Young Bosnia

Background

The 1878 occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary changed the political circumstances in the region from a long-term status quo under the Ottoman Empire. In 1882, an uprising broke out against the Austro-Hungarian military and administrative occupation authorities, but was suppressed by force.

There were a number of youth-oriented organizations before the rise of Young Bosnia, such as United Serb Youth in the 1860s and 1870s. Defining membership and the vague idea of "youth" (omladina) was debated at length among South Slavic intellectuals. One major obstacle to defining and organizing the youth in Bosnia-Herzegovina was the educational system, which underwent major changes in the Habsburg period. By 1900, a small but growing number of young men from Bosnia were studying in Prague, Zagreb, Vienna, Graz, Istanbul, and Belgrade. This put them in touch with Serbian and Croatian nationalist circles.

The rise to power of the popular Karađorđević dynasty in Serbia in the 1900s after the May Overthrow of the Obrenović dynasty by the Serbian Army in 1903, stimulated support by both Serbs and South Slavs for their unification into a state led by Belgrade. The Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia in 1908 ignited a crisis in European politics and unrest in the province. The establishment of the Diet of Bosnia happened only in February 1910, and the 1910 Bosnian parliamentary election in May the same year. In June 1910, Bogdan Žerajić attempted to assassinate General Marijan Varešanin, the Austro-Hungarian governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Support for revolutionary Yugoslavism in Bosnia grew with the rise of the Serb-Croat Progressive Organization in 1911 which drew in support for the cause from Serbs as well as Croats and some Bosnian Muslims. The organization was a youth society led by Ivo Andrić that promoted unity and friendship between Serb and Croat youth and opposed the Austro-Hungarian occupation, but was decried by nationalists and harassed by the government.

Formation, membership and ideology

In 1909, the Young Bosnia was a loose circle of mainly Bosnian Serb students whose interest in revolutionary and romantic Yugoslavism was prompted by the annexation. The extent and significance of the influence from neighbouring Kingdom of Serbia has been debated by historians, and it seems that the interactions between Young Bosnia and Black Hand were largely initiated by the former, rather than the latter.

Vladimir Gaćinović was the ideologue of Young Bosnia and of tyrannicide as its method of political struggle. In 1911 Gaćinović published an article titled "Young Bosnia" in Almanac (Алманах) published by Prosvjeta.

Petar Kočić led the most ardent anti-Austrian Serb nationalists and had ties to Young Bosnia. While there has been a published claim about how the name of Young Bosnia was first mentioned by Petar Kočić in the journal "Homeland" (Отаџбина) in 1907, this was apparently a mistake about the year of publication.

The members were predominantly school students, primarily Serbs but also Bosniaks and Croats. There were several motivations promoted among different members of the group. There were members who promoted Yugoslavist aims of pan-South Slav unification of territories including Bosnia into a Yugoslavia.{{cite book|author= Matjaž Klemenčič, Mitja Žagar

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

Main article: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia. The group received assistance from the Black Hand, a secret organisation founded by members of the Serbian Army. During a Serbian court-martial in French-occupied Salonika in 1916–17, Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence Dragutin Dimitrijević, known as "Apis," claimed responsibility for organising the assassination. Apis used his influence over the Serbian military and the Black Hand to smuggle weapons and assassins into Austrian-occupied Bosnia. Following the trial's conclusion on 26 June 1917, Apis was executed by firing squad. Vladimir Gaćinović, the only Young Bosnia leader to join the Black Hand, condemned the assassination in a letter after the First World War began, presumably to evade responsibility.

Princip during his trial:

Claimed members of Young Bosnia who participated in the assassination were:

• Danilo Ilić (27 July 1890 – 3 February 1915)
• Veljko Čubrilović (1 July 1886 – 3 February 1915)
• Miško Jovanović (15 June 1878 – 3 February 1915)
• Nedeljko Čabrinović (2 February 1895 – 20 January 1916)
• Vladimir Gaćinović (25 May 1890 – 11 August 1917)
• Trifko Grabež (28 June 1895 – February 1916)
• Gavrilo Princip (25 July 1894 – 28 April 1918)
• Muhamed Mehmedbašić (1886 – 29 May 1943)
• Cvjetko Popović (1896 – 9 June 1980)
• Vaso Čubrilović (14 January 1897 – 11 June 1990)

An evening before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Princip, Čabrinović and Ilić visited the grave of Bogdan Žerajić for the last time. Žerajić's proclamation "He who wants to live, let him die. He who wants to die, let him live", was quoted by Gavrilo Princip in one of the songs he wrote ().

Legacy

Museum of Young Bosnia

The Museum of Young Bosnia was built in the period of SFR Yugoslavia in 1953, at the place where the assassination took place. It commemorates the assassins, popularly known in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the "Vidovdan heroes". At the front of the museum was a plaque, inscribed: "From this place, on 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, expressed with his shot the people's revolt against tyranny and their centuries-old struggle for freedom. (Са овога мјеста 28. јуна 1914. године Гаврило Принцип својим пуцњем изрази народни протест против тираније и вјековну тежњу наших народа за слободом.)" In 1992, soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina destroyed both the plaque and Princip's footprints. German forces had removed the 1930 plaque in 1941. The museum still exists today, but nowadays documents aspects of life in Bosnia & Herzegovina during Austro-Hungarian rule.

References

Sources

• {{cite book | last = Dedijer| first = Vladimir| author-link = Vladimir Dedijer| year = 1966a| title = The Road to Sarajevo| publisher = Simon & Schuster

References

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