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...)
Image 6President Zoran Milanović on NATO summit on 11 July 2023, Vilnius, Lithuania. The accession of Croatia to NATO took place in 2009. (from Croatia)
Image 14The 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 15One 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 35Croatian 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 36Bora is a dry, cold wind which blows from the mainland out to sea, whose gusts can reach hurricane strength, particularly in the channel below Velebit. On the picture Bora in the town of Senj. (from Croatia)
Image 42The 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 45Marko 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 48A chair designed by Bernardo Bernardi in 1956. (from Culture of Croatia)
Image 49Ban 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 61A 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 62Dinara Nature Park, second largest Croatian nature park (the largest is the Velebit Nature Park) (from Croatia)
Image 63Ban 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 67Two parts of the Triune Kingdom: Croatia-Slavonia (number 17) and Dalmatia (number 5) within Austria-Hungary (from History of Croatia)
Image 68Cardinal 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, he became a symbol of resistance to the communist regime in Yugoslavia. (from Croatia)
Image 77"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 85On January 1, 2023, Croatia replaced the kuna as its national currency and adopted the euro, on the same day Croatia became part of the Schengen zone. (from Croatia)
The history of the city probably dates back to the 7th century, when the town known as Ragusa was founded by refugees from Epidaurum (Ragusa Vecchia). It was under the protection of the Byzantine Empire and later under the sovereignty of the Republic of Venice. Between the 14th and 19th centuries, Dubrovnik ruled itself as a free state. The prosperity of the city was historically based on maritime trade; as the capital of the maritime Republic of Ragusa, it achieved a high level of development, particularly during the 15th and 16th centuries, as it became notable for its wealth and skilled diplomacy. At the same time, Dubrovnik became a cradle of Croatian literature. In his letter to Nikola Nalješković (1564), poet Ivan Vidalić named it "crown of Croatian cities". (Full article...)