Croatian Krajina
Encyclopedia
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
, including the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
and Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
History
Founded in the late 16th century out of lands of the Habsburg Kingdom of CroatiaKingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)
The Kingdom of Croatia was an administrative division that existed between 1527 and 1868 within the Habsburg Monarchy . The Kingdom was a part of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, but was subject to direct Imperial Austrian rule for significant periods of time, including its final years...
, it was initially a nominal part of that Kingdom, to be later transferred fully under direct imperial rule as part of the Military Frontier
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier was a borderland of Habsburg Austria and later the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which acted as the cordon sanitaire against incursions from the Ottoman Empire...
. The Frontier was located on the border with the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. In the Krajina zone, the king-emperors promised free land and freedom of religion to people who came to the area with the majority of the population being Croatian and Serbian. In exchange, the people who lived in the area had an obligation to militarily fight for the Empire, and to protect the land. The laws of the Frontier were established in 1630 with the imperial Statuta Valachorum
Statuta Valachorum
Statuta Valachorum was the name for a number of laws enacted in the 17th century both by the king of the Habsburg Monarchy as well as the Parliament of Croatia , whose purpose was to...
. It was known that the soldiers had to fulfill military service from the age of 16 until 66. In the end of the 17th century, Habsburg Monarchy expanded its borders and territory of Croatian Military Frontier was also expanded to include some former Ottoman territories in the east. Croatian Military Frontier existed until 1882, when it was abolished and incorporated into the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia or Croatia Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was part of the Hungarian Kingdom within the dual Austro-Hungarian state, being within the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen or Transleithania...
.
Geography
This part of the Military Frontier included the geographic regions of LikaLika
Lika is a mountainous region in central Croatia, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by the Malovan pass...
, Kordun
Kordun
The Kordun region is a part of central Croatia from the bottom of the Petrova Gora mountain range, which extends along the rivers Korana and Slunjčica, and forms part of the border region to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The southern border of Kordun touches the Lika region...
, Banovina and bordered the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
to the west, Venetian Republic to the south, Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia to the north-west, the Ottoman Empire to the south-east, Habsburg Kingdom of Slavonia
Kingdom of Slavonia
The Kingdom of Slavonia was a province of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Austrian Empire that existed from 1699 to 1868. The province included northern parts of present-day regions of Slavonia and Syrmia...
to the east, and Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary
Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary
The term Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary can refer to the following provinces of the Habsburg Empire :*Kingdom of Hungary *Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary...
to the north.
It extended onto the Slavonian Military Frontier near the confluence of the Una river into the Sava. Like the rest of the Military Frontier, it ceased to exist as a political entity in the late 19th century.
Sections
Croatian Military Frontier included three sections:- the Varaždin Borderland (Bilogora and Podravina)
- the Karlovac Borderland (Lika and Kordun)
- the Zagreb Borderland (Banija / Banovina)
Demographics
In 1820, population of Croatian Military Frontier included:- 207,747 Catholics
- 198,728 Orthodox Christians
Further reading
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. (June 1960). "The Origins of the Austrian Military Frontier in Croatia and the Alleged Treaty of 22 December 1522". The Slavonic and East European Review (Maney Publishing) 38 (91): 493–498.
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. (March 1964). "The Struggle over the Dissolution of the Croatian Military Border, 1850–1871". Slavic Review (American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies) 23 (1): 63–78.
