STADLER, PILAR AND THE YUGOSLAV COMMITTEE IN LONDON 1917-1918. (ACCORDING TO THE ACTS OF THE MINISTRY OF THE IMPERIAL AND ROYAL HOUSE AND THE EXTERIOR IN VIENNA)

Ovaj rad predstavlja prikaz i analizu spisa Ministarstva carske i kraljevske kuće i vanjskih poslova u Beču koji se odnose na promidžbu i političku djelatnost južnih Slavena, osobito Hrvata 1917./1918., odnosno pobliže svibanjske deklaracije 1917. i Jugoslavenskog odbora u Londonu. Jedno i drugo bile su hrvatska inicijativa, ali jedno i drugo pokazalo je da se ne može mimo srpske hegemonije koju je hrvatska politika priznala već 1903. Iz ove hrvatske političke malodušnosti pokušao je izići vrhbosanski nadbiskup Josip Stadler i njegov bliski suradnik tuzlanski odvjetnik Ivo Pilar. Oni nisu uspjeli dijelom zato što nisu mogli mimo srpske hegemonije u južnoslavenskom pokretu, a dijelom i zbog držanja cara i kralja Karla IV. Koji nije umio izići iz legitimizma i dinastizma pa nije pristajao uz trijalizam koji bi okupio Hrvate u jednoj državi pod habsburškom krunom što je bilo najbolje rješenje. Ovo rješenje bilo je moguće još 1917. Godinu kasnije poslije poraza na Solunskoj fronti, na rijeci Piave i kasnije kod Vittoria Veneto ovo rješenje nije više predstavljalo alternativu to više što se u zemljama habsburške zajednice naroda počela širiti gladWorld War drove to the close in 1917. Coat politic was a bustle conjecturing and proposing a new deal of the Hapsbourg commonwealth in the aftermath of the war. As Russia negotiated a peace deal in Brest Litovsk most of the Croat and Southen Slav politician believed Austria/Hungary would be victorious in the exhausting war. So the southern Slavs in the Empire proposed trialism, it means the unification of all southern Slavs, Croat, Serbs and Slovenes under the Hapsbourg Crown. In the political ambiance some proposed this new state would be under the Royal and others into the Imperial Crown. The archbishop of Vrhbosna in Sarajevo Mons. Josip Stadler was initially inclined to this plan proposed by the Declaration in Vienna, on May, 30. 1917. Later he rejected this plan which would be a Yugoslavia in the Austrian frame. He suggested to the Emperor trialism with the unification of all Croats under the Hapsbourg crown. The Hungarians opposed this plan because they considered Bosnia and Dalmatia to be linked to the Hungarian crown since the Middle Ages. The Emperor was also the King of Hungary, he was inclined to the Croats, but was liable to his duties as King of Hungary and was reluctant to the new deal that would resituate dualism. The trialism was suggested by Stadler and a group of Croat generals in the I. R. Army. Austria-Hungary was a progressive but not democratic Empire, the authoritarian rule of the Emperor, the aristocracy and the generals did not suit a liberal middle class of the Empire. So Croats in the Yugoslav committee in London gained more and more land and followers in Croatia but had to accept Serbian hegemony in Yugoslavia to come also in order to avoid the creation of an enlarged Serbia to the expenses of and the cession of Istria and Dalmatia to Italy. That happened, Croatia united to Serbia with Croats being considered a minority group deprived of minority rights. That was a grim future for Croatia. Italy lost Dalmatia, but gained Istria and Rijeka