Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia


The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, created in 1868 by merging the kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia following the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement of 1868. It was associated with the Hungarian Kingdom within the dual Austro-Hungarian state, being within the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, also known as Transleithania. While Croatia had been granted a wide internal autonomy with "national features", in reality, Croatian control over key issues such as tax and military issues was minimal and hampered by Hungary. It was internally officially referred to as the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, also simply known as the Triune Kingdom, and had claims on Dalmatia, which was administrated separately by the Austrian Cisleithania. The city of Rijeka, following a disputed section in the 1868 Settlement known as the, became a corpus separatum and was legally owned by Hungary, but administrated by both Croatia and Hungary.
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was ruled by the emperor of Austria, who bore the title King of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia and was confirmed by the State Sabor upon accession. The King's appointed steward was the ban of Croatia and Slavonia. On 21 October 1918, Emperor Karl I, known as King Karlo IV in Croatia, issued a Trialist manifest, which was ratified by the Hungarian side on the next day and which unified all Croatian Crown Lands. One week later, on 29 October 1918, the Croatian State Sabor proclaimed an independent kingdom which entered the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.

Name

The kingdom used the formal title of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia, thereby pressing its claim on the Kingdom of Dalmatia. But Dalmatia was a Kronland within the imperial Austrian part of Austria-Hungary. The claim was, for most of the time, supported by the Hungarian government, which backed the Croatia-Slavonia in an effort to increase its share of the dual state. The union between the two primarily Croatian lands of Austria-Hungary never took place, however. According to the Article 53 of the Croatian–Hungarian Agreement, governing Croatia's political status in the Hungarian-ruled part of Austria-Hungary, the ban's official title was "Ban of Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia". Not only would different parts of the Monarchy at the same time use different styles of the titles, but even the same institutions would at the same time use different naming standards for the same institution. For instance, when the Imperial and Royal Court in Vienna would list the Croatian Ban as one of the Great Officers of State in the Kingdom of Hungary, the style used would be Regnorum Croatiae, Dalmatiae et Slavoniae Banus, but when the Court would list the highest officials of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia, the title would be styled as "Ban of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia". The laws passed in Croatia-Slavonia used the phrase "Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia".
In Hungarian, Croatia is referred to as Horvátország and Slavonia as Szlavónia. The combined polity was known by the official name of Horvát-Szlavón Királyság. The short form of the name was Horvát-Szlavónország and, less frequently Horvát-Tótország.
The order of mentioning Dalmatia was a contentious issue, as it was ordered differently in the Croatian and Hungarian language versions of the 1868 Settlement.

History

The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was created in 1868, when the former kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia were joined into one single kingdom. The Croatian parliament, elected in a questionable manner, confirmed the subordination of Croatia-Slavonia to Hungary in 1868 with signing of Hungarian-Croatian union constitution called the Nagodba. This kingdom included parts of present-day Croatia and Serbia.
After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 the only remaining open question of the new state was the status of Croatia, which would be solved with the Hungarian-Croatian Compromise of 1868 when agreement was reached between the Parliament of Hungary on one hand and the Parliament of Croatia-Slavonia on the other hand, with regard to the composition by a joint enactment of the constitutional questions at issue between them. Settlement reached between Hungary and Croatia was in Croatian version of the Settlement named "The Settlement between Kingdom of Hungary, united with Erdély on the one side and the Kingdoms of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia". In the Hungarian version neither Hungary, nor Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia are styled kingdoms, and Erdély is not even mentioned, while Settlement is named as the Settlement between Parliament of Hungary and Parliament of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia. Both versions received Royal sanction and both as such became fundamental laws of the state with constitutional importance, pursuant to article 69. and 70. of the Settlement.
With this compromise the parliament of personal union controlled the military, the financial system, Sea Law, Commercial Law, the law of Bills of Exchange and Mining Law, and generally matters of commerce, customs, telegraphs, Post Office, railways, harbours, shipping, and those roads and rivers which jointly concern Hungary and Croatia-Slavonia.
Similarly to these affairs, trade matters including hawking, likewise with regard to societies which do not exist for public gain, and also with regard to passports, frontier police, citizenship and naturalization, the legislation was joint, but the executive in respect of these affairs was reserved to Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. The citizenship was named "Hungarian-Croatian citizenship" in Croatia-Slavonia.
In the end, fifty-five per cent of the total income of Croatia-Slavonia were assigned to the Joint Treasury.
The kingdom existed until 1918 when it joined the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which together with the Kingdom of Serbia formed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The new Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom was divided into :Category:Former counties of Croatia|counties between 1918 and 1922 and into oblasts between 1922 and 1929. With the formation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, most of the territory of the former Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia became a part of the Sava Banate and in 1939 autonomous Croatian Banate.

Government and politics

Political status

The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 created the Dual Monarchy. Under the Compromise, Austria and Hungary each had separate parliaments that passed and maintained separate laws. Each region had its own government, headed by its own prime minister. The "common monarchy" consisted of the emperor-king and the common ministers of foreign affairs, defense and finance in Vienna. The Compromise confirmed Croatia-Slavonia's historic, eight-centuries-old relationship with Hungary and perpetuated the division of the Croat lands, for both Dalmatia and Istria remained under Austrian administration.
At Franz Joseph's insistence, Hungary and Croatia reached the Compromise in 1868, giving the Croats a special status in Hungary. The agreement granted the Croats autonomy over their internal affairs. The Croatian Ban would now be nominated by the joint Croatian-Hungarian government led by the Hungarian Prime Minister, and appointed by the king. Areas of "common" concern to Hungarians and Croats included finance, currency matters, commercial policy, the post office, and the railroad. Croatian became the official language of Croatia's government, and Croatian representatives discussing "common" affairs before the Croatian-Hungarian diet were permitted to speak Croatian. A ministry of Croatian Affairs was created within the Hungarian government.
Although the Nagodba provided a measure of political autonomy to Croatia-Slavonia, it was subordinated politically and economically to Hungary in the Croatian-Hungarian entity of the Monarchy.
, the first Ban of Croatia-Slavonia

Parliament

The Croatian Parliament or the Royal Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Sabor had legislative authority over the autonomous issues according to the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement of 1868. A draft law, approved by the Diet, became a statute after the royal assent. It also had to be signed by the Ban. The King had the power to veto all legislation passed by the Diet and also to dissolve it and call new elections. If the King dissolved the Diet, he would have to call new elections during the period of three months.
The parliament was summoned annually at Zagreb by the King or by the King especially appointed commissioner. It was unicameral, but alongside 88 elected deputies, 44 ex officio members were Croatian and Slavonian high nobility, high dignitaries of the Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and supreme county prefects of all Croatian-Slavonian counties. Legislative term was three years, after 1887 – five years.
The Croatian Parliament elected twenty-nine deputies to the House of Representatives and two members to the House of Magnates of the Diet of Hungary. The delegates of Croatia-Slavonia were allowed to use Croatian language in the proceedings, but they voted personally.
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia held independent elections for the Croatian Parliament in 1865, 1867, 1871, 1872, 1878, 1881, 1883, 1884, 1887, 1892, 1897, 1901, 1906, 1908, 1910, 1911, 1913.
Main political parties represented in the Parliament were People's Party, Independent People's Party, Croatian-Hungarian Party , Party of Rights, Pure Party of Rights, Starčević's Party of Rights, Serb Independent Party, Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party, Croat-Serb Coalition etc.

Autonomous Government

The Autonomous Government or Land Government, officially "Royal Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Land Government" was established in 1869 with its seat in Zagreb. Until 1914 it possessed three departments:
At the head of the Autonomous Government in Croatia-Slavonia stood the Ban, who was responsible to the Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Diet.

Ban (Prime Minister and Viceroy)

The Ban was appointed by the King, on the proposal and under the counter-signature of the Joint Hungarian minister-president.
List of bans from 1868 until 1918:
The supreme court of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia was the Table of Seven in Zagreb, while the second-level court was the Ban's Table or Ban's Court in Zagreb.
After the judicial reorganization of 1874 – 1886, the Judicial Power Act of 1874 and the Judges' Disciplinary Responsibility
and reincorporation of Croatian Military Frontier and Slavonian Military Frontier in 1881; courts of first instance became 9 royal court tables with collegiate judgeships, approximately 63 royal district courts with single judges and local courts, also with single judges, which were established in each municipality and city according to the Local Courts and Local Courts Procedure Act of 1875 as special tribunals for minor civil cases. The Royal Court Table in Zagreb was also a jury court for press offences. Judges were appointed by the king, but their independence was legally guaranteed.

Counties

In 1886, under Croatian ban Dragutin Khuen-Héderváry, Croatia-Slavonia was divided into eight counties :
  1. Modruš-Rijeka County
  2. Zagreb County
  3. Varaždin County
  4. Bjelovar-Križevci County
  5. Virovitica County
  6. Požega County
  7. Srijem County
  8. Lika-Krbava County
Lika-Krbava became a county after the incorporation of the Croatian Military Frontier into Croatia-Slavonia in 1881. The counties were subsequently divided into a total of 77 districts as governmental units. Cities and municipalities were local authorities.

Symbols

Flag

According to the 1868 Agreement and the Decree No. 18.307 of 16 November 1867 of the Department of the Interior of the Royal Country Government:
The red-white-blue tricolor is the civil flag in the Kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia, which with the united coat of arms of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia with the crown of St. Stephen on top is the official flag for usage in autonomous affairs. The aforementioned civil flag may be used by everyone in an appropriate way.
It was also stated that the emblem for "joint affairs of the territories of the Hungarian Crown" is formed by the united Coat of Arms of Hungary and Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia.
However, there existed several variations of the internally used version of the flag, with some variants using an unofficial type of crown or simply omitting the crown instead of using the officially prescribed Hungarian Crown of St. Stephen. There were also variations in the design of the shield. The unofficial Coat of Arms was the preferred design and its widespread use was the reason that the Ban issued a Decree in 21 November 1914, stating that it had become a custom "in the Kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia to use flags that are not adequate either in state-juridical or in political sense" and which strengthened flag related laws. It reiterated the aforementioned definitions of Croatian flags from 1867 and further stated that "Police authorities shall punish violations of this Decree with a fine of 2 to 200 K or with arrest from 6 hours to 14 days and confiscate the unauthorized flag or emblem."

Coat of Arms

Demographics

Nationality

In the 1910 census, the total population numbered 2,621,954, of the following nationalities:
1875 data
Data taken from the 1910 census.
According to the 1910 census, illiteracy rate in Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was 45.9%. The lowest illiteracy was in Zagreb, Osijek and Zemun.

Military

The Croatian Home Guard was the military of the Kingdom. Notable Croatians in the Austro-Hungarian Army included Field Marshal Svetozar Boroević, commander of the Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops Emil Uzelac, commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Maximilian Njegovan and Josip Broz Tito who later became Marshal and president of Yugoslavia.

Culture

The modern University of Zagreb was founded in 1874. The Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and Matica hrvatska were the main cultural institutions in the kingdom. In 1911 the main cultural institution in the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Matica dalmatinska, merged with Matica hrvatska. Vijenac was one of the most important cultural magazines in the kingdom. The building of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb was opened in 1895. The Croatian National Theatre in Osijek was established in 1907. The Sisters of Charity Hospital in Zagreb was the first established in the kingdom.

Religion

Catholic Church

Roughly 75% of the population were Roman Catholic, with the remaining 25% Orthodox. The Catholic Church had the following hierarchy within the kingdom:

Judaism

In 1890, there were 17,261 Jews living in the kingdom. In 1867 the Zagreb Synagogue was built.

Transportation

The first railway line opened in the kingdom was the Zidani Most-Zagreb-Sisak route which began operations in 1862. The Zaprešić-Varaždin-Čakovec line was opened in 1886 and the Vinkovci-Osijek line was opened in 1910.

Sports

The Croatian Sports Association was formed in 1909 with Franjo Bučar as its president. While Austria-Hungary had competed in the modern Olympics since the inaugural games in 1896, the Austrian Olympic Committee and Hungarian Olympic Committee held the exclusive right to send their athletes to the games. The association organized a national football league in 1912.

Legacy

In 1918, during the last days of World War I, the Croatian parliament abolished the Hungarian-Croatian personal union, and both parts of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia and the Kingdom of Dalmatia, became part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which together with the Kingdom of Serbia, formed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The new Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom was divided into counties between 1918 and 1922 and into oblasts between 1922 and 1929. With the formation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, most of the territory of the former Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia became a part of the Sava Banovina, and most of the former Kingdom of Dalmatia became part of the Littoral Banovina.
On the basis of the political agreement between Dragiša Cvetković and Vlatko Maček
and the "Decree on the Banovina of Croatia" dated 24 August 1939, the autonomous Banovina of Croatia was created by uniting the Sava Banovina, the Littoral Banovina, and districts Brčko, Derventa, Dubrovnik, Fojnica, Gradačac, Ilok, Šid and Travnik.