page_title: Sokol
section_title: Sokol society among South Slavs
hierarchical_section_title: Sokol / Sokol society among South Slavs
caption_attribution_description: English: Sokol society "Dušan the Mighty", Kragujevac, 1910
context_page_description: The Sokol movement is an all-age gymnastics organization first founded in Prague in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of "a strong mind in a sound body". The Sokol, through lectures, discussions, and group outings provided what Tyrš viewed as physical, moral, and intellectual training for the nation. This training extended to men of all ages and classes, and eventually to women.
  The movement also spread across all the regions populated by Slavic cultures, most of them part of either Austria-Hungary or the Russian Empire: present-day Slovakia, the Slovene Lands, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus. In many of these nations, the organization also served as an early precursor to the Scouting movements. Though officially an institution "above politics", the Sokol played an important part in the development of Czech nationalism and patriotism, which found expression in articles published in the Sokol journal, lectures held in the Sokol libraries, and theatrical performances at the gymnastic mass festivals called slets.
context_section_description: The Slovenes organized their own gymnastic society on 1. October 1863 and named it Južni Sokol (South Falcon).  Sokol societies were introduced in Slovenia by Viktor Murnik in the last decade of 19th century. V. Murnik was good gymnast. He was inspired by the Czech Sokol movement and studied Tyrš's gymnastics
  bases. The 1903 All-Sokols Rally was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The official name of the Slovenian Sokol was Ljubljana Sokol and its starosta was Kajzelj and the coach was Murnik.
  In Croatia, the Sokol movement had full support from Strossmayer, then Bishop of Đakovo. After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in 1918, and under the leadership of Lazar Car, the Croatian Sokol societies were united with the Serbian and Slovenian Sokol clubs into a large Sokol Alliance on 15 June 1919.
  The Croatian clergy forced Croatian Sokols to leave the Yugoslav Sokol Alliance in 1919–20, fueling internal conflicts within the Alliance on political grounds. At the same time, senior Catholic clergy established the Orlovi (Eagles) clerical organization with the aim of taking youths away from the Alliance. The Croatian Catholic Church rejected the pan-Slavic idea of bringing together Catholic, Orthodox, and Muslim believers under the motto that "a brother is dear regardless of his faith". The two Catholic organizations, Orlovi (Eagles) and Katolička Akcija (Catholic Action) were a main base of this resistance to the idea of Yugoslavism, brotherhood and religious tolerance. The Catholic Church's resistance to this idea of pan-Slavism led the Polish Sokols to abstain from the international All Sokol Rally held in Prague in 1926.
  In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia all Sokol societies were merged into the Union of Sokols of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as of December 1929. The Eagles were ordered to disband but they rebranded themselves as religious fraternities. This way the Sokol movement was the principal agent of the drive for cultural synthesis of the Yugoslav society. Honorary mayor of the Yugoslav Sokol was Prince Peter II.
caption: Sokol society Dušan the Mighty, Kragujevac, 1910
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