Modruš-Rijeka County


The Modruš-Rijeka County was a historic administrative subdivision of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, the Hungarian part of the dual Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its territory is now in western Croatia. Modruš is a small town near Ogulin; Rijeka is a large city on the Adriatic coast. However, Rijeka was not part of the Modruš-Rijeka County, but under the direct administration of Hungary. The capital of the county was Ogulin.

Geography

The Modruš-Rijeka County shared borders with the Austrian lands of Istria and Carniola, the Austro-Hungarian condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian-Slavonian counties of Zagreb and Lika-Krbava and the city/corpus separatum of Fiume. The county had a strip of Adriatic Sea coast. Its area was around 1910.

History

Most of the territory of the county was part of the Kingdom of Croatia when it entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102, and with it became part of the Habsburg monarchy in 1526. The southern part of the later county around Ogulin was part of the Croatian Military Frontier established in 1553.
From 1466 until the late 18th century Rijeka was part of the Habsburg Erblande, forming part of Inner Austria. In 1776 it was transferred to Croatia, then in 1779 was subordinated directly to the Hungarian Crown as a Corpus separatum, i.e. it became a formally separate entity, part of neither Croatia nor Hungary-proper.
The area became part of the Napoleonic Illyrian Provinces in 1809. After the 1815 Congress of Vienna the area was reincorporated into the Austrian Empire: the southern part returned to the Military Frontier; the northern part briefly remained with the newly-established Kingdom of Illyria, then was restored to Croatia, forming part of Zagreb County, while the Fiume was restored to its previous status as well as being the centre of the Croatian Littoral district.
In the decade following the 1848 revolutions Fiume formed part of the autonomous Kingdom of Croatia, becoming the seat of the new Fiume/Rijeka County. The period of absolutism came to an end in October 1860 and with it Fiume was restored to its previous status.
Following the Compromise of 1867 which transformed the Austrian Empire into Austria-Hungary, Fiume remained a corpus separatum within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, although its status was disputed by Croatia-Slavonia until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918. Between 1871 and 1881 the Military Frontier was disbanded and the counties of Croatia-Slavonia were re-organised. Ogulin-Slunj County was formed from the merger of the former districts of the Ogulin and Slunj regiments.
By 1886 the counties of Croatia-Slavonia had taken their final form. Modruš-Rijeka County was formed from Rijeka County, the bulk of Ogulin-Slunj County and an area around Severin na Kupi and Bosiljevo formerly belonging to Zagreb County. The south-western-most parts of Ogulin-Slunj County around Senj, Brinje and Krivi Put became the Brinje district and part of the Senj district of Lika-Krbava County while the former exclaves of the Slunj Regiment were transferred to Zagreb County.
In October 1918 Croatia-Slavonia seceded from Austria-Hungary as part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which de facto merged with the Kingdom of Serbia to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes that December; this was formally recognised in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon. In 1922 the Vidovdan Constitution came into force, replacing the Austro-Hungarian counties with oblasts, replacing Modruš-Rijeka County with the larger and nothing between the kotar and the oblasts.
Since 1991, when Croatia became independent from Yugoslavia, the county's former territory has been part of Croatia.

Demographics

In 1895, the county was divided into 9 kotars: Čabar, Delnice, Novi, Ogulin, Slunj, Sušak, Vojnić, Vrbovsko and Bakar. Its total area was, with 36,322 houses and a population of 220,629. Its 851 villages and 657 hamlets were divided for taxation purposes into 211 porezne obćine.
In 1900, the county had a population of 228,452 people and was composed of the following linguistic communities:
  • Croatian: 150,982
  • Serbian: 73,604
  • Hungarian: 601
  • German: 512
  • Slovak: 58
  • Ruthenian: 4
  • Romanian: 3
  • Other or unknown: 2,688
According to the census of 1900, the county was composed of the following religious communities:
  • Roman Catholic: 154,276
  • Greek Orthodox: 73,632
  • Jewish: 335
  • Lutheran: 128
  • Calvinist: 66
  • Greek Catholic: 8
  • Unitarian: 0
  • Other or unknown: 7
In 1910, the county had a population of 231,654 people and was composed of the following linguistic communities:
  • Croatian: 152,210
  • Serbian: 74,894
  • Hungarian: 899
  • German: 592
  • Slovak: 64
  • Romanian: 6
  • Ruthenian: 4
  • Other or unknown: 2,985
According to the census of 1910, the county was composed of the following religious communities:
  • Roman Catholic: 156,060
  • Greek Orthodox: 74,941
  • Jewish: 382
  • Lutheran: 117
  • Calvinist: 101
  • Greek Catholic: 39
  • Unitarian: 4
  • Other or unknown: 10

    Governance

1920 Skupština election

In the 1920 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Constitutional Assembly election, representatives were only guaranteed at the level of Županija; in the case of Modruš-Rijeka 8 representatives.
List of candidates for Article 13 Representative 1:
List of candidates for Article 13 Representative 2:
List of candidates for Article 13 Representative 3:
  • Lazo Počula, farmer from Lipovača
  • Milan Popović, advocate from Slunj
  • Ivan Majnarić, worker from Delnice
  • Josip Kuretić, landowner from Brod Moravice
  • Ante Majnarić, agrarian surveyor from Ogulin
  • Martin Grišnik, villager from Lukovdol
  • Edo Magdić, villager from Ogulin
  • Peroslav Paskijević-Čikara, business chamber treasurer from Zagreb
List of candidates for Article 13 Representative 4:
List of candidates for Article 13 Representative 5:
  • Nikola Jagodić, farmer from Tržić
  • Dragić Generalović, farmer from Tušilović
  • Pavao Kuhar, peddler from Ogulin
  • Vale Ulaković, villager from Varoš
  • Franjo Antonić, landowner from Bribir
  • Joso Jurašić, landowner from Ogulin
  • Jure Juričić, villager from Lug
  • Stanko Kombol, cooper from Bribir
List of candidates for Article 13 Representative 6:
  • Miloš Opačić, farmer from Tušilović
  • , legal graduate from Plaški
  • Pavao Kocian, painter from Kraljevica
  • Janko Mušnjak, villager from
  • Josip Lončarić, industrialist from Skrad
  • Jakov Crnković, villager from Crni Lug
  • Rafael Pađen, businessman from Ledenice
  • Josip Benković, villager from Bošt
List of candidates for Article 14 Representative 1:
  • Ljubomir Miljušević, advocate from Karlovac
  • Juraj Kučić, retired Veliki Župan from Ogulin
  • Zvonimir Švrljuga, advocate from Hreljin
  • , legal secretary from Donja Stubica
  • Kazimir Jelušić, public defender from Zagreb
  • Dragan Turk, economist from Zagreb
  • Grga Hećimović, professor from Ogulin
  • Augustin Juretić, worker's organisation treasurer from Zagreb
List of candidates for Article 14 Representative 2:
KotarVotersElectorsElectors DSDHPSSKPJHSPNRSHZSSIndependent
Novi3638136137.4%5746726406226215246
Crikvenica4666212545.5%17420161468268535
Ogulin11,424750765.7%364421783009491692082731
Vojnić10,173468045.6%18231494211812219274
Slunj14,786707547.8%28715593928944831694713
Sušak3089151949.2%512187021713238811
Čabar218782137.5%12449667166841711
Grad Bakar69537253.5%190395456618
Vrbovsko4455269360.4%312155749551171322351
Delnice6346330152.0%25114609154295136644

Representatives elected under article 13 as a result:
  2. Valerijan Pribićević
  3. Petar Dobrinić
  4. Stanko Šibenik
  5. Vladimir Čopić
Representatives elected under article 14 as a result:
  1. Juraj Kučić
  2. Stjepan Košutić