This program presents a continuation of the preceding program and its expansion in terms of topic and collaborators. It consists of 4 projects encompassing 21 topics. Projects have been thematically harmonized and connected. 4 senior researchers and 20 collaborators are responsible for its implementation. It covers the territory of Slavonia, Srijem (most of Srijem since 1945 has been a part of Vojvodina, now Serbia and Montenegro) and Croatian Baranja (until 1921 a part of Hungary). The program encompasses continuous epochs of pre-modern history (from the Great Migrations to the Ottoman era), modern history (from the liberation from Turks in 1699 to modernisation processes between 1860 and 1945), and contemporary history (1945-1990). Since the conditions in eastern Croatia in those periods have only partially been explored, the program’s objective is to advance the knowledge about medieval, early-modern and modern history of Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja in numerous segments: medieval history and some components of the social structure of the time (nobility, church orders, urban societies); transformation of traditional society and establishment of modern civil society; migrations, demographic changes, urbanisation, development of crafts, trade, agriculture, role of river waterways; rural and urban milieus of the Croatian-Slavonian Military Border, democratisation of political life, political parties, Croatian peasants movement, development of education system; national integration and formation of national identity; social impact of the World Wars I and II, with special emphasis on human losses; political processes in the “second” Yugoslavia; fall of communism, introduction of multy-party sistem, Croatian War of Independence with special reference to cultural institutions, organisation and education system in Slavonski Brod-Posavina county, and attitude of international community towards occupied parts of western Slavonia. Researchers will explore various aspects of social, economic and political issues, with an emphasis on formation of Croatian identity and how it was preserved in the said time and space. The importance of the program lies in a systematic and comparative analysis of political and social relationships and economic development, in a comprehensive study of the basic components of this region’s history from the Late Antiquity to the end of the 20th century, and in their incorporation into the totality of Croatian and Central-European history.
Accepted projects within the program:
- Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja from the Late Antiquity to the Ottoman times
- Social and economic history of Slavonia 1699 – 1868: paths of modernization
- Slavonija, Srijem and Baranja 1860-1945: politics, society, culture
- Formation of Croatian cultural and social identity 1900-1990
- Democratic movement, Serbian aggression and the Homeland War in Eastern Croatia
