Review article

Northwest Croatia during the Balkan Wars

Igor Despot orcid.org/0000-0002-3292-4895 ; Maruševec Elementary School, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Northwest Croatia during the Balkan Wars shared the destiny of the rest of Croatia, and, in the economic area, the whole of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. On 31 March 1912. Constitution was suspended
in Croatia and Commissariat with a Royal Commissioner Slavko Cuvaj was established. His lows on press freedom and freedom of public gathering largely determine the possibility of monitoring the situation in northwest Croatia during the Balkan wars. Numerous papers, including the local newspapers Podravska hrvatska straža from Koprivnica and Hrvat from Virovitica, were not published because of the reactionary law. The study of this subject is, therefore, reduced to the documents from Croatian National Archive and articles from some national newspapers. Dissolution of the Croatian Parliament in February 1912. has led to numerous demonstrations, most important of which were student occupation of University, general strike of pupils and assembly movement across Croatia.
High school students and girl students from vocational school from Koprivnica participated in the pupil strike. The most significant meeting in the northwest Croatia was held in Varaždin in the organization of the members of Party of Right and the Social Democrats. With the outbreak of the Balkan wars and the declaration of a moratorium on payment of the Balkan countries, the whole Monarchy was faced with inflation, rising interest rates and the number of bankruptcies. Croatia has not been spared, but had smaller number than the rest of the Monarchy. The population was mobilized in case of war with Serbia or with Russia, including many mobilized in northwestern Croatia. Mobilization complicated economic situation even more. There were many expresions of solidarity with the Balkan allies in Croatia, but northwestern part of Croatia was more reserved than Dalmatia, Slavonia and Srem. Funds for the Red Cross of the Balkan states were raised, volunteers and doctors went to battlefield, many processes for treason were held. All this happened also in the northwest of Croatia, but in a much smaller scale. After the war, in August 1913 cholera epidemic breaks out in Slavonia and Srem, reaching Bjelovar on the west. That caused panic, but the number of infected was not too great. Northwest Croatia was much more moderate during the wars than the rest of the country, due to a smaller impact of Coalition and youth on the population which, besides the traditional commitment to Party of Rights, began to adopt the ideas of brothers Radić.

Keywords

Balkan Wars; Northwest Croatia; Commissariat; inflation; mobilization; cholera

Hrčak ID:

95366

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/95366

Publication date:

3.12.2012.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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