Occupation campaign in Bosnia

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In the occupation campaign of 1878 Austria-Hungary occupied the Ottoman provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had been assigned to him for administration in the Berlin Congress . There was armed resistance, mainly from the Muslim population .

The new borders on the Balkan Peninsula were drawn by the Berlin Congress

prehistory

In Article 25 of the Berlin Treaty of July 13, 1878, Austria-Hungary was authorized to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina indefinitely and to take it under its administration. The Sanjak Novi Pazar remained with the Ottoman Empire , but the Danube Monarchy was allowed to station troops there. This served the purpose of preventing a South Slav and thus Pan-Slavic power formation in the Balkans if, for example, Serbia and Montenegro were to unite. The Serbian resistance was correspondingly high. The Ottomans also protested, but received a secret agreement from Foreign Minister Gyula Andrássy that the government in Vienna was ready to "view this occupation as provisional".

campaign

Infantry Regiment No. 17 crossing the Save ( Karl Pippich )
Joseph Philippovich
Battle of Jaice on August 7, 1878 (Karl Pippich)

Between July 29 and October 20, 1878, the area (51,027 km²), which had a mixed population (1,142,000 inhabitants) of Orthodox Serbs (43%), Catholic Croats (18%) and Muslims (39%), captured militarily. The occupation met against all expectations - Andrassy previously spoke of a "walk with a brass band" - on serious military resistance. This came primarily from the previously dominant Muslim middle class, but also partly from the Serbian Orthodox population, who had fought in an armed uprising against the Ottomans for the past two years. This group fought for an annexation of Bosnia to Serbia. Due to this massive resistance, the military effort of the Austro-Hungarian Army had to be increased several times.

The main army for the occupation of Bosnia under Joseph Philippovich von Philippsberg , the commander of the XIII. Army Corps , crossed the border across the Sava at Brod , Kostajnica and Gradiška . The 6th Infantry Division (under FML Karl von Tegetthoff), the 7th Infantry Division (FML Wilhelm von Württemberg ) and the 20th Infantry Division (FML Ladislaus Szápáry ) were under the general command . The divisions united at Banjaluka , where the advance of the road on the left bank of the Vrbas to Varcar Vakuf and Jajce followed .

Hajji Loja

There was considerable resistance from partisans, especially from Muslim fighters under Dervish Hajji Loja (Hadži-Loja). The resistance was reinforced by soldiers and officers of the regular Ottoman army , which officially surrendered the area.

Stephan von Jovanović

The independently operating 18th Infantry Division under Field Marshal Lieutenant Stephan von Jovanović penetrated simultaneously from Dalmatia with 9,000 men along the Neretva into Herzegovina. Mostar was conquered on August 5th .

On August 3, a squad of hussars was ambushed near Maglaj on the Bosna . Thereupon Philippovich had the martial law imposed. Because of the strong resistance of the saw kuk army command causes in Croatia and Slavonia dislocated also to relocate the 36th infantry division in the occupation area.

On August 7th, a Bosnian force faced an open field battle with the Austro-Hungarian 7th Infantry Division near Jajce and lost more than 600 fighters. In an attack near Ravnice, today part of Novi Grad in Herzegovina, more than 70 officers and soldiers of a Hungarian infantry regiment died on August 13. In the public and press of the dual monarchy, the opponents were reviled as "uncivilized" and "treasonous". Due to the massive fighting, three more corps were mobilized.

Attack on the fortress of Sarajevo

On August 19, Sarajevo was captured after artillery bombardment from 52 guns and heavy street fighting. On the day before the conquest, Philippovich had Hafiz Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Bosnia, imprisoned.

The house-to-house war in the Bosnian capital, which at that time had 50,000 inhabitants, claimed numerous victims due to the guerrilla tactics of the defenders:

“The entire outer area of ​​Sarajevo was heavily occupied. But also inside the city, the narrow streets with their many groups of houses and individual buildings on the ground floors that were easy to bolt, the small windows of the floors and numerous gaps in the roof allowed the fire to be released in different directions, the most sustainable defense. Driven from the city's enclosure, the insurgents mostly threw themselves into the nearest houses, barricaded all entrances and maintained a devastating fire against the advancing infantry. "

- Report of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff

Philippovich reported:

“One of the worst possible fights ensued. The troops were shot at from every house, from every window, from every crack in the door; yes, even women took part. The military hospital, located almost entirely at the western entrance to the city, full of sick and wounded insurgents ... "

The losses in the conquest of the city among the 13,000 soldiers deployed amounted to 57 dead and 314 wounded; according to the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, more than 300 were killed among the armed Bosnians. There is no information on civilian victims. Numerous insurgents were hanged or shot dead by the occupiers in the days that followed.

After taking Sarajevo, the rebellious Bosnians withdrew to the surrounding mountains and used guerrilla tactics to resist for weeks. Velika Kladuša Castle did not surrender until October 20th. Hadschi Loja was captured on October 3, 1878 by the Austro-Hungarian Infantry Regiment Archduke Joseph No. 37 in the valley of the Rakitnica near Rogatica . He was sentenced to death, but later pardoned to five years in prison.

An article in Pester Lloyd that criticized the army's preparation for the campaign was suppressed on the orders of Franz Joseph . Ultimately, 5 army corps with 153,000 soldiers were deployed in Bosnia. In the end, the Austrian staff reckoned with 79,000 armed insurgents and 13,800 regular Ottoman soldiers on the other side. The Austrians lost more than 5,000 men, most of them wounded and around 1,000 dead. The losses among the Bosnians are unknown.

consequences

Bosnia-Herzegovina after the occupation by Austria-Hungary

Because both halves of the empire of the Danube monarchy claimed the new acquisitions, the administration was taken over by the joint finance ministry of Austria-Hungary. The country remained a constant source of unrest. When the countries were annexed in 1908 , there was a serious international crisis. The assassination attempt in Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip finally triggered the First World War .

Museum reception

The occupation campaign of 1878 is documented in the Vienna Army History Museum . Various items of booty are exhibited, also from the personal belongings of Joseph von Philippovich, such as an insurgent flag and oriental weapons.

literature

  • Society for Austrian Heereskunde (Ed.): Military peace mission Austria-Hungary on behalf of the great European powers 1878/79. Part 1 of the three-part series: Pulverfass Balkan, Bosnia Herzegovina (= Militaria austriaca, No. 11/1992), Fritz H. Baer (editor), Stöhr, Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-901208-04-6 .
  • László Bencze: Occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878. Colombia University Press, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0-88033-578-2 .
  • Abdul G. Khan (Ed.): Photo album, occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1878–1879. Supplement to Austro-Hungarian-Slavic Postal History Project, Vol. 1 , Springfield 1980, ISBN 0936542012 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erwin Matsch (Ed.): November 1918 on Ballhausplatz. Memories of Ludwig Baron von Flotow, the last head of the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Service 1895–1920. Böhlau, Vienna 1982, ISBN 3-205-07190-5 , p. 213.
  2. ^ A b Srećko Matko Džaja : Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Austro-Hungarian era (1878-1918). The intelligentsia between tradition and ideology. (= Southeast European Works Volume 93), Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-48656-079-4 , p. 37ff.
  3. ↑ Dragan Damjanovic: Austrougarska okupacija of Bosnia and Herzegovina gledana očima hrvatskog Slikara: Prijelaz Save kod Broda Ferdinanda Quiquereza (Austro-Hungarian Occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Lakes through the Eyes of a Croatian Painter: Ferdinand Quiquerez's Crossing the Sava River at Brod) . In: Radovi Instituta za povijest umjetnosti 41 (2017), 1, pp. 199-214 . ( academia.edu [accessed February 17, 2019]).
  4. ^ Scientific reports from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Volume 10, 1907, p. 455.
  5. ↑ a b c Richard Georg Plaschka : Avant-garde of resistance. Model cases of military rebellion in the 19th and 20th centuries. Böhlau, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-205-98390-4 , p. 45.
  6. ^ Scott Lackey: The Rebirth of the Habsburg Army. Friedrich Beck and the Rise of the General Staff. ABC-CLIO, 1995, ISBN 0313031312 , p. 78f.
    Hubert Zeinar : History of the Austrian General Staff. Böhlau, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-205-77415-9 , pp. 402f.
  7. ↑ a b c d Martin Gabriel: The capture of Sarajevo on August 19, 1878. A military action in the border area between conventional and irregular warfare. (PDF; 122 kB)
  8. ↑ Vjekoslav Klaic: Bosnian history from the earliest times to the decay of the kingdom. Friedrich, Leipzig 1885, p. 454.
  9. ^ A b c Scott Lackey: The Rebirth of the Habsburg Army. Friedrich Beck and the Rise of the General Staff. Greenwood Press, Westport 1995, ISBN 0313031312 , p. 79.
  10. ^ Richard Georg Plaschka: Avant-garde of resistance. Model cases of military rebellion in the 19th and 20th centuries. Böhlau, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-205-98390-4 , p. 44.
  11. ↑ Vjekoslav Klaic: Bosnian history from the earliest times to the decay of the kingdom. Friedrich, Leipzig 1885, p. 455.
  12. ^ Richard Georg Plaschka: Avant-garde of resistance. Model cases of military rebellion in the 19th and 20th centuries. Böhlau, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-205-98390-4 , p. 97.
  13. ^ Richard Georg Plaschka: Avant-garde of resistance. Model cases of military rebellion in the 19th and 20th centuries. Böhlau, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-205-98390-4 , p. 99f.
  14. ^ Marie-Janine Calic: History of Yugoslavia in the 20th century. Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-60645-8 , p. 46.
  15. ^ Richard Georg Plaschka: Avant-garde of resistance. Model cases of military rebellion in the 19th and 20th centuries. Böhlau, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-205-98390-4 , p. 102.
  16. ^ Liselotte Popelka: Army History Museum Vienna. Publishing house Styria, Graz u. a. 1988, ISBN 3-222-11760-8 , p. 52.
    Manfried Rauchsteiner , Manfred Litscher (Hrsg.): Das Heeresgeschichtliche Museum in Wien. Publishing house Styria, Graz u. a. 2000, ISBN 3-222-12834-0 , p. 59.