Branding campaign In late August 1920, the army started a campaign to
brand privately owned draft animals. It was designating those that were fit for military use and potential drafting, and identifying a supply of horses and wagons for use in military training. The campaign caused renewed violence in the countryside east of
Zagreb but the unrest had roots in economic issues. While draft-animal registration had been familiar to Croatian peasants since the time of Austria-Hungary, branding was a novelty. There were concerns the animals would be physically harmed and that those that were branded as unfit for military service would lose their market value. The authorities ignored these concerns, allowing misinformation and rumours about their motivation for the campaign to spread. Preparations for a revolt against the branding campaign started in late August with participation of the HPSS members. By August 27, local authorities south of Zagreb became aware of intentions to disrupt the branding campaign, and leaflets calling for resistance and promising aid from the Green Cadres appeared by the end of the month. There were rumours that "Serbs will come and take all the animals to Serbia" or France, and that animals would be branded with letters "K" and "A" to indicate they would be handed to the
Karađorđevićs and
regent Alexander, respectively. In some instances, army officers tasked with the branding campaign contributed to spreading of the rumours. In one recorded example, an army
major threatened peasants in
Ivanovo Selo who questioned the army's motives with deportation to Albania and the destruction of their village. On 2 September, a crowd of peasants from surrounding villages gathered in
Veliki Grđevac in
Grubišno Polje district, about east of Zagreb. Speakers urged the assembled peasants not to turn in their horses. In response, a
Bjelovar-Križevci County clerk and the county secretary arrived, protected by gendarmes, to calm the crowd. This was repeated the next day, when armed crowd of peasants tried to interfere with the work of officials tasked with the branding of horses in nearby
Garešnica and, according to a contemporaneous report prepared by
Ban of Croatia Matko Laginja, two peasants were killed in the incident. The authorities ended the branding campaign on Laginja's urging on 4 September.
Clashes in Čazma and Križ in
Križ demanded declaration of a republic led by
Stjepan Radić (pictured). On 4 September, the crowd again gathered in Veliki Grđevac; they assaulted the 15
gendarmes accompanying the arriving county officials. According to Laginja's report, a peasant was killed and several were wounded in the clash before
gendarmes led by Captain Janko Milčić scattered and ran away. Milčić discarded his uniform and fled to
Bjelovar, away. Further clashes took place the same day in the village of
Rača near Bjelovar; a municipal government building was seized and records burnt, and in
Ivanska, two peasants were killed when a 300-strong crowd clashed with
gendarmes. On the same day, peasants took control of the town of
Čazma, about east of Zagreb. According to Laginja, a crowd of about 400 confronted nine
gendarmes in the town, forcing them to flee and hide; following this, the peasants proceeded to take weapons found in the district and municipal buildings. In response, the following day, the army deployed a company from Zagreb with a machine gun. The reinforcements restored government control of Čazma after an armed clash resulting in fatalities on 8 September. On 5 September, about south of Čazma, an armed crowd seized the
gendarmerie station in
Križ and it became the centre of the rebellion. The rebels took arms found there, cut down telegraph and telephone poles, and captured the railway station in nearby village of
Novoselec. During the following two days, the rebels took all firearms they could find in Križ, broke into municipal government buildings, and burnt pictures of King
Peter I and regent Alexander found in offices. On 7 September, a train taking army reinforcements from Zagreb to
Kutina was stopped in Novoselec station, and a skirmish between the rebels and the soldiers resulted in fatalities on both sides. Peasants commandeered the train with the aim of using it to help spread the uprising to nearby towns. Peasant guards were set up to patrol key areas, and local HPSS members set up and staffed "people's courts". Further clashes took place on 5 September in the villages of
Severin and
Velika Pisanica near Bjelovar. The same day, the army and the
gendarmerie deployed reinforcements in villages of
Farkaševac and
Trojstvo to the west and north of Bjelovar to intercept rumoured assistance from across the nearby Hungarian border. The rebellion, which ended by 9 September in the Križ area, is also referred to as the Križ Republic ().
Clashes in Dugo Selo and Sveti Ivan Zelina On 6 September, unrest spread towards Zagreb. A crowd of about 600 peasants attacked a
gendarmerie in the village of Oborovo before proceeding to
Dugo Selo, about east of Zagreb, through the villages of
Bregi and Ježevo. Shots were exchanged with a group of
gendarmes in Dugo Selo, resulting in fatalities on both sides. The peasants kept control of Dugo Selo for several hours before the authorities regained control of the town. On 7 September, a
gendarmerie station in
Kloštar Ivanić, equidistant between Dugo Selo and Križ, was attacked and captured. Two customs officials were killed in the fighting and the municipal notary was assaulted. The army retook the town on 9 September. Also on 6 September, in the village of
Psarjevo near
Sveti Ivan Zelina, about north of Dugo Selo, another group of peasants fought three
gendarmes. In the morning of 7 September, crowds of peasant moved to Sveti Ivan Zelina, where shots were exchanged with local
gendarmerie. Telephone and telegraph lines in the area were cut, municipal and district administration and courts, shops and taverns were looted, prompting the army to dispatch reinforcements by train from Zagreb to nearby
Sesvete before moving on foot towards Sveti Ivan Zelina and arriving the following morning. While the skirmishes were taking place in Dugo Selo and Sveti Ivan Zelina, a crowd of 2,000 looted and torched local administration offices in the villages of
Belovar and Moravče, which are located between Sesvete and Sveti Ivan Zelina. In nearby
Kašina, a municipal administration building was looted and municipal clerks were assaulted. On 8 September, crowds of peasants moved from Kašina to the village of
Marija Bistrica about away. The municipal administration buildings and
gendarmerie station in the village were looted and records were torched. Local
gendarmes were disarmed before additional 20
gendarmes sent by car from Zagreb could reach the village and restore control. At least one peasant was killed in the fighting. Further reinforcements were sent from Zagreb to
Donja Stubica and
Zlatar. A local garrison of seven
gendarmes and several armed citizens guarded Zlatar against peasant advances from the villages of
Ladislavec and
Mače until the reinforcements arrived in the morning.
Clashes in Popovača and Kutina In the evening of 7 September, the
gendarmerie reported the HPSS-led crowd had disarmed its station in
Popovača, approximately south-east of Križ. The report indicated the crowd might move further south-east to nearby Kutina and asked for reinforcements from Zagreb. In response, 30
gendarmes were dispatched by train from
Sisak via
Novska to
Banova Jaruga, about south-east from Kutina. At Kutina, the
gendarmes linked up with another 30 who had already been deployed in the area from
Slavonski Brod to provide security along the
Zagreb–Slavonski Brod railway line. The combined force reached Kutina on 8 September in time to meet rebellious crowds moving into the city. There were several fatalities in the ensuing shooting but the
gendarmes kept control of the town. Clashes also took place in villages near Sisak, where rumours peasants would come from all over Croatia to help an attack on Zagreb to rescue Radić from prison were being spread. On 8 September, in
Gušće and
Topolovac,
gendarmerie stations and municipal administration buildings were seized and municipal clerks were chased away. In the evening of 9 September, the
Sisak–Zagreb railway was damaged and telegraph poles around the village of
Sela were cut. Rebels fired upon workers sent to repair the railway. The force attacking the repairmen was between 150 and 1,000 strong, depending on the source, and was armed with at least one machine gun. In response, the army deployed a company of 78 soldiers from Zagreb to pacify the area. After the reinforcements suffered casualties, another infantry company and a battery of cannon were sent from Zagreb. The artillery was not used. On 10 September, skirmishes took place in the nearby villages of
Letovanić and Cerje, and several peasants were killed in fighting there. Destruction of the railway was motivated by rumours the imprisoned Radić would be transferred by train from Zagreb to Belgrade. An army unit deployed to
Lekenik to guard the nearby railway junction was attacked on the following two days before the army regained Letovanić on 12 September. ==Aftermath==