History History

In a cave near Pula (Sandalja), but also in Koper, the results of archaeological excavations attest to the presence of man in Istria as early as the Paleolithic period. Tools, ceramics and various everyday objects found also provided information on the life of hunter-gatherers and fishermen in the Neolithic period (6000-2000 BC).

In the Bronze Age, the first sedentary inhabitants were Indo-European tribes who settled on the present Croatian territory. The Illyrians, Dalmatians, Liburnes and Histres colonized the coast and the archipelagos. The latter have bequeathed their names to the peninsula.

After a first incursion on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, the Romans had to face the Illyrians on their lands (Histria, Liburnia, Dalmatia). These Illyrian Wars correspond to three separate military campaigns, one against Queen Teuta, the second against the adventurer Demetrios of Pharos and the last against King Gentius.

In the Adriatic Sea, the first Roman conquests began during the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor (from 16 January 27 BC to 19 August 14 AD). After a short Greek colonization, a tenth administrative region of Italy(regio X Venetia e Histria) was created in 7 BC. This was followed by a long period of Roman colonisation, until the Roman Empire was divided in two under Diocletian.

The territory of present-day Croatia saw the collapse of the Roman civilization in the West, which was followed by the so-called Late Antiquity period. This was a prosperous period for the Histria region, which was dominated by the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. The peninsula is adorned with superb religious buildings.

From the 7th century onwards, the region was plundered several times by Slavic (ancestors of the Slovenes and Croats) and Magyar pirates. The village of Sipar (Umag) is destroyed, which directly affects the authority of Basil I. The Roman Emperor of the East later succeeded in reintegrating these peoples into Byzantine Dalmatia.

The south-western part, mostly Italian, remains Byzantine. The north-eastern half, mainly populated by Slovenes and Croats, became an autonomous margraviate (marquisate) in the Germanic (Carolingian) Empire.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the entire Adriatic coast, most of the Dalmatian city-states and the south-eastern half of Istria fell under Venetian rule, while the first Habsburgs penetrated the north-western half and the interior of the Istrian peninsula. For the Serenissima, gaining ground in these territorial waters was the means of controlling the trade routes between East and West, while at the same time building up a formidable source of income. The ports (Pula, Poreč, Rovinj) accepted the military protectorate in order to limit Hungarian overflows. But the cities also had to give up their surrounding land

From the 14th century onwards, the City of the Doges applied a veritable "venitisation" of the Istrian coastline, on a political, economic, maritime and artistic level. During these four centuries, the linguistic and cultural characteristics of Italy had a lasting influence on the landscape and the people. All along the coast, Venice chose raised sites, peninsulas to build the port towns, surmounted by the traditional campanile, which can be seen from afar. This colonisation was at its height from the 16th to the 18th century and left behind an organised urbanisation (ramparts, fortifications, pavements), a refinement in architecture and civil and religious art.

After the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, Istria and Dalmatia changed guardianship. Successively, the two regions were attached to the Habsburg Empire, the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy and then to the Illyrian Provinces of the French Empire.

The incursion of Napoleon Bonaparte's regime into Croatia was short-lived, but full of repercussions. At the end of the two campaigns of Dalmatia, the French emperor granted Austria the possessions of the southern Adriatic and founded, in 1809, the Illyrian Provinces (Istria, Kvarner, Dalmatia, Bay of Kotor). At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Austria recovered parts of Istria and Dalmatia that had belonged to Venice. The Austro-Hungarians took over the ports of Pula and Rijeka, built shipyards there for their war arsenal and laid out new routes to connect the maritime infrastructures to the capitals (Vienna, Budapest, Zagreb).

Italy, which had allied itself with Prussia, lost the naval battle of Lissa (island of Vis) but recovered the Veneto, bringing the Austrian coast, with Trieste as its capital, closer to the Istrian border. This Austro-Hungarian coastal area (Küstenland) included the princely county of Görz (now Italian Friuli), the county of Istria as far as Fiume (Rijeka) and included the Gulf of Kvarner and its large islands.

Within the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the union of the neighbouring countries gives rise to the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Under the reign of Peter I of Serbia, it merged the kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro and the Slovenian and Croatian populations. Under Alexander I, it was renamed the kingdom of Yugoslavia on October 3, 1929, but on October 9, 1934, the king was assassinated in Marseilles by Ante Pavelić, leader of the Croatian Ustashi.

At the end of the First World War, a peace treaty is signed between Germany and the Allies. Sanctions against Germany and its Axis allies are taken, leading to territorial reshuffles and the break-up of the German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires.

Important Croatian territories were allocated to Italy, including Istria, but not Fiume, which reverted to the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In reaction, the Italian military writer, the fascist Gabriele D'Annunzio, occupied the town with his militia for almost a year.

The Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign a treaty, which aims to ensure the independence of Fiume, recognized by the United States, France and the United Kingdom. The free micro-state will only last until 3 March 1922, when it will be overthrown by a coup d'état and then annexed again by Italy.

German invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Istria and a large part of Dalmatia are annexed by Mussolini's Italy. Axis forces set up satellite regimes, notably in Croatia. In Zagreb, power is handed over to the Ustashi ultranationalists. It is the triumphant return of Ante Pavelić, which sets up a policy of persecution of political opponents (Serbs, antifascists, Croatian communists). He introduces racial laws against Jews and Gypsies, opens deportation and/or concentration camps. This war caused nearly 300,000 deaths in Croatia. In the summer of 1941, the Croatian resistance, allied to the Chetniks (party of the kingdom of Yugoslavia) is organized. The antifascist partizan were led by the communist Josip Broz, known as Tito. In June 1943, the Croatian maquis acquired a civil staff, which became theFederalna Država Hrvatska (Federal State of Croatia).

After the Second World War, Tito became head of six republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia) and two autonomous regions (Kosovo and Vojvodina). Istria is claimed by Yugoslavia and Italy.

At the beginning of 1946, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) enacted its Constitution. It takes up the founding principles of the totalitarian model of the Stalinist Soviet Union. It is the end of the monarchy, the beginning of a system which admits the intervention of the State in all fields (economic, political, social and cultural).

Under UN control, the Treaty of Paris created this territory, which resulted in the city being split in two, one Anglo-American, with a majority of Italians (zone A), the other Yugoslav (zone B), including the city of Capodistria (Koper), with Italians, Slovenes and Croats. But a large part of the population of zone B is abandoning this region, driven by communist terror and massacres of the foibe.

The evocation of this period of terror, carried out by Tito's communist partisans against fascist political opponents, soldiers and civilians, most of them Italian, remains a sensitive issue, even today, between Italy and Croatia. These mass executions took place after the signing of the armistice in 1943, following Mussolini's departure. Thousands of people were killed in the Istrian territories, sometimes with living bodies thrown into deep natural karstic graves(foibe). Nearly 250,000 exiles fled the region. The film Rosso Istria, directed by Maximiliano Hernando Bruno (2017), recounts these historical facts, long commemorated only by neo-fascists. It provoked strong reactions on the social networks between the extreme right and the other Italian parties. Now, in Italy, February 10 is established as a day of remembrance for the victims of the foibe.

Slovenia now has an opening to the Adriatic Sea including the southern coastal area. Belonging to Croatia for 90% of its territory, Istria is still claimed by Italy, which will only keep Trieste, cutting the city off from its hinterland.

Based on self-management, decentralisation, the relaxation of collectivism and planning, the non-aligned movement was established by the Brioni Declaration on the largest island of the Istrian archipelago, off Pula. From his island residence, Tito invites the heads of state Nehru and Nasser. He urges them to protect themselves from the influence of the United States and the USSR, then in the middle of the Cold War.

Italy and Yugoslavia have agreed on maritime boundaries. After 1992, these sea borders, which surround fishing zones, will be recognised by the states born from the break-up of Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro.

After Tito's death (4 May 1980), the system of alternating presidencies every four years did not satisfy parliamentarians and did not solve national problems or political and economic inequalities. Driven by economic considerations, Croatia and Slovenia are demanding greater representation in the centralist assemblies in Belgrade. In May 1989, the seizure of power by Slobodan Milošević relaunched the battle for Greater Serbia. Milošević, the ultra-nationalist, abolished the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina and placed his supporters at the head of Montenegro. In short, he wants to control all the Yugoslav authorities. On 30 May, the Croatian presidential elections were won by Franjo Tuđman, a former general in the partisan army. Three months later, Croatian Serbs self-proclaimed the Autonomous Republic of Krajina. On 13 June 1991, the Yugoslav Army (JNA), whose staff is now composed solely of Serb soldiers, launches a first attack on Croatia, while the Zagreb Parliament declares sovereignty and national independence. Soon a quarter of the country fell into Serbian hands. Serbian terrorists, infiltrated in Croatia and supported by the JNA, carry out murderous raids in the regions of Lika, Kordun, Banija and Eastern Slavonia. Fighting rages in the town of Vukovar, the Dinara-Velebit massifs, in the Krajina region. Conflicts will pit Croats, Serbs and Bosniacs against each other, the latter supported by jihadist militias from abroad. Zadar, Šibenik and Dubrovnik have come under rocket fire and bombardment. The fall of Vukovar on 18 November 1991 was a real massacre. Several hundred people were killed and at least 20,000 civilians displaced. On December 14, 1995, the Dayton agreements, signed with the Serbs and Bosnians, put an end to the conflict that killed nearly 15,000 people and wounded 50,000 in the former Yugoslavia.

The region of Istria was not hit by the fire. However, its economy has suffered a severe recession following the sharp drop in tourism. The region participated in the "war for the homeland" effort. There was a real surge of solidarity. Hotel complexes on its coastline, barracks and second homes were requisitioned to temporarily accommodate a considerable mass of refugees and exiles fleeing besieged Croatian cities. Istrian companies helped to rebuild Croatian infrastructure on the territory.

The two republics become independent. While retaining the internal Yugoslav borders of Istria (1954), both new democracies will be recognized by the international community. Croatia joins the ranks of the UN and regains its entire territory by reconquering Slavonia to the east.

The Croatian Republic participates in this pact of understanding between the countries of the zone. Its aim is to assist the neighbouring states in their plans for democratic and economic reforms. Croatia's accession to the European Union is signed in July 2013. At the same time, identity resurgences in Istria are still present. The Euroregion Istria party is still in the news. It works for the fusion of Croatian Istria with Northern Italy and Slovenia.

At the end of the second round, Zoran Milanović, former Social Democratic Prime Minister, came out ahead of outgoing President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. The election brought the socialists back to power but saw the rise of national-populism with the good score of singer Miroslav Škoro (24.45% of the votes in the first round).