Bosnia and Herzegovina in Austria-Hungary

The Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established when Bosnia Vilayet was occupied by Austria-Hungary after the Congress of Berlin in 1878, while officially remaining part of the Ottoman Empire.

Three decades later, in 1908, Austria-Hungary formally annexed the occupation zone and put it under joint control of Austria and Hungary.

Occupation
Following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, in June and July 1878 the Congress of Berlin was organized by the Great Powers. The resulting Treaty of Berlin caused Bosnia and Herzegovina to nominally remain under sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, but was de facto ceded to Austria-Hungary, which also obtained the right to garrison the Sanjak of Novi Pazar.

The Austro-Hungarian Army engaged in a major mobilization effort to prepare for the assault on Bosnia and Herzegovina, commanding by the end of June 1878 a force of 82,113 troops, 13,313 horses and 112 cannons in the VI, VII, XX, and XVIII infantry divisions as well as a rear army in the Kingdom of Dalmatia. The primary commander was Josip Filipović; the forward XVIII infantry division was under the command Stjepan Jovanović, while the rear army commander in Dalmatia was Gabriel Rodić. The occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina started on 29 July 1878 and was over on 20 October.

The Ottoman army in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time consisted of roughly 40,000 troops with 77 cannons, that combined with local militias to around 93,000 men. The Austro-Hungarian troops were occasionally met with ferocious opposition from elements of both Muslim and Orthodox populations there, and significant battles occurred near Čitluk, Stolac, Livno and Klobuk. Despite setbacks at Maglaj and Tuzla, Sarajevo was occupied in October 1878. Austro-Hungarian casualties amounted to over 5,000 and the unexpected violence of the campaign led to recriminations between commanders and political leaders. The fierce resistance of Muslim was expected as Austrian-Hungarians were aware that their occupation means that Bosnian Muslims will lose their privileged status based on their religion.

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 Benjamin Kallay promoted Bošnjaštvo, a policy that aimed to inspire in Bosnia's people 'a feeling that they belong to a great and powerful nation' and viewed Bosnians as "speaking the Bosnian language and divided into three religions with equal rights.". Between 1861 and 1869, Topal Osman Pasha, an Ottoman grand vizier had striven to do the same.

The policy attempted to isolate Bosnia and Herzegovina from its irredentist neighbours (Orthodox Serbia, Catholic Croatia, and the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire) and to negate the concepts of Croatian and Serbian nationhood which were already current among Bosnia and Herzegovina's Catholic and Orthodox communities, respectively, in the mid 19th century. Croats and Serbs who opposed the policy, mostly ignored Bosnian nationhood and instead sought to claim Bosnian Muslims as their own, a move that was rejected by most of them. Following the death of Kallay, the policy was abandoned and by the latter half of the 1910s nationalism was an integral factor of Bosnian politics, with national political parties corresponding to the three groups dominating elections.

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 issued a newspaper called "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 Austrian-Hungarian rule in occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even though Kállay's policy wasn't widely accepted, even amongst Muslims, the newspaper "Bošnjak," nevertheless, represented special national aspiration of certain Muslim circles in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kállay's policy was finally defeated in mid-1890-is when Bosnian Serbs and Muslims requested their religious-educational autonomy in 1896 and 1899. His policy had, nevertheless, a potential possibility to resist Croatian and Serbian national aspirations, but still, after 1899 and 1900 his policy of Bosnianhood didn't represented any significance in Bosnia and Herzegovina's policy.

Austrian-Hungarian authorities, soon after they occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina, took religious communities under their sovereignty. By number of its regulations, Austrian-Hungarian authorities completely took Muslim community under their jurisdiction, while Muslim religious officials become Austrian-Hungarian state officials. Such move of Austria-Hungarian authorities was made to isolate Bosnian Muslims from Istanbul and the Ottoman Empire. Muslims were largely unhappy with their new status, which led to creation of a Muslim opposition. This Muslim opposition demanded, at first, Muslim religious autonomy, but later, as it grew stronger, they demanded even autonomy under the Ottoman Empire. In order to accomplish their goals, the Muslim opposition tried to align it self with the Serbs, who at the same time demanded their religious-educational autonomy. But, unsolved agrarian relations between the Muslim leadership and the Serbs was an obstacle for Muslims to create a far-reaching alliance. Their alliance was based on tactical and political significance. Later, Muslim leadership emphasized sultan's sovereignty over Bosnia and Herzegovina demanding their ability to regulate their religious relations with consent of Shaykh al-Islām, superior authority in the issues of Islam.

With Kállay's death in 1903, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina was liberalized. The national movements in Bosnia and Herzegovina were transformed in politician parties. In 1906, the Muslims founded the Muslim National Organization (MNO) in 1906, the Serbs formed the Serbian National Organization (SNO) in 1907, and the 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).

The MNO considered Bosnia and Herzegovina to be part of the Ottoman Empire until the collapse of the Austria-Hungary in 1918. They considered Austria-Hungary a European assign to control Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their main goal was to achieve Muslim religious autonomy and to maintain the agrarian relations that were in force at the time. In 1909 they achieved their religious autonomy.

Austrian-Hungarian authorities signed a treaty with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople by which they the Austrian-Hungarian Emperor gained control over the Serbian Orthodox Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina in exchange for annual reimbursement. Serbs largely disapproved the Austrian-Hungarian control over their religious institutions so they organised a struggle in order to gain their religious autonomy. The struggle was ended in their favour in 1905. After gaining the religious autonomy, the Serbs gathered around four political groups, out of which three become notable. The notable groups become known under name of their official gazets, the Srpska riječ (Serbian Word), the Petar Kočić's Narod i Otadžbina (the People and Fatherland) and the Lazar Dimitrijević's Dan (the Day). Later they demanded unity under one party, which was approved to them, so they founded the Serbian People's Organisation. As a relative majority, the Serbs were a dominant political factor, and as such they demanded Bosnia and Herzegovina's autonomy and considered it a part of the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary an assign to control Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbian politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina was dominated by the three factions gathered around the three newspapers. The main problem of Serbian civic politics was the agrarian reaction. It found it self under the pressure form Serbian peasantry that demanded a liberation from the feudal relations, while on the other hand it had a wish to maintain cooperation with the Muslim People's Organisation in achieving the national aspirations. The group gathered around the Kočić's Narod and Otadžbina newspaper completely stood for Serbian peasantry against the Muslims in order to change the agrarian position of the peasantry. Kočić's group also banned any cooperation with the Austrian-Hungarian authorities. The group gathered around Dimitrijević also advocated a radical change of the agrarian relations and criticised the Serbian civic leadership for neglecting the peasantry, but they advocated cooperation with the Austro-Hungarian authorities in changing the agrarian relations. The main goal of Serbian politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina was destruction of the Autrian-Hungarian authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to secede Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Kingdom of Serbia. Their goals, however, weren't an obstacle for economic cooperation with the Austrian-Hungarian authorities.

In order to suppress national aspirations, the Austrian-Hungarian authorities tried to limit the activity of the Franciscans in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Emperor and the Holy See were conducting a discussion about the reestablishment of the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Emperor had in goal to implement his secular power within the Church and at the end, in 1881, the Holy See fold under his demands under a condition that he doesn't mention his secular power in a bulla, which he, however, did. After establishing secular power over the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Emperor established the cathedral in Sarajevo and named Archbishop dr. Josip Štadler as its head. Just before the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian Sabor asked from the Emperor to adjust situation in Bosnia and Herzegovia so it can be unified with the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and the Kingdom of Dalmatia. The Emperor refused to accept their demand and he dismissed the Sabor. This was done as the Austrian-Hungarian authorities had in plan to isolate Bosnia and Herzegovina from its neighbouring Slavic countries, Croatia and Serbia, and to halt national aspirations of the peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The authorities didn't only suppressed the Croatian and Serbian name, but also any flags, coats of arms and folk songs. Any activity that would emphasise a common interest of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and those in the Triune Kingdom was suppressed at its beginning. As they were unable to form a political party, especially under the Kállay's administration, Croats formed various musical societies, reading rooms, schools, economic institutions and newspapers. The authorities forbade to those societies to use word "Croatian", even though they allowed use of the name word "Serbian" for Serbian societies. Only later they allowed using the word "Croatian". Such policy by the authorities was pushed by Hungarian circles, especially under Kállay and his successor Stephan Burián von Rajecz. The goal of their policy was weakening of the Croatian position in Bosnia and Herzegovina by strengthening of Serbian position, in order to make unification of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Croatia less likely. Even though the authorities tried to isolate Bosnia and Herzegovina from the influence of neighbouring Slavic countries, Croatian people in Bosnia were nevertheless influenced by all three major political movements from Croatia, first the Illyrian movement, later Yugoslavism and Croatian nationalism.

In Croatian politics there were two factions and their formal political organising run slowly. The fundamental reason of this Croatian political dividation was disagreement between the Franciscan Bosnian Province and the Archbishop's Chancery on dividation of parishes within the archdiocese. The first intitiative 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. In its program, the HNZ advocated annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary and its unification the rest of Croatian lands. In relations with the Serbs, the HNZ stood for a strict reciprocity, rejecting idea of Bosnia and Herzegovina's unification with any other country or its autonomy. The HNZ didn't demanded any changes in social relations or changes in the agrarian relations. They tried to maintain good relations with the Muslim population, which was only way to gain political strength. Because of this, they were harshly criticized by the Štadler's Croatian Catholic Association that advocated the ban of the serf system. Pilar considered that the HNZ's goals can only be achieved if Croats get support from the Muslim population, and at the same time, he criticied Štadler for his Catholic propaganda. Štadler, who was Pilar's main opponent, considered that catholic Croats shouldn't be educated in any way other than as Catholics, thus advocating segregation between Catholics and Muslims. 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 abolishment of the serf system as they had no relations with the Muslims.

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. Situation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was depending from the international situation, which Austrian-Hungarian authorities were aware of. They used the Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire to finally annex Bosnia and Herzegovina. The revolution brought constituency in the Ottoman Empire in July 1908. 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 gains constitution as part of the Ottoman Empire.

On 5 October the Emperor Franz Joseph announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and ordered to the Minister of Finance to make a news constitution for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The annexation was announced in Sarajevo two days later, on 7 October. This annexation led to the international crisis, which was solved on 26 February 1909 when the Ottoman Empire recognised the annexation when it received material compensation and when the Austrian-Hungarian garrisons left the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. By this, Bosnia and Herzegovina was formally under the Austrian-Hungarian sovereignty. On 21 March 1909, the German Empire sent an ultimatum to the Russian Empire to recognise the annexation, which Russian did immediately. Soon, the Kingdom of Serbia recognised the annexation on 31 March and the Kingdom of Montenegro did so on 5 April.

The annexation caused unrest amongst the Muslim and Serbian population. The Muslims couldn't believe that Sultan's sovereignty can be removed with one proclamation and that they are now ruled by 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 will continue the struggle for the autonomy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, since all European countries had already recognised the annexation, the SNO and the MNO, that wanted to continue their activity as legal parties, also recognised the annexation; the SNO did so in May 1909 and the MNO in February 1910. Unlike the Serbs and the Muslims, the Croats widely accepted the Austrian-Hungarian annexation with enthusiasm. In an audience at the Emperor Franz Joseph, the representatives of the HNZ, Pilar, Nikola Mandić and Antonije Sunarić expressed the gratitude of the Croatian people to the Emperor for the annexation at the end of October 1908. However, Croatian enthusiasm didn't last long, as the Austrian-Hungarian authorities didn't join Bosnia and Herzegovina with the rest of Croatia.

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)

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.

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 didn't changed. 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. 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.

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. There were six Kreise and 54 Bezirke. Head of the Reichsland was a Landsschef, heads of the Kreises were Kreiseleiters and heads of the Bezirke were Bezirkesleiters.

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 papacy, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the Sheikh ul-Islam.

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 Cathedral of Jesus' Heart in Sarajevo in 1884 and was completed by 1889.