History of Military Border: 1756-1780

Rothenberg's The Military Border in Croatia, 1740-1881

Period: 1756-1780
Chapter 3: The Military Border under Maria Theresa and Joseph II: 1756-80

Key Family History Connections / Information of Interest:

• The soldiers from the Croatian Military Border became a significant part of Austria’s army during the Seven Years War. 
• Record keeping about the border starts more earnestly in the 1770s.
• The soldiers in the military frontier are also employed as border agents assigned to protect the spread of the Bubonic Plague from the Ottoman Empire.
• Life is hard because the men are kept away from agricultural duties and the soil is poor to begin with.
• The crown only gives minimal support to education.

[NOTE: The Udbina area is located in Lika which was located in the Karlstadt generalcy.  Any references to these larger units provides insights into life in the Udbina area.]

Quotes from Chapter:

“Now organized on the regimental system, the Croatian and Slavonian Grenzer constituted an important part of the Austrian armament. At the opined of the Seven Years’ War they mustered 34,000 foot and 6,000 horse, slightly more than a quarter of the army.” (Page 40)

“When Beck arrived in the summer of 1763 he found his Grenzer early destitute.  The war years, with their heavy drain on manpower had ruined agriculture on which th regiments depended almost completely.  The Karstadt regiments, especially, were hard hit, and in 1764 and again in 1765 there was much misery and actual famine.  In Ogulin Regiment they ground cornstalks for bread; in the Lika, tree bark and roots.” (Page 42)

“By 1771, every company was required to maintain seventy-two separate files and render in minute detail two weekly, ten monthly, and two quarterly reports and one consolidated semiannual return.” (Page 44)

[SIDENOTE: I haven’t looked this far back, but the attention to details is one reason we have records from this area.]

“During this period, the military border assumed an additional function.  From 1770 on, the regiments were also charged with the maintenance of a permanent quarantine line, the Sanitatis Kordon, along the Turkish frontier.  Although by the middle of the eighteenth century the dreaded bubonic plague had almost disappeared in western Europe, it still remained endemic in the Ottoman Empire and from there threatened Austria and southeastern Europe.” (Page 46)

“Along the entire frontier with the Ottoman Empire, from the Adriatic to the Carpathians, a chain of fortified lookout posts, the so-called Tschardaken, were constructed.  On the Croatian Military Borders, which faced the ever-turbulent Bosnian provinces, The Tschardaken consisted of a wooen blockhouse placed on piles, with an observation gallery all around and a ladder to be drawn up in times of danger.  Regulations prescribed that these posts be placed with musket-shot distance of each other.  Usually they were manned by a section under a corporal or a sergeant, and a senior officer, responsible for the entire regimental sector, was stationed at one of the small forts, sometimes provided with cannon, situated at strategic points.  Roving patrols moved among the posts and standing orders prohibited unauthorized traffic across the frontier. 

For authorized traffic a number of special frontier points were designated… Goods were classified as contagious or non-contagious matter and were disinfected by fumigation, washing in vinegar, or exposure to the air.  Letters, including those from the Austrian diplomatic representative in Constantinople, were pierced with needles and fumigated. Money was immersed in a vinegar bath. As for travelers their treatment depended on the degree of danger suspected.  The Austrian government maintained an extensive pest intelligence service in the Ottoman Empire, and when an outbreak of the plague was reported, the vigilance of the cordon was stepped up.  Posts were stationed at closer intervals, and sentries had orders to shoot to kill.  Normally travelers were detained for twenty-one days, later reduced to ten, but in times of danger they might be detained for as long as forty-two days.” (Pages 47-48)

“Cordon watch, the numerous regimental duties, and the periodic military training imposed, even in times of peace, very onerous demands on the Grenzer and greatly interfered with the agricultural economy of the region.  This was especially true on the Croatian Military Border where poor soil yielded but little return for much labor and where conditions of life remained little above the subsistence level.” (Page 49)

“The problems of the military border continued to occupy the emperor, and in December, 1779, he sent a lengthy memorandum to Field Marshal Count Hadik…

…[T]urning to the economic issues, the emperor noted that each generalcy required different treatment.  The Karlstad Border was the most impoverished and would require the most support…

Finally, the memorandum turned to the question of education on the military border.  Here Joseph II, for all his pretentions, regarded the military border primarily as a great reservation furnishing cheap military manpower. As far as support the curriculum ought to be restricted, however, to a little reading, writing, and arithmetic.  More knowledge, the memorandum warned, might well cause harm to the natural aptitudes of the population.  The emperor was talking about the official schools maintained in the regiments by the state.  There also existed schools maintained out of the voluntary offerings of the Orthodox Grenzer.  The emperor did not intend to support these `national’ schools at all, and when some years later Archbishop Putnik of the Karlstadt Orthodox diocese requested that at least two such schools ought to be maintained in every regiment, the emperor flatly refused.  Under these circumstances the Orthodox schools in the Croatian borders remained poor and had but few pupils.” (Pages 50-51)

“Towns in Croatia remained small throughout the eighteenth century.  Warasdin, with some 4,800 inhabitants, was the largest followed by Zagreb with 2,80, and Karlstadt with 2,700. In any case, none of these towns were actually located with the boundaries of the military borders.” (Page 55)

“Joseph II reported to Maria Theresa in 1775 that trade and industry were not making any great advances and suggested that some Jewish families be allowed to settle on the Croatian Military Border.  This scheme, however, had aroused the opposition of the Sabor, and was vetoed by Maria Theresa, always implacably hostile to non-Catholic elements.  Except for a few Jewish families residing under strict controls at Zemum, Jews were excluded from the Croatian and Slavonian borders until the middle of the nineteenth century.” (Pages 56-57)

“This period, from 1765 to 1780, was above all characterized by an enormous growth in the administrative structure of the border establishment.  The additional duties imposed on the regiments created additional burdens, and the beneficial effects of the increased centralization on military efficiency were counterbalanced by increased economic hardships.” (Page 60)

Links to the posts for the various time periods (each covered in a chapter of the book):
1500-1740
1740-1756
1756-1780
1780-1790
1790-1809
1804-1814
1815-1847
1848-1859
1859-1871
1871-1881