No one could have predicted such a magnitude of national embarrassment. Outrage was sure to follow, yet nobody was certain when it would finally come.
A Sad Ending and an Even Sadder Beginning
November of 1918 had arrived, and signs of an approaching miracle were proven to be correct. Misery had descended upon Europe a long time ago, enveloping it in constant carnage and senseless killing. The Old Continent, once a shining beacon on an underdeveloped azure globe, screamed desperately for peace, anything that might stop the cruel outpour of blood staining its prestigious long gone glow. It did not stand alone, though, with people of all continents feeling the destruction of the Great War, but their plights always fell on deaf ears, no matter how many cold corpses kept piling atop each other and their unbearable stench of decay and intense shame. Marne, Gallipoli, Ypres, Verdun, so many names, yet all of them melded into one another, merely building yet another bloody plaque on the memorial of world history, just a stark fact to simply be trotted down in dusty books nobody will read in a hundred years without much care.
Yet, even after the Kaiser's cowardly escape to the Netherlands and a late armistice in the forests of Compiègne, bloodshed still did not cease, despite many a man vainly hoping for the peaceful resolution to all the slaughter that has engulfed the dark continent for the past four years. In fact, things seemed to get even more hopeless than before. Germany, whose population was starving, and discouragement from the war's unfavorable ending left many citizens raging.
The eruption of violence came suddenly, and Pax Europea decidedly had to wait for the right time again. However, the Reich was just one of many other nations experiencing turmoil in the newly-tailored world. Russia had a debilitating civil war between communists and various anti-communist factions whose only line of connection was nothing else but their vehement dislike of Marx's ideology to contend with.
It should be noted that the war caused the deaths of some of Europe's largest and once most prestigious empires, that being the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire as well as the Russian Empire, and with their disintegrations many new nations emerged, but what many forgot then, is that with new laws and practicioners of said laws came a whole new slew of problems and instability. Hungary's democratic government already began crumbling against the opposition of Béla Kun. Of course, this was just one of many other problems the region faced, other examples of such issues being many small unrecognized short-lived statelets popping up into existence, such as the Baranya-Baja Republic or the Illyrian State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The latter's story might just be the most interesting of them all.
False Hope
The Austro-Hungarian Empire, a nation with rich history and background, credited with saving Europe’s skin so many times, ranging from the Ottoman invasions in the 16th century all the way to the Revolutions of 1848, was on its last legs, begging for salvation. Franz Joseph I, a man who was the walking symbol of the fledgling empire, someone who people from all ethnicities and backgrounds trusted and respected, was long dead.
His nephew, Charles I, despite trying to emulate his great uncle’s stoic yet friendly nature, failed to keep order in his empire. It was fairly simple as to why. The glue that held the Empire together for so long was gone, and there was no way of replacing it. Charles’ inexperience and stubborn personality certainly did not help matters either. Rebellions started popping up more and more as the war progressed, with some notable examples being the Kotor rebellion in February of 1918. Yet, he did not make any moves to address these underlying issues that tore his people apart more and more. It was evident, in October of 1918, with the failure of the Vittorio Veneto offensive, that his command was worthless, and his last-ditch effort to create a trialistic federation out of his country was a resounding blunder. Piece by piece, it all came crashing down.
The first ones to go were the Czechs and Slovaks, and immediately after came the Slovenes and Croats, together with the Hungarians and Poles and all other people whose territory the Habsburgs acquired through either force or careful political manipulation during their reign of over five hundred years. In Zagreb, many factions struggled to find common ground, similar to the issues the Entente-backed armies in Russia suffered, with the only thing connecting them being their opposition to Austrian authority. Most Serbs whose political leader was Svetozar Pribićević, demanded unification with Serbia on the grounds of uniting the Serbian people under one flag, and they came into conflict with smaller factions who wished for a unified Yugoslavia based on federal principles.
The same thing could be said for the Croatian side, since most of it wanted an independent Croatian state free of any control from either Vienna or Belgrade, but they could not settle on a fitting leader, causing the rift in any possible political plans in the future. All sides were bitter rivals, making the prospect of renewing the alliance they actually managed to uphold for a few years before the war all the more saddening. The only lucky nation of them all were the Slovenes, who managed to put their support behind Anton Korošec’s Slovenian People’s Party (SLS -
Slovenska ljudska stranka). Korošec was also chosen as a compromise candidate for the presidency of the Illyrian State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (
Ilirska država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba; named so in hopes of gaining the support of the Serbian population in the Habsburg-held South Slavic lands and as a reminder of the Croatian-Slovenian national revival of the 19th century that utilized the Illyrian name), while Pribićević vocally protested the newly established government and refused to become a part of it.
Flag of the short-lived Illyrian State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
The National Council (
Narodno vijeće), acting as the representative body of the Illyrian nation fruitlessly tried gaining recognition from the Entente, but in the end no sides ended up supporting it. It is believed that the disunity between the three peoples was the main cause of the nation’s downfall, however some tend to believe it was a failed concept no matter what inside elements supported its creation. Soon after the State was proclaimed, conflict already erupted on its northern borders, with many Slovenes and Austrians coming into conflict in the linguistically mixed region of Styria-Carinthia, all the while Croats tried retaking Međimurje from the Hungarian Republic, wishing to establish Croatian national jurisdiction over it similar to the times of Ban Josip Jelačić.
None of these attempts bore any fruit, though, since the disunity and chaos in the army as well as the government, coupled with random bands (so called Green cadres -
Zeleni kader) which regularly pillaged the countryside after returning from war, either for their own benefit or their political beliefs, causing more resentment and hunger, as well as the Serbian invasion of Slavonia and Dalmatia through Bosnia and Herzegovina that started simultaneously with the Italian encroachment on the eastern Adriatic, with both sides wishing to fulfill the promises of the London Agreement of 1915. The weak nation limped along, and the humiliating peace signed in early February of 1919 resulted in the death of the State, with Slovenia being absorbed into Austria, while Croatia was unable to establish authority in Međimurje, Slavonia, Istria and Dalmatia, with its coastline being restricted to a measly two hundred kilometers of rocky inaccessible terrain and a couple of islands (Krk and Rab).
The Republic of Croatia was proclaimed on 16 February 1919, but instead of tears of joy and happiness for their independence after eight hundred years of foreign rule, there were only whimpers, sad and hushed laments over what could have and should have been. They were betrayed, with Wilson’s Fourteen Points only adding insult to injury upon further reflection.
Tremors of a Broken System
The Croatian Parliament (
Hrvatski sabor), after many nights wasted on negotiating about the presidency, elected a compromise candidate, as was customary in this period of Croatian history.
Ivan Lorković, first President of Croatia
Lorković's cabinet was a diverse one, to say the least. He had little time to think of it clearly, but his so-called Coalition of National Salvation (KNS -
Koalicija narodnog spasa) included almost all parties in the Croatian parliament, with each of them having representation in his cabinet proportionate to the amount of seats they held in the Sabor. The proposal seemed to have worked for some time, but its shaky foundation already started trembling unexpectedly the following year, when in early January several workers' strikes erupted, caused by bad working conditions in mines and shipyards.
However, instead of calmly dispersing the crowds ranging from five hundred to one and a half thousand people or even listening to the plights of the people, the Senj police opened fire on the protesters, killing seven and injuring fourteen. The crowds quickly dispersed, and in later historiography this tragic event became known as the Senj victims (
Senjske žrtve).
The government, desperate for a good excuse, immediately blamed various left-wing groups for the misfortunate handling of the event without any definite evidence justifying the accusation. Prime Minister Ante Pavelić suggested a new law that intended to ban any association with and gatherings of the Communist Party of Croatia (KPH
-Komunistička partija Hrvatske). The motion was largely agreed upon, with little to no protest in the national parliament, citing concerns with Kun's rebels in Hungary as well as Lenin's revolution in Russia as big concerns that were not wanted in the country. The law passed without much issue on 24th of March 1920 with an unsurprising name.
Ante Pavelić, first Prime Minister of Croatia, originator of the National Protection Act (Zakon o zaštiti države)
Initial public reaction was positive, agreeing with the government's reasoning for the law's passing, with only opposition coming from, naturally, the Communist Party, as well as the remaining representatives of ethnic Serbs who still resided in Banovina, Kordun and much of Lika, comprising majorities and significant minorities in many villages and towns there. They cited the government's infringement on freedom of expression and association as a worrying sign of events to come, and many would declare these words prophetic in the coming years.
Stench of Gunpowder in the Days of Peace
While treaties of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (September 1919) and Trianon (June 1920) delineated Croatian borders with the Republic of Austria (not to be confused with the Republic of German-Austria, a nation abolished in October of 1919) and the Republic of Hungary (where former Admiral Miklós Horthy's National Army defeated Bela Kun's Red Army-backed experiment and appointed Count István Bethlen as President of Hungary), there were still undisclosed issues with Italy and Serbia that had to be resolved soon, however neither Lorković nor Pavelić knew how to approach the issue. They did not have a single bargaining chip that could be used against Pašić's and Orlando's governments to favor Croatia in any way, shape or form.
Serbia and Italy both had the upper hand against the wounded Republic. Lorković's nation lacked internal stability, with protests of all kinds and sizes popping up almost all the time, with most of them successfully dispersing after some persuasion from the police. But nothing could have made them anticipate what happened in August of 1920. A peasant revolt erupted in southern Banovina in many villages and towns, most of them populated with Serbs, including Dvor, Kostajnica and Glina. The peasants were opposing the steep prices brought on by the inflation and poor crops that were the result of poor government backing, and after two months of tense negotiation the two parties came to an agreement favorable to both sides.
Photo of peasant women taken during the events of the Banija Revolt (Banijska buna; with Banija being another name for Banovina)
Despite the alleged success of Lorković's skills, he was unable to capitalize on them in time, because on 8 October 1920 Ante Pavelić was struck down by a lone assassin, who did his job incredibly sloppily, with police finding five bullets ingrained on the walls of Pavelić's house in Zagreb, while three bullets of the assassin's Roth-Krnka M.7 managed to enter the Prime Minister's torso and skull, killing him instantly. The shots were heard, and the perpetrator was quickly arrested, having failed to run away in time. After much interrogation he revealed himself to be Nikola Petrović, a member of the Red Fist (
Crvena šaka), communist organization that was banned back in March.
Nikola Petrović, member of the Red Fist, a terrorist organization that orchestrated the assassination of Ante Pavelić
The man was executed without trial eight months later after serving his indefinite sentence in Lepoglava, but before his demise in front of the firing squad, Minister of Police (
Ministar oružništva) Slavko Kvaternik (who played a significant part in the Croatian defense of Međimurje in late 1918 and early 1919), in conjunction with newly appointed Prime Minister Ante Trumbić, worked significantly on cracking down any dissenting left-wing activity, with the most (in)famous case being that of a shootout in Zagreb in September of 1921 that resulted in seven communists being murdered at the hands of the police; with many of them later revealed as working in relation with Petrović and his cohorts, such as Josip Broz Tito, who was the secretary of the organization). These crackdowns continued with varying degrees of success until Kvaternik's resignation in 1923.
Ante Trumbić, second Prime Minister of Croatia, chosen for the position because of his amiable stance toward Serbia, which Lorković believed would be of utmost help in the coming days
Ivan Lorković felt the recoil of all events that happened in the last three years, and it hit him hard. He knew he led a failed project from the start, that much was revealed in his biography written by his son Blaž in 1962, but he still felt the ever-optimistic urge in him to march on, and he knew that he had to get a visibly good deal with Serbia and Italy to strengthen his position, and perhaps finally join the League of Nations. The issue with the Serbs within Croatia must be resolved, since the first thing Croatia desperately needs in these troubled times is internal stability. But…
No one could have predicted such a magnitude of national embarrassment. Outrage was sure to follow, yet nobody was certain when it would finally come.