Rakovica Revolt

Rakovica revolt

Rakovica Deaths by Oton Iveković
Date	8–11 October 1871
Location	Rakovica, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia)
Outcome	Withdrawal of idea of Austrian-Hungarian federalization; Fall of Hohenwart's Government
Deaths	Eugen Kvaternik

The Rakovica revolt (Croatian: Rakovička buna) was an armed uprising in 1871 led by Croatian politician Eugen Kvaternik against authorities of Austria-Hungary, with the aim of establishing an independent Croatian state at the time when it was part of Austria-Hungary. The uprising, named after the village of Rakovica in south-central Croatia where it started, lasted only four days in October 1871, and ended in defeat for Croatian rebels.

Eugen Kvaternik had planned to launch a rebellion years earlier against what was then the Austrian Empire since 1859. However, he failed to secure allies in either Italy or Hungary to participate in the cause.

Kvaternik planned a revolt without notifying anybody from Party of Rights, including its leader Ante Starčević. Kvaternik's idea was creation of an independent Croatian state, union of Croatian Military Frontier with provincial Croatia and their secession from Austria-Hungary. Kvaternik planned a revolt months before, already issuing a seal of a new Croatian state. The population of the Croatian Military Frontier did not support an unification with the Kingdom of Croatia following the Croatian-Hungarian Agreement, as Croatia was under Hungarian influence, while the Frontiers supported the ruling dynasty (Austria). This made conditions for the revolt much harder than Kvaternik expected.

Another bad condition for the revolution was its location; the village of Rakovica and the area of Kordun was mostly populated by Orthodox Serbs of Croatia. However, a large number of the local Orthodox population supported Kvaternik.