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and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina fell under Austro-Hungarian rule
in 1878 when the Congress of Berlin approved the
Condominium of Bosnia and
occupation of the Bosnia Vilayet, which officially remained
Herzegovina
part of the Ottoman Empire. Three decades later, in 1908, Kondominijum Bosne i
Austria-Hungary provoked the Bosnian crisis by formally Hercegovine (Bosnian)
annexing the occupied zone, establishing the Kondominium Bosnien und
Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Herzegowina (German)
the joint control of Austria and Hungary. Bosznia és Hercegovinai
Condominium (Hungarian)
1878–1918
Contents
History
Occupation
Ethnic relations
Annexation
Flag
Politics
Coat of arms
Parliamentary parties
Non-parliamentary parties
Demographics
Administration
Governors
Religion
See also
References
Tensions remained in certain parts of the country (particularly Herzegovina) and a mass emigration of
predominantly Muslim dissidents occurred. However, a state of relative stability was reached soon enough
and Austro-Hungarian authorities were able to embark on a number of social and administrative reforms
which intended to make Bosnia and Herzegovina into a "model colony". With the aim of establishing the
province as a stable political model that would help dissipate rising South Slav nationalism, Habsburg rule
did much to codify laws, to introduce new political practices, and generally to provide for modernization.
Ethnic relations
The Austro-Hungarian administration advocated the ideal of a
pluralist and multi-confessional Bosnian nation. Joint Imperial
Minister of Finance and Vienna-based administrator of Bosnia
Béni Kállay thus endorsed Bosnian nationalism in the form of
Bošnjaštvo ("Bosniakhood") with the aim to inspire in Bosnia's
people 'a feeling that they belong to a great and powerful
nation'[10] and viewed Bosnians as "speaking the Bosnian
language and divided into three religions with equal rights.".
[11][12]
Between 1861 and 1869, Topal Osman Pasha, an Ottoman
Grand vizier had striven to do the same.[13]
The idea of a unified South Slavic state (typically expected to be spearheaded by independent Kingdom of
Serbia) became a popular political ideology in the region at this time, including Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Certain Muslim circles in Bosnia and Herzegovina published the newspaper Bošnjak ("Bosniak"). This
newspaper caused fierce discussions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. The newspaper
supported Kállay's policy, whose goal was to strengthen Austro-Hungarian rule in occupied Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Although Kállay's policy was not widely accepted even amongst Muslims, Bošnjak
nevertheless represented the national aspirations of some Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Kállay's policy was finally defeated in 1896 and 1899, when Bosnian Serbs and Muslims called for religious
and educational autonomy. Kállay's policy had some potential to resist Croatian and Serbian national
aspirations, but after 1899 and 1900 his policy of promoting Bosnian identity had no significant effect.[15]
After the death of Kallay, the policy was abandoned. By 1905, nationalism was an integral factor of Bosnian
politics, with national political parties corresponding to the three groups dominating elections.[12]
Soon after Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, the government took the area's
religious activities and institutions under its sovereignty. Austro-Hungarian authorities issued regulations
which made Muslim clergy Austro-Hungarian state officials, answering exclusively to them.
This was to isolate Bosnian Muslims from the Ottoman Empire, and its clergy who were subordinate to the
Sultan. The Muslims were largely unhappy with their new status, and formed Muslim political opposition.
This Muslim opposition demanded, at first, Muslim religious autonomy from Austria-Hungary, but later,
as it grew stronger, they demanded autonomy from the Ottoman Empire. The Muslim opposition tried to
align itself with the Serbs, who were also demanding religious and educational autonomy. But unsolved
agrarian relations between the Muslim leadership and the Serbs was an obstacle to any far-reaching
alliance. The alliance that did form was only tactical. Later, the Muslim leadership emphasized Ottoman
sovereignty over Bosnia and Herzegovina, and demanded the right to organize their religious activity
under the aegis of the Shaykh al-Islām of the Ottoman Empire.[16]
With Kállay's death in 1903, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina was
liberalized. The national movements in Bosnia and Herzegovina were
transformed into political parties. Muslims founded the Muslim National
Organization (MNO) in 1906, Serbs formed the Serbian National
Organization (SNO) in 1907, and Croats formed the Croat National Union
(HNZ) in 1908. Another significant Croatian party, though less represented
then the HNZ, was the Croatian Catholic Association (HKU).[17]
In Croatian politics there were two factions and their formal political
organising ran slowly. The fundamental reason for this Croatian political
division was disagreement between the Franciscan Bosnian Province and
the Archbishop's Chancery on the organisation of parishes within the
archdiocese.[25] The first initiative for creation of a Croatian political party
came from the Croatian intelligentsia which gained support from the
Franciscans. In 1908, after some preparations, it founded the Croatian
People's Union with Ivo Pilar as its main ideologist.[26] In its program, the
HNZ advocated the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-
Hungary[27] and its unification with the rest of the Croatian lands.[26] In
relations with the Serbs, the HNZ stood for a strict reciprocity, rejecting the
idea of Bosnia and Herzegovina's unification with any other country or its Josip Štadler,
Archbishop of Vrhbosna
autonomy. The HNZ did not demand any changes in social relations or
and leader of the
changes in the agrarian relations. They tried to maintain good relations
Croatian Catholic
with the Muslim population, which was the only way to gain political Association
strength. Because of this, they were harshly criticized by the Štadler's
Croatian Catholic Association (HKU) that advocated an end to the serf
system. Pilar believed that the HNZ's goals could only be achieved if Croats gained support from the
Muslim population, and at the same time, he criticised Štadler for his Catholic propaganda.[26] Štadler, who
was Pilar's main opponent, believed that Catholic Croats should not be educated in any way other than as
Catholics, thus advocating segregation between Catholics and Muslims.[28] The HKU, like the HNZ,
advocated unification of Bosnia and Herzegovina with other Croatian lands. It also promoted Christian
morals, and unlike the HNZ, the HKU advocated the abolition of the serf system as they had no relations
with the Muslims.[29]
Annexation
Even though Bosnia and Herzegovina was still part of the Ottoman Empire, at least formally, the Austrian-
Hungarian authorities had factual control over the country. Austria-Hungary waited for a chance to
incorporate Bosnia and Herzegovina formally as well. Any action concerning Bosnia and Herzegovina
depended on international opinion, which Austrian-Hungarian authorities were aware of. They used the
Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire to finally annex Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Young Turk
movement had gained support in mass protests throughout the Ottoman Empire during 1908, with their
intention to restore the suspended Ottoman constitution. The Austrian-Hungarian authorities were afraid
that the revolution could spread to Bosnia and Herzegovina, as it had support from the Bosnian Muslims
and the Serbs, who supported the autonomy of Bosnia and Herzegovina
within the Ottoman Empire. On 7 September 1908, the SNO and the MNO
demanded that Bosnia and Herzegovina accept the constitution as part of
the Ottoman Empire.[29]
Illustration from the compensation and on the Austrian-Hungarian garrisons leaving the Sanjak
French magazine Le of Novi Pazar. By this, Bosnia and Herzegovina was formally under the
Petit Journal on the Austrian-Hungarian sovereignty. On 21 March 1909, the German Empire
Bosnian Crisis: Bulgaria sent an ultimatum to the Russian Empire to recognise the annexation,
declares its which Russia did immediately. Soon, the Kingdom of Serbia recognised the
independence and its
annexation on 31 March, the Kingdom of Montenegro doing so on 5 April.
prince Ferdinand is [30]
named Tsar, Austria-
Hungary, in the person
The annexation caused unrest amongst the Muslim and Serb population.
of Franz Joseph,
The Streifkorps (special counterinsurgency units) were reestablished in
annexes Bosnia and
Herzegovina, while the context of demonstrations in Serbia and in Montenegro against the
Ottoman Sultan Abdul annexation.[31] The Muslims could not believe the sovereignty of the Sultan
Hamid II looks on could be overturned with a proclamation, and that they were now ruled by
helplessly a Christian emperor. The MNO and the SNO refused to give any official
statement about the annexation. In Budapest they held a meeting on 11
October 1908 they issued the Message to the People of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, where they stated that the people couldn't reconcile with the Austrian-Hungarian occupation
in 30 years and asked for the people to remain calm and wait for the decision of the superpowers. Both
parties announced that they would continue the struggle for the autonomy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[30]
However, since all European countries had already recognised the annexation, the SNO and the MNO, who
wanted to continue their activity as legitimate organisations, thus recognised the annexation; the SNO
doing so in May 1909 and the MNO in February 1910.[32] Unlike the Serbs and the Muslims, the Croats
enthusiastically accepted the Austrian-Hungarian annexation. In an audience to the Emperor Franz
Joseph, the representatives of the HNZ, Pilar, Nikola Mandić and Antonije Sunarić expressed the gratitude
of the Croat people to the Emperor for the annexation at the end of October 1908. However, Croat
enthusiasm did not endure, as Bosnia and Herzegovina failed to be joined with Croatia as expected.[33]
Politics
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, every major ethnic group was represented by its political party. The Muslims
were represented by the Muslim People's Organisation, the Serbs were represented by the Serbian People's
Organisation, while the Croats were represented by the two political parties, the Croatian People's Union
and the Croatian Catholic Association.
The Diet of Bosnia was established in 1910.
Parliamentary parties
◾ Croatian People's Union (Hrvatska narodna zajednica)
◾ Croatian Catholic Association (Hrvatska katolička udruga)
◾ Muslim People's Organisation (Muslimanska narodna organizacija)
◾ Serbian People's Organisation (Srpska narodna organizacija; Српска народна организација)
Non-parliamentary parties
◾ Muslim Progressive Party (Muslimanska napredna stranka)
◾ Muslim Democracy (Muslimanska demokracija)
◾ Serbian People's Independent Party (Srpska narodna nezavisna stranka)
◾ Socialdemocratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Socijaldemokratska stranka Bosne i Hercegvoine)
Demographics
Population of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Religion 1879–1910[12]
1879 448,613 38.7% 496,485 42.9% 209,391 18.1% 3,675 0.3% 1,158,440
1885 492,710 36.9% 571,250 42.8% 265,788 19.9% 5,805 0.4% 1,336,091
1895 548,632 35.0% 673,246 42.9% 334,142 21.3% 8,213 0.5% 1,568,092
1910 612,137 32.2% 825,418 43.5% 434,061 22.9% 11,868 0.6% 1,898,044
Administration
Bosnia and Herzegovina was governed jointly by Cisleithania
(Austria) and the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen (Hungary)
through the joint Ministry of Finance. In the Ministry of Finance,
there was the Bosnian Office which controlled Bosnia and
Herzegovina over the Government based in Sarajevo. The
Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina was headed by a governor,
who was also a commander of military forces based in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The government was also composed of the governor's
deputy and chiefs of departments. At first, the government had
only three departments, administrative, financial and legislative.
Later, other departments, including construction, economic,
education, religion, and technical, were founded as well.[34]
Districts (Kreise) of Bosnia and
Herzegovina: Banja Luka, Bihać,
Mostar, Sarajevo, Travnik, Tuzla
In the 1910 Constitution, the Emperor proclaimed Bosnia and Herzegovina to be unique administrative
territory under responsible leadership of the joint finance minister. With the implementation of the
constitution, the position of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not change. It remained a corpus separatum
administrated by Austria and Hungary. The constitution implemented three new constitutions, the Diet of
Bosnia, the National Council and the municipal councils. The Diet of Bosnia had very limited legislative
powers. The main legislative power was in hands of the emperor, parliaments in Vienna and Budapest and
the joint minister of finance. The Diet of Bosnia only proposed decisions which needed to be approved by
the both parliaments in Vienna and Budapest.[33] The Diet also had no impact on the administrative-
political institutions, the National Council and the municipal councils and also it didn't have right to
participate in every decision making; the Diet could participate only in decisions that mattered Bosnia and
Herzegovina exclusively, while decisions on armed forces, commercial and traffic connections, customs
and similar matters, were made by the parliaments in Vienna and Budapest.[35]
The Austrian-Hungarian authorities left the Ottoman division of Bosnia and Herzegovina untouched, they
only changed the names of divisional units. Thus the Bosnia Vilayet was renamed to Reichsland, sanjaks
were renamed to Kreise, kazas were renamed to Bezirke, while nahiyahs were renamed to Exposituren.[34]
There were six Kreise and 54 Bezirke.[36] Head of the Reichsland was a Landsschef, heads of the Kreises
were Kreiseleiters and heads of the Bezirke were Bezirkesleiters.[34]
Governors
Name
№ Portrait Term of Office Ethnicity
(Birth–Death)
Marijan Varešanin
7 7 March 1909 10 May 1911 Croat
(1847–1917)
Religion
The emperor of Austria-Hungary had the ability to appoint and dismiss religious leaders and to control
religious establishments financially through agreements created with the Pope, the Ecumenical
Patriarchate, and the Sheikh-ul-Islam.[37]
The occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina led to great reforms of the Catholic Church in that country,
after centuries in the Ottoman Empire. In 1881, Vrhbosna was elevated to an archdiocese, and the dioceses
of Banja Luka and Mostar-Duvno were formed. Work began on the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Sarajevo in
1884 and was completed by 1889.
See also
◾ Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
◾ Bosnian-Herzegovinian Infantry
◾ Ludwig Thallóczy
References
Citations
Bibliography
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