>>279895950
I don't want to go too deeply into detail as to not go wildly off topic, but Croatia entered a personal union with The Kingdom of Hungary in 1102 after a succession crisis after the death of King Zvonimir. It was an unequal personal union where Hungary definitely had substantial power, but Croatia was a nominally independent kingdom. When I say Croatia I mean both Dalmatia and Croatia as they were technically separate Kingdoms, but that's a whole other thing that really doesn't matter.
There was a lot of earlier Byzantine influence as the Duchy of Croatia was a Byzantine vassal and a lot of Venetian influence as a lot of the territory was contested between Venice and Croatia. Croatia stayed Catholic through it's entire history, so the Byzantine influence declined massively after the Great Schism, unlike for example Serbia
Croatia and Hungary entered the Habsburg Monarchy in 1526 after the Battle of Mohač collapsed the country.
I have no idea if the Turk was being ironic or making a joke, but Croatia was the cordon sanitaire of the Ottoman conquests west and some of the most important and interesting land battles between the Turks and Europeans like Sisak, Krbava Field and Siget happened around the area. It was the most volatile and contested border in the entirety of Europe for over 300 years.
I could talk about it for hours, but I won't
