Vasilije Krestic. History of the Serbs of Croatia and Slavonia, 1848-1914. Belgrade: Beogradski izdavasko-grafski zavod, 1997. 667 pp. [Price unavailable], paper, ISBN 978-86-13-00888-0.
Reviewed by Nicholas Miller
Published on HABSBURG (December, 1998)
Vasilije Krestic is the leading Serbian scholar cosm--unless one's thesis is narrowly conceived. of the Serbian communities of the Habsburg And so it is: Krestic writes that he wishes "to monarchy in the nineteenth century. Since the stress, as the main point of the entire book, that publication in 1969 of his book Hrvatsko-ugarska one of the basic results of the policy based on the nagodba 1868. godine [1], he has published nu‐ 'Croatian state and historical rights' was the wide‐ merous articles on various aspects of Serbian life spread conviction among the Croats that their na‐ in Croatia and Hungary. Until the last decade, he tional and political program can be realized only worked virtually alone among Serbs and Croats through destruction of the Serbs (p. 25)." The book on Serbian history in the monarchy. [2] Today oth‐ is unconvincing because its author is too devoted ers have joined him, most notably Drago to the demonstration of this tendentious thesis, Roksandic, a scholar working in Croatia. The book which he frst broached in a controversial article under review here, History of the Serbs in Croatia published in 1986 entitled "The Genesis of Geno‐ and Slavonia, 1848-1914, was frst published in cide of the Serbs in the Independent State of Croa‐ Serbian in 1991. It is the only work of synthesis tia." [3] Ivo Banac described that article as "ten that Krestic has attempted. Its publication in Eng‐ quotes..., accounts of four incidents, and unpub‐ lish renders it the only study of its kind in this lished observations by a Croatian politician to language. His other books include two collections claim that the 'genocide against the Serbs in Croa‐ of essays and a useful two-volume collection of tia is a specifc phenomenon in our centuries-old documents that serve as an accompaniment to the common life with the Croats.'" This History of the volume under review. None of his other publica‐ Serbs of Croatia and Slavonia seems to be an ex‐ tions have been translated into English. panded version of that earlier article, with all of This History of the Serbs of Croatia and its apparent weaknesses. [4] Slavonia is a history from the "inside out": its sin‐ Krestic's survey begins in 1848 and concludes gle concern is the Serbian community of Croatia. with the outbreak of the First World War. It is or‐ Krestic betrays little interest in the broader con‐ ganized as a political history: there are chapters text, as Austrian, Hungarian, and Croatian devel‐ on the revolutionary movements of 1848-49, the opments are presented only insofar as they afect‐ period of Bach's absolutism, the era of the Ausgle‐ ed the Serbs of the monarchy. Immediately, then, ich and the Nagodba, the banate of Ivan Mazuran‐ the book loses a bit of its value, for it is exceeding‐ ic, the period between the Congress of Berlin and ly difcult to evaluate developments, even in the the fall of Ban Karoly Khuen-Hedervary, and the most self-contained of communities, in a micro‐ era preceding the First World War. Of these peri‐ H-Net Reviews ods, Krestic deems only the revolutionary period evidence that proves a destructive urge on the in 1848 (marked by the collaboration of Ban Josip part of Croats is ft to print) will probably annoy Jelacic and Patriarch Josif Rajacic), the brief two- and occasionally confuse unwary readers and year period 1866-68 (when Prince Michael of Ser‐ serve to obfuscate some of the other tensions in bia sponsored cooperation between Serbs and Serbian society, such as those between Serbs. Croats in Serbia and Croatia), and to a degree the A specifc example of the faws of Krestic's New Course of 1905-1907 to be periods of harmo‐ presentation is his treatment of the government ny between Serbs and Croats. Krestic sees those of Ban Ivan Mazuranic. Mazuranic's government interludes of peace as exceptions to the rule: was responsible for legislation in 1874 proposing Serbs were a besieged community threatened to transfer the control of schooling from the with assimilation and/or physical destruction. The churches to the state in Croatia. Krestic states that sources that Krestic utilizes include contemporary "[Serbs] knew very well that the communalization newspapers and private correspondence. One of of Serbian schools was only a stratagem in the at‐ the contributions of this book is to make available tempt to denationalize and Croatize Serbian chil‐ many extensive quotations, especially from the dren and all the Serbs in Croatia (p. 225)." He of‐ correspondence. These excerpts not only refect fers no alternative theories, he does not consider the favor of nineteenth-century correspondence, the possibility that Mazuranic might not have de‐ but they provide illuminating glimpses of the na‐ sired the destruction of the Serbs (for instance, ture of Serbian dissatisfaction with Croatian and that his school legislation refected an attempt to Habsburg governance. However, these excerpts modernize the education system). Characteristi‐ must be considered with care, since Krestic is cally, Krestic fnds it appropriate to integrate in prone to interpret them in a rather exclusive his discussion of educational policy a quote taken light, in keeping with his thesis. from the diary of a turn-of-the-century Croatian There are alternatives to Krestic's approach politician who wrote that the Croatian idea could towards the history of the Serbs of Croatia, but only be realized by taking an ax to all of Croatia's even when he edges toward new territory--such Serbs (p. 229). A reprehensible thought, no doubt, as an examination of social conditions--his conclu‐ but irrelevant to the discussion at hand. Krestic's sions are defensive rather than simply illuminat‐ treatment of the episode is typical of the book as a ing. For instance, he pays some attention to social whole: a decent enough summary of the Serbian conditions in the Serbian community, but his pur‐ side, brimming with extensive quotes from con‐ pose is to highlight the lower standard of living temporary sources (which, it must be said, are and poorer education of the Orthodox Christians usually interesting and would be enlightening if in comparison with their Catholic neighbors, properly contextualized), tied together with which, Krestic concludes, was evidence of intent provocative but usually incongruous quotes or on the part of the Habsburgs and the Catholics to anecdotes that serve to press home his preferred destroy the Serbian community. One needs to be theme. careful with this sort of assertion: of course there Krestic is equally convinced that Serbs in was discrimination against Serbs in the Habsburg Croatia lived in harmony, comprising a unitary monarchy, but discrimination is not the same as community fully conscious of their shared fate. destruction (or genocide, a word that Krestic uses He is explicit about this: the frst chapter of the on occasion). Authors should not be judged by book begins with a section addressing "Serbian what their book might have been, and Krestic spiritual unity." As evidence for this assertion in never claims to be a social or cultural historian. 1848 he cites popular verses; the election of a Serb But the utilitarian approach to evidence (all the
2 H-Net Reviews from the Croatian military frontier as "vojvoda" in ored the complex history of his own Serbian peo‐ 1848, in spite of the fact that the majority of elec‐ ple. tors were from Slavonia and Hungary; the great This book is notable for two reasons. First: it material support given to the revolutionaries by is the only general history of the Serbs of Croatia the principality of Serbia; and the eforts of Ra‐ available in the English language, which instantly jacic to spread the message of cooperation. This gives it a large (and unwary) potential audience. use of circumstantial evidence is typical of And in fact, in spite of its excesses, the book does Krestic's defense of Serbs' spiritual unity. Whereas include much valuable information, not least ex‐ his support for the assertion that the Serbs of tensive quotations from contemporary sources. Croatia were threatened with annihilation is ag‐ Second: Krestic is not only one of Serbia's leading gressive, Krestic ofers only a passive defense of historians today, but he has been active in Serbian the thesis that the Serbian community of Croatia intellectual life for the pastffteen years. His body was spiritually unifed. of work therefore stands not only as historiogra‐ As an example of this passive style of argu‐ phy in the standard sense, but also as primary mentation, Krestic's depiction of the period source material for a study of Serbian intellectu‐ 1903-1914 serves well. The period saw the emer‐ als since the death of Tito. Krestic's contribution gence and then dominance of the Croato-Serbian to the intellectual revolt against the regime in Ser‐ Coalition, which initially included both major Ser‐ bia was to promote the idea that Croats are a bian parties, the Independent and Radical parties. genocidal people. He propagated that notion at ev‐ A whole host of issues divided the Radicals and ery turn after the publication of the article de‐ Independents, including regional bases, economic scribed in the frst paragraph of this review. As a interests, and not least ideology. While Krestic's primary source, this History of the Serbs of Croat‐ long examination of those relations reveals deep ia and Slavonia exemplifes the type of polemic hostility between the two parties, he ignores most that passed as history in Serbia (and other parts of the more convincing reasons for that discord-- of Yugoslavia) after the death of Tito. For English in particular, the nature of their ideological dis‐ speakers who have not had the doubtful pleasure putes and the possibility that for some Serbian po‐ of ingesting any of that scholarship, this book will litical leaders ideology served baser economic in‐ provide a taste. With fair warning and a healthy, terest. Thus, in spite of evidence to the contrary, critical eye, readers can also glean from it an Krestic attributes the Radicals' departure from the enormous amount of raw information about the Coalition in 1907 to their recognition of the "ulte‐ Serbs of Croatia. rior motives of some Croats, not only extreme Notes: right-wing Franko-furtumists [sic]" who wished [1]. Vasilije Krestic, Hrvatsko-ugarska nagod‐ "to assimilate and Catholicize the Serbs in Croatia ba 1868. godine (Belgrade: Serbian Academy of (p. 526)." The Independents, loyal to the Coalition, Arts and Sciences, 1969). were dupes of Croats who "wanted more than anything else to build, enlarge and strengthen [2]. Others who worked in this feld include Croatia (p. 530)." Krestic reduces the entire period Slavko Gavrilovic and Dusan Popovic. Gavrilovic to the question of who understood most clearly concentrated on the period preceding 1849; the fact that Croats intended to assimilate Serbs Popovic wrote on the Serbs of Hungary. and create a large Croatian state. The reader is the [3]. Vasilije Krestic, "O genezi genocida nad loser, but one also wonders if by so simplifying Srbima u NDH," in Knjizevne novine (September Serbian afairs in Croatia Krestic has also dishon‐ 15, 1986).
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[4]. Ivo Banac, "Historiography of the Coun‐ tries of Eastern Europe: Yugoslavia," in The Amer‐ ican Historical Review, 97:4 (October 1992), p. 1101. Copyright (c) 1998 by H-Net, all rights re‐ served. This work may be copied for non-proft educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ tact [email protected].
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Citation: Nicholas Miller. Review of Krestic, Vasilije. History of the Serbs of Croatia and Slavonia, 1848-1914. HABSBURG, H-Net Reviews. December, 1998.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=2563
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