Gărzile civice şi societățile de tir din Banat între anii 1717 – 1919 / Civic Guards and Shooting Societies in Banat between the Years 1717 and 1919
Authors: Kakucs Lajos 
Published: March 2022

The first armed civilian unit in Banat was documented during the siege of the fortress of Timişoara in the year 1551. It was a detachment made up of 200 armed citizens, whose roots can be traced in the civil freedoms conferred through the privileges of the free royal borough by the Hungarian king Louis the Great, in the year 1364. After Banat was transformed into a Turkish pashalik, the Ottoman authorities maintained the tradition of paramilitary units recruited from among the civilian population. During the confrontations between the Austrians and the Ottomans, the Serbian and Serbian-Romanian units – and even one made up of Bulgarians –, documented in Szeged, Arad, Novi Sad, Vărădia de Mureş, Şoimoş, Păuliş, Glogovăţ-Vladimirescu, Pecica, Şemlacu, Nădlac, Cenad, Gyula, Ineu, Hălmagiu and Lugoj, went into the service of Austria. After the Peace Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, in order to secure the southern borders of the recently occupied province, the governor of the province – the general Mercy Florymund – intended to move the Serbian troops from the former border on the Tisa-Mureş line towards the bank of the Danube. After the failure of the action, starting with the year 1724, the first units of border patrols were created, recruited from among the Romanians and Serbians from the Timişoara-Ciacova-Odzaci (Serbia) and Ohaba-Mâtnic areas. Between 1738-1739 we have information upon the participation of the Timişoara armed citizens’ guards to fights against the Turks and the Romanian rebels. Simultaneously, the Aulic Chamber and the private companies for the exploitation and processing of mineral resources (Gewerkschaften) set up mining companies (Bergschützen-Compagnie) at Potoc, Maidanpek, Dognecea, Oraviţa, Ciclova and Moldova Nouă.A new phase of the Civic Guards and the noblemen’s banderies in Banat was the period of the French wars of 1794-1814. Even though the Banat banderies had few direct combat contacts with the French, the citizens’ guards from the larger cities had an important contribution to maintaining order in the province. A new phase in the history of Banat civic guards were the years 1848-1849, when the National Guards from the free royal boroughs, as well as those from mining settlements, played an important role in the unfolding of military events.Armed civic guards in some of the more important Banat towns: Biserica Albă. the first civic guard was established in the year 1738, drawing its members from among the German population. In the year 1777, an armed company (Schützenkorp), made up of 100 infantrymen, was formed from among the inhabitants of the free military town who had citizen rights.Lugoj. The nucleus of the first armed Citizens’ guard in Lugoj was made up of the group of inhabitants who, in 1775, gathered to fight the armed gangs that terrorized the town and the neighbouring villages. The actual civic guard of the town was established in 1793, when it was granted the privilege of chamber town (“Kammeral Kleinstadt Lugosch”). From this period we also have information about a Shooting society of riemen musicians (Bürger und Schützenmusik), led by the schoolteacher Adam Reinhol.Zrenjanin. Becicherecul Mare was granted the privilege of fair-holding town on 8 May 1769 by Maria Theresa. On this occasion was probably established the Citizen’s guard which, on 12 July 1779, received Count Christophorus Niczky with military honours upon his arrival in town.Oraviţa. The town’s German inhabitants, organized into an armed guard led by the forestry inspector Meier, took up arms against the Ottoman troops and Romanian rebels which attacked the town on 4 June 1738. In 1809, when the regular troops left town, Oraviţa miners formed an armed unit. Between 1752 and 1763 we have information about a Guard of armed miners, known as the “Werkschütz” and maintained with chamber funds, whose members were recruited only from among the German population. Pančevo. In 1794, Panciova received free town (Freie Comunität) privileges, on condition that, besides the payment of a tax, it should create an armed unit from among its citizens. During the French war, following the Imperial call of 20 August 1808, the town organized a battalion of volunteers. Reşiţa. During the 1789 war with the Turks, the forestry inspector of the Chamber estates in Reşiţa, Beckmann, organised, acting upon orders of the Vienna Military Council, an armed Civil guard, made up of 600 shooters. In the spring of 1848, a National Guard (Bürger Garda) of 173 citizens was formed in Reşiţa.Timişoara. The first information about the existence of citizens organized to provide military support to the administration dates back to the year 1735. Besides military actions, the armed Citizens’ Guards (known as “Bürgergarde” and “Freie Compagnie”) ensured the protection as well as the quarantine of provisional hospitals at Fântâna Paşei and at the Green Forest Hunters’ Lodge during the plague of 1838-1839.When it was given the privileges of free royal town through the imperial diploma issued by Joseph II on 21 December 1781, point No. 10 of the diploma stated: “Die Bürger der Stadt sollen im Krieg und Zeiten der Gefahr im Einvernehmen und mit der Zustimmung des Militärkommandos und der politischen Führung mit der Waffe in der Hand der Festung wehren, alle Versuche und Verschwörungen feindlicher Kräften denunzieren und gegenüberstellen.”Vršac. The excellent expert in the town’s history, the historian Felix Milleker, reports on the existence of a Shooting Society as early as 1730. According to Milleker, the Shooting Society was also known as the “Schützen.”Vinga. The Bulgarian citizens of the town (which became a fair-holding town in 1744), had the right to elect freely the town’s administration, consisting of a judge and 6 jurors. In addition to this, they had to maintain an armed civilian company which, in exceptional cases, also rendered service in Timişoara. The provisions of the diploma issued by Maria Theresa on 1 August 1744 granted special rights to the Bulgarian citizens settled here. Beside the right of the sword (i.e. the right to also administer justice in capital cases), the town’s administration also had the obligation to maintain an armed company (Landmiliz) for the defense of the town.Beside the already mentioned towns, for the period studied we have data on the activity of civil guards or shooting societies in over 70 rural localities with German population.