hungarian Settlement was not without opposition, and in 1871, dissidents elected an assembly that declared the compromise invalid and stimulated a revolt. However, the compromise was reaffirmed after the suppression of the insurrection and remained in effect until the end of World War I, when Croatia seceded from Hungary and joined the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later called Yugoslavia).
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Croatian Illyrian movement
The Croatian Illyrian movement was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign that emerged in the first half of the 19th century, with roots in the early modern period. The movement was started by a group of young Croatian intellectuals, including writers Janko Drašković and Ljudevit Gaj, who was also a poet and journalist. The Illyrian name was chosen as a reference to the theory that South Slavs descend from ancient Illyrians, the tribes that inhabited the Roman Illyricum province. The Illyrian movement aimed to create a Croatian national establishment in Austria-Hungary through linguistic and ethnic unity, and to lay the foundation for the cultural and linguistic unification of all South Slavs.
The Illyrian movement was a response to the increasing centralization and Germanization imposed by the Austrian archduchess and Holy Roman empress Maria Theresa and continued under her son, the Holy Roman emperor Joseph II. The Croats, already weakened by the loss of their lands to German and Hungarian magnates and military dignitaries, felt threatened by the rise of Hungarian nationalism and the imposition of Hungarian as the official language in Hungary and Croatia. In the beginning of the 1830s, a group of young Croatian writers and intellectuals gathered in Zagreb, which had become an important center of political, economic, and cultural activity, and established a movement for national renewal and unity of all South Slavs within the Habsburg Monarchy.
The greatest issue for the Illyrians was the establishment of a standard language as a counterweight to Hungarian, and the promotion of Croatian written literature and official culture. Ljudevit Gaj served as the leader of the movement for eight or nine years and played a key role in the development of a modern Croatian written language. In 1830, he published "Kratka Osnova Horvatsko-Slavenskoga Pravopisanja" ("Brief Basics of the Croatian-Slavic Orthography"), which was the first linguistic work published during the movement. In it, he presented his proposal for a reform of the Illyrian alphabet, which included the introduction of diacritics.
The Illyrian movement was largely an urban phenomenon, despite the predominantly rural demographics of the area. It was also a unifying tendency for South Slavs in the 1830s and '40s, applying to the Slavic communities of southeast Europe. The movement was influenced by the publication "Croatia Rediviva" (1700) and Count Janko Drašković's "Dissertation" (1832), which was considered the political, economic, social, and cultural program of the movement. The Illyrian movement overlapped with the Croatian National Revival of the same period, which encompassed the revival of national heritage and the reappropriation of traditions and folklore.
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Croatian autonomy
The Kingdom of Croatia was part of the Lands of the Hungarian Crown, but it was subject to direct Imperial Austrian rule at various points in its history, including its final years. The Croatian state moved northward from coastal Dalmatia to Zagreb as the Ottomans conquered the coastal areas. In the 18th century, the Kingdom of Croatia only included a small north-western part of present-day Croatia and a small strip of coastline around Rijeka.
In the 19th century, Croatian nationalism emerged as a response to the central control and Germanization imposed by the Austrian archduchess and Holy Roman empress Maria Theresa and continued under her son, the Holy Roman emperor Joseph II. Threatened by Hungarian nationalism in the Revolution of 1848, the Croats, under Ban Josip Jelačić, sided with the Austrian dynasty against the Hungarians. However, instead of being rewarded, the Croats received the same central control and Germanization that was dealt out to the Hungarians as punishment. This disappointment encouraged the development of the Party of Right, led by Ante Starčević, which emphasized the idea of Croatian “state rights” and aspired to the creation of an independent Great Croatia.
In 1867, the Austro-Hungarian Compromise created the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy. The following year, the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement (Nagodba) merged the Kingdom of Croatia with the Kingdom of Slavonia to create the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Hungarian part of the empire. While the Nagodba recognized the region as a distinct political unit with its own territory and permitted the Croats to elect their own legislative assembly (Sabor) and have their own executive authorities, it also designated that the governor (ban) of Croatia was to be nominated by the Hungarian prime minister and appointed by the king, and it restricted Croatia’s representation in Hungary’s parliament. Many Croats objected to this arrangement and sought full autonomy for the South Slavs of the empire. However, the Croatian Sabor confirmed the subordination of Croatia to Hungary by accepting the Nagodba in 1868.
In the later years of Austria-Hungary, there were discussions to convert the dual monarchy into a triple monarchy with the creation of a South Slavic kingdom, which would likely have been an expanded Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. One of the biggest supporters of this proposal was Franz Ferdinand, who likely would have tried to implement it had he not been assassinated in 1914. On 16 October 1918, Emperor Karl I of Austria and IV of Hungary proclaimed the People's Manifesto, which envisaged turning the Empire into a federal state of five Kingdoms, including Croatia, to take into account the aspirations of the Croats and other non-German peoples of the Empire. However, by this point, the South Slavs in both halves of the monarchy had already declared in favor of uniting with Serbia in a large South Slav state, and the national councils had begun acting as provisional governments of independent countries. The Lansing note of 18 October 1918, which stated that the Allies were committed to the causes of the Czechs, Slovaks, and South Slavs, is considered the death certificate of Austria-Hungary.
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Frequently asked questions
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a dual monarchy formed in 1867 by the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Austrian half was ruled by the Austrian Emperor, while the Kingdom of Hungary had its own parliament and government, with the king of Hungary being the same person as the Austrian Emperor.
Croatia was a part of the Kingdom of Hungary within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It had some autonomy, with its own legislative assembly and executive authorities, but its governor was appointed by the Hungarian prime minister and king. Croatian was recognised as an official language in the land.
Yes, in the later years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there were discussions to convert the dual monarchy into a triple monarchy with the creation of a South Slavic kingdom, which would likely have been an expanded version of the autonomous Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. One of the biggest supporters of this proposal was Franz Ferdinand, who may have tried to implement it had he not been assassinated in 1914. In 1918, Emperor Karl I of Austria and IV of Hungary proclaimed the People's Manifesto, which envisaged turning the Empire into a federal state of five kingdoms, including Croatia.
The more immediate reasons for the collapse of the state were World War I, the 1918 crop failure, general starvation, and the economic crisis. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had also been weakened over time by a widening gap between Hungarian and Austrian interests.
