Yeah, the guy is a Slovene professional historian, Professor Maher is an American professional historian -- and they ALL have it "wrong" and you have it "right". Of course, Dio! Would like fries with that?
The fact is that ultimately Croats couldn't hold the border against the Turks alone and called in Austro-Hungary to do it -- the Krajina (military frontier) was virtually empty of Croats, many were killed off and the rest escaped to the interior. No Croat who was sane and prosperous wanted to die there, given a choice.
So the Empress Maria Theresa invited Serbs from Ottoman conquered Bosnia to inhabit the deserted Krajina in Croatia. She promised the Serbs that they could keep their religion and way of life, as long as they defended against the Turks -- so they did. This is how Serbs would up in what was the old Krajina of Croatia in the first place. Huge numbers of Serbs died there, defending the Croatian border.
But once the Turks were no longer a threat, and the Krajina was eventually abolished, the Croats wanted the Serbs to either convert to Catholicism or get out. Croatians wanted their land back from those Serbs and the only way they could get it was to drive those Serbs out or kill them off -- so during WWI, WWII, and the last war, Croats did both.
This is what the Slovenian was referring to about Croats "thanking the Serbs for defending them from Islam".
As for the rest of it, had Croatia not been allowed to join the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later called Yugoslavia) post-WWI, Croatia would have been hacked up into little pieces at Versailles instead of preserving and even ultimately increasing its territory. On that, the Slovene is also right.
The Serbs couldn't hold the border against the Turks and were overrun. Croatia was almost overrun itself and suffered major population losses but held on for a lot longer than the Serbs.
So the Empress Maria Theresa invited Serbs from Ottoman conquered Bosnia to inhabit the deserted Krajina in Croatia. She promised the Serbs that they could keep their religion and way of life, as long as they defended against the Turks -- so they did. This is how Serbs would up in what was the old Krajina of Croatia in the first place. Huge numbers of Serbs died there, defending the Croatian border.
Those were Vlachs, not Serbs. That is why the document guaranteeing their rights was called the Statorum Valachorum. They were Serbianized at the end of the 19th century. Secondly, the Vojna Krajina always had a Croatian majority population...the Vlachs were brought in to fill the gaps.
But once the Turks were no longer a threat, and the Krajina was eventually abolished, the Croats wanted the Serbs to either convert to Catholicism or get out.
Patently nonsense. Orthodox Croatians played a large role in Croatia after 1881, with men like Borojevic, Preradovic and Runjanin leading the way. Recall that Starcevic's mother was herself an Orthodox Vlach.
Croatians wanted their land back from those Serbs and the only way they could get it was to drive those Serbs out or kill them off -- so during WWI, WWII, and the last war, Croats did both.
During WW1, the Serbs of Croatia fought in the Habsburg Army. There was no "cleansing of Serbs" in Croatia during WW1. In the last war the Serbs cleansed themselves, as they themselves have admitted.