Kingdom of Croatia Slavonia

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 (also known as Cisleithania). The claim was, for most of the time, supported by the Hungarian government, which backed 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". 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 full civil administration was introduced in the Kingdom of Slavonia in 1745 and it was, as one of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, administratively included into both Kingdom of Croatia and Kingdom of Hungary, but it existed virtually until 1868). 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 (Croatian–Hungarian Settlement, known also as Croatian–Hungarian Agreement or Hungarian-Croatian Compromise of 1868). This kingdom included parts of present-day Croatia and Serbia (eastern part of Syrmia).

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.

With this compromise the parliament of personal union (in which Croatia-Slavonia had only twenty-nine, after 1881 - forty deputies) controlled the military, the financial system, Sea (Maritime) 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. In the end, fifty-five per cent of the total income of Croatia-Slavonia were assigned to the Joint Treasury ("Joint Hungarian-Croatian Ministry of Finance").

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 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 (Banovina of Croatia).

Political status

The Austro-Hungarian Compromise (Ausgleich) of 1867 created the Dual Monarchy. Under the Compromise, Austria and Hungary each had separate parliaments (the Imperial Council and the Diet of Hungary) 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 (as Kingdom of Dalmatia and Margraviate of Istria).

At Franz Joseph's insistence, Hungary and Croatia reached the Compromise (or Nagodba in Croatian) 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 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 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.

Parliament

The Croatian Parliament or the Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Diet (Croatian: Hrvatsko-slavonsko-dalmatinski sabor or Sabor Kraljevina Hrvatske, Slavonije i Dalmacije) had legislative authority over the autonomous issues according to the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement of 1868. A draft law (bill), approved by the Diet, became a statute (an act) after the royal assent (sanction). It also had to be signed by the Ban and the Minister of Croatian Affairs. 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 had dissolved the Diet, he must have called 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 (usually the Ban). It was unicameral, but alongside 88 elected deputies (in 1888), 44 ex officio members were Croatian and Slavonian high nobility (male princes, counts and barons - similar to hereditary peers - over the age of 24 who paid at least 1000 forints (guldens) a year land tax), high dignitaries of the Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and supreme county prefects (veliki župani) of all Croatian-Slavonian counties. Legislative term was three years, after 1887 - five years.

The Croatian Parliament elected twenty-nine (after reincorporation of Croatian Military Frontier and Slavonian Military Frontier in 1881 - forty) deputies to the House of Representatives and two members (after 1881 - three) 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 (People's Liberal Party), Independent People's Party (after 1880), Croatian-Hungarian Party (Constitutional Liberal Party or Unionist Party) (1868 - 1873), Party of Rights, Pure Party of Rights (after 1895), Starčević's Party of Rights (after 1908), Serb Independent Party (after 1881), Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (after 1904), Croat-Serb Coalition (after 1905) etc.

Autonomous Government

The Autonomous Government or Land Government, officially "Royal Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Land Government"(Croatian: Zemaljska vlada or Kraljevska hrvatsko-slavonsko-dalmatinska zemaljska vlada) was established in 1869 with its seat in Zagreb (Croatian Parliament Act No. II of 1869). 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 (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 (viceroys) from 1868 until 1918:

Law

The supreme court of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia was the Table of Seven in Zagreb ("Table of Septemvirs" or "Court of Seven"; Croatian: Stol sedmorice), while the second-level court (court of appeal) was the Ban's Table or Ban's Court (Croatian: Banski stol) in Zagreb.

After the judicial reorganization of 1874 - 1886 (complete separation of judicial and administrative power, laws on judges' independence and judicial organization, the Organization of Courts of the First Instance Act of 1874 (with 1886 amendments), the Judicial Power Act of 1874 and the Judges' Disciplinary Responsibility (etc.) Act of 1874, the Croatian Criminal Procedure Act of 1875, the Croatian Criminal Procedure Press Offences Act of 1875) and reincorporation of Croatian Military Frontier and Slavonian Military Frontier in 1881; courts of first instance were 9 royal court tables with collegiate judgeships (Croatian: kraljevski sudbeni stolovi in Zagreb, Varaždin, Bjelovar, Petrinja, Gospić, Ogulin, Požega, Osijek and Mitrovica; criminal and major civil jurisdiction; former county courts and Land Court/Royal County Court Table in Zagreb), approximately 63 royal district courts with single judges (Croatian: kraljevski kotarski sudovi; mainly civil and misdemeanor jurisdiction, former district administrative and judicial offices and city courts) and local courts (Croatian: mjesni sudovi), 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 (županije, known as comitatus):

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 (Croatian: kotari, similar to Austrian Bezirke) as governmental units. Cities (gradovi) and municipalities (općine) were local authorities.

Symbols

According to the Croatian–Hungarian Agreement in 1868:

Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia can, within their own frontiers in their internal affairs, use their own combined colours and coat of arms, the latter, however, being surmounted by the Crown of St. Stephen.(Art. 61) The emblem of the Joint Affairs of the territories of the Hungarian Crown is formed by the combined arms of Hungary and of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia. (Art. 62) At times when Joint Affairs are being debated, the combined Croatian-Slavonia-Dalmatian flag is to be hoisted beside the Hungarian flag, upon the building in which the Joint Parliament of the territories of the Hungarian Crown is being held. (Art. 63)

Nationality

In the 1910 census, the total population numbered 2,621,954, of the following nationalities:

1875 data (without the Military Frontier)

Religion

Data taken from the 1910 census.

Literacy

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.

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 (excluding Zadar and Lastovo), 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 (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). 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 (Cvetković-Maček Agreement) and the "Decree on the Banovina of Croatia" (Uredba o Banovini Hrvatskoj) dated 24 August 1939, the autonomous Banovina of Croatia (Banate of Croatia) was created by uniting the Sava Banovina, the Littoral Banovina, and districts Brčko, Derventa, Dubrovnik, Fojnica, Gradačac, Ilok, Šid and Travnik.