| Republika Hrvatska | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Flag |
 Coat of Arms | ||
 Map of Croatia | |||
| Period | 1991-2019 | ||
| Predecessor |  Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
| ||
| Successor |  Serbia,  Venice
| ||
| Basic Information | |||
| Motto | none | ||
| Anthem | Lijepa naša domovino | ||
| Capital | Zagreb | ||
| Largest city | Zagreb | ||
| Other cities | Split, Rijeka, Zadar, Dubrovnik, Karlovac, Osijek, Sisak, Varaždin | ||
| Demonym | Croat | ||
| Government | Parliamentary democracy | ||
| President | Franjo Tuđman (1991-1999), Stjepan Mesić (2000-2010), Ivo Sanader (2010-2015), Ivo Josipović (2015-2019) | ||
| Area | 56,542 km² | ||
| Population | 9,986,652 | ||
| Currency | Kuna | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1), CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Internet TLD | .hr | ||
| Calling code | 385 | ||
| Languages | |||
| Official language | Croatian | ||
| National language | Croatian | ||
| Regional languages | none | ||
| Other languages | Serbian | ||
| Ethnic groups | |||
| Main ethnic groups | Croats | ||
| Other ethnic groups | Serbs | ||
| Religion | |||
| State religion | none | ||
| Main religion(s) | Roman Catholicism (93%) | ||
| Other religions | Eastern Orthodoxy (5%), 2% other | ||
Croatia (Croatian: Hrvatska), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska), was a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of Central Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city was Zagreb (modern Srbinovo). Croatia declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991, which resulted in a civil war. Croatia existed as an independent state until the Central War in 2019, when its territory was divided between Venice, Slovenia, and Serbia.
History[]
In the 1980s the political situation in Yugoslavia deteriorated with national tension fanned by the 1986 Serbian SANU Memorandum and the 1989 coups in Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro. In January 1990, the Communist Party fragmented along national lines, with the Croatian faction demanding a looser federation. In the same year, the first multi-party elections were held in Croatia, with Franjo Tuđman's win raising nationalist tensions further. Serbs in Croatia left Sabor and declared the autonomy of areas that would soon become the unrecognized Republic of Serbian Krajina, intent on achieving independence from Croatia. As tensions rose, Croatia declared independence in June 1991, however the declaration came into effect on 8 October 1991.
The tensions escalated into the Croatian War of Independence when the Croatian Army attacked the Serbian-held areas. By the end of 1991, a high intensity war fought along a wide front reduced Croatia to control of about two-thirds of its territory. On 15 January 1992, Croatia gained diplomatic recognition by the European Economic Community members, and subsequently the United Nations. The war effectively ended in 1995 with a decisive victory by Croatia in August 1995. The remaining occupied areas were restored to Croatia pursuant to the Erdut Agreement of November 1995, with the process concluded in January 1998.