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Croatia (, kroh-AY -shə ; Croatian : Hrvatska , pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː] ), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska ), is a country in Central and Southeast Europe , on the coast of the Adriatic Sea . It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Italy to the west. Its capital and largest city, Zagreb , forms one of the country's primary subdivisions , with twenty counties . Other major urban centers include Split , Rijeka and Osijek . The country spans 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles), and has a population of nearly 3.9 million.
The Croats arrived in modern-day Croatia in the late 6th century, then part of Roman Illyria . By the 7th century, they had organized the territory into two duchies . Croatia was first internationally recognized as independent on 7 June 879 during the reign of Duke Branimir . Tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom . During the succession crisis after the Trpimirović dynasty ended, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest , the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of Austria to the Croatian throne. In October 1918, the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs , independent from the Habsburg Empire , was proclaimed in Zagreb, and in December 1918, it merged into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . Following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, most of Croatia was incorporated into a Nazi-installed puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia . A resistance movement led to the creation of the Socialist Republic of Croatia , which after the war became a founding member and constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . On 25 June 1991, Croatia declared independence , and the War of Independence was successfully fought over the next four years.
Croatia is a republic and has a parliamentary system . It is a member of the European Union , the Eurozone , the Schengen Area , NATO , the United Nations , the Council of Europe , the OSCE , the World Trade Organization , a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean , and is currently in the process of joining the OECD . An active participant in United Nations peacekeeping , Croatia contributed troops to the International Security Assistance Force and was elected to fill a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in the 2008–2009 term for the first time.
Croatia is a developed country with an advanced high-income economy and ranks highly in the Human Development Index . Service , industrial sectors , and agriculture dominate the economy . Tourism is a significant source of revenue for the country, with nearly 20 million tourist arrivals as of 2019. Since the 2000s, the Croatian government has heavily invested in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors . Croatia has also positioned itself as a regional energy leader in the early 2020s and is contributing to the diversification of Europe's energy supply via its floating liquefied natural gas import terminal off Krk island, LNG Hrvatska . Croatia provides social security , universal health care , and tuition-free primary and secondary education while supporting culture through public institutions and corporate investments in media and publishing . (Full article... )
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Map of Operation Summer '95
Operation Summer '95 (Croatian : Operacija Ljeto '95 ) was a joint military offensive of the Croatian Army (HV) and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) that took place north-west of the Livanjsko Polje , and around Bosansko Grahovo and Glamoč in western Bosnia and Herzegovina . The operation was carried out between 25 and 29 July 1995, during the Croatian War of Independence and the Bosnian War . The attacking force of 8,500 troops commanded by HV's Lieutenant General Ante Gotovina initially encountered strong resistance from the 5,500-strong Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) 2nd Krajina Corps. The HV/HVO pushed the VRS back, capturing about 1,600 square kilometres (620 square miles) of territory and consequently intercepting the Knin —Drvar road—a critical supply route of the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK). The operation failed to achieve its declared primary goal of drawing VRS units away from the besieged city of Bihać , but it placed the HV in position to capture the RSK's capital Knin in Operation Storm days later.
Operation Summer '95 was launched in response to the resumption of attacks by the VRS and the RSK military on the Bihać pocket —one of six United Nations Safe Areas established in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The area was viewed as strategic to the Croatian military effort by the HV General Staff because it presented an obstacle to the supply of the RSK and it pinned down a portion of the RSK military, as well as some VRS forces that would otherwise have been redeployed. The international community feared the worst humanitarian disaster of the war to that point would occur if the RSK or the VRS overran the Bihać pocket. The United States , France and the United Kingdom were divided about the best way to protect the pocket. (Full article... )
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The following are images from various Croatia-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Portal of the
Trogir cathedral by sculptor
Radovan , c. 1240 (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 2 Medieval Croatia (dark green) south of
Gvozd Mountain shown in relation to medieval Slavonia (green) spanning between
Sava and
Drava rivers. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 4 Entry of
Croatian Partisans into capital of Croatia,
Zagreb , May 9, 1945 (from
Croatia )
Image 6 Clockwise from top left: The central street of
Dubrovnik , the
Stradun , in ruins during the
Siege of Dubrovnik ; the damaged
Vukovar water tower , a symbol of the early conflict, flying the
Croatian tricolor ; soldiers of the
Croatian Army getting ready to destroy a
Serbian tank; the
Vukovar Memorial Cemetery; a Serbian
T-55 tank destroyed on the road to
Drniš (from
History of Croatia )
Image 7 Vučedol dove – the most famous piece of bronze age
Vučedol culture . (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 8 Ban
Josip Jelačić at the opening of the first Croatian civic Parliament (
Sabor ) whose deputies were elected on 5 June 1848. In earlier Sabors, members represented feudal estates rather than citizens. The Croatian tricolor flag can also be seen in the background. Dragutin Weingärtner, 1885. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 9 Cardinal
Aloysius Stepinac with the Croatian communist leader
Vladimir Bakarić at the celebration of
May Day , shortly before Stepinac was arrested and convicted by the communists (from
Croatia )
Image 10 Self-portrait with Dog (
Autoportret sa psom ) by
Miroslav Kraljević (1910)
Modern Gallery, Zagreb (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 11 Poglavnik of the Independent State of Croatia,
Ante Pavelić , shakes hands with
Adolf Hitler in 1941. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 12 Tourist cruise on the
Danube river, eastern
Slavonia (from
Croatia )
Image 13 A map of the Istrian peninsula from the Roman map
Tabula Peutingeriana , made sometime in the 4th century (from
History of Croatia )
Image 14 Franjo Tuđman , the 1st president of the modern independent
Republic of Croatia (from
History of Croatia )
Image 15 University Hospital Centre Zagreb is the largest hospital in Croatia and the teaching hospital of the
University of Zagreb . (from
Croatia )
Image 16 "Remnants of the Remnants" (
Reliquiae Reliquiarum ), shown on this map in yellow, represent the territory under the jurisdiction of Croatian-Slavonian
Sabor at the height of the Ottoman advance (from
History of Croatia )
Image 17 Croatian soldiers raising the flag on the
Knin fortress at a commemoration of the
Operation Storm , the Croatian military action which liberated occupied Croatian territories in
1995 (from
Croatia )
Image 19 Pelješac Bridge connects the peninsula of
Pelješac and through it the southernmost part, including
Dubrovnik , with the
Croatian mainland . (from
Croatia )
Image 20 Fans on
Poljud stadium during Croatia's biggest football derby between
Hajduk Split and
Dinamo Zagreb . (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 21 On January 1, 2023, Croatia joined the
eurozone , replacing
Croatian kuna with
euro as its national currency. (from
Croatia )
Image 22 Klis Fortress in the hinterland of town of
Split was one of the places that saw action during the
First Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1242. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 23 Novigrad Castle , near
Zadar was a place where anti-court supporters held queens Mary and Elizabeth in captivity.
Velebit mountain can be seen in castle's background. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 25 Zlatni Rat beach on the Island of
Brač is one of the foremost spots of
tourism in Croatia . (from
Croatia )
Image 26 A chair designed by Bernardo Bernardi in 1956. (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 27 Ban
Josip Jelačić at the opening of the first modern
Croatian Parliament (
Sabor ), June 5, 1848. The Croatian tricolour flag can be seen in the background. (from
Croatia )
Image 28 Pula Arena , Roman amphitheatre located in
Pula , constructed between 27 BC and AD 68. (from
Croatia )
Image 29 Croatian borders similar to those established with the
Peace of Karlowitz in 1699. Although the peace treaty meant relief from Ottoman pressure, Croatia lost the compactness of its territory. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 30 Savka Dabčević-Kučar ,
Croatian Spring participant; Europe's first female prime minister (from
History of Croatia )
Image 31 Kingdom of Croatia c. 925, during the reign of
King Tomislav (from
Croatia )
Image 32 Ozalj Castle - one of Zrinski-Frankopan conspirators center and a center of Ozalj literary-linguistic circle which produced Croatian
baroque literature such as:
Putni tovaruš ,
Gazophylacium or
Gartlic za čas kratiti . (from
History of Croatia )
Image 33 The assassination of Croatian MPs in the National Assembly in Belgrade was one of the events which greatly damaged relations between Serbs and Croats in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 34 National Memorial Cemetery of The Victims of Homeland War in Vukovar , the central place of holding the
National Remembrance Day , public holiday on
November 18 , for all the victims of the war in Croatia and the
Vukovar massacre , one of the symbolic and crucial events in the
Croatian War of Independence 1991 (from
Croatia )
Image 35 Varaždin , capital of Croatia between 1767 and 1776, is the seat of
Varaždin county ; Pictured: Old Town fortress, one of 15 Croatia's sites inscribed on the
UNESCO World Heritage tentative list (from
Croatia )
Image 36 Rovinj is one of the most visited cities in
Istria , alongside Pula and Poreč. (from
Croatia )
Image 38 Croatian musical
diva Josipa Lisac . (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 39 Dubrovnik is one of Croatia's most popular tourist destinations. Dubrovnik is arguably the most famous
Game of Thrones filming destination being the filming location for the
capital city of Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms, Kings Landing . (from
Croatia )
Image 40 Traditional Croatian musicians playing violins (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 41 Coronation of
King Tomislav by
Oton Iveković (from
Croatia )
Image 42 Radio Zagreb , now a part of
Croatian national
public broadcasting company,
Croatian Radiotelevision , was the first public radio station in
Southeast Europe . (from
Croatia )
Image 43 Baška Tablet (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 44 Pula Film Festival is held each year during summer. Its main stage is
Roman amphitheatre in Pula. (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 45 Marko Marulić (18 August 1450 – 5 January 1524), Croatian poet, lawyer, judge, and Renaissance humanist who coined the term "
psychology ". He is the
national poet of Croatia. (from
Croatia )
Image 48 Plitvice Lakes,
IUCN Category II (
National Park ) (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 49 Croatia became the 28th EU member country on 1 July 2013. (from
Croatia )
Image 50 Tounj bridge on
Jozephina road (from
History of Croatia )
Image 51 A 16th century depiction of
Vrana monastery , seat of
John of Palisna . (from
History of Croatia )
Image 52 The
Split pluteus with the figure of a king, dating from the 11th century. It is hypothesized to depict a Croatian king, probably
Petar Krešimir IV or
Zvonimir . It was originally situated in
Hollow Church . (from
History of Croatia )
Image 54 A tower on top of
Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) building in
Zagreb neighbourhood of Prisavlje. (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 55 The
flag of Croatia was hoisted together with the
flag of Europe on the building of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs in Zagreb as a symbol of Croatia's membership in both the
Council of Europe and the
European Union (from
History of Croatia )
Image 58 One of the seats of 14th-century magnate
Paul Šubić , in
Bribir . Paul held the hereditary titles of the
Ban of Croatia and
Lord of Bosnia . Croatian historians sometimes refer to Paul as "the uncrowned king of Croatia". (from
History of Croatia )
Image 59 The
Law Code of Vinodol from 1288, written in
Glagolitic script , is the earliest legal text written in the Croatian language. This code regulated relations between inhabitants of the town of
Vinodol and their overlords, the
counts of Krk . (from
History of Croatia )
Image 60 The historic centre of
Trogir has been included in the
UNESCO list of
World Heritage Site since 1997. (from
Croatia )
Image 61 A map of 10th-century Croatian counties (
županije ), as they were mentioned in
De Administrando Imperio . The counties marked in blue represent the territories governed by the Croatian Ban. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 62 The climax of Hasan Pasha's Great Offensive was
third Battle of Sisak on 22 June 1593. The battle is depicted here by
Johann Weikhard von Valvasor . (from
History of Croatia )
Image 63 Proclamation of severing ties with
Austria-Hungary in front of
Croatian Sabor in 1918. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 64 The
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within
Austria-Hungary created in 1868 following the
Croatian–Hungarian Settlement . (from
Croatia )
Image 65 Landscapes of
Motovun in
Istrian peninsula (from
Croatia )
Image 66 Iapodian headwear and other material culture from
Gacka valley , Croatia. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 67 Heart-shaped island of
Galešnjak (from
Croatia )
Image 68 A border marking of Illyrian Provinces on Sava river shores in modern-day
Zagreb . (from
History of Croatia )
Image 71 The woodcut by
Leonhard Beck , from
c. 1515, depicts the
Battle of Krbava Field between the Army of Croatian nobility and Ottoman akinjis. (from
History of Croatia )
Image 72 A man wearing
Lika cap . (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 73 Stiniva Bay beach on island of
Vis (from
Croatia )
Image 74 Poštak Wind Farm near
Gračac ,
Zadar County . (from
Croatia )
Image 75 University of Zadar , 1396, Croatia's oldest university (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 76 Fascist leaders of
Nazi Germany and its puppet state
Independent State of Croatia ,
Adolf Hitler and
Ante Pavelić , meeting in
Berghof outside
Berchtesgaden , Germany, 1941 (from
Croatia )
Image 77 Two parts of the Triune Kingdom: Croatia-Slavonia (number 17) and Dalmatia (number 5) within Austria-Hungary (from
History of Croatia )
Image 78 President
Zoran Milanović at the
NATO summit on 11 July 2023,
Vilnius , Lithuania (from
Croatia )
Image 81 Croatians in a caffe bar on Petar Preradović Square, also known as "Flowers Square" (
Cvjetni trg ), in
Zagreb (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 83 Cathedral of
St Stephen in
Zagreb , the capital of Croatia, the 14th century interior (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 84 Architecture of Old Town in
Dubrovnik (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 86 Rimac Automobili were designed and made in Croatia (from
Croatia )
Image 87 The 1835 issue of the magazine
Danicza , with lyrics of what would later become the Croatian national anthem "
Lijepa naša domovino " ("Our Beautiful Homeland"). (from
History of Croatia )
Image 89 The
Baška tablet is the oldest
Glagolitic monument in Croatia. It documents the donation of land gifted by
Croatian King Dmitar Zvonimir to the
Benedictine monastery of St Lucy. (from
Croatia )
Image 90 Josip Broz Tito led
Yugoslavia from 1944 to 1980; Pictured: Tito with the US president
Richard Nixon in the
White House , 1971 (from
Croatia )
Image 91 Late 9th century
Church of Holy Salvation , built at the time of duke
Branimir of Croatia . (from
History of Croatia )
Image 93 Croatia is one of the most successful
water polo nations . National water polo team has won three world championships,
Melbourne 2007 ,
Budapest 2017 and
Doha 2024 . (from
Croatia )
Image 94 The 1527 Cetingrad Charter, preserved in the
National Archives of Austria contains seals of most distinguished Croatian nobles such as:
Ivan Karlović ,
Nikola III Zrinski as well as seal with
Croatian checkerboard . (from
History of Croatia )
Image 95 Pluteus with the figure of king from 11th century, found in
Hollow Church in
Solin is thought to most likely depict a King of Croatia, probably
Petar Krešimir IV or
Demetrius Zvonimir . Above the sculpture,
Croatian interlace can also be seen, which is a common feature of
Croatian pre-romanesque art . (from
Culture of Croatia )
Image 97 Portrait of a Roman woman, found in
Solin (Salona),
Croatia . (from
Culture of Croatia )
Croatian Littoral on a map of Croatia Croatian Littoral Sometimes considered part of the Croatian Littoral
Croatian Littoral (Croatian : Hrvatsko primorje ) is a historical name for the region of Croatia comprising mostly the coastal areas between traditional Dalmatia to the south, Mountainous Croatia to the north, Istria and the Kvarner Gulf of the Adriatic Sea to the west. The term "Croatian Littoral " developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, reflecting the complex development of Croatia in historical and geographical terms.
The region saw frequent changes to its ruling powers since classical antiquity , including the Roman Empire , the Ostrogoths , the Lombards , the Byzantine Empire , the Frankish Empire , and the Croats , some of whose major historical heritage originates from the area—most notably the Baška tablet . The region and adjacent territories became a point of contention between major European powers, including the Republic of Venice , the Kingdom of Hungary , and the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires , as well as Austria , the First French Empire , the Kingdom of Italy , and Yugoslavia . (Full article... )
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