History of Military Border: 1859-1871

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

Period: 1848-1859
Chapter 9: Toward Dissolution of the Military Border: 1859-71

Key Family History Connections / Information of Interest:

• Concern over nationalism among the people in the military border caused the Austrian government to rely less on the those soldiers.
• The compromise of 1867 put civil Croatia and the military border under the control of Hungary. 
• The Military Border was officially dissolved in June 1871 because the government no longer need the troops nor the cordon that served to quarantine the Ottoman empire from Southeast Europe.

[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:

“Austrian strategy was hampered by constant fears of internal revolt, while on the battlefield there was a marked hesitation to employ the new open-order tactics, made necessary by the increased performance of rifled arms, because the high command feared mass desertions of non-German troops.” (Page 161)

“[I]n 1861 a ‘commission to alleviate conditions on the Military Border,’ sat in Vienna.  Its aims, however, were more moderate and in the end it merely recommended restrictions on corporal punishment and minor reductions in taxes and salt prices.

Such small concessions, however, could no longer satisfy the smoldering resentments of the Grenzer. One lasting result of the events from 1849 to 1860 was that it had brought the Croatian-Slavonian Border and the nationalist politicians of civil Croatia closer together.”  (Page 164)

“[T]he realization that the Slavs, even the Grenzer, were no longer reliable, influenced Austrian negotiations with Hungary which had been under way since 1865.  When the negotiations were brought to a successful conclusion in 1867, the new dualism was exclusively a compromise between the emperor and the Hungarians.  The Croatians after attempting to treat with Vienna as well as Budapest, were left to make the best terms they could with the new Hungarian government.  Proving obstreperous, the Sabor was dissolved by imperial decree, and in 1868 a new house, with manufactured Unionist majority, concluded a Hungarian-Croatian subcompromise.  In this agreement, the nagoda, Croatia-Slavonia was defined as an integral part of the Hungarian kingdom; all decisions regarding military and financial matters were reserved to the Budapest government.  Accordingly, the agreement stipulated that Hungary would work for the reincorporation of the Croatian-Slavonian Military Border into the Croatian state, a point well received by almost all factions in Zagreb.” (Pages 167-168)

“[O]n June 8, 1871, the emperor signed a series of decrees that spelled out the steps terminating the Croatian-Slavonian Military Border.

By 1871 the centuries-old military society of the Grenzer had indeed become an uncomfortable anachronism.  Their combat effectiveness was much reduced and the introduction of the compulsory military service in the Dual Monarchy in 1868 had reduced the manpower requirements of the imperial and royal armies.  By this time, too, the cordon was no longer considered effective against the plague…

Even so, as late as 1865 new regulations for the cordon still maintained the old system of patrols and quarantine stations.  In 1871 Mollinary expressed the viewpoint that the cordon was useless and merely served to inhibit trade with the Turkish provinces. His ideas reflected a viewpoint held by a considerable majority of medical men.  Moreover, maintenance of the cordon was expensive, and Hungary was unwilling to spend any money on it.  Therefore the sanitary establishment was also discontinued as of the end of 1871.” (Pages 178-179)


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