The Animated History of Croatia

the samurai limited-edition pin is available now hurry and audio's now before they run out or get one for free by signing up at patreon like all of these nice people this episode is supported by curiosity stream sign up today and get access to nebula a streaming platform for creators by creators to study the Balkans is to study nation building the term balkanization was tossed around a lot during the Yugoslav wars which was a culmination of ethnic tensions leading to the independence of Croatia from the control of Belgrade in 1991 but nations do not spring up overnight it takes decades centuries and sometimes longer to convince a group of people to split from another and the Balkans is where this phenomenon is most manifest in Europe going back as far as the Roman Empire the Balkans were a crossroads divided between the Latin West and the Greek East half of the Empire and influenced by two separate branches of Christianity the roots of nationalism and ethnic romanticism could be determined by which side of this line you found yourself even when the area was settled by Slavic migrants during the great migration period pushed by invading hordes of ava's and bull gars the Slavs entered Byzantine Dalmatia along with the arrival of the Hungarians who pushed the illyrians east of the Carpathian Mountains in perhaps the coolest game of dominoes in human history but I'm getting ahead of myself [Music] [Music] though no donation yet the Croats were part of the southern Slavic settlements and soon a Duchy within Byzantium and then subjugated by the Franks which really puts into perspective just how big the Frankish Empire was it was around this time that one of the nation-building factors would begin to influence Croatia's future remember those two churches we talked about in the intro well they're about to go through a pretty nasty divorce in 1054 Croatia was firmly within the Latin sphere and so naturally they became part of the Catholic faith while the rest of the Balkans under Byzantium became Orthodox Christians led by Constantinople which was a far better deal in my opinion because they also got this fancy new alphabet thrown in for free Croatia would keep the Latin alphabet so if you're taking notes on silly reasons for people to vulcanize then this should be right at the top Croatia eventually became a constituent Kingdom in 925 before soon breaking away completely from Frankish control see that's a heck of a lot older than 1991 one of their kings Stephen the first is said to have been captured by a Venetian and played him in a game of chess to win his freedom which is just one of the many legends on the origin of the Croatian coat of arms and also my personal favorite by the way so what I like Venetians okay the trip Maravich dynasty ruled Croatia until the death of king stephen ii as many dynasties do because he had no male heir leading to the larger and more populous kingdom of hungary to inherit the territory rule from hungary turned out to be a pretty sweet gig as it introduced feudalism to croatia which benefited the 12 noble tribes that ruled the various counties with local autonomy although just a constituent kingdom croatia was actually ruled by a ban a type of royal viceroy within the hungarian crown over everything except for Dalmatia the Dalmatian city-states were made up of romanized refugees who fled to the coast from the Slavs centuries earlier and set up their own independent territories that thrived on trade with Italy enjoying protection by the Byzantines they even spoke a Romance language called dalmatic ho which was somewhat mutually intelligible with many Italian dialects so if you ever heard somebody say that Dalmatia once spoke Italian that's probably what they mean by that of these cities one was too come to particular prominence the Republic of Ragusa Roman refugees fled the city of eppy Durham and settled on a small island which they called Lhasa right across the bank from a Croatian settlement which they named to broth neck the two sides put about the differences and eventually joined into one city which they renamed Ragusa while Dubrovnik became the croatian name for the city they were allowed to govern themselves under the Byzantine Empire and funnily enough also briefly the Normans which like I don't really know what the Normans were even doing they're so far away from home in the first place but anyway these cities flourished enough in the Adriatic that they managed to get the attention of Venice the Venetians were merchants and if there's one thing a merchant hates its competition so they came up with a clever plan manipulate the armies of the Fourth Crusade to sack the city of Zara one of their rivals then move on to Constantinople and sack them collapse the Byzantine Empire and take all those lovely Dalmatian cities for themselves what could possibly go wrong and just like that Ragusa like much of the Adriatic found itself under new management back in Croatia the arpa dynasty passed on to the Angevin dynasty you know that family that once ruled England but the political situation the Balkans was about to drastically change with the rump state of the byzantine empire collapsing on all sides due to a brand new threat from Anatolia the Ottoman Turks but before we start that is worth pausing here to talk about Bosnia which is a sentence I had never thought I'd have to say out loud once a ban ate within the Hungarian crown centered on the Bosnia River in 1377 it became an independent Kingdom as a state sandwiched between Serbia and Croatia Bosnia was heavily influenced by Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs the lines in Bosnia were blurred perhaps more than anywhere else in the Balkans and for many centuries a third separate Church the Bosnian Church held great sway over the land considered heretical by both the Catholics and the Orthodox so just keep these guys in mind as we move forward right back to the Ottoman Turks just mentioning the Ottomans by name in the Balkans will create all sorts of animosity Croat Serbs Bulgarians and Greeks disagree on almost everything but one thing they are united on is their less than favorable feelings on the Ottomans and not for unfounded reason and with the fall of Constantinople they conquered the balkan kingdoms one by one until they were right on Croatians doorstep the Croats fought bravely to defend their kingdom but was soundly defeated in 1493 and again in 1526 the latter of which saw the death of king louie ii and so the crown of hungary had to turn to their north for help Hungary and Croatia elected Ferdinand the first of the House of Habsburg as their king it was not known yet but this decision would lay some of the deepest roots of division in the Balkans over the next few centuries as the hapsburgs and the Ottomans became fierce enemies now here's a little lesson in empire building from the Ottomans military force only gets you so far for real longevity what you need is allies the Ottomans who had found themselves now ruling a vast territory of Orthodox Christians gave certain privileges and offices to these new subjects who had historically been mistreated by Catholics and Crusaders turning their opinion against the Hapsburgs and their brutal Counter Reformation we are not your enemy they're your enemy just look at how they treat Protestants in addition introducing Islam to marginalize populations like members of the Bosnian church and Albanians providing them with better opportunities in ottoman society cutting a really long story short here the hapsburgs and their allies halted the Ottoman advance into Europe most notably repelling the Ottoman armies at the siege of Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683 and after the Battle of slang common almost all of Croatia was returned to the hapsburgs and so began the gradual decline of the Ottomans and the rise of the hapsburgs in the balkan region croatian lands were designated as the military frontier against turkish incursions but things weren't all bad for them the age of the Habsburg saw a brief revival in Croatian prosperity thanks in part to being treated favorably by Maria Theresa whom they'd supported during the Austrian succession crisis the final piece of Croatia's Habsburg story would not come until the Napoleonic Wars when Venice was defeated by the French in which the Dalmatian coast was finally unified again with the rest of the country under the Empire because let's face it you can't have Croatia without Dalmatia and just like that all of Croatia was under Habsburg rule and Habsburg rule was about to get messy nationalism was spreading through Europe like wildfire people started thinking of themselves as nations a common people a common language with common history you get the drill Croatia was swept up in Croatian nationalism and even more broadly pan-slavic or Yugoslavia Slavic nations in the Ottoman Empire began revolts against the Turks after the revolutions of 1848 and the disastrous austro-prussian war the Habsburg Empire was transformed into a dual monarchy elevating the Hungarian half as equal partners but this failed to answer the Croatian question as it only weakened their sovereignty and tensions began rising and when the russo-turkish war had resulted in many Slavic nations winning their independence from the Turks Austrians added fuel to the fire by occupying and later annexing Bosnia Yugoslavia raged that they had traded one empire for another began to be radicalized the relatively weaker Balkan states had to look somewhere else for land for the time being and so began the balkan wars the balkan wars will definitely be covered in a separate video but the main takeaway here is that no one absolutely nobody was happy with the outcome of the balkan wars not the Bulgarians not the Greeks certainly not the Turks and the Austrians at least of all you Kozlov it is not surprising then that a new war would soon erupt in this region a young terrorist Yugoslav group called young Bosnia supported by the Serbian secret society the black hand would assassinate Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 19 14 the first world war had begun that ultra-nationalism was only going to grow in Croatia during the war they saw the writing on the wall when austria-hungary began to collapse in 1918 with the war drawing to a close the state of Slovenes Croats and Serbs declared their independence from the Habsburg Empire in Zagreb soon to join with Serbia and Montenegro to form the kingdom of Yugoslavia Serbs Croats Bosnians and Slovenes were brothers after all separated it seemed only by politics serbo-croatian was even made the chief language of the kingdom spoken in local varieties by a massive majority of Yugoslavia in two separate alphabets but much like actual friends who become roommates in college the Serbs Croats Slovenes and others soon found that living in the same house together was a tad more difficult than expected the Croats on one hand favored local autonomy while the Serbian government in Belgrade favored more centralized control which led to Croats being heavily mistreated in the kingdom being seen as a threat to Hyuga Slav nationalism and even as separatists now take all this with a pinch of salt it was the age of propaganda after all but suffice it to say that the Croats weren't too happy with the Serbian government and they had reason to be especially when the Yugoslav King transformed the country into a dictatorship after the assassination of Croatian leader Stepan radish in 1929 it was beginning to feel like joining Yugoslavia was more of a shackle than a liberation for Croatia and you'd be forgiven for agreeing with them but this story doesn't have a happy ending the situation in Croatia was a breeding ground for extremists many of them lurched to the right and created the Oh Stasi a fascist party and terrorist group it was these who stay she that the Nazis would target as collaborators to their regime two years into the Second World War after a pro-western coup d'etat overthrew the Yugoslav government Germany Italy and the other Axis powers invaded and annexed Yugoslavia the Germans set up the puppet state of independent Croatia placing the Eustachy in power the fascist of stache II committed numerous atrocities under ante Pavelic including genocide against Serbs Jews and Roma and ran the infamous eosin avec concentration camp many resistant groups were created in opposition's the axis but the most successful by far was the Yugoslav partisans a socialist and Yugoslavia stolen tear force led by one Josip Broz Tito they led a successful guerrilla campaign against the occupying Axis forces as well as the Eustache II and when the war was coming to an end the partisans went on a brutal campaign against the captured of starchy and axis soldiers that resulted in the massacre of thousands of perceived enemies guilty or otherwise the wartime chapter of Yugoslavia doesn't get as much attention outside of the former Yugoslavia as it probably should but the devastation that was brought on the country both internally and externally is vital to understanding the postwar story of croatia josip broz tito as it turns out was the glue that would be needed to keep yugoslavia together as there was nothing but bad blood after the war tito was an idealist a socialist a national hero and a symbol of United Brotherhood himself being half Croat and half Slovene and an advocate for the famous Third Way stance during the Cold War but peace would die with Tito in 1980 nationalism and self-determination filled by decades of resentment and hatred coupled with a massive downturn in the economy Yugoslavia was breathing its last breath I've been planting seeds throughout this video about what ultimately led to balkanization the division of the west and the eastern empire the great schism between catholics and orthodoxy the atrocities of the crusades on orthodox christians the union with the Hapsburgs versus the annexation by the ottomans the introduction of Islam and the Catholic counter-reformation fascists supported by the axis in Croatia partisans supported by the USSR and right at the top of that list the writing system Cyrillic used by one brother Lattin buy another for the same language the division of the Balkans goes back centuries and Yugoslavia was just too different too entrenched too suspicious and too dogmatic to stay together centuries are pulling the same people apart could not be solved in the less than 100 years of Yugoslavia existence the Yugoslav wars are a relatively recent tragedy the only major war on European soil since the fall of Berlin in 1945 made vastly more complicated because the territory comprising of the Yugoslav Croatia also had a large minority of Serbs who started uprisings to break away from Croatian control ethnic and religious lines don't always follow the national boundaries when writing this I didn't really know how to conclude this video other than to just take a moment and reflect on that fact Croatia and its people have won their independence and you'd be hard-pressed to argue that that's a bad thing but the road there came with oppression war dominance by foreign powers of every variety and stained with an adult blood the interesting philosophical debate on how these things could have been different if Rome hadn't divided if the churches hadn't split if the Ottomans had won at the siege of Vienna these are all interesting things for me to wonder and it is in that vein that I'd like to share something with you one of the most amazing series I've had the pleasure of finding the butterfly effect a historical animated series with absolutely breathtaking art and editing covering a vast array of historical scenarios like Rome versus the barbarians which uncovers the key crossroads and decisions that change the face of the Balkans forever please do yourself a favor and check it out with a free 30-day trial over at curiosity stream which for just $2.99 a month on their annual subscription gets you unlimited access to their thousands of documentaries and titles but I also have a very special partnership to announce with it in addition if you sign up using my link you'll also get access to the streaming platform nebula a website for creators and by creators which I am very proud to be part of we built the service as a place where we as creators can take risks with things that may not work with the YouTube's algorithm such as this series by real engineering on the logistics of d-day a nebula original series about the Normandy landings in addition to many more originals from your favorite edge you tubers this is a great way to support me and other history craters like future history quito history buffs and so many more with a bundle deal with curiosity stream i've been very excited to tell you guys about this website and i definitely think it's worth checking out just head to curiosity stream comm slash sweeney or simply click the link below to get started with curiosity stream and nebula thank you for watching everyone I'm actually part Croatian on my grandfather's side so this video was very personally enriching experience for me and I hope you guys enjoyed it as well don't forget to get your pin if you'd like one there's only a limited amount so when they're gone they're gone alright everyone until next time [Music]

Channel: Suibhne

Views: 618,102

Rating: 4.6152134 out of 5

Keywords: croatia, history, dalmatia, slavonia, suibhne, animated history, history of croatia, zagreb, split, dubrovnik, republic of ragusa, ragusa, venice, republic of venice, hungary, yugoslavia, tito

Id: TABlbP-tTkk

Length: 18min 15sec (1095 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 21 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/CROguys]

Solidan uvodni video.

Nisam znao da lik vuče hrvatske korijene s očeve strane. Nick Hodgesu s kanala History Buffs je majka također Hrvatica.

[u/50lp]

Pa kaj nismo imali Svačića prije Arpadovića i nije baš da smo ušli u personalnu uniju tak mile volje...

[u/[deleted]]

Koliko bogatu povjesti imamo.Ali bogami ne može biti kompliciranije od ovoga.

Ali kako svi kažete stalno smo tu bili, stalno smo postojali, Znalo se za nas.

jedno mi je bilo drago za čuti. Ustaško-nacistička teroristička organizacija.

[u/[deleted]]

For those bashing the Ustasa movement , while they did commit war crimes... I ask you what movement that made the corner stone for a country had not? Let us learn and not repeat the mistakes but that doesn’t eliminate our gratitude to both those in the left and right that envisioned and strived for our Croatian dream. Croats must never divide themselves in left or right movements but rather remain united In our love and loyalty to only Croatia above all else.

Bog i Hrvati!

[u/Superchillipoo]

Did my username flair work