1526'' by
Bertalan Székely Habsburg rule Following the fall of the
medieval Kingdom of Hungary at the
Battle of Mohács, in 1527 the
Croatian and
Hungarian nobles needed to decide on a new king. The bulk of the Croatian nobility
convened the Croatian Parliament in Cetin and chose to join the
Habsburg monarchy under the Austrian king
Ferdinand I of
Habsburg. Some nobles dissented and supported
John Zápolya, but the Habsburg option fully prevailed in 1540, when John Zápolya died. Territory recovered by the Austrians from the
Ottoman Empire was formed in 1745 as the
Kingdom of Slavonia, subordinate to the Croatian Kingdom. In 1804 the
Habsburg monarchy became the
Austrian Empire which annexed the
Venetian Republic in 1814 and established the
Kingdom of Dalmatia. After the
Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (by which the Austrian Empire became the
Austro-Hungarian Empire) and the
Croatian–Hungarian Settlement () of 1868, the Kingdom of Croatia and Kingdom of Slavonia were joined to create the
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the
Hungarian part of the empire, while the Kingdom of Dalmatia remained a
crown land in the
Austrian part of the empire.
Croatian-Ottoman Wars The change of leadership was far from a solution to the war with the Ottomans, in fact, the
Ottoman Empire gradually expanded in the 16th century to include most of
Slavonia,
western Bosnia and
Lika. After many battles against the Turkish invaders in which Croatian troops participated (
Battle of Gorjani,
Siege of Klis,
Siege of Krupa,
Battle of Belaj,
Siege of Kőszeg,
Battle of Otočac etc.), Croatian territory under Habsburg rule was 25 years later reduced to about . In 1558, the parliaments of Croatia and Slavonia were united after many centuries into one. The centre of the Croatian state moved northward from coastal Dalmatia, as these lands were conquered by the Ottomans. The town of Zagreb gained importance, as did nearby
Varaždin. Taking advantage of the growing conflict between King
Sigismund II of Poland and
Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor,
Suleiman the Magnificent started his sixth raid of Hungary in 1565 with 100,000 troops. They successfully progressed northwards until 1566 when they took a small detour to capture the outpost of Siget () which they failed to capture ten years previously. The small fort was defended by Count
Nikola IV Zrinski and 2,300–3,000 men. They were able to hold their ground for a month, and decimated the Ottoman army before being wiped out themselves. This siege, now known as the
Battle of Szigetvár, bought enough time to allow Austrian troops to regroup before the Ottomans could reach
Vienna.
The Revived Croatia By 1699, the Ottoman Empire was driven out of Ottoman Hungary and Croatia, throughout the course of
Great Turkish War, and Austria brought the territory back under central control. (), a green marked territory occupied by the Ottomans) on a 1791 map by Austrian cartographer Franz J.J. von Reilly (light red) was at the time an autonomous Kingdom subordinate to the Kingdom of Croatia. . Other lands of the
Austrian Empire are in light grey.
The Enlightened Absolutism Period Croatia was one of the crown lands that supported Emperor
Charles VI's
Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 Ban Jelačić had succeeded in the abolition of
serfdom in Croatia, which eventually brought about massive changes in society: the power of the major landowners was reduced and arable land became increasingly subdivided, to the extent of risking famine. Many Croatians started emigrating to the
New World countries in this period, a trend that would continue throughout the next hundred years and create a large Croatian
diaspora. The Illyrian movement was rather broad in scope, both
nationalist and
pan-Slavist. It would eventually develop into two major causes: • a Croatian national cause aimed primarily at the unification and independence of the people of Croatia, headed by people like the parliamentarian
Ante Starčević, who formed the
Party of Rights in 1861 • a pan-South-Slavic,
Yugoslav cause also oriented towards the integration of the neighboring South Slavic nations, organized through the
People's Party, and headed by people like bishop
Josip Juraj Strossmayer, who founded the
Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1867 and re-founded the
University of Zagreb in 1874.
Dual Monarchy Period The loss of Croatian domestic autonomy was rectified a year after the
Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, when in 1868 the
Croatian–Hungarian Settlement was negotiated, which combined Croatia and Slavonia into the autonomous
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. With this agreement, the Kingdom of Croatia received autonomy in administrative, educational, religious and judicial affairs. However, the
governor (ban) was still appointed by Hungary, 55% percent of all tax money went to
Budapest, and Hungary had authority over the biggest sea port of
Rijeka (something that was reportedly not part of the Settlement actually agreed upon). == Subdivisions ==