The End of Ottoman Rule in Bosnia: Conflicting Agencies and Imperial Appropriations

394 Pages·2021·25.554 MB·English

by  Hannes Grandits

HT
aH
nE
n
es E
GN
rD
a
n
dO
itF
s
O
T
T
O
M
A
N

R
U
L
E

I
N

B
O Routledge Studies in Modern European History
S
N
I
A
THE END OF OTTOMAN RULE
IN BOSNIA
CONFLICTING AGENCIES AND IMPERIAL
APPROPRIATIONS
Hannes Grandits
The End of Ottoman Rule in Bosnia
This book focusses on the end of four centuries of Ottoman rule in Bosnia
and Herzegovina in the 1870s. After an introduction to the region and the
political zeitgeist of the late 1860s and early 1870s, it examines in detail
the dramatic years beginning in the summer of 1875, when the outbreak of
violent unrest in the eastern Herzegovinian region bordering Montenegro
led to a massive refugee catastrophe. The study traces the surprising fur-
ther political and social dynamics to the summer and fall of 1878, when a
Habsburg army finally invaded the Bosnian Vilayet and took control of the
province – but only after months of fighting against massive local resistance
throughout the province.
This book cannot be viewed in isolation from larger political dynamics,
which are also constantly present in this study as they unfolded. However,
as this book attempts to show, it is hardly possible to understand the
often-contradictory effects of these larger political dynamics without delv-
ing deeper into the complex local rationalities and constraints on the action
of the actors involved in them.
The End of Ottoman Rule in Bosnia will appeal to students, teachers and
researchers in late Ottoman and Bosnian history.
Hannes Grandits is Professor of Southeast European History at Humboldt
University in Berlin, Germany.
Routledge Studies in Modern European History
1 Garibaldi’s Radical Legacy
Traditions of War Volunteering in Southern Europe (1861–1945)
Enrico Acciai
2 The Greek Revolution in the Age of Revolutions (1776–1848)
Reappraisals and Comparisons
Edited by Paschalis M. Kitromilides
3 The Creation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
A Hungarian Perspective
Edited by Gábor Gyáni
4 Postwar Continuity and New Challenges in Central Europe, 1918–1923
The War That Never Ended
Edited by Tomasz Pudłocki and Kamil Ruszała
5 The Legacies of the Romani Genocide in Europe since 1945
Edited by Celia Donert and Eve Rosenhaft
6 The End of Ottoman Rule in Bosnia
Conflicting Agencies and Imperial Appropriations
Hannes Grandits
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Studies-in-Modern-European-History/book-series/SE0246
The End of Ottoman Rule
in Bosnia
Conflicting Agencies and Imperial
Appropriations
Hannes Grandits
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2022 Hannes Grandits
The right of Hannes Grandits to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-10937-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-17022-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-02398-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780429023989
Typeset in Times New Roman
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Contents
List of illustrations vi
List of maps viii
Notes on language, transliteration and toponyms ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction xv
1 Townsmen, peasants and the reformed society in
Ottoman Bosnia 1
2 Upholding stability in the Bosnian Vilayet in turbulent
political times 41
3 Crisis at Ottoman-Montenegrin borders escalates out
of control (1874/1875) 82
4 Efforts for refugee return and pacification—and its
obstruction in early 1876 131
5 War of the Principalities and the Ottoman
constitutionalist’s breakthrough 175
6 The Bosnian Vilayet during the devastating
Russian-Ottoman War of 1877/1878 222
7 The making of a new imperialistic order in the
Orient/the Bosnian Vilayet 264
Conclusion 311
Sources and bibliography 318
Index 355
List of illustrations
Figures
1.1 The new Ottoman barracks in Sarajevo, built 1854–1856
(photo from 1860) 5
1.2 “Les costumes populaire de Vilayet de Bosna” – “Habitant
de Mostar”, “Bourgeois de Bosna-Saraï”, “Dame de Bosna-
Saraï” (photo from 1873) 17
2.1 Vaso Pelagić, 1833–1899 (photo from the 1870s) 70
3.1 Arrival in Cattaro of Prince Nikola Petrović from
Crna-Gora, 3. Mai 1875 (photo from 1875) 90
4.1 Film poster for the film “Nevesinjska puška” (YU, 1963) 142
5.1 From the Serbian-Turkish theatre of war: Exercises of a last
Serbian militia (photo from 1876) 191
5.2 The European Conference at Constantinople
(photo from 1876) 203
5.3 Proclamation of the Ottoman Constitution, Sublime Porte,
23. December 1876 (litography from 1876) 204
5.4 Midhat Pasha, 1822–1883 (photo from 1870s) 205
6.1 Krupp canon from the year 1870 241
7.1 The signing of the Peace Treaty of San Stefano
(photo from 1878) 272
7.2 Pictures from the official photographic album of the
Congress of Berlin (photo from June/July 1878) 279
7.3 Pictures from the official photographic album of the
Congress of Berlin (collection of photo portraits from 1878) 280
7.4 The Konak in Sarajevo in 1878 (photo from autumn 1878) 287
7.5 Han-Ploča on the road Kiseljak-Sarajevo 297
List of illustrations vii
Tables
4.1 Ottoman estimates of Ottoman subjects living as refugees/
internationally displaced persons in March 1876 134
7.1 Resistance forces fighting the Austro-Hungarian Occupation
according to regions of military operation in autumn 1878 296
List of maps
0.1 Ottoman Vilayet of Bosnia in 1869/70 xxi
0.2 European provinces of the Ottoman Empire (ca. 1870) xxv
0.3 Ottoman Empire (ca. 1870) xxvi
2.1 Principality of Montenegro in 1869/1870 50
2.2 The territory of the Habsburg Military Border in the late 1860s 53
7.1 Map illustrating the territorial changes made in the Congress
of Berlin in 1878 (also indicating the changes as envisaged
in the Treaty of San Stefano) – European part of the Empire 284
Notes on language, transliteration
and toponyms
Social life in the region(s) and communities covered in this book was in
various ways bi- or multi-lingual in the period under study. The language of
the Ottoman administration in the Bosnian Vilayet was Ottoman Turkish,
although Slavic was also in use for official purposes (e.g. the Vilayet newspa-
per was also published bilingually – in Ottoman Turkish and in Slavonic). In
daily life, the Slavic language (in what would now be called BCS – Bosnian/
Croatian/Serbian) was by far the predominant language spoken in towns,
villages and regions throughout the Bosnian Vilayet (although there was
a great abundance of mixed forms with many Turkisms in Slavic usage).
There were also bilingual Slavic-Albanian-speaking communities in the
Sanjak of Novi Pazar and some parts of the Vilayet’s southwest. There
were further smaller (multi-/bi-) lingual communities (e.g. Sephardic Jews,
Roma, Circassians, etc.). Since the Bosnian Vilayet’s economy became
deeply intertwined with the trading centres of the neighbouring Habsburg
Empire, the language of trade was – in addition to Slavic and Ottoman
Turkish – German and, to a lesser extent, Italian and Hungarian (as well as
Greek). Russian as well as Greek played a role within parts of the Orthodox
clergy, Arabic within Islamic religious life and Latin among the Catholic
(i.e. mainly Franciscan) clergy – although all three confessional communi-
ties used predominantly Slavic in daily use. Diplomatic correspondence as
well as the language of international diplomacy was French, but sometimes
German and Italian was also used (and of course the official language of
the respective consular representations). Ottoman diplomacy, frequently
leading bureaucrats in the regional Ottoman administration as well, used
French for external as well as internal communication.
Against this background, there were different languages, scripts and spell-
ings in which personal names, administrative titles/terminologies, technical
terms or toponyms were used in the sources and literature. In order not to
cause too much irritation to the reader, I have chosen to use, as far as pos-
sible, the terms as they became established in the English language, such as
grand vizier, pasha or bashi-bazouk. When necessary, I have chosen to use
modern Turkish spelling when referring to certain Ottoman official terms
or personal names. However, because some of these terms/names were