1.
Opuzen
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Opuzen is a small town in Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The town is located 12 kilometres upstream from the mouth of the river Neretva and this settlement is known as a major center of tangerine production in Croatia. The total population of Opuzen is 3,254, in the settlements, Buk-Vlaka, population 492 Opuzen, population 2,729 Pržinovac, population 33 Opuzen got its name from its fortress. The fortress was built by the Republic of Venice in 1684, ruins of the fortress that remain are called Recycle and are part of the old town wall. The center of the old part of Opuzen is a classic Roman Forum, in the Middle Ages, Opuzen was known as Posrednica. The Republic of Ragusa in the 14th century had major trading markets in Opuzen, the markets got burnt down in 1472. The first Community School was opened in 1798 and was the school in the Neretva region until 1845. The marathon is held on the river Neretva and about 35 boats participate each year, the local school was named after him between 1942 and 1992
2.
Kingdom of Dalmatia
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The Kingdom of Dalmatia was a crown land of the Austrian Empire and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary. It encompassed the entirety of the region of Dalmatia with its capital at Zadar, in turn, Napoleon ceded to him the possessions of the Republic of Venice, including the Dalmatian coast and the Bay of Kotor. La Serenissima had sided with Austria in order to defend her Domini di Terraferma and was occupied by French troops on 14 May 1797, the treaty ended the centuries-long history of the Venetian Republic. When in 1804 Francis II created the title of Emperor of Austria for himself, however, the possessions were again lost after the Austrian defeat in the Battle of Austerlitz and the 1805 Peace of Pressburg, when they temporarily formed part of the French Illyrian Provinces. Around 1850, the Austrians had the Prevlaka fortress erected to control the traffic in the Bay of Kotor. Upon the Revolutions of 1848, Dalmatia was temporarily under the control of Ban Josip Jelačić of Croatia, in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, a unification with the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was denied. While Croatia-Slavonia was incorporated into the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, Dalmatia remained a crown land of the Cislethanian half of the Dual Monarchy. According to M. Lorković, the population of Dalmatia numbered 297,912 in 1818,326,739 in 1825,338,599 in 1830,390,381 in 1840. Based on the 1857 census, the Kingdom of Dalmatia had 415,628 inhabitants, according to an analysis of the 1857 census,318,500 inhabitants were Croats,77,500 were Serbs, and ca.20,000 were Italian-speakers. The percentage of Dalmatian Serbs had been 19. 9% in the 1830–50 period, in the cities, the inhabitants were 71% Croat, 22% Italian and 7% Serb. There were 745 Serbs in Kotor, in all other cities there were fewer than 400, the number of Serbs in Dalmatia fell, however, in the north it rose. Among the Orthodox, there was one priest for every 400 people, while among the Catholics, the Roman Catholic archbishop had his seat in Zadar, while the diocese of Kotor, diocese of Hvar, diocese of Dubrovnik, diocese of Šibenik and diocese of Split were bishoprics. At the head of the Orthodox community stood the bishop of Zadar, in 1904, the Vatican forbade the use of Glagolitic at the festival of SS. Cyril and Methodius, as likely to impair the unity of Catholicism, heads of the Austrian imperial administration in Dalmatia were Imperial-Royal Provincial Governors appointed by the emperor. From 1852 they were known as Imperial-Royal Lieutenants
3.
Austria-Hungary
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The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal, Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary was a state and one of the worlds great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as a state religion due to Bosnias Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I and it was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The realms full, official name was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship, one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, however, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government, the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and later in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna. The Hungarian government and Hungarian parliament were suspended after the Hungarian revolution of 1848, despite Austria and Hungary sharing a common currency, they were fiscally sovereign and independent entities. Since the beginnings of the union, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary could preserve its separated. After the revolution of 1848–1849, the Hungarian budget was amalgamated with the Austrian, from 1527 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs controls, which separated her from the other parts of the Habsburg-ruled territories
4.
Croatia
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Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state between Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which one of the countrys primary subdivisions. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres and has diverse, mostly continental, Croatias Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The countrys population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, the Croats arrived in the area of present-day Croatia during the early part of the 7th century AD. They organised the state into two duchies by the 9th century, tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary, a fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II. After the war, Croatia became a member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991 Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on 8 October of the same year, the Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration. A unitary state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system, the International Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the European Union, United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the service sector dominates Croatias economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. Tourism is a significant source of revenue during the summer, with Croatia ranked the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world, the state controls a part of the economy, with substantial government expenditure. The European Union is Croatias most important trading partner, since 2000, the Croatian government constantly invests in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Internal sources produce a significant portion of energy in Croatia, the rest is imported, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe. The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is of variable stem, the first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts over the authenticity of the claim, the oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th-century Branimir Inscription, where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not believed to be dated accurately, but is likely to be from during the period of 879–892, the area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period
5.
Valjevo
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Valjevo is a city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the area of Valjevo had 90,312 inhabitants,59,073 of whom were urban dwellers. Valjevo occupies an area of 905 square kilometers, its altitude is 185 meters, the city is situated along the river Kolubara, a tributary of the Sava river. In the nearby village of Petnica scientists found the first complete neolithic habitat in Serbia, in Roman times this area was part of the province of Moesia. Valjevo was mentioned for the first time in 1393 and it was an important staging post on the trade route that connected Bosnia to Belgrade. Valjevo became significant during the 16th and 17th centuries under stable Ottoman rule, at the beginning of the 19th century most of the territory of Serbia rapidly transformed. The Serbian revolution began with armed rebellion, in 1804, the local Serb population had rebelled against the Turkish lords and liberated a large part of Serbia. One cause for the revolution was the killing of two prominent Serbian commanders by the Ottoman Turks, the two well-known knights, Ilija Bircanin and Aleksa Nenadovic, were killed in Valjevo on the bridge over the Kolubara. The settlements development accelerated further in the 20th century, when Valjevo became an important industrial and cultural center, during the First World War the battle of Kolubara was fought in the immediate vicinity. A large hospital for the wounded was in the town, the city suffered widespread destruction in World War II. At the end of the 20th century it was bombed during the NATO attack on Yugoslavia. Apart from the city, Valjevo covers the area which includes the following settlements, According to the 2011 census results. The ethnic composition of the city of Valjevo, The Valjevo mountain range, Divčibare is a plateau in the mountain of Maljen. It has an altitude of 1000 m. It is 28 km from Valjevo and 110 km from Belgrade, the canyon of the Gradac River ends in the town centre. The Gradac is one of Europes cleanest rivers, as evidenced by the presence of otters, the Valjevo mountain range offers clean air, medicinal herbs, forest fruits and wild game. The vicinity is kept free of industrialisation and the soil is unpolluted, hunting and fishing in the mountain rivers is common. The air-spa of Divčibare offers rest and recreation, vrujci Spa has mud baths for rheumatic diseases, as well as a hotel and sports complex with swimming pools
6.
Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia
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The territory included Serbia proper, with the addition of the northern part of Kosovo, and the Banat. This territory was the area of partitioned Yugoslavia in which the German occupants established a military government. This was due to the key rail and riverine transport routes that passed through it, the Germans used Bulgarian troops to assist in the occupation, but they were at all times under German control. Sources variously describe the territory as a state, a protectorate. The German military commander in Serbia appointed two Serbian civil puppet governments to carry out tasks in accordance with German direction and supervision. The first of these was the short-lived Commissioner Administration which was established on 30 May 1941, the Commissioner Administration was a basic tool of the occupation regime, lacking in any powers. In late July 1941, an uprising began in the territory, which quickly swamped the Serbian gendarmerie, German police and security apparatus. To assist in quelling the rebellion, which involved both the communist-led Yugoslav Partisans and the monarchist Chetniks, a second puppet government was established. The Government of National Salvation under Milan Nedić replaced the Commissioner Administration on 29 August 1941 and this failed to turn the tide, and the Germans were forced to bring in front line divisions from France, Greece and even the Eastern Front to suppress the revolt. Commencing from late September 1941, Operation Uzice expelled the Partisans from the occupied territory, resistance continued at a low level until 1944, accompanied by frequent reprisal killings, which for some time involved the execution of 100 hostages for every German killed. The Nedić regime had no status under law, no powers beyond those granted by the Germans. Throughout the occupation, the Banat was a region, formally responsible to the puppet governments in Belgrade. The Germans also raised several other auxiliary forces for various purposes within the territory. The Government of National Salvation remained in place until the German withdrawal in the face of the combined Red Army, after the war, several of the key German and Serbian leaders in the occupied territory were tried and executed for war crimes. Some Yugoslav territory was annexed by its Axis neighbors, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Italians, Hungarians and Bulgarians occupied other parts of Yugoslavian territory. Germany did not annex any Yugoslav territory, but occupied parts of present-day Slovenia. The remaining territory, which consisted of Serbia proper, the part of Kosovo. This was due to the key rail and riverine transport routes that passed through it, some sources describe the territory as a puppet state, or a special administrative province, with other sources describing it as having a puppet government
7.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
8.
Uprising in Serbia (1941)
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At first the Yugoslav Partisans had mounted diversions and conducted sabotage and had attacked representatives of Aćimovićs quisling administration. In late August some Chetniks joined the uprising and liberated Loznica, the uprising soon reached mass proportions. Partisans and Chetniks captured towns that weak German garrisons had abandoned, the armed uprising soon engulfed great parts of the occupied territory. The largest liberated territory in occupied Europe was created by the Partisans in western Serbia, rebels shared power on the liberated territory, the center of the Partisan liberated territory was in Užice, and Chetniks had their headquarters on Ravna Gora. As the uprising progressed, the rift between the two factions became more and more obvious. On one side were the Chetnik detachments who considered themselves loyal to the government in exile. On the other side were members of the Peoples Liberation Army of Yugoslavia who favored the introduction of socialism, the Chetnik leader Dragoljub Mihailović abandoned the uprising in late October and entered into negotiations with the quisling government and the Germans in order to destroy the rival Partisans. The Germans soon gathered a force and quelled the uprising using mass terror, but the remaining Partisan forces crossed into Bosnia. After the collapse of the uprising, Territory of the Military Commander was largely pacified until the return of the Partisans, meanwhile, the Chetniks became even more reluctant to fight against Germans, and engaged in anti-Partisan operations and open collaboration. Nevertheless, Mihailovic was able to establish itself as the legitimate representative of the Yugoslav government in exile. Hitler believed that with occupation of Yugoslavia, the country was liquidated as an independent state, occupiers plundered possessions and took some 350,000 Yugoslav soldiers into captivity. The largest part of Serbia was organized into the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia, the Germans chose Milan Aćimović as head of the quisling Commissary Government. Preparations for the uprising by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia began after the May consultation held in Zagreb on 4 May 1941, the Military Committee of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party for Serbia was formed in mid-May. On 13 May 1941, Josip Broz Tito sent a message to the Comintern stating that the Yugoslav communists were preparing for an uprising that would commence when Germany attacked the Soviet Union. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia arrived in Belgrade in late May, after their arrival, the Central Committee held conferences with local party officials. The German invasion of the Soviet Union was launched on 22 June 1941, before the invasion, the Germans withdrew the majority of their troops from Serbia, leaving three weak divisions in Serbia and one weak division in the Independent State of Croatia. The majority of divisions were made up by older soldiers originating from Austria. Communist sympathisers in Srđan Budisavljevićs Ministry of Interior in Dušan Simovićs government, such as Janko Janković, so, when mass arrests of communists began after the launching of Operation Barbarosa, few records were available for the Gestapo to use
9.
Order of the People's Hero
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The Order of the Peoples Hero or the Order of the National Hero was a Yugoslav gallantry medal, the second highest military award, and third overall Yugoslav decoration. It was awarded to individuals, military units, political and other organisations who distinguished themselves by extraordinary heroic deeds during war, the recipients were thereafter known as Peoples Heroes of Yugoslavia or National Heroes of Yugoslavia. The vast majority was awarded to partisans for actions during the Second World War, a total of 1322 awards were awarded in Yugoslavia, and 19 were awarded to the foreigners. In 1998, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia decided to award the Order of the Peoples Hero again and decorated several military units, the bulletin of the Supreme command of the Peoples Liberation Army of Yugoslavia no. 12–13 announced the establishment of the title of Peoples Hero for heroic, the first person to be awarded the title was Petar Leković. A total of 22 persons were awarded this title, at the same time, all the persons who already held the title of the Peoples Hero were awarded the order. The Order consists of a gold badge showing a soldier with rifle. The badge is suspended from a red ribbon, with a white stripe towards each edge. The design for this and the other Orders were undertaken by the painter Đorđe Andrejević Kun, from its inception until around 1993, the Order had been awarded nearly 1,400 times. Marshal Josip Broz Tito was awarded the Order three times, in 1944,1972 and 1977, the holders of the order were entitled to certain benefits, like free fares on public transport, and pensions for the surviving family members of deceased peoples heroes. Although the benefits have since been downscaled, post-Yugoslav countries still provide certain benefits to peoples heroes, many schools and streets in post-war Yugoslavia were named after peoples heroes, and many of the names remain, to varying degrees in different successor countries. Not only people, but cities, military units and organizations were awarded the order. Eight cities in Yugoslavia were awarded the order, and proclaimed Hero Cities, Beograd, Cetinje, Drvar, Ljubljana, Novi Sad, Prilep, Pristina, following the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed, and later renamed Serbia and Montenegro. The Serbian media ridiculed several proposals to decorate Slobodan Milošević with the Order of the Peoples hero because he would have had to decorate himself, most of the awarded were men and 91 were women. Most Peoples Heroes were either miners or industrial workers, 19% were university and high school students, 18% were farmworkers, most of the awarded were very young. Half of them joined the Army before the 25th birthday, 42% of the Heroes who died in the war were between 16 and 26 years old, 38% were between 27 and 34. Three Heroes were less than 17 years old when died, milka Bosnić was the youngest recipient of the order, she was just 15 when killed during the Raid on Drvar. Most recipients were awarded in the following the World War II
