Janko Drašković was a Croatian politician who is associated with the beginnings of the Illyrian movement, a 19th-century national revival. Drašković studied law and philosophy before joining the military, from which he was discharged on medical grounds. In the 1790s, Drašković pursued a political career, winning a seat in the Croatian Parliament and in the Diet of Hungary.

The Illyrian movement was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of the 19th century, around the years of 1835–1863. This movement aimed to create a Croatian national establishment in Austria-Hungary through linguistic and ethnic unity, and through it lay the foundation for cultural and linguistic unification of all South Slavs under the revived umbrella term Illyrian.