Hungary and Croatia’s joint historical past

The Department of Modern History at the University of Pécs and the Institute of History at the University of Osijek commemorate the anniversary of the 1868 Croatian–Hungarian Settlement by jointly hosting two conferences titled Croatian–Hungarian Historical Relations: The 1868 Croatian–Hungarian Settlement. The VERITAS Institute is represented by Ádám Schwarczwölder and László Lajtai at the events. Their presentations are titled Ends and Means: The Andrássy Government, Levin Rauch and the 121 Thousand Gulden Payment and Hungarian History Textbooks prior to 1918, respectively.

Location: University of Pécs, Rókus u. (Street) 2. in the M Building / Date: 12 PM on (Thursday) October 25th, 2018

Location: University of Osijek, Lorenza Jägera 9, Eszék (Osijek, HR) / Date: 10:30 AM on (Friday) October 26th, 2018

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Summary of Ádám Schwarczwölder’s presentation:

Although the compromise between Austria and Hungary took effect in 1867, the public law relationship between Croatia and Hungary remained an open question. An associated country of the Kingdom of Hungary since the 11th century, Croatia enjoyed territorial autonomy. Between 1848 and 1868, however, all ties between the two countries were severed. For example, when Franz Joseph was coronated as king of Hungary and the associated countries in Buda on June 8th, 1867, Croatia sent no official representative to the event.

With no official role in the government at the time, Ferenc Deák, the emblematic figure among the pro-compromise political elite, asserted the following in one of his articles for the Pesti Napló: “If Croatia wishes to unite with us, we shall be receptive […] if Croatia wishes to terminate all public law relationships, we shall not take steps to impede such secession, nor use any force even if we had the means to do so. Therefore union or secession principally depends on Croatia.”

Not everyone was so generous, however, especially behind the scenes. Both the Andrássy Government and the Croatian unionist aristocrats wanted close ties between the two countries. In June 1867, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Gyula Andrássy, Franz Joseph appointed Baron Levin Rauch, a unionist landowner, to head Croatia specifically to break Croatian national resistance and create support for a Croatian–Hungarian agreement. Rauch replaced the administrative officials with his own men and banned the opposition press. The relevant literature uniformly described the Croatian elections of December 1867 as being a Unionist Party victory born of “violence and bribery”.

The support of the Hungarian government played a significant role in Rauch’s success. Andrássy pulled a total of 121 thousand guldens from secret government funds to aid Rauch, i.e. for “confidential political purposes”. The amount covered the organizational costs for establishing the new administration and the “special costs” of the elections.

Pictures of the event