Independent State of Croatia

The Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on April 10, 1941 after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. The state was technically a monarchy and Italian protectorate from the signing of the Rome agreements on May 19, 1941 until the Italian capitulation on September 8 1943, but the king-designate, the Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta, refused to assume the kingship in opposition to the Italian annexation of the Croat-populated Yugoslav region of Dalmatia. The state was actually controlled by the governing fascist Ustaše movement and its Poglavnik, Ante Pavelić, which in turn were primarily under German influence. The state was also a territorial condominium of Germany and Italy (which exercised significant influence only in areas occupied by Italian military forces). Additionally, central Dalmatia was annexed directly into Italian territory as part of the irredentist agenda of an Italian Mare Nostrum (Our Sea). Italian influence collapsed in 1943, with the ousting of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini.