Why was a Croat soldier in Italy in 1914

[AliMac]

Hi DeanC and everyone else kind enough to post on this thread,
The man was born in 1875 in Croatia, therefore about 39 when this was taken. Not sure which one he is but it was in Trieste in 1914. He was called Giovanni ZNIDAREC/IC but also used the first name Johann. Both are derivatives of John. No idea why he changed it as he changed again to Jan when he moved to Poland later on. I guess as the area was so turbulent at the time he wanted to keep a low profile.
I am keen to know what the uniform was and if established where to find his military record. I have attached two photos of the driving licence, which is in Italian. I have translated most of it and it is also dated 1914. I think the road given as his address at the time is Via Giosue Carducci, named after the Nobel prize winner of 1906. Thanks, Ali

Correction - He is on the far left of the photo in uniform.

[Peter Goodey]

MOD number at the bottom, which I assumed might be military issue?

It's just part of the form identification. Nothing to do with the British Ministry of Defence which didn't exist before WW2.

[thewideeyedowl]

Hi AliMac

It would be useful to read up on the Austro-Hungarian involvement in WW1, which might help to explain why your Giovanni Znidarec was where he was. The World War 1 Document Archive is a project based at Brigham Young University and international in its remit, so there's all sorts of stuff from everywhere. This link should take you to the section devoted to Austro-Hungary: https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Th...arian_Red_Book
Original documents have been transcribed.

But another possibility, for original docs and photos, is the Europeana 1914-1918 project: https://www.europeana1914-1918.net I got lots of hits when I keyed in Austro-Hungary, and then Croatia, and then Trieste (but nothing for Znidar*c, alas).

In your quest for this Znidar*c chap, have you tried that French-run genealogy site? Its name escapes me (sorry!) but someone will know the one I mean. It can be quite useful and I have found Danish info there.

Off to roost.

Owl

[AliMac]

Many thanks Owl. I have had a read and my thoughts are he was with the Austro-Hungarian army. I also tried to search the europeana site but only got hits for Austro-Hungary, nothing for Croatia or Trieste or did you do them separately? Still hoping to find out where the military records would be held?
Regards,

Ali

Does anyone know the French site that Owl has alluded to please?

[thewideeyedowl]

Hi again, AliMac

If in doubt, try Family Search - it's got an excellent WiKi. And, as ever, it delivers the goods: https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Croatia_Genealogy

You will note that any records that survive are likely to be in Vienna. There is, however, an important caveat: because of wars, many records have not survived or may have been appropriated by other countries. So you are probably still looking for a needle in a haystack!

When I had a quick try with Europeana1914-1918 yesterday, I ran separate searches for key topics/words. I got quite a lot of hits for Trieste and then, separately, for Croatia. Don't expect to find an item that exactly answers your question but click on anything of peripheral relevance to discover details of the depository. You could then contact the depository with your specific questions about where to find relevant archives (if they exist).

Finally, the French-run site that yesterday eluded my fingertips is Geneanet, then add .org. (The site carries advertising, so no clickable link possible here.) I put in Znidar*c but didn't get anything, but you might well know other names to try.

Hope you will be able to get somewhere, and please report progress because this is such an interesting thread - and the Eurpean aspect is potentially useful to other researchers too. So please don't give up.

Owl

[AliMac]

Thank you, will follow up what you suggest.
Regards,
Ali