Independent State of Croatia: Map & History

History

In 1915 a group of political emigres from Austria-Hungary, predominantly Croats but including some Serbs and a Slovene, formed themselves into a Yugoslav Committee, with a view to creating a South Slav state in the aftermath of World War I. They saw this as a way to prevent Dalmatia being ceded to Italy under the Treaty of London (1915). In 1918, the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs sent a delegation to the Serbian monarch to offer unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with the Kingdom of Serbia. The leader of the Croatian Peasant Party, Stjepan Radić, warned on their departure for Belgrade that the council had no democratic legitimacy.

Government and politics

Under the Independent State of Croatia all parties but the Ustaše party were banned. The absolute leader of the NDH was Ante Pavelić, who was known by his Ustaše title, Poglavnik, throughout the war, regardless of his official government post. From 1941 to 1943, while the country was a de jure monarchy, Pavelić was its powerful Prime Minister (or "President of the Government"). After the capitulation of Italy, Pavelić became the head of state in the place of Aimone, Duke of Aosta (also known as Tomislav II) and retained the position of Prime Minister until September 1943, when he appointed Nikola Mandić to replace him.

The state was officially a monarchy after the signing of the Laws of the Crown of Zvonimir on 15 May 1941.

Economy

The economy of the Independent State of Croatia was largely subordinated to the economic interests of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and had to meet significant obligations to them. The dominant power was Nazi Germany, which demanded supplies of raw materials from the NDH in order to support the German economy and its war effort. The Croatian workforce was also seen as a potential replacement for some of the German workers who had been recruited into the military and were sent off to war. An economic agreement signed in May 1941 provided Germany with unrestricted access to industrial raw materials in the NDH, and obligated the NDH to bear the costs of German military units stationed on its territory; this was a very large burden given the small size of the Croatian economy.

Culture

Soon after the establishment of the NDH, the Yugoslav Academy of Science and Arts in Zagreb was renamed the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The country had four state theatres: in Zagreb, Osijek, Dubrovnik and Sarajevo. The Croatian State Theatre in Zagreb played host to the Berlin Philharmonic and the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in the 1941–42 season. Volumes two to five of Mate Ujević's Croatian Encyclopedia were published during this period.