Croatian nationalism

An early version of the Croatian šahovnica as the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Croatia in 1495
Statue in Zagreb of King Tomislav, the first Croatian king (r. c. 925 – 928)

Croatian nationalism is nationalism that asserts the nationality of Croats and promotes the cultural unity of Croats.

Modern Croatian nationalism first arose in the 19th century after Budapest exerted increasing pressure for Magyarization of Croats; the movement started to grow especially after the April Laws of 1848 which ignored Croatian autonomy within the Hungarian Kingdom.[1][2] Croatian nationalism was based on two main ideas: a historical right to statehood based on a continuity with the medieval Croatian state and an identity associated with other Slavs - especially Southern Slavs.[3] A Croatian revival started with the Illyrian movement (c. 1835 onward), which founded the Matica hrvatska organisation [1] in 1842 and promoted "Illyrian" language. Illyrianism spawned two political movements: the Party of Rights (founded in 1861 and named after the concept of the Croatian state right (pravaštvo); led by Ante Starčević), and Yugoslavism (the term means "South-Slav-ism") under Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815-1905). Both Starčević and Strossmayer were largely limited in their influence to the Croatian intelligentsia.[4]

Advocacy in favour of Yugoslavism as a means to achieve the unification of Croatian lands in opposition to their division under Austria-Hungary began with Strossmayer advocating this as being achievable within a federalized Yugoslav monarchy.[5][failed verification]

After the foundation of Yugoslavia in 1918, a highly centralized state was established under the St. Vitus Day Constitution of 1921 in accordance with Serbian nationalist desires to ensure the unity of the Serbs; this caused resentment amongst Croats and other peoples in Yugoslavia. Dalmatian Croat and the principal World War I-era Yugoslavist leader Ante Trumbić denounced the St. Vitus Day Constitution for establishing a Serb hegemony in Yugoslavia - contrary to the interests of Croats and other peoples in Yugoslavia.[6] Croatian nationalists opposed the centralized state, with moderate nationalists demanding an autonomous Croatia within Yugoslavia.[5] Croatian nationalism became a mass movement in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia through Stjepan Radić's Croatian Peasant Party.[5] The demand by moderate Croatian nationalists for an autonomous Croatia - the Banovina of Croatia - within Yugoslavia was accepted by the Yugoslav government in the Cvetković–Maček Agreement of August 1939.[5] This agreement angered Serbian nationalists, who opposed it on the grounds that it weakened the unity of Serbdom in Yugoslavia; they asserted the importance of Serbian unity to Yugoslavia with the slogan "Strong Serbdom, Strong Yugoslavia".[7] The agreement also angered Bosniaks (then known as "Yugoslav Muslims"), including the Yugoslav Muslim Organization (JMO), that denounced the agreement's partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[8]

A violent sectarian Croatian nationalism also developed prior to World War II within Ante Pavelić's Ustaše movement (founded in 1929), which collaborated with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in its government of the "Independent State of Croatia" (1941-1945) during World War II.[5] Under post-war communist rule in Yugoslavia, dominated by the part-Croat Tito (in power 1944-1980), Croatian nationalism became largely dormant, except for the Croatian Spring of 1967 to 1971, until the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991-1992 and the Croatian War of Independence[5] of 1991 to 1995.

In its more extreme form, Croatian nationalism is marked by the desire for the establishment of a Greater Croatian state, by the idealization of peasant and of patriarchal values, as well as by anti-Serb sentiment.[9]

  1. ^ a b Motyl 2001, p. 104.
  2. ^ "Nationalism in Hungary, 1848-1867".
  3. ^ Motyl, Alexander J., ed. (2000-10-27). "Croatian nationalism". Encyclopedia of Nationalism. Elsevier. p. 104. ISBN 9780080545240. Retrieved 3 October 2022. Two factors have been of immense importance in shaping modern Croatian national identity and nationalism. The first is the concept of historical state right, the belief that the medieval Croatian state never completely lost its independence. The second is various forms of identity associated with other Slavs, especially the Southern Slavs.
  4. ^ Motyl, Alexander J., ed. (2000-10-27). "Croatian nationalism". Encyclopedia of Nationalism. Elsevier. p. 105. ISBN 9780080545240. Retrieved 3 October 2022. Both Starčević and Strossmayer had an important role in shaping Croatian identity, but their influence was limited largely to Croatia's intelligentsia.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Motyl 2001, p. 105.
  6. ^ Spencer Tucker. Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2005. Pp. 1189.
  7. ^ Motyl 2001, p. 471.
  8. ^ Motyl 2001, p. 57.
  9. ^ Blamires 2006, p. 155.