Vlaho Bukovac:
Hrvatski narodni preporod,
Zastor u HNK Zagreb

Illyrian movement (Croatian/Serbian: Ilirski pokret), also Croatian national revival (Hrvatski narodni preporod), was a nationalistic campaign initiated by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of 19th century, around the years of 1835-1849 (there is some disagreement regarding the official dates).^[1] This movement aimed to create a Yugoslav state separate from Austro-Hungarian rule through linguistic and ethnic unity among South Slavs. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 585 pixelsFull resolution (1412 × 1033 pixel, file size: 639 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Vlaho Bukovac, Hrvatski preporod (svecani zastor Hrvatskog narodnog kazalista u Zagrebu). ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 585 pixelsFull resolution (1412 × 1033 pixel, file size: 639 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Vlaho Bukovac, Hrvatski preporod (svecani zastor Hrvatskog narodnog kazalista u Zagrebu). ... Serbian (српски језик; srpski jezik) is one of the standard versions of the Shtokavian dialect, used primarily in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and by Serbs in the Serbian diaspora. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Official languages Latin, German, Hungarian Established church Roman Catholic Capital & Largest City Vienna pop. ... Countries inhabited by South Slavs (in black) Distribution of Slavic peoples by language The South Slavs are a southern branch of the Slavic peoples that live in the Balkans, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps. ...

Context of the Movement

In 19th century Europe, liberalism and nationalism were ideologies which came to the forefront of political culture. In Eastern Europe, where the Habsburg Empire had long asserted control over a variety of ethnic and cultural groups, nationalism appeared in a standard format. The beginning of the 19th century, "was the period when the smaller, mostly Slavic nationalities of the empire - Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Ukrainians, and the Latin Romanians - remembered their historical traditions, revived their native tongues as literary languages, reappropriated their traditions and folklore, in short reasserted their existence as nations."^[2] This revival of national heritage encompasses the Illyrian Movement in Croatia.

In 1813, the bishop of Zagreb Maksimilijan Vrhovac issued a plea for the collection of "national treasures" (Poziv na sve duhovne pastire svoje biskupije), thereby heralding the national revival movement. Maksimilijan Vrhovac (born November 23, 1752 in Karlovac, died December 16, 1827 in Zagreb) was the bishop of Zagreb. ...

Beginnings

Just as Croatia felt nationalistic stirrings at this time, so did its larger neighbors, Hungary and Austria. Croats were uneasy with rising Hungarian nationalism, which pursued reduction of the Croatian autonomy and increased Magyarization. In order to preserve their autonomy, Croats pursued a deepening of their culture and a revival of their heritage. This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

In the beginning of the 1830's, a group of young Croatian writers gathered in Zagreb and established a movement for national renewal and unity of all South Slavs within the Habsburg Monarchy. The city of Zagreb had become an important center of political, economic, and cultural activity, so it was the center of the movement. Count Janko Drašković published his Dissertation in 1832, a pamphlet that later came to be considered the political, economic, social and cultural program of the movement, as it promoted the native language as official, more autonomy from central government, and better education and enlightenment for the common people. Zagreb (pronounced ) is the capital and the largest city of Croatia. ... Janko DraÅ¡ković (October 20, 1770 - January 14, 1856) was a Croatian national reformer, politician and poet. ...

The most important focus of Illyrians was the establishment of standard language as a counter-weight to Hungarian, and the promotion of Croatian written literature and official culture. Ljudevit Gaj was instrumental in providing the foundation for the flourishing of the Croatian literature. Gaj was in fact the leader of the movement as a whole in the beginning for eight or nine years, at which point the leadership changed hands.^[3] Gaj was largely responsible for writing the Croatian orthography and grammar (Kratka osnova horvatsko-slavenskog pravopisanja – Brief basics of the Croatian-Slavonic orthography), which was necessary before a literary movement would be successful. Ljudevit Gaj Ljudevit Gaj (August 8, 1809, Krapina – April 20, 1872) was a Croatian linguist, politician, journalist and writer. ...

The choice of the name "Illyrian"

The "Illyrian" name was chosen instead of "Slavic", because of the theory that the local population had an Illyrian origin. Illyria (disambiguation) Illyrians has come to refer to a broad, ill-defined group of peoples who inhabited the western Balkans (Illyria, roughly from northern Epirus to southern Pannonia) and even perhaps parts of Southern Italy in classical times into the Common era, and spoke Illyrian languages. ... Distribution of Slavic people by language The Slavic peoples are a linguistic and ethnic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in Europe, where they constitute roughly a third of the population. ...

Choosing "Illyrian" as their title was a symbolic move on the part of movement members and leadership, an attempt to bring the history of the Croatian people to the forefront. It is somewhat comparable to the French recalling the Gauls.

At the time, Croats were generally considered a Slavic people on the basis of Croatian being a Slavic language, and available genetic data indicated that they were also ethnically Slavic, so this use of "Illyrian" was generally understood to have been wishful thinking. Yet, two centuries later, genetic studies showed that there could actually have been some basis to this reasoning, because the people of Croatia today seem to have a lot of genetic material consistent with the indigenous population from the time of the Migrations Period.^{[citation needed]} The German term Völkerwanderung (lit. ...

Progress

The most influential writers within the movement were Ivan Mažuranić and Petar Preradović.^[4] Mažuranić contributed his epic Smrt Smail-age Čengića during this time, and Preradović published love lyrics. Ivan Mažuranić (1814-1890) was a Croatian poet, linguist and politician—probably the most important figure in Croatias cultural life in the mid-19th century. ... Petar Preradović (March 19, 1818 - August 18, 1872) was a Croatian poet. ...

Other notable literary contributions were made by Antun Mihanović (notably Horvatska Domovina which later became Our Beautiful Homeland), Stanko Vraz (satiric lyrics), Ljudevit Vukotinović (romantic lyrics), Dimitrija Demetar (prose, notably Grobničko polje, and drama), Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski (prose), Antun Nemčić (prose and itineraries). There was also the first notable itinerary Pogled u Bosnu by Matija Mažuranić. Antun Mihanović (1796 - 1861) was a notable Croatian poet and lyricist, most famous for writing the national anthem of Croatia, which was put to music by Josif Runjanin and adopted in 1891. ... Lijepa naÅ¡a domovino (Our Beautiful Homeland) is the national anthem of Croatia. ... Stanko Vraz also known as Jakob Frass (June 30th, 1810 - May 20th, 1851) was a Croatian and Slovenian poet. ... Ivan Kukuljević (1816-1889) was a Croatian historian, politician, and patriot. ...

After the government allowed the publishing of newspapers in Croatian in 1834, the Illyrians issued the first Croatian newspaper, "Novine hrvatsko-slavonsko-dalmatinske", in 1835, establishing Croatian journalism. The paper was edited by Ljudevit Gaj and it also had a literary magazine "Danica" attached, both of which printed in Gaj's "National print" (Narodna tiskara). These literary successes "ultimately won intellectual, linguistic, and educational...independence for Croatia."^[5] Journalism is a discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and more broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles. ... Danica may refer to: Danica is the latin word for Denmark Danica, personification of the Morning Star in Slavic mythology, see Zorya and Danica Danica Maupoissant, a character from the Forgotten Realms fictional world of Dungeons and Dragons Danica Patrick, an Indy Racing League race car driver Danica McKellar, an...

In 1836, the papers were renamed to use the Illyrian name (Ilirske novine, Danica ilirska). In 1838, Janko Drašković helped found a reading room in Zagreb which served as a meeting place for the first "Illyrians". Janko DraÅ¡ković (October 20, 1770 - January 14, 1856) was a Croatian national reformer, politician and poet. ...

In another cultural success, in 1846 the composer Vatroslav Lisinski wrote the first opera in Croatian, "Ljubav i zloba" (Love and malice). 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Vatroslav Lisinski (Christened Ignaz Fuchs July 8, 1819 in Zagreb; † May 31, 1854 Zagreb) was a Croatian composer. ...

The Illyrian movement, while concentrating on Croatian lands, was quite nationally inclusive, as it included many non-Croats. For example, Petar Preradović was an ethnic Serb, as was Josif Runjanin, Stanko Vraz was an ethnic Slovene, and Dimitrija Demetar was an ethnic Macedonian. Josif Runjanin (December 8, 1821 - February 2, 1878) was a Serbian composer and lieutenant-colonel in the Austro-Hungarian Army. ...

Struggles

In 1840, the Illyrian movement suffered an internal setback when Stanko Vraz, Joakim Rakovac and Ljudevit Vukotinović split off from the movement due to creative differences in poetry. In 1842 they started publishing their own literary newspaper named Kolo. Stanko Vraz also known as Jakob Frass (June 30th, 1810 - May 20th, 1851) was a Croatian and Slovenian poet. ...

More importantly, the movement was not well received by Hungarians and pro-Hungarian nobility. In 1843, the use of the Illyrian name was banned. Struggles in Croatian Sabor were so harsh that they caused unrest on Zagreb streets. On July 29, 1845, violent conflict causing bloodshed took place on Marko's square, later known as "July victims". Even still, Hungarian officials were unable to crush the movement. The parliament of Croatia is called Hrvatski Sabor in Croatian - the word sabor means an assembly, a gathering, a congress. ...

The movement practically ceased to exist due to the Revolutions of 1848. In 1849, the Emperor Francis Joseph imposed a new constitution, all political dissent was censored, and the Danica went out of print. The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations or the Year of Revolution, were a revolutionary wave which erupted in Sicily and then, further triggered by the revolutions of 1848 in France, soon spread to the rest of Europe and as far afield as... Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph (in English also Francis Joseph) (August 18, 1830 - November 21, 1916) of the Habsburg Dynasty was Emperor of Austria and King of Bohemia from 1848 until 1916 and King of Hungary from 1867 until 1916. ...

Aftermath

The movement's plea for unity among the Slavs, particularly South Slavs, also found supporters among prominent Serbs of the time, most notably Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, the reformer of Serbian language. Ljudevit Gaj had, in fact, appealed to Serbia (along with Dalmatia and Russia) for moral and financial support given their ethnic and cultural connections.^[6] Languages Serbian Religions Predominantly Serbian Orthodox Christian Related ethnic groups Other Slavic peoples, especially South Slavs See Cognate peoples below Serbs (Serbian: Срби or Srbi) are a South Slavic people who live mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia. ... Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (Serbian Cyrillic: Вук Стефановић Караџић) (November 7, 1787 - February 7, 1864) was a Serbian linguist and major reformer of the Serbian language. ... Serbian (српски језик; srpski jezik) is one of the standard versions of the Shtokavian dialect, used primarily in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and by Serbs in the Serbian diaspora. ...

In 1850, a small group of Illyrians and Serbian representatives signed the "Vienna agreement" which in effect proclaimed southern Shtokavian dialect to be the standard, common language of Serbs and Croats, with Serbian Cyrillic and Croatian as equal letters. The agreement was the basis of subsequent formation of Serbo-Croatian language and helped to solidify the linguistic progress of those two cultures. Shtokavian (Štokavian, štokavski/штокавски) is the primary dialect of the Central South Slavic languages system, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian language. ... Serbian Cyrillic is the Serbian variant of the Cyrillic alphabet. ... Serbo-Croatian or Croato-Serbian (also Croatian or Serbian, Serbian or Croatian) (srpskohrvatski or cрпскохрватски or hrvatskosrpski or hrvatski ili srpski or srpski ili hrvatski), earlier also Serbo-Croat, was an official language of Yugoslavia (along with Slovenian, Macedonian). ...

Assessment and criticism

Illyrian movement was the first and most prominent Pan-Slavic movement in Croatian history. Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid 19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic people. ...

The Illyrian movement was successful in its goals for culture. "Where there was no precedent for nineteenth-century concepts like Czechoslovak or Illyrian nationhood these projects failed. Nationalism took hold insofar as it built on existing realities, historical, linguistic or social."^[7] The period of the Illyrian movement is today referred to as the "Croatian national revival". National revival or national awakening is a term used in some European nations for their period of romantic nationalism. ...

The movement formed the basis for a common Serbo-Croatian language, and it fostered support in Croatia for the later creation of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918. However, in its ultimate goals of creating an Illyrian state, the movement failed. This failure of the idea to achieve Serbian-Croatian unity was apparent with the occurrence of the bloody Yugoslav wars. Furthermore, increasing Croatian nationalism back-fired on pan-Slavic ideals because Croatian identity came to supersede Illyrian hopes. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a Balkan state which existed from December 1, 1918 to mid-April 1941. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ...

Notes

1. ^ Despalatovic, Elinor Murray. Ljudevit Gaj and the Illyrian Movement. New York: East European Quarterly, 1975.
2. ^ Sperber, Jonathan. The European Revolutions, 1848-1851. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. page 99.
3. ^ Despalatovic, Elinor Murray. Ljudevit Gaj and the Illyrian Movement. New York: East European Quarlerly, 1975
4. ^ Eterovich, Francis H. and Christopher Spalatin, ed. Croatia: Land, People, Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964.
5. ^ Eterovich, Francis H. and Christopher Spalatin, ed. Croatia: Land, People, Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964. page 245.
6. ^ Eterovich, Francis H. and Christopher Spalatin, ed. Croatia: Land, People, Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964.
7. ^ Ingrao, Charles W. The Habsburg Monarchy 1618-1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. page 110.