Original scientific paper
The Political Activities of Dr. Ivo Pilar on the Eve of the Demise of the Habsburg Monarchy (1915-1918)
Zlatko MATIJEVIĆ
; Croatian Institute for History, Zagreb, Republic of Croatia
Abstract
On the basis of scholarly literature, archival materials and available newspapers
from the period, the author reconstructs the political activities of Dr. Ivo Pilar
during the final years of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy’s existence. Pilar
thought the “South Slav Question” should be solved in “Croatian terms,” that is
to say the unification of all Croatian lands — Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia and
Bosnia and Hercegovina — in one independent administrative area contained
within the existing dualistic system. Even though he formally remained within
the framework of dualism, he was, in fact, advocating a solution which in its
main outlines was a form of “veiled trialism.” The Hungarian politicians’ rejection
of a solution of the “South Slav Question” in “Croatian terms,” that is, their
attempt to attach Bosnia and Hercegovina to the Hungarian part of the
Monarchy as a “corpus separatum”, caused additional dissatisfaction and deepened
the already serious crisis into which the Monarchy had fallen. Recognizing
that one of the consequences of the World War was going to be the irreversible
disappearance of the time-honoured Habsburg state from the Central European
political stage, Pilar radicalized his position in terms of its internal reform,
proposing that it be transformed — into a federation.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
67100
URI
Publication date:
26.11.2006.
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