When Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife the Duchess Sophie came to Sarajevo on 25 June 1914, they were ushered into a suite at a spa resort in the nearby municipality of Ilidža. The room, decorated in a Turkish style in vogue at the time, was provided by a local Jewish merchant from the …
In general he did a lot of useful things for Russia, one of which was the creation of Russian intelligence. –Vasili Sokolov – Echo of Moscow Radio The fabled and feared Russian intelligence apparatus was not native, but was imported in the person of a Balkan man who referred to himself as an Illyrian Count …
To realize the national ideal, the unification of all Serbs. This organization prefers terrorist action to cultural activities; it will therefore remain secret. — stated purpose of Ujedinjenje Ili Smrt When Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife the Duchess Sophie were assassinated in Sarajevo, the news abounded with references to a secret organization with far-reaching …
Historical fiction can be the a fantastic way to ingrain history events as long as it doesn’t deviate too far from the dry and dusty demands of factual “truthiness”, and in the vein The Second Seal by Dennis Wheatley is an excellent primer for the dabbler who wants to get started in the area World …
World War I nearly started in 1909 over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Worried about a changing circumstance in Europe after the Young Turk Revolution and increasingly bothered by the rhetoric from Serbia, Austria-Hungary felt it had to act in order to preserve the integrity of its borders and its empire. On 6 October 1908, they announced …
Rebellions against the Ottoman Empire were not solely the province of the Christian Ottoman subjects. On 29 March 1831 an army of Bosnian subjects, 1/3 of them Christian, marched toward the Ottoman headquarters in Travnik. At its head was the son of a Bosnian noble family, the Captain of Gradačac, Husein Gradaščević, the Dragon of …
The crises in the Balkans jumped one to the next as the 1800s turned into the 1900s. Royal assassinations turned into paradigm shifts, causing strikes against the status quo. No longer wanting to be a dependent satellite of Austria-Hungary, Serbia turned toward Russia and began attempting to diversify their economics. Sensing the threat to …
The last thousand years of Balkan history is a tale of three powers pulling on the limbs of an infant, as in the Biblical parable of Solomon’s wisdom. The Balkan baby is yanked first toward Austria, then toward Russia, and all the while the Ottoman Empire is pulling steadily on its legs. The arguments between …
The provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be occupied and administered by Austria-Hungary…Austria-Hungary reserves the right to maintain garrisons and to have military and trading roads over the whole area of that portion [the Sandjak of Novi Pazar] of the ancient Vilayet of Bosnia. The diplomatic coda to the Pig War of 1906-1908 became, like …
It takes a great man to turn a Duchy into a Kingdom, and for the medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina that man was Tvrtko I. Not that the lead up to his crowning was uneventful or easy; on the contrary, Tvrtko overcame enormous odds sandwiched between two great powers to wrest away the wild and mountainous …
For faster login or register use your social account.
[fbl_login_button redirect="" hide_if_logged="" size="large" type="continue_with" show_face="true"]
