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a short history of Croatia

Brief History of Croatia

The region of Dalmatia where today Croatia is situated was inhabited during the prehistoric period and in the early Neolithic period many cultures appeared. Since 4th century BC the area was inhabited by the Illyards and was colonized by the Celts and the Greeks. The region was in long and serious conflict with Rome which resulted in its subdual by Augustus around 35 33 BC.

Century and a half later with the fall of the Roman Empire, Dalmatia ceased to be a Roman province and the Croats settled on the Western Peninsula of the Balkans. The Croats settled in the area in the early 7th century and organized two dukedoms: the Pannonian Croatia duchy and the Littora Croatia duchy, which were Christianized by the end of the 9th century. When the Trpimirovic dynasty was established in year 850, it strengthened the Dalmatian Croat Duchy and along with the Pannonian principality formed a kingdom in year 925. As King was chosen Tomislav I, but duke Branimir was the first recognized Croatian ruler by the pope.

A century later, in 1102 Croatia united with the Hungarian Kingdom as a response to the attacks coming from Venice which was very strong power at that period. Despite that union, after several centuries of struggles in year 1420 most of Dalmatia and the coastal islands went under the control of Venice. It was only Dubrovnik which resisted the attacks. This Venetian control lasted a century and in 1526 after the Battle of Mohacs, the Croatian nobles voted the country to be part of the Habsburg Monarchy. From then on till year 1699, most of Croatia was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire until it was driven out of Croatia and Hungary and Austria was in control of the territory. During the war of Austrian Succession in the period 1741-1748, Empress Maria Theresia was supported by the Croatians, which gave them serious contributions later.

When the Venetian Republic crushed in 1797, Dalmatia and Istria became parts of the Habsburgs Empire. As a result of the Revolutions which happened in the Habsburg region in 1848 and the formation of the Austria-Hungary monarchy, Croatia lost its autonomy. It regained it twenty years later with the signing of the Hungarian-Croatian Settlement but it was not favorable for the Croatians. When the First World War started, the Dalmatia region was promised to Italy with the secret Treaty of London signed in 1915 by the Allies in return of the Italian support. At the end of the war, in year 1918, Croatia voted to abolish its union with Hungary and to become a member of the recently established kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which in year 1929 became Republic of Yugoslavia, though Italy still claimed its ownership over Dalmatia.

When Yugoslavia was occupied in 1941, Germany established Independent State of Croatia, which four years later crushed with the Third Reich. The Yugoslav partisans won, led by Tito who was half Croatian and half Slovenian himself and it was then that Croatia became again a republic within Yugoslavia. The second Republic of Yugoslavia existed for forty-six years and most of the time was led by Tito and his Communist Party. After the Second World War, Croatia managed to rebuild itself and as it went through a period of industrialization, soon I started to develop its tourism sphere. Thanks to the country neutral policy, its citizens were allowed to travel freely in almost all countries and no visas were required for them. This freedom was not allowed to the other communist countries in the Eastern Bloc. People had fee health and dental care, as well as secure pensions. The secondary and the higher education were gratis and it was quite pleasant to live so comfortably. When Tito died in 1980, the country faced a difficult period and most of the political and religious differences started to mount. With the Kosovo Crisis and the election of Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia provoked negative reaction in Croatia and Slovenia as they feared this will threaten their autonomy.

At the end of the eighties, the communist hegemony was put to an end and the first free elections were held in 1990. The next year Croatia got its independence from Yugoslavia, as a result of a costly war against Milosevic. In year 1996, it became a member of the Council of Europe and in 2004 it applied for a participant in the European Union. Both the European Union and the Croatian government expect the country to become a member in 2009 or 2010.