Assassination of Stjepan Radić

Stjepan Radić
Stjepan Radic returns home from hospital after the assassination attempt in 1928
President of the Croatian People's Peasant Party
In office 28 December 1904 – 8 August 1928
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Vladko Maček
Leader of the Opposition
In office 1 January 1921 – 6 November 1924
Leader of the Opposition
In office 1 February 1927 – 8 August 1928
Personal details
Born	11 June 1871 Desno Trebarjevo, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary
Died	8 August 1928(1928-08-08) (aged 57) Zagreb, Kingdom of SHS
Resting place	Mirogoj cemetery, Zagreb, Croatia
Nationality	Croat
Political party	Croatian Peasant Party
Spouse(s)	Marija Radić (née Dvořak)
Children	Milica (1899-1946), Miroslav (1901-1988), Vladimira (1906-1970), Branislava (1912-1983)
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Roman Catholic

Stjepan Radić (11 June 1871 – 8 August 1928) was a Croatian politician and the founder of the Croatian People's Peasant Party (Hrvatska pučka seljačka stranka) in 1905. Radić is credited with galvanizing the peasantry of Croatia into a viable political force. Throughout his entire career, he was opposed to the union and, later, Serb hegemony in the first Yugoslavia and became an important political figure in that country. He was shot in parliament by the Serbian radical politician Puniša Račić. Radić died several weeks later from a serious stomach wound at the age of 57. This assassination further alienated the Croats and the Serbs.

Stjepan Radić was born in Desno Trebarjevo, Martinska Ves near Sisak in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within Austria-Hungary as the ninth of eleven children. After being expelled from his gymnasium in Zagreb, he finished at the Higher Real Gymnasium in Karlovac. In 1888 Radić travelled to Đakovo where he met with bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer to request help for a trip to the Russian Empire. Strossmayer recommended Radić to Metropolitan Mihailo of Belgrade who referred him to a Russian teacher in Kiev. Radić travelled to Kiev and was allowed to stay at the city's Monastery of the Caves where he remained for six weeks before returning to Croatia.

In September 1891 he enrolled in law at the University of Zagreb. He was selected as a representative of the student body at the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Sisak in 1893. After criticizing the ban of Croatia Károly Khuen-Héderváry during the ceremony and referring to him as a "Magyar hussar", Radić was sentenced to four months in prison which he served in Petrinja. He was among a group of students who set fire to the Hungarian tricolour on 16 October 1895 during the visit of Emperor Franz Joseph to Zagreb. For this, Radić received a prison sentence and was expelled from the University of Zagreb, as well as barred from all universities in the Monarchy. After spending some time in Russia and, later, Prague, Radić continued his studies at the École libre des sciences politiques in Paris, where he graduated in 1899.