This work package includes research addressing the issue of changing national and political identities in the context of the political transformations at the beginning of the 20th century, when multinational empires collapsed and nation-states emerged. The focus of the research conducted by Frane Bilić, research associate, will be on Milan Šufflay, who, after the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, moved from being a unionist and a loyal citizen of the Monarchy to advocating an exclusive Croatian national idea. Although Šufflay’s unionism and loyalty to the House of Habsburg have largely been neglected so far, the aim of this research is to produce a prosopographical study in which an analysis of the political and ideological segments of Šufflay’s thought—observed through the different political phases of his activity—will enable a deeper understanding of the construction of modern Croatian national identity. The innovation of this research lies in its focus on fluid identities and ideologies during periods of political change, as well as in the use of previously unexplored primary sources from Croatian, Hungarian, Austrian, and German archives.
