{IDe949.715"1R7RI1914":323.22(=R61
:439.55)OriginalScholarlyWorkDusan 1. BATAKOVICInstitute for Balkan
StudiesBelgradePRELUDE TO SARAJEVO:THESERBIAN QUESTION IN BOSNIAAND
HERZEGOVINA 1878-1914Abstract: TheSerbian question in
Bosnia-Herzegovina wasthemajor obsta-cle to the stabilizationofthe
semi-colonial, repressiveandanti-democraticnile of Austria-Hungary.
From the occupation after the Congress of Berlin (1878)untilthe
First WorldWar. the politics of systematicsuppression of
theHerze-govinianandBosnian Serbs, especiallyof their freedomof
religion. politicalrights. and cultural development provokedgrowing
national demands. Tins con-flict of interests. combined
withintensified international crisis in the Balkansdi-rectly led to
the Austrian-Serbian war in 1914.TheEasternCrisis(1875-1878)
beganwiththe Serbianinsurrec-tionsinHerzegovinaand Bosnia, andwas
endedwith the occupationof these twoOttoman provinces
byAustria-Hungary. Theperiod of theAustro-Hungarianadministration-
fromtheoccupation(1878)andan-nexation(1908) tothe
assassinationinSarajevo(1914) -was the pe-riod marked by the
systematic suppression of the Bosnian Serbsassociated with the
restriction oftheir religious, national and civilrights. Their
strivingfor national equalitywentthroughthreesucces-sivestages:
1)the strugglefor religious, ecclesiasticand educationalautonomy;
2) politicalorgaruzing and cultural elevation;
3)revolution-aryactsbasedonindividual terrorism. The
growingdiscontent of therural population, thedominantlayer of the
SerbiansocietyinBosnia-Herzegovina, was thecatalyst of
thewholemovement althoughin thebeginning it wasnot
directlyconnected with theactions of thepoliticaland
culturalelite118 DusanT BatakovicFromthe Insurrection to the
OccupationTheoutcome of the EasternCrisis marked the defeat of
thealmostcentury-long effortsof theSerbsfromeitherbank of theDrina
rivertoconstitutea
singleSerbianstatefromtheOttomanprovinceswithpre-dominantly Serbian
population and within ethnically determinedboundaries.
Onseveraloccasions, in spite of
unfavorableinternationalcircumstances,
theinsurgentsfromBosniaproclaimed theunificationwithSerbia, and
those fromHerzegovina - withMontenegro. Afterthetwo
Serbianprincipalities declaredwar onOttoman Empire, inJuneandJuly
1876 theunificationwithSerbia wasproclaimed infour dif-ferent
locations inBosnia, where the major part ofthe
insurrectionarmywasgathered. The proclamation to thepeople
underlined thattheinsurgents, as "the only legal representatives of
the SerbianlandofBosnia, afterso muchwaiting andwithno hopefor
anyhelp, [we' de-cidetodayto finallybreakup withthe non-Christian
government fromConstantinople, anddesireto sharethedestiny,
whatever it maybe, ofourkinsmen theSerbs." 1 The proclamation of
the unification of BosniawithSerbiagave riseto"feast andgreat joy"
amongthepeople, andthe insurgents solemnly took an oath to the
Serbian Prince Mi IanObrenovic TheMontenegrinPrinceNikolawas
askedbytheHerze-govinian insurgents to accept the title of
sovereign of Herzegovina.The defeat of the movement for the
unificationof BosniawithSerbia marked a sudden and longlasting
break of thepolicylaid outinGarasanins Nacertanije (1844), which
predictedthe unificationintoonesingle Serbianstate of all
theSerbian-inhabited Ottoman provincesin Europe. Thecrushing of
theSerbian national movement washeldinVienna as a precondition for
thedominationin the Balkans and furtherpenetrationtowardsthe Near
East. The Austrian penetrationintotheBalkans marked by the
occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, was the be-ginningof the
"Drangnach Osten" policy. Therefore, the opinionofthe older
generationof the Americanhistorianshas kept its validitythat
thereal background of theconflictbetweenAustria-HungaryandSerbia,
leading to theWorld WarL wasin factthe occupation andan-nexation of
Bosnia-Herzegovina.?AttheCongress of Berlin(June-July1878),on
thesuggestion ofGreat Britain, Austria-Hungarywasauthorized
tooccupyBosnia withM. Ekrnecic, Ustanak u Bosni
1875-1978,Sarajevo1960, p. 231.2 B. E. Schmidt, The Annexation of
Bosnia1908-1909, CambridgeUniversityPress1937: idem., The Coming of
theTVar, vol. L London-NewYork1930, p. 108: J. S.Ewart, The Roots
and Causes ofthe War (1914-1918), vol.Il, New York1925,
p948.Prelude to Sarajevo: TIle Serbian Question
119Herzegovina(51.000 ktn-'). Accordingto
aninterpretationfromVi-enna, "the supremacy of theSlavicrace,
notinclined at all to be just totheothers" would be therebyavoided.
At thesame time, Austria-Hun-garywas allowed tousher its
troopsintothenorthernpart of theSan-jak of Novi Pazar, thenarrow
territorial corridor dividingSerbia fromMontenegro, thusimpeding
their unification In the future. 'The resolutions of theCongress of
Berlinwerestronglyopposedin Bosnia and Herzegovina. Aprovisional,
Muslim-led governmentwasformed, calling for resistance to
theAustro-Hungarian
occupation.IslamicextremismprevailedamongtheMuslims:
EuropeancostumewasforbiddeninSarajevo, andshari 'ah (Islamiclaw)
wasintroducedinMostar." The Serbs, militarilyexhaustedbyconstant
fightingsdur-ing the four years of the insurrection, sporadically
tried to offerstrongerresistancetotheoccupation,
ofteninalliancewiththeMus-lims. Themainresistance to theoccupying
forces, however, wasmadeby theBosnian Muslims, led
bytheimamandformer brigand of Sara-jevo - Hadzi Lojo: it
tooktheAustrians several months tobreakdownthe resistance. Inthe
first phase ofthe military intervention,
com-mandedbythetwogenerals- vonPhilippovitchandJovanovic,
andconductedfromthreedirections, theAustro-Hungarianarmy
engaged72.000troops, quicklyreachingthe figure of160.000.
DuetostrongSerbian resistance in Bosanska Krajina (region of Banja
Luka), lastingfora monthaftertheoccupation of Sarajevo (August 19),
theAustriantroopswereincreased to268. 000men. Theofficial number of
casual-tiesof theoccupying armywere5.020privatesand178 officers.
Dur-ing the Eastern Crisis, Bosnia and Herzegovina lost about
150.000men, mostlySerbsand
Muslims.PDeeplydisappointedwiththepro-BulgarianRussianpolicy, andin
exchange for the guarantees to thedynasty and vague promises of
anexpansiontowardstheVardar vall ey, Prince Mil anObrenovi c of
Ser-bia signed the Secret Convention (Tajna konvencija) in Vienna
in:; Cf(iJaksie,Bosnai Hercegovina na Berlinskomkongresu 1878. SAN.
Beograd1956. Cf. also, M.S.Anderson, TheEastemQuestion 1774-1923,
London-NewYork1966, pp.214-219.4 K.Karpat, "The Ottoman Empire
Towards the Resistance of Bosnia andHerzegovina to the Austrian
Occupation". in: Otpor austrougarskoj okupaciji1878. godine u Bosni
i Hercegovini, A.NUBiH,Posebna izdanja, knj. XLIII,Odjeljenje
drustvenih nauka, knj. 8 Sarajevo1979, pp. 155-163.:) Cf. D. Beric,
"Pogledna literaturu (J otporuaustrougarskoj okupaciji IR78 uBosni
i Hercegovini". in: Otporaustrougarsko]okupaciji 1878. godineu
Bosni iHercegovini, pp. 335-385.J20 I )lIsan T BalakOVIC1881.
Serbiathereby'renouncedany formof political engagement
inBosnia-Herzegovina,which had been themaingoal of theSerbian
for-eignpolicy from1804 to1878. Untilthebeginning of
the20thcentury.Serbia was conspicuously absent fromBosnia: Bosnian
Serbs werebackedupmainlybythe political partiesof the
opposition(RadicalsandLiberals) andclerical circlesof Belgrade.
TheAustrophilepolicyof Milan Obrenovic, as well as theforeignpolicy
of hissuccessor KingAleksandar (1889-1903), wasnot verypopular
among theSerbs,tradi-tionallyincliningtowardsRussiaandwith
astrongsympathyfor theco-nationalsunder theforeignrule. King
Milan's policyaroused suspi-cion even amongthe leadershipof the
Progressive Party tNaprcdnastranka), traditionallyloyal to
thedynasty. Just likeKing Milan's mainopponents, theRadicals
(Narodnaradikalna strankas, some of
thePro-gressistsparticularlydisagreed with hIS policy towards
Bosnia, consid-enngthat Milanbetrayedthe national interest by
denyingprotectionandpolitical support
totheHerzegovinianandBosnianSerbs. DuringAlexander'srule,
Austro-HungarianenvoysinSerbia frequentlycom-plainedabout the
Belgradepress, demandingthe suppressionof anyfree thought, even ofa
mere mentionof national aspirations. BaronThornmel,
actingastheenvoytoBelgrade, carefullymarked notonlythe
unsuitablearticles, but alsothe suspiciousexpressionspointing
tonational interests. The expressions such as "national
aspirations","Slavic solidarity11, "repressed brethren", even the
term"Serbdom",provoked his suspicion, andoftenprotestsanddemandsfor
ban." Ser-bia wastobe absent from Bosnian politics forthe next
three decades."Civilizing Measures"Bosniaand Herzegovina, the two
provinces still formally undertheOttoman sovereignty, wereunder
theprovisions of theimperial or-derof February22 1880, administred
bytheCommonMinistry of Fi-nanceinVienna.
Certaineconomicmeasuresandthe introductionoforder intotheinternal
affairs of theprovinces made significant changesinthisbackward
society, but achieved onlylimited succes. A networkor railroads and
factones was unsignificant comparedto ahugenet-work of
militarygarrisons, fortressesandgendarmerie positions."Sig-nificant
effort was made in building schools and other cultural6 S.
Jovanovic, Vlada Aleksandra Obrenovica.vol.L Beograd193L p. 77.7 Cf
PTSugaL171eIndustrializationof Bosnia-Herzegovina 187{-1918.
Seattle1963. Reviewed bv M. Ekrnecic m: Jugoslovenski istorijski
casopis, No3.Belgrade1964, pp. '120-124. . .Prelude to Sarajevo:
TIle Serbian Question121institutions, but the resultswere
insufficient. The"civilizing measures"of
Austria-Hungarywerepoliticallyaimed at establishing a viable
po-litical systemsupported bydifferent ethnic communities, whiche
weretobeseparated fromanypolitical contact withtheir co-nationals
else-where, especiallyin Serbia and Montenegro. The"civilizing
measures"which were aimedpnmarilyagainst the Serbs
asapossiblepoliticalopponents, alsoseverely affectedtheMuslims
whowere reluctant toliveinastate ruledbyaChristiangovernment. The
Serbs startedtomigrate toSerbia, and the Bosnian Muslims
totheneighbouring prov-inces(Kosovo, Macedonia, evenAlbania), or
toremoteregions(Ana-tolia)under the Ottoman rule.According to the
first Austrian census in 1879, the OrthodoxSerbs
madetherelativemajorityof 496.458personsoutof1.158.164inhabitants.
ThesameratiowasregisteredIn1910: in spiteof themi-grations (by
1914some 40.000 Serbs hadbeendisplaced), the
Serbshadthemajorityof825.918outof1.898.044inhabitants,
duetotheirhighbirth-rate (bytheend of thecenturyit reached
35,60percent ina87,92 percent-agrarianpopulation), higher than
among the Muslims(some 140.000 had been displaced), and the Roman
Catholics whoweresystematicallysettled (about 230.000 people
weresettled in Bos-nia nad Herzegovina until 1914, mainlyCroats,
Czechs and Poles).Theabsolutemajorityof theSerbswasrecorded in half
theterri-tories under Austro-Hungarianrule: intheBosniandistricts -
BanjaLuka 70,96 percent; Dubica 82,44 percent; Gradiska71,98
percent;Bosanska Krupa64,15percent; Bosanski Novi 76,06percent:
Bosan-ski Petrovac78,83 percent; Kljuc 66,43 percent; Kotor Yaros
63,49percent; Maglaj 53,55percent; Prijedor59,08percent;
Prnjavor60,89percent; Sarajevo 56,06percent; Glamoc 77, 26 percent;
Varcar Vakuf79,61 percent; Bijeljina 70,57 percent: Vlasenica 64,37
percent;Zvornik54,78percent. InHerzegovina, absolutemajoritywas
regis-tered in the following districts: Mostar 61,41percent; Bileca
81,27 per-cent; Ljubinje 58,40percent; Nevesinje 73,06 percent,
andTrebinje71,38 percent.88 Bericht uber dieVerwaltungvon Bosnien
und Hercegovina 1913. Wien1913Dj.Pejanovic, Stanovnistvo Bosnei
Hercegovine, SAN,Beograd1955, pp. 40-46. Onschools: Dj. Pejanovic.
Stanovnistvo, skolstvo i pismenost u krajevima bivseBosne i
Hercegovine , Sarajevo 1939, p 12. Accordingtothe
Austrianmilitarysources, in1865 therewas47,76percent of
theOrthodoxSerbs, 34,60percent oftheMuslims, and 15,98percent of
theRomanCatholicsin Bosnia-Herzegovina.Withinthebordersofthevilayet
of Bosniathere was 51,25percent of OrthodoxSerbs. 32,83 percent of
Muslims and 14,25 percent of Roman Catholics. Theofficial
Ottomancensusof 1871 revealed that Muslimsbecamerelativemajoritydue
to huge emigrationof Muslims fromSerbia toBosma after 1867 Cf.
1)).Pejanovic. StanovnistvoBosnei Hercegovine. pro 31-36. .Dusan
TBatakovicThe general conscription decreed for Bosnia and
Herzegovina(1881)gaverisetothe 1882insurrection of
theSerbsinHerzegovina,in whicha vast number of local Muslims
tookpart, aided byMontene-gro and the Ottomangovernment.
Theinsurrectionspreadacross theNeretva river I11to central and
eastern Bosnia, alongthe Drina river.Theleaders of
theinsurrectionwereStojanKovacevic. DjokoRadovicand Pero Tunguz.
Due tothe lackof arms andof astronger interna-tional support, the
insurrectionwas crushedbythe 70.000menstrongAustrian troops. The
Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairsconsidered
thisinsurrectiontobe"the last cry of thelethallywoundedSlavism in
theBalkans". It seems that theinsurrection revived theideaamongthe
officials 111 Vienna(1882-1883), of theannexationof
Bos-nia-Herzegovina and theabandonment of dualism.')Contrary to the
Muslims, who opposedthe newrulers togetherwith the Serbs, the hope
rose amongthe Croats ofCroatia-Slavoniathattheoccupation of
Bosnia-Herzegovina wasJust abeginning of itsunion with the Monarchy
by includingit I11to Croatia-Slavonia The"scientific" grounds for
theCroatian pretensions to Bosma were laid bythe
historianTadijaSmiciklas inPovijcst Hrvatska
("TheHistoryofCroatia", Zagreb 1878), andhis examplewas
followedbyVjekoslavKlaic inAtlas zahrvatskupovjesnicu("The Atlas
for Croatian His-tory", Zagreb 1882). The French consul in Sarajevo
L.Moreau re-ported 111 summer 1883, recallinghis
preVIOUSdespatchfromCetmje"The aspirationtomanage Bosma
andHerzegovina m conformitywiththe Croatianideaisnot anewconcept.
Ithas existedfor at least tenyears duringthe first years ofthe
occupation [...] Certain plans areknown which deal with the forming
ofa newstate [Bosnia-Herze-govina with
Croatia-SlavoniaunderHabsburgs] that wouldextend to-wards the
southeast [...] but the fact shouldnot be ignoredthat thisplanwill
beimpossibletorealizeaslongasthereisa singleSerbleft[ ...
]."10TheHunganannobleman BenjaminKallay, CommonMinister ofFinance,
an expert for Serbianaffairs and formerly aconsul inBel-grade
(1868-1875), was appointed administrator of Bosnia-Herze-gOV1l1a
m1882. During hisconsulshipinBelgrade,Kallaynoticed that
