The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

Expansionist Serbian nationalism developed in harmony with the then
existing nationalistic hysteria and euphoria all over Europe. However, the
Austro-Hungarian Empire was in the way of any expansion of Serbian
territory. The Austrian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908 and the
foundation of the Albanian state in 1912 foiled Serbia’s plans to gain access
to the Adriatic Sea, for which reason Austria-Hungary was declared
the number one enemy. This was a major factor in the assassination of
Sarajevo in 1914 – and provided the idea of the Serbian nation with its
breakthrough.
The Croatian nation was formed primarily after the conflicts of the midnineteenth
century in opposition to Hungarian claims to Croatian territory.
It started as a movement of cultural renewal called “Illyrianism”, with a
south-Slavic, not a Croatian orientation. Croatia had a certain degree of
autonomy within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which provided a framework
for the formation Croatian national. The same was true of Slovenia.
The national identity of the Bosnians was oriented towards denominational
factors, with Orthodox Christians defining themselves as Serbs, and
Catholics as Croats. The Bosnian Muslims, unlike the Christians, have a
positive attitude towards the Ottoman Empire to this day; they define
themselves neither as Serbs nor as Croats, but as Muslims or Bosniaks,
although their ancestors are descended from the Serbs or the Croats.
The decisive circumstance was that these nations came into being before
the foundation of Yugoslavia, and brought their own ideas into the
founding process. That gave rise to conflicts. Victorious Serbia experienced
the foundation of Yugoslavia as the fulfilment of its dream, accord -
ing to which all Serbs were to live in one state, and other nations were
to melt together into the Yugoslavian – and ultimately, the Serbian – nation.
Nobody asked the Macedonians – they were divided up between
the Serbs, the Bulgarians and the Greeks. Nobody asked the Albanians
or the Muslims either. Montenegro was annexed by Serbia in 1918. All
nations continued their struggle for equal rights within the new state,
and thus came into conflict with Serbia.
A “young Bosnian Serb” shot Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Francis Ferdinand
in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, the 525th anniversary of the mythical
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