From: arnsenad@me.utoronto.ca (Senad Arnautovic)
Subject: B-H History: A Contribution from Faruk od Bosne
Organisation: U of Toronto, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Organization: UofT Mechanical Engineering
Distribution: soc
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 16:18:03 GMT


This is a contribution from Faruk who has no posting access to the network.
The posting gives a brief overview of the B-H history,
intended especially for those who claim Bosnia-Hercegovina
is just a geographic term and not a country.

Senad H. Arnautovic




	The Bosnian vote for independence (March 31, 1992) was not a 
whim, nor the Bosnian recognition (by USA and others, April 06, 
1992) was a mistake. This was a far outcry of Bosnian peoples for 
the long overdue basic civilizational values, the pillars of the UN 
charter, as well as of any western democracy: equality, freedom of 
speech, and market economy. That is precisely what the present 
Bosnian government with President Izetbegovic wants to create: a 
secular state with the market economy [5]. Many western "so called" 
experts on Bosnia express reservations about our historical rights to 
statehood. These doubts only show that they did not do their 
homework. The fact and the matter is that among all Balkan nations, 
we have the statehood with the longest history of the present 
borders [1]. Here is the story.

	The Romans called Balkan aboriginals Illyrians. After the 
Roman Empire split (375 a.d.) the border between the Roman Empire 
and the Bysantine was the river Drina (present border between 
Bosnia and Serbia). Slavs started inhabitation of the Balkan in the 6-
th century. They were nomadic tribes coming from what is presently 
called Ukraine. After the fall of the Roman Empire (476 a.d.) the 
Bysantine northern borders were exposed to the destructive 
expeditions of the Goths (Germans) and Avars (Hungarians). This 
forced the Bysantine czar Iraclius to encourage Slav settlements on 
Bysantine northern borders as a protection against the intruders. 

	Hungarians began settling Panonia (present Hungary) on 895 
a.d. under their duke Arpad. During the reign of Hungarian king 
Koloman (cca 1000 a.d.) Croats and part of Bosnia fell to Hungarians. 
Hungarians installed dukes called bans to reign in Croatia and 
Bosnia. 

	The first known Bosnian ban was Boric (1158 a.d.) [2]. By 
helping the Hungarian king Geza against the Bysantine czar Emanuel 
ban Boric earned independence for his country. Ban Boric was 
followed by ban Kulin (1180 - 1204). 

	At that time peoples of the ex-Roman Empire were exposed 
to Catholicism, while Serbs and Bulgarians were exposed to the 
Orthodox influence. Bosnians resisted both. They have earlier 
accepted the teachings of the Bulgarian priest Bogumil. Bogumil 
religion was not branch of any Christianity. On Bosnian tomb-stones 
(stecci) from that time, which are all over Bosnia, there are no 
cross as a symbol. On the other hand, serbs were building their 
monasteries were-ever they were, like Milesevo, Studenica, etc. 
No one serb monastery has been ever found on the present BH territory.
Neither any Catholic church.

	Bosnian landlords (who were bogumils) didn't like Kulin's 
successor Stjepan because he accepted Catholicism. After long 
deliberation they chose ban Matija Ninoslav (bogumil) for the 
throne (1232 - 1250). (In the mean time Serbia gained independence 
from the declining Bysantine.) During the next 72 years Bosnia was 
divided between Serbs (knight Rastislav) and Croats (ban Subic). 
Ban Stjepan Kotromanic liberated Bosnia in 1322. He also expanded 
his state by adding Hercegovina. At that time Serbian czar Dusan 
attacked Bosnia by besieging ban Stjepan in its capital Bobovac. 
The siege failed however and Dusan retreated. The victory was 
credited to Stjepan. Ban Stjepan was succeeded by ban Tvrtko (1353 
- 1391). After the death of Serbian czar Dusan (1355), ban Tvrtko 
conquered most of Serbia and all of Dalmatia, and promoted himself 
to a King of Bosnia, Serbia and Maritimes (1377). It was at this time 
that the Bosnian state was the largest. King Tvrtko was succeeded 
by kings Stjepan Dabisa (-1398), Stjepan Ostoja (-1404), Tvrtko II 
Tvrtkovic (-1408), Stjepan Ostoja again (- 1418), Stjepan Ostojic 
(-1421), Tvrtko II Tvrtkovic again (-1443), Stjepan Toma (-1461), 
and the last Bosnian king Stjepan Tomasevic (1461 - 1463) when 
Bosnia fell to Turks. With a short break, the Bosnian statehood 
lasted from 1158 until 1463; that is three hundreed and five years. 
During this period Bosnia developed into a feudal monarchy with 
its own currency, king's seal, and landlords controlling parts 
of the state. (Serbia fell to the Turks much earlier. In 1371 
Turkish sultan Murat I defeated Serbian king Vukasin in Bulgaria, 
and in 1389 Turkish sultan Bajazit defeated the Serbs and their 
allies on Kosovo plain.)
 
	Since the bogumil religion was similar to Islam, Bosnian 
landlords as well as peasants converted to Islam without resistance. 
The Turkish conquest of Bosnia was least bloody [4]. Because of 
mutual respect between them, Bosnian landlords were allowed to 
keep their privileges, and many Turkish high officials and statemen 
were Bosnian recruits.

	Among all Balkan states, the Bosnian borders lasted the 
longest. During the reign of king Tvrtko the Bosnia's border to the 
north was river Sava, to the west river Una and Adriatic coast from 
Biograd to Budva, and to the east river Drina [3]. On its 
territory the Ottomans formed a Bosnian Sanjak. In 1580 it became 
Bosnian Pashadom. Today's Sanjak (part of Serbia) was then the part
of Bosnia. Bosnia was the largest administrative unit in the 
Ottoman Empire. 

	After a Turkish defeat under Vienna, the Bosnian (as well as 
Ottoman) western borders were settled by the Karlovci Peace Treaty 
between Austria, Poland, Venetia, and Russia (the Holy Alliance) vs. 
the Ottoman Empire (January 26, 1699). By the Pozarevac Peace 
Treaty signed by Austria and Venice vs. the Ottoman Empire (July 21, 
1718) bosnian dalmatian coast was given to Venice, and the rest to 
Dubrovnik as to an independent state. Bosnia was left with a narrow 
strip on the coast comprised of Neum with the Klek peninsula and 
the valley of the river Sutorina which empties into Topola bay at the 
entrance of Boka Kotorska. River Sava as the northern Bosnian border 
was fixed after Austro-Turkish Peace Treaty signed in Belgrade 
(September 18, 1739). The same border was confirmed by Svishtov 
Peace Treaty signed by Austria and Russia vs. Turkey (August 4, 
1791), and by the "Final Act" of the Congress of Vienna in June 1815 
signed by Austria, England, Prussia, and Russia, where the sultan 
was acknowledged as a legitimate ruler and master of the Ottoman 
Balkan territories. Eastern Bosnian border (river Drina) was finally 
decided at the Congress of Berlin (July 13, 1878) signed by Austro-
Hungary, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, and Great Britain vs. 
Ottoman Empire, where Montenegro obtained Niksic, while the Sanjak 
remained as a separate administrative unit within the Ottoman 
Empire. The Bosnian borders remained unchanged during the Austrian 
occupation (1878 - 1908) and annexation (1908 - 1918). Within the 
new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovens, the Bosnian present 
borders were guaranteed by the Peace Treaty between Austria and 
Kingdom signed by Nikola Pasic (prime minister), Ante Trumbic, and 
Ivan Zogler, on September 10, 1919 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye 
(Article 204). This recognition was preserved by Kingdom's Vidovdan 
Constitution, Article 135 (June 28, 1921). In the post war 
Yugoslavia Bosnia and Hercegovina was recognized within the 
present borders as one of six Yugoslav Republics by a series of 
accords: AVNOJ (Jajce, Nov. 29, 1943), Constitution of Federative 
National Republic of Yugoslavia (Belgrade, January 31, 1946), and 
internationally by the recognition of Federal National Republic of 
Yugoslavia (Paris, February 10, 1947). 

	Therefore, it can be concluded that the borders of Bosnia and 
Hercegovina are the result of a centuries-long political, cultural and 
demographic development of the Bosnian state. So much for the 
historic argument.

	The present war is a war for the bare survival of Bosnian 
people against the brutal Serbian aggression.  Bosnians are left with 
no choice. As Tito's partisans fought the German aggressor during 
WWII in these very same mountains, so will the Bosnians clean their 
country of traitors forever. Seventy years of Serbian lies about 
"brotherhood and unity" of South Slavs has now surfaced. Ethnic 
cleansing in Bosnia has been carried out in one form or another since 
1918 under different pretexts: foreign aggression (as Germany in 
WWII), foreign treat (as imperialism), or internal enemies (against 
the communism). Every time the victims were by and large Bosnians. 
Having no strong state they were always faced with the better 
organized enemy. If there has remained any illusions about "big 
brother", this brutal aggression has removed all doubts about the 
necessity for a strong Bosnian state as well as the creation of a new 
Bosnian man. The past calls upon duty for the future.

References:
1. I. Lovrenovic, M. Imamovic: Bosnia and its People, Oslobodjenje, 
Sarajevo 1992.
2. Povijest Bosne i Hercegovine za osnovne skole (drugo izdanje), 
Zemaljska Stamparija, Sarajevo 1898.
3. Irfan Mirza: Crisis In Bosnia, IMA Publishing Co., Beverly Hills 1992.
4. Halid Duska: A Brief History of Bosnian Muslims, unpublished, 1992.
5. Buduca BiH - Nacela i prakticni koraci na kursu oslobodjenja od 
agresije i uredjenja republike kao moderne demokratske drzave, B&H 
U.N. Mission Buletin, Volume 1, Number 7, New York, September 04, 1992.

Faruk od Bosne