The Coast of Croatia – the Focal Point of Eight Centuries of Conflict

Well worth the 40 Kuna to stay close to town!

The Coast of Croatia with it’s trading posts and access to the sea, has caused wars, conflicts and the break-up and creation of more counties and kingdoms than most any part of the Mediterranean for eight thousand years.   Sailing the Coast of Croatia and it’s islands bring you back to a time of our early ancestors, as far back as the time of Ulysses, who was fabled to be captured by the Cyclopes and held for seven years in captivity on the Island of Mljet.

Illyrian – the Early Coatians

Ancestors of the Croatian people are a mixed group of tribes and warring pagan hordes of Indo-European Origin who were collectively know as the Illyrians, also know as the Dalmatians and others names depending on where they settled.  The name Croatian appeared in the 7th century. During the 6th century BC the Greeks made raids on the coast line looking for better trading posts along the Adriatic coast founding the cities of Vis, Hvar and Trogir.  After that came the Romans, by 168 BC the last Illyrian king was overthrown and the people were forced to submit to 5 centuries of rule of the Roman Empire.  During the end of the 3rd Century Dalmatia produced its own Emperor, Diocletian, and he build his palace in Split.

The Croatian Kingdom

During the 11th century the foundations of the Croatian kingdom were laid and there was Croatian kings until there was not an heir to the thrown and the county was forced to aligned to the king of Hungary who became the sovereign of Croatia and Dalmatia.  Croatia provided access to the Adriatic for the whole of Central Europe and Hungary wanted that access. The Byzantine and the Venetian also had their eye on Dalmatia.  Finally Zadar was sold to the Venetians for the sum of $100,000 ducats.  Napoleon conquered Venice in 1797 and ruled for 8 years.  Dalmatia bathed in European ideas, schools were open, civil code introduced, roads built. For two decades after the French withdrawal from Dalmatia the Dalmatians, who now spoke Italian, French, German and Hungarian wanted their own cultural.  The government supported the teaching of Croatian and the dream of unification with Slavonia but their dream was squashed by Austrian chancellor who refused to grant his subjects autonomy.

Modern History and the Seeds of Conflict

In 1878 Turkish withdraw from the Balkans began and three new independent kingdoms came into being, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro.  Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Hapsburg was assassinated by a Serb in Hapsburg and was what sparked off the first world war.  The following year a handful of exiled politicians framed the Yugoslav Committee and drew up the foundations for a Yugoslavian state but the various states had different ideas and another assignation opened up the way for Kind Aleksandar to proclaim royal dictatorship and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.  He was assassinated, Germany invaded the area and in 1944 a Croat named Josip Broz, better known at Tito, sized power and ruled with an iron fist.  After his death, old tensions resumed.  The Republic of Croatia was established in 1991.