The purpose of this work is to examine the origins and development of Croat nationalism in the light of the Croat-Magyar relations from the period of Enlightened Absolutism to the eve of the revolutionary year of 1848. Since the development of Croat nationalism was strongly influenced by the Magyar national movement of that period, the bulk of this discussion is devoted to an analysis of the Croat-Magyar controversy caused by the Magyars' desire to magyarize the Croat nation. The main struggle between the two opposing forces took place in the Common Diet composed of the delegates from both nations. However, the Croat national movement itself originated among the young native intellectuals who, as a rule, did not have any direct influence on the proceedings of the Croat legislative house, the Sabor. Under the influence of the Czech, Slovak and Polish nationalists, these intellectuals rendered an invaluable service to the Croat nation. Their work resulted in Croatia's cultural renaissance which subsequently served as the basis for the struggle against Hungary. The author presupposes that the reader possesses adequate knowledge of Croat history in general and of the period discussed in particular. Therefore no attempt has been made to describe or explain some fundamental aspects of Croatia's political and cultural history. Any such endeavour would inevitably remove us from the topic and would be inconsistent with the task of this work. Chapters I and II deal with the background of the problem. Chapter I offers a brief explanation of Croatia's political status within the Habsburg Monarchy. Chapter II describes the origins and background of the Croat national movement which developed, following the year 1832, as the Illyrian Movement. It enables the reader to acquaint himself with the fundamentals and character of the Croat-Magyar controversy and with the political and cultural situation prevailing among the various Croat regions. Chapter III concentrates on the Illyrian Movement itself. It describes extensively the cultural renaissance of the Croats and points out the role and effects of the Illyrian Movement on the Croat-Magyar relations. Here again the author concentrates on the political effects of the cultural renaissance. The literary works of the Illyrians are mentioned and described in so far as they had a direct bearing upon the political situation in Croatia. In Chapter IV, the political nature of the struggle between the two nations reaches its peak. Following the formation of the first political parties and the crisis in the Croat national movement caused by the defeat of the Illyrians at the hands of the Magyarons in the election of 1845, the Croat national idea was finally emancipated. The Croat language finally became the official language for Croatia. Thus the main aim of the Illyrians was accomplished. In the last moment, Croatia emerged fully prepared to face the revolutionary year of 1848. / Arts, Faculty of / Central Eastern Northern European Studies, Department of / Graduate

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This thesis examines the central place of racial theories in the nationalist ideology of the Croatian Ustasha movement and regime, and how these theories functioned as the chief motive in shaping Ustasha policies toward the minorities of the Nazi-backed Independent State of Croatia (known by its Croatian initials as the NDH), namely, Serbs, Jews, Roma and Bosnian Muslims, during the years 1941 to 1945. This thesis is divided into three parts. The first part deals with historical background, concentrating on the history of Croatian national movements from the 1830s to the 1930s. The second part covers the period between the founding of the Ustasha movement in 1930 and the creation of the NDH in 1941. The third part examines the period of Ustasha power from 1941 to 1945. Through the above chronological division, this thesis traces the evolution of Ustasha ideas on nation and race, placing them within the historical context of processes of Croatian national integration. Although the Ustashe were brought to power by Nazi Germany, their ideology emerged less as an imitation of German National Socialism and more as an extremist reaction to the supranational and expansionist nationalist ideologies of Yugoslavism and Greater Serbianism. In contrast to the prevailing historiographical view that has either ignored or downplayed the significance of racial theori! es on Ustasha policies toward the minorities of the NDH, this thesis highlights the marked influence of the question of 'race' on Ustasha attitudes toward the 'problem' of minorities, and on the wider question of Croatian national identity. This thesis examines the Ustashe by focusing on the historical interplay between nationalism and racism, which dominated so much of the modern political life of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The fusion of nationalism and racism was not unique to Ustasha ideology, but the evolution and nature of Ustasha racism was. Ustasha racial ideas were therefore the product of both specific Croatian and wider European historical trends. This examination of the historical intersection between nationalism and racism in the case of the Ustashe will, i hope, broaden our understanding of twentieth-century nation-state formation, and state treatment of minorities, in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.