After the Hungarian conquest of Croatia, the Bans were allowed to maintain their rule. Their policy consisted in cultivating friendly relations with the ruling element and at the same time in drawing closer to the Serbian populations in the east. The intimate connection between Serbia and Bosnia dates from the end of the twelfth century. Two hundred years later Stephen Turtko, the son of Serbia’s greatest monarch, was crowned king of Serbia, Bosnia and the Littoral provinces at the shrine of Saint Sava. But the independence of Greater Serbia was short-lived. Hungarian arms were soon in the ascendant and Bosnia became a prey of feudal lords—a land divided against itself.
The Turks found it in this condition in the fifteenth century and easily subdued its petty princes. They used their rights of conquest to force Mohammedanism on the Bosnians. The mass of the landed gentry accepted the Arabic faith in order to retain possession of their property. Many of the Bosnian Mohammedans are descended from adherents of Bogomil heresies who welcomed this method of finding relief from persecution. The fanaticism of these converts and that of their descendants became noteworthy even in the midst of Turkish religious intolerance. It has delayed the expulsion of the Turks from this region, prevented the consolidation of Bosnia with Serbia in the early years of the nineteenth century and finally paved the way for the Teutonic advance towards eastern lands.
The Austrian occupation of Bosnia in 1879 was followed by a current of German immigration. The new settlers came from Germany and the German-speaking provinces of Austria. To weaken Serbian influence in the land the flow of this human tide was favored by the government. Engaging terms were offered to the colonists. The land they took up was turned into homesteads which became the property of the settler on easy terms, and after ten years’ occupation Bohemians, Poles and Ruthenians were also lured to Bosnia. The Posavina district teems with these Slav immigrants. German peasants however were considered the most desirable element in the eyes of Austrian officials. Through this migration Windhorst is now peopled mainly by Germans from the Rhine provinces and Rudolfthal by Tyrolese. Swabians from Hungary founded a large colony at Franz-Josefsfeld, while Germans from the same country created settlements at Branjevo and Dugopolje. Although these German emigrants constitute a numerically unimportant fraction of the Bosnian population, their presence has sufficed to warrant them the solicitude of Pan-Germanist writers in whose works they are referred to as “Our German brothers of Bosnia.”[188]
By its geography, no less than racially, Bosnia is an integral portion of Serbia. For over a thousand years Bosnians and Serbians have had a mutually common civilization. The same historical and political vicissitudes have been shared by the two peoples. Common economic aims and the identity of inhabited territory have furthermore acted as unifying factors. Whatever be the name applied to Croats, Dalmatians, Slavonians, Bosnians or Serbs, all speak the Serbian language. All have striven for centuries to promote their individuality as a nation. To help them realize themselves as a political unit merely implies furthering the process begun by nature.
FOOTNOTES:
[179] I have also seen this type among Anatolian Greeks. It is observable among Greeks living in New York.
[180] Serbian authorities usually extend the zone of their vernacular to points farther east. Cf. J. Cvijić: Die ethnographische Abspreuzung der Völker auf der Balkan-halbinsel, Pet. Mitt., Vol. 59, 1913, No. 1, pp. 113-118.
[181] Montenegro is peopled by descendants of Serbians who took refuge in its mountains after the crushing defeat of Serbia by Turkey on the battlefield of Kossovo in 1389.
[182] J. Erdeljanović: Broj Srba, i Khrvata, Belgrade, 1911.
[183] E. Haumant: La nationalité serbo-croate, Ann. de Géogr., No. 127, Vol. 23, Jan. 15, 1914, pp. 45-59.