From the ashes of Yugoslavia an independent Croatian state has arisen, the fulfillment, in the words of Pres. Franjo Tudjman, of the Croats' "1000-year-old dream of independence." Yet few European countries have been born amid such controversy & bloodshed: the savage war between pro-independence forces & the Yugoslav army left 1/3rd of the country in ruins, resulting in the flight of a 250,000 of the country's Serbian minority. Here an eyewitness to the breakup provides an account of the rise, fall & rebirth of Croatia from its medieval origins to today's tentative peace. Tanner describes the creation of the 1st Croatian state; its absorption into feudal Hungary; the Ottoman invasion; the absorption of the diminished country into Habsburg Austria; the evolution of modern Croatian nationalism after the French Revolution; & the circumstances that propelled Croatia into the arms of Nazi Germany & the brutal, home-grown "Ustashe" movement in WWII. Finally, drawing on personal knowledge of many of the conflict's leading figures, he explains the failure of Tito's Communists to solve the national problem by creating a federal state & the violent implosion after his death. Croatia's unique position on the crossroads of Europe—between Eastern & Western Christendom, the Mediterranean, & the Balkans & between the Habsburg & Ottoman empires—has been both curse & blessing, inviting the attention of powerful neighbors. The turbulent drama of Croatia's past is vigorously portrayed in this history.
