Croatia-Slavonia

   A kingdom created in 1868 by merging the kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia. It was part of the Greater Hungarian kingdom. The Ausgleich of 1867 strengthened Hungarian sovereignty, but Croatia-Slavonia retained a privileged position within the framework of the kingdom of Hungary. With a clear South Slav majority, Croatia-Slavonia’s ethnic composition differed profoundly from Hungary proper. The strongest group were Catholic Croats, but there was a sizable Serbian community as well. The Nagodba (Compromise) of 1868 provided for cultural and limited political autonomy. Nevertheless, Hungarian efforts to undermine Croatian autonomy and a struggle between rival versions of Croatian and South-Slavic nationalism led to political instability in Croatia-Slavonia in the early twentieth century.

   See also <>; <>.

   FURTHER READING:

    Kann, Robert A. The Multinational Empire: Nationalism and National Reform in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1848-1918 . 2 vols. New York: Octagon Books, 1964;

    Mason, John W. The Dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 1867-1918 . London and New York: Longman 1985.

   GUENTHER KRONENBITTER