Croatia

Marcus Tanner is a London-based writer, journalist, editor, and commentator, specializing in Eastern and Central Europe, the Balkans, and Celtic countries.

“Written with vigor, full of absorbing stories and important insights, Croatia deserves to be read.” —New York Times“Stimulating … A long-overdue corrective to the onesidedly negative view long entertained about Croatia by the educated British public." —Times Higher Education Supplement  “A lucid, expert account of Croatia's past at the bloody crossroads of big-power ambitions – Turks, Austrians, Italians, Russians – leads smoothly into a riveting close-up view of the 1990s fight for independence.” —Boyd Tonkin, Independent  "Lucid and accessible."—Melanie McDonagh, Evening Standard  "Croatia has often but not always been at war. After the Habsburgs historic victory over the Turks in the 1690s, northern Croatia enjoyed the benefits of peace and orderly government with few interruptions until the First World War. The 20th century has undone those gains. The last three generations have known warfare on a scale not seen since the Middle Ages. After the carnage of the First World War, followed the disastrous 'Independent State of Croatia' in 1941, a poisoned chalice, tainted with a Fascist ideology and an alliance with Hitler's Germany. The result was to plunge Croatia into civil war between left-wing Partisans and the Fascist Ustashe. And, after emerging into independent statehood once again in the 1990s, the Croats have continued to be dogged by the legacy of the past. The fighting of the 1940s and the mass killings of Croatia's Serb community came back to haunt the country 50 years on."—From the preface"Croatia has often but not always been at war. After the Habsburgs historic victory over the Turks in the 1690s, northern Croatia enjoyed the benefits of peace and orderly government with few interruptions until the First World War. The 20th century has undone those gains. The last three generations have known warfare on a scale not seen since the Middle Ages. After the carnage of the First World War, followed the disastrous 'Independent State of Croatia' in 1941, a poisoned chalice, tainted with a Fascist ideology and an alliance with Hitler's Germany. The result was to plunge Croatia into civil war between left-wing Partisans and the Fascist Ustashe. And, after emerging into independent statehood once again in the 1990s, the Croats have continued to be dogged by the legacy of the past. The fighting of the 1940s and the mass killings of Croatia's Serb community came back to haunt the country 50 years on."—From the preface