1918 protest in Zagreb
1918 protest in Zagreb | |||
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Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 45°48′47″N 15°58′38″E / 45.81306°N 15.97722°E | |||
Caused by | Method of unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs with the Kingdom of Serbia or the unification itself | ||
Goals | Establishment of a republic | ||
Resulted in | Protest suppressed | ||
Parties | |||
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Lead figures | |||
Rudolf Sentmartoni | |||
Number | |||
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Casualties and losses | |||
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1 Royal Serbian Army soldier killed |
On 5 December 1918, the National Guards (an armed force of the National Council of the
Reasons for the protest and the conflict are not very well documented, but the soldiers who marched down
The
Background
Collapse of Austria-Hungary and civil disorder
In the final days of the
At the time, Austro–Hungarian deserters termed Green Cadres were causing a crime wave in the countryside.[4] By September 1918, there were about 50,000 Green Cadres among the Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks. Most of them were active in Croatia-Slavonia,[5] where violence peaked between 24 October and 4 November.[6] The period also saw a mutiny in Požega. In nearby Orahovica, two Austro-Hungarian regiments, one Bohemian and one Dalmatian fought against each other.[7] Officials in the town reported that some of the soldiers sided with the Bolsheviks.[8] The violence quickly spread and elements of the 23rd Regiment and the 28th Regiment of the Royal Croatian Home Guard joined in looting Osijek.[7] Mutineers also led looting in Petrovaradin, Pakrac, Daruvar, and Županja, although peasants and the (mostly peasant) Green Cadres were responsible for most of the pillaging and looting.[7]
The National Council hesitated to condemn the violence,
Federation vs centralised union with Serbia
There were two main approaches to the unification of the South Slavs. While Ante Trumbić's Yugoslav Committee advocated a federal system of government, the Prime Minister of Serbia Nikola Pašić wanted a centralised state.[14] Pašić threatened to conquer and annex the Serb-inhabited territories of Austria-Hungary to create a Greater Serbia unless Trumbić accepted a centralised state.[15] Under pressure from the Triple Entente, Pašić agreed to support a federal South Slavic state during the November 1918 conference in Geneva,[16] but Serbia repudiated the agreement either because of Prince Regent Alexander's opposition,[17] or in a scheme devised by Pašić to deflect Entente pressure and undermine Korošec's authority.[18]
Shortly after the conclusion of the Geneva conference, the National Council
Armed forces in Zagreb
The National Council established the National Guard on 27 October 1918 in preparation for the
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs formally established its military on 1 November, three days after the declaration of independence, from Austro-Hungarian units based in the territory of the new state. On 6 November, the 25th Regiment of the Royal Croatian Home Guard and the 53rd Regiment of the
Prelude
On 3 December, the National Council promulgated the Unification Act.[36] In cooperation with Zagreb's local authorities, it sponsored several public celebrations of unification to match the mass celebrations of declaration of independence of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs from Austria-Hungary from late October. According to historian Rudolf Horvat, the festivities were organised carelessly and some behaviour offended "everything held dear and sacred by the Croatian people". The same day, there were reports from the nearby town of Bjelovar that the army troops stationed there were mutinous after the unification was announced. A National Council representative in the town reported that the soldiers were shouting slogans against the King and cheering on republicanism.[37] Kućak and Petrović informed the deputy defence commissioner of the National Council Nikola Winterhalter of the pro-republican mood in the troops stationed in Zagreb barracks.[38]
Seizing on widespread disenchantment, the Party of Rights drew up and distributed a proclamation condemning the process of unification as undemocratic on 2 December.[36] The party daily Hrvatska (Croatia) published it two days later, stating the Party of Rights would continue to advocate unification of free and independent states of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs in a federal republic. In response, the authorities confiscated the issue and banned Hrvatska. The party distributed the manifest as a leaflet instead.[39] In the morning of 5 December, Zagreb Cathedral held a Te Deum service as a part of celebration of establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.[28]
Protest
From the barracks to Ban Jelačić Square
In the afternoon of 5 December, some soldiers of the 53rd Regiment left the Rudolf barracks in western Zagreb and set out towards Ban Jelačić Square.[28] En route, they stopped before the Home Guard Barracks in Ilica Street where some soldiers of the 25th Regiment joined the march.[40] Civilians also joined the soldiers.[25] The soldiers brought rifles and two machine guns from each barracks[41] and were accompanied by the twelve-strong military band of the 25th Regiment.[28] The marchers intended to declare a free Croatian republic, spurred on by perceived provocative behaviour at celebrations of unification.[37] The subsequent indictment for the act of mutiny specified 250 soldiers participating, but the actual number is likely to be about 400, 200 from each regiment.[42]
Protesting the unification with Serbia,[36] the soldiers walked down Ilica Street carrying a flag of Croatia and shouting "Long live the republic!", "Long live Radić!", "Down with King Peter!", "Down with the dynasty!", "Long live the peasant party!", "Down with militarism!",[43][37] "Long live Croatian republic!", and "Long live Bolshevik republic!". Authorities later also reported that the demonstrators called out for release of General Lipošćak.[44] According to Croatian historian Mislav Gabelica, it is unclear if the soldiers were protesting against the unification itself or the method by which it was carried out. Gabelica also argues that the protest was in part spurred on by various causes for discontent such as widespread poverty and anarchy in the country as well as by external actors such as by Italian intelligence services.[45]
Most sources agree that the protesting soldiers reached Ban Jelačić Square at 2 p.m.[46] Some troops loyal to the government were deployed at the end of Ilica to prevent people from entering the square, but they quickly gave way.[27] Upon reaching the square, the soldiers of the 25th and the 53rd regiments set up two machine guns at the centre of the square, and two at the start of Ilica – near the Gajeva Street and Oktogon respectively.[47] The military band took position at the square near the Duga Street (Radićeva Street today) and played Lijepa naša domovino.[48]
Armed clash on the square
The authorities were informed about the planned protest at the latest at 11:30 a.m. on the day of the protest,[49] and cleared the square of people before the soldiers arrived.[50] Armed National Guardsmen and Sokol volunteers were waiting for the soldiers and civilians who joined the protest, taking cover in the surrounding buildings.[46] According to contemporary government reports, 60 National Guardsmen were deployed on the north side of the square, in House Popović (then at number 4, the numbers have changed since) and at house number 6 – with a machine gun set up in each building. According to that report, 20 troops were at the House Popović, while the rest, together with Angjelinović, took up positions at the other building.[51] According to the 1926 testimony of Sergeant Dragutin Mačuka, the government deployed 160 troops (National Guards and Sokol volunteers) to the square. The headquarters were set up in the house at number 6 with additional troops at the House Popović and the House Feller (at number 21, at the corner of the Jurišićeva Street) on the east side of the square.[52] Mačuka's estimate of the government strength is supported by testimony of a Sokol volunteer, Branko Kojić, who said 60 Sokol volunteers and 100 National Guardsmen were deployed.[53] First there were brief negotiations.[46] According to witness statements, Kućak and Lieutenant Colonel Slavko Kvaternik went to House Popović and attempted to calm the situation down. According to Kvaternik, they persuaded Mazzura to tell the National Guardsmen in that house not to fire. Kvaternik's statement is contradicted by others who identified civilian Zdravko Lenac as commander of the National Guardsmen at the House Popović.[54]
According to trial testimony, the soldiers of the 25th and the 53rd regiments captured House Popović and the machine gun placed there. Various testimonies disagreed as to whether the second machine gun was placed at a balcony of the adjacent house (number 5) or at the house number 6[a] as indicated in official contemporary reports. The witnesses agree that the soldiers left the House Popović to capture another machine gun, that a gunfight erupted inside that building, and the machine gun fired on soldiers in the square.[56] A later inspection of bullet pockmarks left on facades revealed that the house number 6 was the main target of the soldiers' fire, and other testimonies placed Angjelinović in that house, commanding the machine gun crew to fire on the soldiers.[57] Kvaternik and other witnesses indicated that a third machine gun fired from the House Feller and killed a soldier manning a machine gun set up by the mutineers at the foot of the Josip Jelačić monument on the square.[58][59] In his 1947 testimony, Kvaternik said the National Guards had a machine gun on the south side of the square at the house number 27 at the corner of present-day Praška Street, but no other source supports that claim.[58]
The skirmish ended at about 3 p.m.
Legacy
The National Council disbanded the 25th and the 53rd regiments on the evening of 5 December,[26] and cited the clash and the Lipošćak affair as grounds to restrict the inclusion of Croatian officers who previously served in the Austro-Hungarian armed forces in new army as unreliable.[44] On 10 December, the National Council disbanded all armed units formally under its command including all former Croat units within the Austro-Hungarian Army and Navy. On 10 December, it authorised a Serbian Army mission to establish new units to replace the disbanded ones.[66] The mission proceeded to establish new structures integrated with the rest of the new kingdom.[67]
On 5 December, the National Council imposed censorship and banned the last remaining opposition newspaper, the HPSS-published Dom.
The two killed National Guardsmen were buried with honours at the Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb.[72] In 1932, the Croatian Woman Society launched an initiative to transfer bodies of the killed soldiers and civilians (not the National Guardsmen) from their individual graves at the Mirogoj to a common crypt.[73] The society built a monument to the killed at the cemetery,[74] The Yugoslav state did not allow the transfer of remains, which was carried out in December 1941, after the establishment of the Ustaše-ruled Independent State of Croatia (NDH) as a Nazi puppet state during World War II.[73] On 26 August 1941, Pavelić declared "600 revolutionaries" involved in the 5 December 1918 protest a Reserve Battalion of the Ustaše Militia, originally a ceremonial unit.[75] The unit, commanded by Ivan Perečić,[76] was subsequently renamed the Honor Battalion.[75] The NDH wanted to portray the December Victims as a symbol of resistance to the union with Serbia, but Nazi Plenipotentiary-General to the NDH Edmund Glaise-Horstenau complained that the event was essentially a communist affair.[77] In 1942, commemorative medals were authorised for participants of the protest and the right to wear them was awarded to 402 people (25 posthumously).[78] In 1943, a monument was erected at the Ban Jelačić Square to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the protest.[79] By 1947, Communist authorities removed all the monuments from the Ban Jelačić Square, including the equestrian monument to Josip Jelačić.[80] A plaque was placed by Croatian World War II veterans association Hrvatski domobran on the former House Feller (now number 11) in 2003 to commemorate the 1918 protest.[81]
Notes
References
- ^ Ramet 2006, pp. 42–43.
- ^ Matijević 2008a, p. 50.
- ^ Matijević 2008a, pp. 56–59.
- ^ Beneš 2017, p. 220.
- ^ Beneš 2017, p. 217.
- ^ a b Banac 1992, pp. 289–290.
- ^ a b c Banac 1992, pp. 296–297.
- ^ Štambuk-Škalić & Matijević 2008, p. 108.
- ^ a b Banac 1992, pp. 297–298.
- ^ Banac 1984, p. 131.
- ^ Janković 1964, pp. 251–252.
- ^ Banac 1992, pp. 303–304.
- ^ Banac 1992, p. 300.
- ^ Pavlowitch 2003, pp. 33–34.
- ^ Šepić 1968, p. 38.
- ^ Janković 1964, pp. 246–247.
- ^ Ramet 2006, p. 43.
- ^ Banac 1984, pp. 134–135.
- ^ Zorko 2003, pp. 892–895.
- ^ Ramet 2006, p. 44.
- ^ Pavlović 2019, p. 275.
- ^ Ramet 2006, pp. 44–45.
- ^ Pavlović 2019, p. 276.
- ^ Gabelica 2005, p. 468.
- ^ a b Gabelica 2005, p. 469.
- ^ a b c Newman 2015, p. 132.
- ^ a b Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 180–181.
- ^ a b c d e Huzjan 2005, pp. 455–456.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 121–122.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 245–248.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 250.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 255.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 252.
- ^ Zorko 2003, p. 893.
- ^ Gabelica 2005, n. 11.
- ^ a b c Banac 1992, pp. 215–216.
- ^ a b c Martan 2016, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Matijević 2008b, p. 1116.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 137.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 190.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 186.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 139.
- ^ a b Zorko 2003, p. 900.
- ^ Gabelica 2005, pp. 469–470.
- ^ a b c d Gabelica 2005, p. 470.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 192–193.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 196.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 220.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 187.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 156–159.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 171–173.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 178.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 166–167.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, n. 423.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 159–161.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 170–171.
- ^ a b Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 169–170.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 177.
- ^ Gabelica 2005, pp. 475–476.
- ^ Gabelica 2005, pp. 470–472.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, p. 251.
- ^ Gabelica 2005, pp. 474–475.
- ^ Gabelica 2005, p. 474.
- ^ Gabelica & Matković 2018, pp. 177–182.
- ^ Banac 1984, p. 216.
- ^ Ramet 2006, p. 49.
- ^ Gabelica 2005, p. 472.
- ^ Newman 2015, pp. 132–133.
- ^ Newman 2018, p. 167.
- ^ Newman 2018, p. 170.
- ^ Gabelica 2005, p. 475.
- ^ a b Gabelica 2005, p. 476.
- ^ Newman 2015, p. 174.
- ^ a b Geiger & Barić 2002, pp. 835–836.
- ^ Geiger & Barić 2002, p. 837.
- ^ Geiger & Barić 2002, p. 838.
- ^ Geiger & Barić 2002, p. 842.
- ^ Geiger & Barić 2002, p. 844.
- ^ Mataušić 2001, p. 128.
- ^ Plančić 2003.
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