History UsefulNotes / Croatia

* A good part of ''The Merman's Children'' by Creator/PoulAnderson takes place in medieval Dalmatia. It features the Šubićs, a prominent Croatian noble family.

* '''Highest point:''' Dinara (1831 m/6,007 ft) (147th)

%%The line "a goal that was pursued by Croats for nearly 900 years" implicates that the Croats existed as a nation back in the 1100s, which predates the modern idea of nations by about 600-700 years, so it falls into the [[UsefulNotes/PoliticalIdeologies primordialist school of nationalism]]. The line ''is'' found very often in Croatian history textbooks, [[Administrivia/RuleofCautiousEditingJudgment and let's leave it at that]].

It must be noted that the question of language within Croatia is a sensitive one, the primary reason being that a nation's language is considered one of the defining traits of said nation/ethnic group/country. Problems arise with the ¨Croato-Serbian/Serbo-Croatian¨ designation which covers Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin languages. Croatian linguists hold the position that Croatian and Serbian are distinct languages, while Serbian hold the opposite thesis. Due to the Yugoslav wars and mutually sore relations of both countries, the question can be highly inflammatory [[Administrivia/RuleofCautiousEditingJudgment and is best left to the experts]].

* '''Highest point:''' Dinara (1831 m/6,007 ft) (132nd)

* '''Highest point:''' Dinara (1831 m/6,007 ft) (150th)

* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' HR

* Croatian mercenaries, some of who were rather famous in their time, gave the world the cravat (though the original version looked rather different than the modern one).

* Zagreb is the target of a test of the main villain's EMP weapon in ''Film/HitmansWifesBodyguard''.

There were problems from the start, however. Croats wanted autonomy, but there was no clean dividing line between Serbs and Croats. As an answer to this and other pro-national movements, king [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_I_of_Yugoslavia Alexander I]] (of the Serbian royal dynasty) put up a dictatorial regime, which lasted until he was assassinated in Marseille (France) by a violent terrorist outfit supported by a Croatian Nazi organization named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ustasha the Ustaše]] ("Oostahshee"), led by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ante_Pavelić Ante Pavelić]]. Alexander's successor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_II_of_Yugoslavia Peter II]] was 11 at the time, so the Council of Regents was set up, led by the late king's cousin, Prince-Regent Paul. He was more even-handed and, after long and tricky negotiations, a large autonomous Croatia was created within Yugoslavia in 1939. But soon after that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler began his campaign to conquer Europe...

They organised the state into two dukedoms by the 9th century. Tomislav became the first king by 925 AD, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Peter Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir. Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne.

Over the next few centuries, the lands that comprise most of modern Croatia were divided between the Habsburg (later Austro-Hungarian) Monarchy, the Republic of Venice, and the Ottoman Empire. These three cultures left an indelible mark on the country's cultural heritage. Unfortunately, Croatia also became a ground for military struggles between the three powers. As a result, Croatia produced some famous troops, such as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenz_infantry Grenzers]] -- light infantry recruited from the lands bordering the Ottoman Empire, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uskoks Uskoks]] -- irregular raiders/pirates, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croats_(military_unit) Croats]] -- light cavalry similar to hussars. The other area around Dubrovnik was Ragusa, a wealthy city state with strong ties to Venice. This was invaded by UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte in 1806 and annexed by Austria in the 1814-15 Congress of Vienna where the Ragusans weren't invited. Croats became known

The political situation began to stir up significantly following the 2015 elections. The elections were won by a coalition of right-wing parties called the ''Patriotic Coalition''. The coalition was also something of a novelty as the usually solitary leader of center right/right-wing coalitions HDZ was sharing power with surprise third party MOST (lit. ''BRIDGE'') which acquired a stunning 21% of votes, making it a legitimate "third party" in a usually staunch bipartisan electoral system. The new coalition was marred by power struggles and various quirks from the get-go. The HDZ "lobe" of the coalition went on to enforce a distinctively right oriented policies which disturbed a number of citizens whilst the MOST part was generally bickering with HDZ over how to best implement their own policies. Needless to say, the coalition collapsed in less than a year and new elections were held in September 2016, with the HDZ-MOST coalition ending up in power yet again.

On a lighter note as of 2018, the Croatian economy is recovering as exports and industrial production are continually on the rise (mostly in the private sector), construction projects are picking up (again, mostly due to private investors, but there are some public works as well, such as the enlargement of Franjo Tuđman airport and the reconstruction of Zagreb rotor) and all the while the income generated by tourism is consistently breaking last-year records, with Zagreb's advent festival being voted 'European Best Destinations' three years in a row.

The Germans and Italians put the Ustaše in charge of Croatia and the whole of Bosnia, creating the [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial "Independent State of Croatia,"]] while Italy placed a large part of the Croatian coast land under its direct rule (and Hungary took a small part of northern Croatia). Without any prompting from Germany, they set out to destroy Serbs, Jews, Roma (usually called "Gypsies"), and "antifascists". The last covered mostly enthusiastic supporters of the communist Partisans and other opponents of the Ustaša regime. The Ustaše also hold the "distinction" of being the only non-German nation who ran their own extermination camps (first at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadovno Jadovno]], then at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasenovac Jasenovac]]) and the only nation to ran extermination camps specifically for (Serbian) children ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisak_children%27s_concentration_camp Sisak]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jastrebarsko_concentration_camp Jastrebarsko]]). [[TheDogBitesBack Ustaše brutality was a major factor in driving people to join local resistance movements.]]

Croatia ('''Croatian:''' ''Hrvatska''), officially known as the '''Republic of Croatia''' ('''Croatian:''' ''Republika Hrvatska''[[note]]in the Yugoslavian languages, "r" is occasionally a vowel[[/note]]), is a Southern European country and a former [[UsefulNotes/{{Yugoslavia}} Yugoslav]] state. The Croats were a Slavic tribe who probably came from somewhere in modern Poland and Ukraine before crossing over the Carpathian basin to settle in modern Croatia during the 600s, when that region had been devastated by nomadic raiders.

Croatia rarely appears in Western media, and when it does it often includes elements of {{Ruritania}} (typical pre-World War II portrayal, but is also present in UsefulNotes/ColdWar era and UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars portrayals), CommieLand (less sympathetic Cold War-era portrayals) or an {{Expy}} of UsefulNotes/RepublicanItaly (when its summer tourism appeal is emphasized - this portrayal was almost as common during Tito's time as it is today). Sometimes it is even presented as a bizarre mix of the above settings. However ''Croatians'', when seen in contemporary works of fiction, have usually been touched by the Civil War in some fashion.

Croatia ('''Croatian:''' ''Hrvatska''), officially known as the '''Republic of Croatia''' ('''Croatian:''' ''Republika Hrvatska''[[note]]in the Yugoslavian languages, "r" is occasionally a vowel[[/note]]), is a Southern European country and a former Yugoslav state. The Croats were a Slavic tribe who probably came from somewhere in modern Poland and Ukraine before crossing over the Carpathian basin to settle in modern Croatia during the 600s, when that region had been devastated by nomadic raiders.

* ''Film/TheHunt2020'' is set mostly in Croatia.

* ''Film/TheHunt2020'' is set in Croatia.

Over the next few centuries, the lands that comprise most of modern Croatia were divided between the Habsburg (later Austro-Hungarian) Monarchy, the Republic of Venice, and the Ottoman Empire. These three cultures left an indelible mark on the country's cultural heritage. Unfortunately, Croatia also became a ground for military struggles between the three powers. The other area around Dubrovnik was Ragusa, a wealthy city state with strong ties to Venice. This was invaded by UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte in 1806 and annexed by Austria in the 1814-15 Congress of Vienna where the Ragusans weren't invited.

After the fall of many communist regimes in the early 90s, Croatia tried to follow the lead of Slovenia and leave crumbling Yugoslavia, but most areas where the Serbs were in the majority decided to secede from Croatia in the same way Croatia did from Yugoslavia, forming with Serbia's support the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republika_Srpska_Krajina Serb Krajina]] ("Krayeena"). The desertion-plagued and badly motivated Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army intervened to officially stop the Croatian attempt to secede while in reality giving military assistance to the Krajina Serbs, but proved ineffective against the Croatian militias and volunteers due to low morale, sloppy to nonexistent strategies and outdated military doctrines - although brutal Serb paramilitaries did their best to make up for this by terrorizing the population. The seven-month Siege of Dubrovnik from 1991-92 saw heavy damage done to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, further turning international opinion against Yugoslavia.

After a few initial successes, the Yugoslav People's Army got bogged down in brutal urban fighting, where it took heavy losses (high desertion rates were a big factor in this - tanks were often left without infantry support, for example). A ceasefire was agreed upon at the end of 1991, and the war in Croatia died down to a series of skirmishes, until the Croats eventually toppled the Serb Krajina in a series of offensives in 1995, killing 700 and expelling around 120,000 Serbs from the area.

Meanwhile, however, the conflict had spilled over into Bosnia, resulting in the bloodiest conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Milošević reorganized the Yugoslav Army, purging it from almost all non-Serb and Serb officers he deemed not loyal enough and emphasizing Serbian nationalism among the troops. As the Serbs sought to ethnically cleanse large regions of Bosnia, the Croats also sought to bring an area of southwestern Bosnia (which they dubbed the Republic of Herceg-Bosna) under their control and conducted some ethnic cleansing of their own (though not on the same scale as the Serbs). Finally, the Croats and Bosniaks, under Western pressure, decided to ally against the Serbs. After Operation Storm (contrary to some opinions in the West, NATO bombing was ineffective, both militarily and politically - NATO did provide [=UAVs=], satellite imagery and advisers), a peace treaty was finally signed by all the participants in 1995. Eastern Slavonia was peacefully returned to Croatia in 1997.

With state integrity preserved and the war over, Croatia found itself truly free and independent. Unfortunately, Croatian leadership and the people themselves found it hard to adjust to the new capitalist/free market system. Many firms and companies were given away or bought for next to nothing by tycoons or political cronies[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatization_in_Croatia]]. Many people were also left impoverished or unable to work as a result of war.

* '''Area:''' 56,594 sq km (21,851 sq mi) (124th)

* '''Area:''' 56,594 km (21,851 sq mi) (124th)

** Speaker of Parliament: Gordan Jandroković

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/croatia_flag_1636.png
->The flag combines the colors of the flags of the Kingdoms of Croatia (red and white), Slavonia (white and blue) and Dalmatia (red and blue) -- historic constituent states of the Kingdom of Croatia -- and also coincide with the Pan-Slavic colors. At the center is the coat of arms, consisting a red-and-white checkerboard (''chequy'' in heraldic language) shield, "crowned" with the coats-of-arms of Croatia's five historic realms (left to right): Croatia, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia.
----

Croatia ('''Croatian:''' ''Hrvatska''), officially known as the Republic of Croatia ('''Croatian:''' ''Republika Hrvatska''[[note]]in the Yugoslavian languages, "r" is occasionally a vowel[[/note]]), is a Southern European country and a former Yugoslav state. The Croats were a Slavic tribe who probably came from somewhere in modern Poland and Ukraine before crossing over the Carpathian basin to settle in modern Croatia during the 600s, when that region had been devastated by nomadic raiders.

Meanwhile, however, the conflict had spilled over into Bosnia, resulting in the bloodiest conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Milošević reorganized the Yugoslav Army, purging it from almost all non-Serb and Serb officers he deemed not loyal enough and emphasizing Serbian nationalism among the troops. As the Serbs sought to ethnically cleanse large regions of Bosnia, the Croats also sought to bring an area of southwestern Bosnia (which they dubbed the Republic of Herceg-Bosna) under their control and conducted some ethnic cleansing of their own (though not on the same scale as the Serbs). Finally, the Croats and Bosniaks, under Western pressure, decided to ally against the Serbs. After Operation Storm (contrary to some opinions in the West, NATO bombing was ineffective, both militarily and politically - NATO did provide UAVs, satellite imagery and advisers), a peace treaty was finally signed by all the participants in 1995. Eastern Slavonia was peacefully returned to Croatia in 1997.

* Captain von Trapp from ''Movie/TheSoundOfMusic'' was born in the Croatian city of Zadar.

The Germans and Italians put the Ustaše in charge of Croatia and the whole of Bosnia, creating the [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial "Independent State of Croatia,"]] while Italy placed a large part of the Croatian coast land under its direct rule (and Hungary took a small part of northern Croatia). Without any prompting from Germany, they set out of destroy Serbs, Jews, Roma (usually called "Gypsies"), and "antifascists". The last covered mostly enthusiastic supporters of the communist Partisans and other opponents of the Ustaša regime. The Ustaše also hold the "distinction" of being the only non-German nation who ran their own extermination camps (first at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadovno Jadovno]], then at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasenovac Jasenovac]]) and the only nation to ran extermination camps specifically for (Serbian) children ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisak_children%27s_concentration_camp Sisak]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jastrebarsko_concentration_camp Jastrebarsko]]). [[TheDogBitesBack Ustaše brutality was a major factor in driving people to join local resistance movements.]]