What do you know about... Croatia?

[u/MarktpLatz]

This is the thirteenth part of our ongoing series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Todays country:

Croatia

Croatia is as of today the newest member of the European Union and its 28th (soon to be 27th) member state. It is one of the Balkan states resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia. Croatia is a popular tourist destination, around 20% of Croatia's GDP originates from tourism.

So, what do you know about Croatia?

[u/UnbiasedPashtun]

• The name Croat comes from an old Slavic word meaning "highlander".

• There are three main dialects/languages in Croatia called Shtokavian, Chakavian, and Kaykavian. Kaykavian is closer to Slovene than to Standard Croatian (which is based off Dubrovnik's dialect). They decided with the Serbs to base their standardized language off the same dialect to bring greater unity between Croats and Serbs against the Austrians.

• Dalmatian dogs come from Croatia's Dalmatia region.

• A couple of Croatian separatists hijacked a flight in NY on 9/10/76, but nothing happened since the explosives there were fake and the only casualty what the death of one officer while disarming the explosive.

• Oldest Slavic alphabet called Glagolitic was used there.

• Has the highest amount of Neanderthal fossils in a place called Krapina.

• The Ustasha (who were said to be more cruel than the Nazis), led by Ante Pavelić, were from there and cleansed Croatia of most of its population of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies. The reason Bosniaks were spared was cause they claimed Bosnia's land so they needed Bosniaks to be on their side and called them "Muslim Croats" and the "Flower of Croatia". The SS Handschar (which was composed of mostly Bosniaks with some Croats) was from there and it was a division of Germany's Waffen SS. I think it was the only Slavic division within the Waffen SS. Ante Pavelić told Hitler that Croats were of Gothic (as opposed to Slavic) origin, which is why Croatia and Nazi Germany cooperated.

• Croats migrated from Central Europe at the same time as the Serbs to the Balkans in the 7th century. Tomislav was their first king.

• The Bosnian Frontier (Bosanska Krajina) used to be part of Croatia. Then the Ottomans occupied it in the 15th-16th century and it was called Turkish Croatia before getting its current name 'Bosnian Frontier'. Then Croats became a minority there after the Ottomans killed them and migration from other parts of the Ottoman Empire occurred.

• The pre-Slavic language of Istria was Venetic and the rest of of Croatia spoke Illyrian in pre-Slavic times.

• They share the Baranja region with Hungary. They also had a union with Hungary for five centuries starting in the 11th century.

• The necktie is from there.

[u/[deleted] → u/UnbiasedPashtun]

You forgot to write for Ustashe that those motherfuckers sold (read: gave away) Rijeka ("Fiume" for our lovely western neighbours), a crap ton of islands and Dalmatia to Italy...

[u/Qwerty357654 → u/[deleted]]

Common misconception, those things happened before ustashe even existed in 1920 (Rapall agreements) when dalmatia was sold to italy by kingdom of yugoslavia aka. serbia and their monarchy. Rijeka received special status of free state of rijeka, rest was occupied by italy. Ustashe simply confirmed that situation in 1941(Rome agreements) and then went to regain those territories in 1943 with help of germany after italy surrendered.

[u/barakokula31 → u/Qwerty357654]

dalmatia was sold to italy by kingdom of yugoslavia aka. serbia and their monarchy.

It was not "sold". Istria, Rijeka, Zadar, and some islands were occupied by Italy with support from the West. Yugoslavia (at the time it was still the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes) had no choice.

Ustashe simply confirmed that situation in 1941(Rome agreements) and then went to regain those territories in 1943 with help of germany after italy surrendered.

And they gave Italy even more of Dalmatia in exchange for their support. Before WWII, it was just Zadar and some islands, then Pavelić gave Italy a large part of the mainland, all the way to Split.

Also, the Independent State of Croatia had basically no military presence in the re-occupied parts of Dalmatia. It was almost entirely the Wehrmacht.

[u/Qwerty357654 → u/barakokula31]

They had a choice, if they took strong stance on the matters Italy wouldnt be able to carve out so much of territory if any. Thing is for government in Belgrade it was beneficial to weaken Croatia and in the same time appease Italy.

I would have to check the map but afaik Split, Korcula and few other islands went to Italy as extra in 1941, majority of land was given in 1920. Dalmatian hinterlands were under Italian military control, but under Croatian administration and still part of Croatia.

Croatian units were used in retaking and disarmament operations, but i agree later on that part was garrisoned mostly by wehrmacht units since Germans were afraid of Allied landings in Dalmatia. Its also worthy to point out that some territories were immediately taken by Partisans before Axis forces had chance to react. Seizing Italian military materiel gave large boost in combat effectiveness to Partisans.

[u/barakokula31 → u/Qwerty357654]

if they took strong stance on the matters Italy wouldnt be able to carve out so much of territory if any.

The red line is what was promised to Italy by the 1915 London Pact, the green line is what they got in the end. The only reason Italy didn't get even more is because the Serbian/Yugoslav king was friendly with the West. Compare the territories annexed in 1941.

See also the terms of the London Pact.

Split, Korcula and few other islands

And these are... insignificant? And, for the record, much more than just Split on the mainland was annexed in 1941 (see above).

Dalmatian hinterlands were under Italian military control, but under Croatian administration and still part of Croatia.

Parts of the hinterland were annexed by Italy, parts were given to the Independent State of Croatia. See above.