1920 Croatian Peasant Rebellion

In late August 1920,[13] the army started a campaign to brand privately owned draft animals with the aim of designating animals fit for military use and potential drafting,[14] and supply of horses and wagons for military training.[13] The campaign provided the direct cause for renewed violence in the countryside east of Zagreb,[14] but the unrest still had roots in economic issues. While draft animal registration was a process familiar to Croatian peasants since the time of Austria-Hungary, branding was a novelty. There were concerns that the animals would be physically harmed or that those branded as unfit for military service would lose their market value. The authorities ignored the concerns, thus allowing misinformation and rumours about motivation for the campaign to spread.[15]

Preparations for revolt against the branding campaign started were carried out in late August with participation of the HPSS members.[16] Local authorities in the area south of Zagreb first became aware of intentions to disrupt the branding campaign by August 27, and leaflets calling on resistance, promising aid of the Green Cadres appeared by the end of the month.[17] There were rumours that the "Serbs will come and take all the animals to Serbia",[18] or France,[19] and that animals are branded with letters "K" and "A" to indicate that they would be handed over to the Karađorđevićs and regent Alexander respectively.[20] In some instances, army officers tasked with the branding campaign contributed to spreading of the rumours.[12] In one recorded example, an army major threatened peasants in Ivanovo Selo questioning army motives with deportation to Albania and destruction of their village.[21]

On 2 September, a crowd of peasants from surrounding villages gathered in Veliki Grđevac in the district of Grubišno Polje (about 80 kilometres (50 miles) East of Zagreb). Speakers urged the assembled peasants not to turn in their horses. In response, a Bjelovar-Križevci County clerk and the county secretary arrived, protected by gendarmes, to calm the crowd. This was repeated the next day. On 3 September, armed crowd of peasants tried to interfere with the work of the officials tasked with the branding of horses in nearby Garešnica and, according to a contemporary report prepared by Ban of Croatia Matko Laginja, two peasants were killed in the incident.[22] The authorities ended the branding campaign on Laginja's urging on 4 September.[23]

Rebel leader Filip Lakuš in Križ demanded declaration of a republic led by Stjepan Radić (pictured).

On 4 September, the crowd gathered once again in Veliki Grđevac. Unlike on the previous two days, they assaulted the 15 gendarmes accompanying the arriving county officials. According to the Laginja report, a peasant was killed and several wounded in the clash before the gendarmes led by Captain Janko Milčić scattered and ran away. Milčić discarded his uniform and fled to Bjelovar, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) away. Further clashes in vicinity of Bjelovar took place the same day in village of Rača where a municipal government building was seized and records torched, and in Ivanska where two peasants were killed when in a crowd of 300 that clashed with gendarmes.[22] On the same day, peasants took control of the town of Čazma about 50 kilometres (31 miles) East of Zagreb.[14] According to Laginja, crowd of about 400 confronted nine gendarmes in the town forcing them to flee and hide before the peasants proceeded to take weapons found in the district and municipal buildings. In response, the army deployed a company with a machine gun from Zagreb the following day.[24] The reinforcements managed to restore government control of Čazma after an armed clash resulting in fatalities on September 8.[25]

On 5 September, about 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) south of Čazma, an armed crowd seized the gendarmerie station in the town of Križ which became the centre of the rebellion.[26] The rebels took away arms found there, cut down telegraph and telephone poles and captured the railway station in nearby village of Novoselec. On the following two days, the rebels took all firearms that could be found in Križ, broke into municipal government buildings, torched pictures of king Peter I and regent Alexander found in offices. A train taking army reinforcements from Zagreb to Kutina was stopped in Novoselec station on 7 September and a skirmish between the rebels and the soldiers resulted in fatalities on both sides.[27] The train was commandeered by the peasants with the aim of using it to help spread the uprising to nearby towns.[26] Peasant guards were set up to patrol key areas, while "people's courts" were set up and staffed by local HPSS members.[28] Further clashes took place in villages of Severin and Velika Pisanica near Bjelovar on 5 September. The same day, the army and the gendarmerie deployed reinforcements to the West and North of Bjelovar, in villages of Farkaševac and Trojstvo to intercept rumoured assistance coming from across the nearby Hungarian border.[29] The rebellion, ended by 9 September in the Križ area is also referred to as the Križ Republic (Croatian: Križka republika).[30]

On 6 September, unrest spread towards Zagreb. A crowd of about 600 peasants attacked gendarmerie in the village of Oborovo, before proceeding to the town of Dugo Selo, about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) east of Zagreb, through the villages of Bregi and Ježevo. Shots were exchanged with a group of gendarmes in Dugo Selo resulting in fatalities on both sides.[31] The peasants kept control of Dugo Selo for several hours before the authorities restored control of the town.[14] On 7 September, gendarmerie station was attacked and captured in the town of Kloštar Ivanić located halfway between Dugo Selo and Križ. Two financial guards (customs officials) were killed in the fighting and the municipal notary assaulted.[32] The army retook the town two days later on 9 September.[33]

Another group of peasants fought three gendarmes in the village of Psarjevo near the town of Sveti Ivan Zelina (about 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) North of Dugo Selo) the same day. In the morning of 7 September, peasant crowds moved to Sveti Ivan Zelina where shots were exchanged with local gendarmerie. Telephone and telegraph lines were cut in the area and local administration buildings looted prompting the army to dispatch reinforcements from Zagreb to Sesvete just outside of Zagreb by train before setting off towards Sveti Ivan Zelina on foot. The reinforcements reached the town only in the morning. In the meantime, municipal and district administration and courts, as well as private shops and taverns were looted in Sveti Ivan Zelina.[34] While the skirmishes were taking place in Dugo Selo and Sveti Ivan Zelina, a crowd of 2000 looted and torched local administration offices in villages of Belovar and Moravče between Sesvete and Sveti Ivan Zelina. In nearby Kašina, a municipal administration building was looted, and municipal clerks assaulted.[31]

On 8 September, crowds of peasants moved from Kašina along the road to the village of Marija Bistrica about 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) away. The municipal administration buildings and gendarmerie station in the village were looted and records torched. Local gendarmes were disarmed before additional 20 gendarmes sent by car from Zagreb could reach the village and restore control. At least one peasant was killed in the fighting. Further reinforcements were sent from Zagreb to the towns of Donja Stubica and Zlatar. A local garrison of seven gendarmes and several armed citizens guarded Zlatar against peasant advances from the villages of Ladislavec and Mače until the reinforcements arrived in the morning.[35]

In the evening of 7 September, the gendarmerie reported that the HPSS-led crowd disarmed its station in Popovača, located approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) southeast of Križ. The report indicated the crowd might move on further southeast to nearby Kutina and asked for reinforcements from Zagreb. In response, 30 gendarmes were dispatched by train from Sisak via Novska by rail to Banova Jaruga, about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) southeast from Kutina. There they linked up with another 30 gendarmes previously deployed in the area from Slavonski Brod to provide security along the Zagreb–Slavonski Brod rail line. The combined force reached Kutina on 8 September in time to meet rebellious crowds moving into the city. There were several fatalities in the ensuing shooting, but the gendarmes kept control of the town.[36]

Clashes also took place in the villages in immediate vicinity of Sisak where rumours were spread that peasants would come from all over Croatia to help an attack on Zagreb with the aim of rescuing Radić from prison.[37] On 8 September gendarmerie stations and municipal administration buildings were seized and municipal clerks chased away in Gušće and Topolovac. In the evening of 9 September, the Sisak–Zagreb railway was damaged and telegraph poles cut in the area of the village of Sela. Workers sent to repair the railroad were shot at by the rebels.[38] The force attacking the repairmen was reported to consist of 150 (up to 1000, depending on the source) armed with at least one machine gun.[33] In response, the army deployed a company of 78 soldiers from Zagreb to pacify the area. After the reinforcements suffered first casualties, another infantry company and a battery of cannon were sent from Zagreb. The artillery was not used though. On 10 September, skirmishes took place in the nearby villages of Letovanić and Cerje and several peasants were killed in fighting there.[38] Destruction of the railroad was motivated by rumours that imprisoned Radić would be transferred from Zagreb to Belgrade by train.[39] An army unit deployed to Lekenik to guard the nearby railway junction were attacked on the following two days before the army regained Letovanić on 12 September.[40]