Geography is therefore stamping its impress on the political status of the modern inhabitants of the Balkan peninsula. We have just seen how this region forms a section of a great international commercial route. Coupling this fact with industrial requirements which find expression in the demand for unhampered right of way for products of toil and thought in transit to market, it can be understood how great European powers keenly desire to secure control, or at least maintenance of equal rights of passage, over an avenue so happily situated. The matter is vital because it is based on economic grounds. Continued operation of many Old World factories, or their shut-down, often depends on conditions prevailing on the site of that battle royal of diplomacy known as the Eastern Question. The matter of Serbia’s access to the Adriatic or the withholding of Austria’s acquiescence to Montenegrin occupation of Scutari must, therefore, be ultimately explained by the geographical causes which have converted the peninsula into a highway of such importance that the paramount influence of a single nation over its extension cannot be tolerated by the others. A clear view of this fundamental principle leads us to realize that the presentation of an ultimatum to Serbia by Austria on July 23, 1914, was the preliminary step toward opening a pathway for Germany and Austria to Salonica and Constantinople. Then, as soon as Austro-German power should be solidly established athwart the Bosporus, the intention was to secure control of the land routes to Egypt, the Persian Gulf and India.
As matters stand at present the balance of power oscillates between two groups represented by Teutonic and Slavonic elements respectively. Their clashing zone is the Balkan peninsula. The “Drang nach Osten” of Pan-Germanism found concrete geographical expression on the map, in 1908, by Austria’s final absorption of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A further step in the same direction was marked by the creation of a new Balkan nation, Albania. All this was a result of efforts to obtain control of the remarkable highway we have been considering. This easterly spread was hampered, however, by the steady southerly progress made by the Balkan countries. Their victories in 1912 and 1913 lengthened perceptibly Russia’s southwesterly strides toward ice-free coasts. The process taken as a whole is one of recurrence. Time has converted the stream of early Asiatic invaders into these two opposing currents. The Teutons are now repeating the exploits of the Greeks, the Macedonians, the Byzantines and the Crusaders. The Slavs, whose differentiation from Altaic ancestors has not been as thorough as that of their western neighbors, are likewise playing anew the part of their forefathers seeking milder regions by way of the Balkan peninsula.
South of the Hungarian and Slovene linguistic zones the Austro-Hungarian domain comprises a large portion of the area of Serbian speech. The language predominates everywhere from the Adriatic coast to the Drave and Morava rivers as well as up to the section of the Danube comprised between its points of confluence with these two rivers. Serbian in fact extends slightly east of the Morava valley towards the Balkan slopes lying north of the Timok river, where Rumanian prevails as the language of the upland.[180] To the south contact with Albanian is obtained. The area of Serbian speech thus delimited includes the independent kingdoms of Montenegro[181] and Serbia. Within the territory of the Dual Monarchy it is spoken in the provinces of Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Dalmatia. The language is therefore essentially that of the region of uplift which connects the Alps and the Balkans or which intervenes between the Hungarian plain and the Adriatic.
Union between the inhabitants of this linguistic area is somewhat hampered by the scission of Serbians into three religious groups. The westernmost Serbs, who are also known as Croats, adhere to the Roman Catholic faith in common with all their kinsmen the western Slavs. Followers of this group are rarely met east of the 19th meridian. A Mohammedan body consisting of descendants of Serbs who had embraced Islam after the Turkish conquest clusters round Sarajevo as a center. The bulk of Serbians belong, however, to the Greek Orthodox Church. Cultural analogies between the Mohammedan and orthodox groups are numerous. Both use the Russian alphabet, whereas the Croats have adopted Latin letters.
Fig. 48—Sketch map of Austria showing westernmost extension of Slavs and their languages in Europe. The German-Hungarian wedge between northern and southern Slavs is shown. The small cross-ruled patches are areas of Rumanian language.
Much has been made in interested quarters of the difference between Catholic Croat and Orthodox Serb. Intrigues directed from Vienna and Budapest have sought to accentuate these differences and to foment hatred where Christian charity would speedily have produced concord and understanding. Even in Russia, there have been fears lest close political contact between Serb and Croat dilute the purity of Serb orthodoxy. In other quarters political ambition has made use of divergence of creed as a pretext for seeking to perpetuate political division between the two main branches of the southern Slav race. But a Serbian saying, which can be heard in Bosnia, Croatia or Montenegro, is the best refutation of the existence of any political differences between Serbs of different creeds. “Brat yay mio Koye vieray bio,” “A brother is always dear whatever his religion.” A simple phrase, but one with national significance.
The Serbo-Croatian group made its appearance in the Balkan peninsula at the time of the general westerly advance of Slavs in the fifth and sixth centuries. A northwestern body of this people, wandering along the river valleys leading to the eastern Alpine foreland, settled in the regions now known as Croatia and Slavonia. Here the sea and inland watercourses provided natural communication with western Europe. Evolution of this northwestern body of Serbians into the Croatians of our day was facilitated by the infiltration of western ideas. But the great body of Serbians, occupying the mountainous area immediately to the south, had their foreign intercourse necessarily confined to eastern avenues of communication. They therefore became permeated with an eastern civilization in which Byzantine strains can be easily detected.
In spite of these cultural divergences, the linguistic differentiation of the Croat from the Serbian element has been slight. The Serbian sound of “ay” is generally pronounced “yay” by Bosnians and “a” by Dalmatians. The Croatian “tcha” corresponds to the “chto” of the Serbian. As a rule variations are slight, and natives of the different districts not only understand each other, but can also detect respective home districts quite readily on hearing each other.