Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina transferred to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even after the fall of the Ottoman rule, the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided. In the Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia, Croatian politicians strived for the unification of the Kingdom of Dalmatia with Croatia. Another ambition of Croatian politicians was to incorporate the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the Kingdom of Croatia. The Habsburg Governor Béni Kállay resorted to co-opt religious institutions. Soon, the Austrian Emperor gained support to name Orthodox metropolitans and Catholic bishops and to choose Muslim hierarchy. The first Catholic archbishop was Josip Stadler. Both apostolic vicarates, Bosnian and Herzegovinian,
Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina of Yugoslavia, the Serbian Autonomous Area of the Bosnian Frontier was formed in the western Bosnian Frontier region of Bosnia and Herzegovina with its capital in Banja Luka, which was not recognised by the central government. SAO Bosnian Frontier made attempts to unite with the Autonomous Region of the Serbian Frontier in Croatia. The Serb political leadership martialled its own force assisted by the Yugoslav People's Army and declared independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina in late 1992. BiH's Bosniak and Bosnian Croat dominated government did not recognize the new Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose president was Radovan Karadžić