quality:correction, structural:scholar_edition
Establishment

On 25 March 1941, Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact, but two days later the government was overthrown in a bloodless military coup by opponents who were motivated by a range of factors.

Two days after the Belgrade coup, Mussolini invited Pavelić from Florence to his private residence in Rome, the Villa Torlonia; this was their first meeting since Pavelić's arrival in Italy. Pavelić was escorted by Matija Bzik, but Mussolini received only Pavelić. Acting Foreign Minister Filippo Anfuso was present during the meeting.

Pavelić and Mussolini discussed Croatia's position after Yugoslav capitulation. Mussolini was concerned that Italian designs on Dalmatia be achieved, and in response Pavelić acknowledged the agreements he had made earlier and reassured him. Pavelić requested the release of the remaining interned Ustaše, an Italian liaison officer was allocated to him, and the Italians also lent him a radio station in Florence so he could conduct late evening broadcasts. On 1 April 1941 Pavelić called for the liberation of Croatia.

On 6 April 1941 the Axis invaded Yugoslavia from multiple directions, rapidly overwhelming the under-prepared Royal Yugoslav Army which capitulated 11 days later. The German operational plan included making 'political promises to the Croats' to increase internal discord.

The Germans generally preferred to collaborate with non-fascists who were willing to work with them, and only placed out-and-out fascists in charge as a last resort. Croatia was no exception. The Nazis wanted any Croatian puppet government to have popular support, so that they could control their zone of occupation with minimal forces and exploit the available resources peacefully. The administration of Banovina Croatia had been under the control of an alliance of Vladko Maček 's HSS and the mostly Croatian Serb Independent Democratic Party. Maček was very popular among Croats, had been vice-premier in the Yugoslav Cvetković government, was a supporter of Yugoslav accession to the Axis and had a ready made para-military force in the form of the HSS Croatian Peasant Defence. As a result, the Germans attempted to get Maček to proclaim an "independent Croatian state" and form a government. When he refused to cooperate, the Germans decided they had no alternative other than to support Pavelić, even though they considered that the Ustaše could not provide an assurance they could govern in the way the Germans wanted.

It was estimated by the Germans that Pavelić had around 900 sworn Ustaše in Yugoslavia at the time of the invasion, and the Ustaše themselves considered that their supporters only numbered some 40,000. The Germans also considered Pavelić to be an Italian agent or "Mussolini's man", but considered that other senior Ustašas such as deputy leader (Croatian: Doglavnik) Slavko Kvaternik were sufficiently pro-German to ensure their interests would be supported by any regime led by Pavelić.

On 10 April 1941, Kvaternik declared an Independent State of Croatia in the name of the Poglavnik Ante Pavelić via the Zagreb Radio Station. Kvaternik was acting on the orders of SS-Brigadeführer (Brigadier) Edmund Veesenmayer. The proclamation was viewed favourably by a significant portion of the population, particularly those living in Zagreb, western Herzegovina and Lika. The Croatian Peasant Defence, which had been infiltrated by the Ustaše, assisted by disarming Royal Yugoslav Army units and imposing some control. However, the Ustashe received limited support from ordinary Croats. The commander of German forces in the NDH estimated that only around 2% of the country's population supported the Ustashe regime.

The Ustaše that had been interned in Italy had been concentrated at Pistoia, about 50 km from Florence where they were issued with Italian uniforms and small arms. They were joined by Pavelić on 10 April and listened to radio broadcasts announcing the proclamation of the NDH. Pavelić's visit to Pistoia was actually his first meeting with the Ustaše after the assassination in Marseilles. In Pistoia, Pavelić gave a speech in which he announced that their struggle for an independent Croatia was near the end. After that he returned to his home in Florence where he heard Kvaternik's proclamation on a radio broadcast from Vienna. On 11 April, Pavelić went to Rome, where he was hosted by Anfuso, after which he was received by Mussolini. During the meeting Pavelić was guaranteed that his government would be recognized immediately after he arrived in Zagreb.

After a meeting in Rome, Pavelić boarded the train with his Ustaše escort and went to Zagreb via Trieste and Rijeka. He arrived at Karlovac on 13 April with about 250—400 Ustaše where was greeted by Veesenmayer who was appointed by German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to supervise the state's creation. In Karlovac, Pavelić was asked to confirm that he had not made any commitments to the Italians, but Mussolini's envoy arrived while he was there and negotiations ensued to ensure that his messages to Hitler and Mussolini would deal satisfactorily with the questions of Dalmatia and recognition by the Axis powers. This issue was the first sign of Italo-German tensions over the NDH.

Diplomatic recognition of the NDH by the Axis was delayed to ensure that Pavelić made the promised territorial concessions to Italy. These concessions meant that Pavelić handed to Italy some 5,400 square kilometres of territory with a population of 380,000, consisting of about 280,000 Croats, 90,000 Serbs, 5,000 Italians and 5,000 others. Once this was completed Pavelić travelled to Zagreb on 15 April, and Axis recognition was also granted to the NDH on that day.

On 16 April 1941, Pavelić signed a decree appointing the new Croatian State Government. He was the first to take an oath, after which he stated:

Since 1102, Croatian people autonomous and independent state. And there, after...839 years, the time has come to form responsible Croatian government.

Pavelić thus presented the NDH as the embodiment of the "historical aspirations of the Croatian people". The decree named Osman Kulenović as the vice-president of the government, and Slavko Kvaternik as Pavelić's deputy, and appointed eight other senior Ustaše as ministers. The Ustaše made use of the existing bureaucracy of the Banovina of Croatia, after it had been purged and "ustašised". The new regime drew upon the concept of an uninterrupted Croatian state since the arrival of the Croats in their contemporary homeland, and reflected extreme Croat nationalism mixed with Nazism and Italian Fascism, Catholic clerical authoritarianism and the peasantism of the Croatian Peasant Party.

When the anti-Serb atrocities were under way, Pavelić remained a devoted Catholic: he participated in mass in his chapel, worshipped and confessed his sins.

Pavelić tried to prolong the negotiations with Italy about the boundary between the two states. At the time, he was receiving support from Berlin. Ciano insisted that Italy must annex the whole Croatian littoral, and after some time the Germans pulled back to protect German-Italian relations. On 25 April, Pavelić and Ciano met in Ljubljana again discussing borders. Ciano's first proposal was Italian annexation of the whole Croatian littoral and hinterland all the way to Karlovac. Another proposal was somewhat less demanding but with closer ties with Italy, including a monetary, customs and personal union. Pavelić refused and instead demanded that Croatian gain the towns of Trogir, Split and Dubrovnik. Ciano did not respond, but promised another meeting. Pavelić was still counting on German support, but without success. On 7 May 1941, Pavelić and Mussolini met in Tržič and agreed to discuss the matter in Rome. On 18 May 1941 Pavelić went to Rome with his delegation and signed a Treaty of Rome in which Croatia gave up part of Dalmatia, Krk, Rab, Korčula, Biograd, Šibenik, Trogir, Split, Čiovo, Veliki i Mali Drvenik, Šolta, Mljet and parts of Konavle and the Bay of Kotor to Italy. A Croatian proposal that Split and Korčula Island be jointly administered was ignored. These annexations shocked the people and led to the only public demonstration recorded in the Independent State of Croatia's history.

Hundreds of citizens, members of the Ustaše Movement and the Domobranstvo (Army) protested on 25 December 1941. Pavelić tried to retrieve the lost areas, but kept his real feelings and those of the people from the Italians to maintain the pretext of good relations.