Illyrian movement

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The title head of the magazine Danica ilirska (Illyrian Dawn ), which spread the ideology of Illyrism.

The Illyrian movement ( Croatian Ilirski Pokret , Slovenian gibanje ilirsko , Serbian - Cyrillic илириски покрет ) than ideology with Illyrism (Croatian ilirizam , Serbian Cyrillic илиризам, Slovenian ilirizem ) referred, was a cultural , ethnic and political national movement of about 1,830 to 1848 . She transferred the Pan-Slavic idea to the area of ​​the southern Slavs in the Habsburg Empire .

It propagated the unity of the southern Slavs and was first initiated by a group of young Croatian intellectuals under Ljudevit Gaj (1809–1872), then also adopted by Slovenian and Serbian intellectuals.

The Illyrian movement was essentially limited to the Croats , had few supporters among the Slovenes and hardly any supporters among the Serbs . Thus, it worked primarily as a part of the Croatian nation-building , so that the term Hrvatski narodni preporod (Croatian National Rebirth) is also used in Croatia .

history

prehistory

During the Napoleonic Wars , the name Illyrian Provinces was also used for administrative purposes in accordance with the classicist fashion of the times. The parts of the Austrian Empire that were separated off in the Peace of Schönbrunn in 1809 were organized by France as Illyrian provinces.

On the basis of the ideas of Johann Gottfried Herder and the German Romanticism , which propagated a "rebirth" and strengthening of the national idea, and especially the resulting interest in the history and culture of "Slavic peoples", which initially mainly in the Slovak and As the Czech national movement grew stronger, the southern Slavs also developed a popular consciousness in the first half of the 19th century. Work on linguistics and folk culture sharpened national feelings of togetherness. Driven by the desire to strengthen one's own national identity vis-à-vis the non-Slavic states that ruled the Balkans, various concepts arose as to how this strengthening and self-determination could or should look. Those concepts that either proceeded from an ethnic unity of the southern Slavs or at least strived for an equal coexistence of these in a future common state, are summarized under " Yugoslavism ". Parallel to this and embedded in the simultaneous concepts of pan-Slavism encompassing all Slavic peoples under the predominance of Russia , ideas arose under this name that attributed a single people dominance over the other "related" nations, and which can therefore be described as pseudo-Yugoslavism . Opinions as to whether the idea of ​​Yugoslavism was a mere utopia or whether certain 20th century state formations that developed from it were equal self-determination or the hegemony of a people under a false name are still widely diverging.

Beginnings

As in Croatia, at that time the national consciousness also grew among its numerically stronger neighboring peoples in Hungary and Austria. In the Hungarian half of the empire, the Croatian Illyrians opposed Hungarian nationalism, which wanted to reduce Croatian autonomy rights, as well as increasing Magyarization . In order to protect their autonomy , the Croatians should henceforth focus more on their culture and strive to reawaken their national heritage.

At the beginning of 1830, a group of young Croatian writers in Zagreb founded a movement for National Revival and the Unity of All Southern Slavs in the Habsburg Monarchy. The center of political, economic and cultural activities of this movement was formed in Zagreb. Count Janko Drašković published his pamphlet “Dissertation” in 1832 , which later became the political, economic, social and cultural program of the movement. It promoted the introduction of national languages ​​as official languages and in the administration, for more autonomy from the Viennese central government, and better educational opportunities for broad sections of the population.

The Illyrists concentrated most intensively on the one hand on the creation of a standard language in order to create a counterbalance to Hungarian and on the promotion of literature and culture .

aims

One of the early manifestations of this endeavor for national awakening among the southern Slavs was so-called Illyrism, which was important for the southern Slav peoples of the Habsburg monarchy. The name came from the fact that the ancient people of the Illyrians , who were widespread on the Balkan Peninsula, were regarded as the ancestors of the southern Slavs and wanted to emphasize both the long tradition of their own people and the common origin of all southern Slavic nations. Initially, a common “Illyrian” literary language of all peoples who lived between Carinthia in the north, Albania in the south and Bulgaria in the east was sought. Linguistic studies as the basis for this were carried out by the language reformer Vuk Stefanović Karadžić in Vienna for the Serbs and Ljudevit Gaj for the Croatians . Ljudevit Gaj (1809–1872) was the main representative of Illyrism. With the permission of the Viennese court, he published the Novine Horvatzke ("Croatian newspaper") from 1835 , which became the mouthpiece of his ideas and thus founded Croatian journalism. He added a literary supplement called Danica ilirska ("Illyrian Morning Star"). Initially, the newspaper was published in the Kajkavian dialect, but one year after it was founded in 1836, the changeover to the more widespread štokavian language took place at the same time as it was renamed Ilirske Narodne Novine ("Illyrian National Newspaper ").

In Illyrism, the vision of national self-determination always moved within the union of the Habsburg Monarchy and did not include the southern Slavs living outside their borders. An equality of the Croats and the Croatian language within the Kingdom of Hungary was considered as the first realistically achievable political goal of the Illyrian movement, then followed as a long-term goal the desire to establish an own Illyrian kingdom within the monarchy. At this point in time, complete statehood was neither considered desirable nor necessary, and a union with the part of the Serbs living outside the monarchy was considered unrealistic. It is not entirely clear whether it did not already exist as a vision in the minds of the proponents. After all, the cultural differences between Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim southern Slavs were considerable. Gaj traveled to Serbia in 1846 and 1847, which makes such more far-reaching ideas seem quite likely for him.

politics

Vlaho Bukovac : "The Croatian Renaissance ". Stage curtain in the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb

Another main proponent of the Illyrian idea was Count Janko Drašković von Trakošćan (1770-1856), who had raised the demand for an Illyrian kingdom as early as 1831 ( Disertatia iliti Razgovor ). In 1838 he founded, among others, the Illyrian Reading Hall ( Čitaonica ilirska ) in Zagreb , in 1840 the Zagreb National Theater and in 1842 the cultural association Matica ilirska (from 1874 Matica hrvatska ). When the Hungarian-friendly Croatian nobility founded a political party Horvatskovugerska stranka ("Croatian-Hungarian Party"), the supporters of the Illyrian idea responded in 1841 by founding the Ilirska stranka ("Illyrian Party"). After a temporary ban on the term "Illyrian" it was renamed Narodna stranka ("People's Party") in 1843 . The party advocated the self-government of Croatia and the introduction of "Illyrian" as the official language. When the revolution and uprising of the Hungarians against Austria came in 1848, the supporters of Illyrism sided with the Habsburg government, which brought them advantages after the uprising was suppressed in 1849. On November 18, 1849, Croatia-Slavonia was separated from Hungary and declared its own crown land within the Habsburg monarchy. Baron Joseph Jelačić von Bužim , who was elected by the Sabor (parliament) in 1848 , acted as a ban . However, it did not succeed in annexing Dalmatia and the Austrian military border to the country. The introduction of German as the official language in 1854 was a setback in the Illyrian endeavors.

Decline

In 1840 the Illyrian Movement suffered a setback when Stanko Vraz , Joakim Rakovac and Ljudevit Vukotinović withdrew from the movement due to professional differences in the field of poetry. In 1842 they published their own literary newspaper Kolo .

The movement was opposed by Hungarians and pro-Hungarian nobles because they were against the unification of the South Slav peoples. After the ban on the designation "Illyrian" in 1843, the disputes in the Croatian parliament Sabor became so violent that there were repeated unrest on the streets of the city. On July 29, 1845, bloody disputes took place on the square in front of St. Mark's Church .

The movement still existed until the revolution of 1848 . In 1849, Emperor Franz Joseph passed a new constitution. This drew censorship measures against the opposition and u. a. the suspension of the Danica newspaper .

successes

During the time of the Illyrian Movement, Zagreb developed into a cultural center of importance for the entire South Slav region. The most important poets and writers of Illyrism were the romantics Stanko Vraz (1810–1851), Ivan Mažuranić (1814–1890), Petar Preradović (1818–1874) and Dimitrija Demeter (1811–1872). In 1850 the talks on the Književni dogovor ("Literary Agreement") were held in Vienna , during which the most famous philologists such as Vuk Stefanović Karadžić , Ivan Mažuranić, Dimitrija Demeter or Franjo Miklošič agreed on a literary language common to the Serbs and Croats, which is the štokavian dialect in its Ijekavian variant should correspond.

The most important writers of the movement were Ivan Mažuranić and Petar Preradović. Mažuranić wrote his epic work Smrt Smail-age Čengića and Preradović published love poems.

Other important works were published by

In 1846 the composer Vatroslav Lisinski wrote the first opera in Croatian : Ljubav i zloba ('Love and deceit').

meaning

The meaning of Illyrism was initially almost exclusively limited to the Croats , since outside of Croatia it was mostly rejected as an attempt to take possession of a greater Croatian population. The Slovenes, who also lived within the monarchy, were only slightly affected by him ( Stanko Vraz ), the Serbs hardly at all, even if the original endeavors included these peoples. A further development in the Croatian area was the appearance of Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer and his friend Franjo Rački , whose work must be seen in the sense of Yugoslavism, but at the same time by founding and promoting Croatian institutions and limiting their effectiveness to the Croatian area as well the independent development of Croatia was of great importance. The efforts of Illyrism in linguistic terms subsequently led to the development of the Serbo-Croatian language , the Serbo-Croatians and the Yugoslavs .

Evaluation and criticism

The Illyrian Movement was the most famous and first national movement in Croatian history. This movement was successful culturally.

The movement formed the basis for the codification of a Serbo-Croatian written language and promoted the Hungarian-Croatian balance with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in 1868 as well as the basis for the later creation of the SHS Kingdom in 1918 and the emergence of Yugoslavia .

The idea of ​​a common South Slav state ultimately failed with the break-up of Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s.

Web links

  • ilirizam. In: Hrvatska enciklopedija. Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, accessed April 16, 2020 (Croatian).
  • hrvatski narodni preporod. In: Hrvatska enciklopedija. Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, accessed April 16, 2020 (Croatian).

literature

  • Peter Bartl : Illyrism . In: Konrad Clewing, Holm Sundhaussen (Ed.): Lexicon for the history of Southeast Europe . Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2016, ISBN 978-3-205-78667-2 , p. 408 f .
  • AP Maissen: Like lightning it strikes from my mouth: Illyrism: The main writings of the Croatian national movement 1830–1844 . Bern 1998, ISBN 3-906759-92-X .
  • J. Šidak, V. Foretić, J. Grabovac u. a .: Hrvatski narodni preporod Ilirski pokret . Zagreb 1988, ISBN 86-03-99036-0 .
  • R. Warnier: Illyrisme et nationalisme croate . Le Monde slave 1 (1935) 3, 27-74
  • A. Barac: Hrvatska književnost od preporoda do stvaranja Jugoslavije. I. Književnost ilirizma , Zagreb, 1954
  • II Leščilovskaja: Illirizm. K istorii chorvatskogo nacional`nogo vozroždenija , Moscow, 1968
  • Elinor Murray Despalatovic, Ljudevit Gaj and the Illyrian Movement , 1975 ( ISBN 0-914710-05-2 )
  • Carole Rogel, The Slovenes and Yugoslavism 1890-1914 , 1977 ( ISBN 0-914710-17-6 )
  • Heike Fofic, The Genesis of the Croatian Standard Language in the 19th Century - Ljudevit Gaj and the Illyrians , 1990 ( ISBN 3-926862-20-3 )
  • Günter Schödl, Croatian National Policy and "Jugoslavenstvo" , 1990 ( ISBN 3-486-55301-1 )
  • Yugoslavism. Histories of a failed idea, 1918-1992 , ed. v. Dejan Djokić, 2003 ( ISBN 1-85065-663-0 , ISBN 1-85065-662-2 )
  • Article Ilirizem in: Enciklopedija Slovenije, Volume 4 (1990)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bartl 2016 (see literature)