Young Bosnia

Mlada Bosna ( Young Bosnia ) was a revolutionary combination of students, which was active in the annexed by Austria -Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 20th century. The organization is said to have been under strong influence of the Serbian secret organization " Crna ruka " ( Black Hand ), the numerous attacks including the assassination in Sarajevo of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was planning from 1910. The members of the Mlada Bosna were Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Muslims.

Goals of the movement

Objectives of Mlada Bosna were the revolutionary liberation of Bosnia- Herzegovina from the Austria -Hungarian occupation and the combination of South Slavic provinces of Austria -Hungary with Serbia and Montenegro and the withdrawal of the Muslim province of Sandzak of Novi Pazar. Members of Mlada Bosna criticized the conservatism and the ignorance of the masses, called for resistance to the authoritarian power structure and the Jesuit schools of Austria-Hungary and represented the equality of women. A great influence on the movement Giuseppe Mazzini's Young Italy and had Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, in addition, also Russian revolutionaries such as Mikhail Bakunin and Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin. Many members of Mlada Bosna were interested in literature and gifted. The writer and Nobel Prize laureate Ivo Andrić was near Mlada Bosna and perverse personal with Gavrilo Princip. Works of the writer Petar Kočić and intellectuals Vladimir Gaćinović were of particular importance for the movement. The term Mlada Bosna was first mentioned in 1907 in a newspaper article Petar Kočićs, but asserted itself only after 1918.

Historical Background

After the peasant uprising against the Ottomans 1875-1878, which led to the crisis in the Balkans, Bosnia - Herzegovina was assumed at the Congress of Berlin in 1878 by the great powers of the Austro -Hungarian administration. 1908 was the occasion of the 60th jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph I. annexed and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar province divided between Serbia and Montenegro, which the Bosnian annexation crisis triggered. The Bosnians rejected a crew of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and would rather have preferred a merger with the Kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro or the formation of an independent state. Maintaining the perceived as exploitative Ottoman feudal system after 1878, the impossibility of participating in the political system of the monarchy and the position of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Imperial and Royal Crown Colonies contributed to the discontent of the poorer population. The provinces were Austria -Hungary, primarily as a rail transit route, commodity market, commodity warehouse and suppliers of cheap labor. 1910, after some 20 years of Austro-Hungarian administration, were 88 % of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina illiterate. Due to repressive police measures aimed at a reform or revolution political activity was possible only in secret. Bosnian high school students who were active politically, threatened expulsion from school.

The assassination in Sarajevo

On June 28, 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, expected during his announced visit to Sarajevo of about ten members of Mlada Bosna. After the Archduke had survived a first attack uninjured, he and his wife Sophie were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip. Then put Austria - Hungary Serbia an ultimatum to Serbia not unconditionally nachkam, which led to the July crisis of 1914 that triggered turn the First World War.

Reception in Yugoslavia

In Mlada Bosna Yugoslavia was worshiped as an identity movement and particularly promoted among students as progressive and exemplary. The building, at the corner of principle had given his shots, was rededicated as a museum in honor of the movement.