Period: 1790-1809
Chapter 5: Crisis and Reform on the Border: 1790-1809
Key Family History Connections / Information of Interest:
- Karlstadt (which includes Lika province) had the poorest agricultural land. And men given little time to work the land.
- During the wars of the period, an enormous percentage of the military-aged men were mobilized to front lines.
- People in Lika lived in very small communities or in complete isolation.
[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:
"Following the death of Joseph II, the military border
underwent a severe and prolonged crisis.
The Hungarian and Croatian diets, which under Maria Theresa had been
reduced to relatedly mild protests against the border institution became more
radical and again demanded its complete dissolution. At the same time, the series of French wars
coming hard upon the heels of the Turkish war, strained the population
resources of the regiments to the utmost… For a time it appeared as if the
entire military border establishment would have to be scrapped, but its value
to the state was too great and in the end, as part of the reforms introduced by
Archduke Charles, it was given a new basic law under which it continued for
over four decades." (Page 79)
"No change was made in the tax system at this time, but the emperor authorized De Vins to proceed with his plans for better organization... In Croatia, he continued the consolidation of settlement, already started under Beck, and combined a number of Grenzer households into more compact villages. This was complicated, however, by the problem of the recent immigrants. Shortly before, as well as during, the last Turkish war, a considerable number of Serb and Croat families from Bosnia and Turkish Dalmatia had come over to the Austrians. The majority had been sent on to the Slavonian regiments, but the Karlstadt and the Banal Borders also picked up some four thousand men, women, and children. To accommodate these newcomers , and also as a precaution against the continuing Turkish incursions, De Vins established twelve new villages in the area around Cetin and Drežnik. But there was not enough land for all and many families had to be kept in relocation camps, pending the final, and it was hoped more favorable, demarcation of the Austro/Turkish boundary. When in 1795 the convention of Dubica finally established the permanent frontier, no more land became available and there was much unrest among the immigrants." (Pages 83-84)
"The war [with France] caused further deterioration in the economy of the Croatian Border, already suffering from a series of poor harvests. By 1792 there was much unrest in the Karlstadt regiments, and in January, 1793, a petition from the 'sharpshooters of the Karlstadt Generalcy' asked the emperor for immediate relief, especially the abolition of the Hauskommunionen. Emperor Francis II, who had succeeded his father Leopold in obligation, and also allocated some nine hundred mustered out army horses for farm use. But this proved of little tangible benefit. The following year the harvest failed again and by 1794 there was acute famine on the Croatian Border. More substantial aid was needed, but the war prevented effective action. 'In view of the military situation,' the Hofkiegsrat decided in April, 1797, 'economic and agricultural matters will have to wait.' "(Page 86)
"Since the early eighteenth century no less than thirty different schemes, systems, and reogranizations had been tried out on the border. Each time the primary purpose of these reforms was to raise the fighting strength of the border; also, there had been occasional attempts to ameliorate the material conditions of the Grenzer. Conditions in the different commands varied in detail, but they were definitely the worst in the four Karlstadt regiments where the population scared the barest living the hard hills. Here the land was very poor, agricultural methods antiquated, and repeated crop failures had caused widespread slaughter of domestic animals so that there was an almost complete lack of fertilizers." (Page 90)
"The human population faed but little better. 'The habitations of the Karlstadter Grenzer,' noted one observer, 'are poor, miserable huts, like the dwelling of savages.' They commonly possessed no floors, windows, or chimneys. Most of the dwellings were isolated, for despite the efforts of Beck and De Vins, the consolidation of settlement had made little progress. In 1802, out of the 16, 546 dwellings in the Karlstadt regiments, 4,629 were completely isolated, while about 5,000 were located in hamlet of less than twelve families. Efforts to establish a more compact pattern of settlement were prevented by 'the poverty and decline in population of the Karlstadt Border' " (page 91)
[SIDE NOTE: Here are links to the maps showing how isolated the settlements were: Post 1, Post 2]
"[W]ithout a doubt the most important single factor inhibiting any real improvement was the constant heavy demands for military manpower. In 1799 the total border population, 823,950, including 101,692 men of military age. Another census taken three years later, showed that the Croatian military borders, the Karlstadt, Warasdin, and Banal, numbered 182,733, 101,902, and 91,545 inhabitants, respectively, about evenly divided the sexes. In times of peace, the establishment of the military border was comprised of 54,644 Grenzer under arms, but during the wars from 1972 to 1801, all the regiments of the border together furnished over 100,000 men and suffered 28,000 casualties. In addition, with the exception of the Warasdin regiments, all units continued to man the cordon." (Page 93)
"The land tax now became the main tax burden, but it was differentiated according to the quality of the land in the various regiments. It was lowest in the Karlstadt regiments." (Page 99)
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
No comments:
Post a Comment