beginning of the first world war in dalmatia

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UDK: 94(497.5-3Dalmacija)’’1914’’Izvorni znanstveni članak

Recieved: June 10, 2014Accepted: October 15, 2014

BEGINNING OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN DALMATIA

Ante BRALIĆ*

The murder of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 launched a new political process in Dalmatia. Current political movements were interrupted, and new topics were imposed. In July 1914 the anti-Serb demonstrations prompted a fierce debate within the Dalmatian political spectrum. Declaration of war led to new political, social and economic circumstances. Political control was increased at the political level and many constitutional freedoms were suspended. The “old” political parties froze its work, and the press was subjected to preventive censorship. The Dalmatian public faced a new problem, the supply of the population. During 1914 the war was still peripheral and was felt only in certain areas, but as it developed, the problem became larger and larger. Keywords: Dalmatia, World War One, political control, the supply of the population, mobilization

The Kingdom of Dalmatia became an integral part of the Austrian portion of the Habsburg Monarchy after the 1815 Congress of Vienna. It encompassed the area of 12,840 km² and extended from the island of Rab in the north to Spič (a settlement near the port of Bar) in the south. After the administrative reform of 1868, it was divided into 12 districts and, by the early 20th century, the number grew to 14. The Austrian government headquarters in Dalmatia were situated in Zadar, namely: the Governor’s office, the Provincial Finance Directorate, the Provincial School Board, the Gendarmerie Command and the Post.1 The headquarters of Dalmatian autonomous bodies - the Kingdom of

* Ante Bralić, Ph.D., University of Zadar, Department of History, Zadar, Croatia1 Frane Ivković, “Organizacija uprave u Dalmaciji za vrijeme druge austrijske vladavine 1814.-1918.”, [The Organization of Administration in Dalmatia during the second Austrian rule 1814-1918], Arhivski vjesnik, 34/35, (1991/1992):

A. BRALIĆ, Beginning Of The First World War In Dalmatia

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Dalmatia Diet and its executive organ, the Land Committee of the Kingdom of Dalmatia (Zemaljski odbor) - were also in Zadar.2

According to the last Austrian census in 1910, the Kingdom of Dalma-tia had 645,666 inhabitants. Since Austrian censuses did not include the “na-tionality” component, ethnic composition of Dalmatia can be determined by combining linguistic and religious principles in order to obtain approximately accurate results.

Table 1 – Ethnic composition of the Kingdom of Dalmatia according to censuses between 1880 and 19103

Nationality1880 1890 1900 1910

Number % Number % Number % Number %Croats 369,531 77.62 423,536 80.30 481,499 81.09 520,073 80.56Serbs 78,852 16.56 87,160 16.53 96,466 16.25 106,308 16.46Italians 27,305 5.73 16,000 3.03 15,279 2.57 18,028 2.79Others 414 0.09 730 0.14 540 0.09 1,257 0.19Total 476,102 100 524,426 100 593,784 100 645,666 100

The Kingdom of Dalmatia was an extremely underdeveloped country with a high proportion of rural population. Illiteracy rate was extremely high and decreased very slowly. The dominant group within the society was the urban patrician-bourgeois class, which dominated both political and economic life in the province.4

On the eve of the Balkan Wars there were six active political parties in Dalmatia: Hrvatska stranka [Croatian Party], Stranka prava u Dalmaciji [Party of Rights in Dalmatia], Hrvatska pučka napredna stranka [Croatian People’s Progressive Party], Srpska stranka na Primorju [Serbian Party in Primorje (Lit-toral)], Italian (Liberal) Party and Italian Democratic Party.

2 Ivo Perić, Dalmatinski sabor 1861.-1912. (1918.), [Dalmatian Diet 1861-1912 (1918)], (Za-dar: Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, 1978). 3 Marjan Diklić, Pravaštvo u Dalmaciji do kraja Prvog svjetskog rata [Party of Rights in Dalma-tia until of end of World War One] (Zadar: Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, 1998), p. 22.4 Dinko Foretić, “Društvene prilike u Dalmaciji pred Prvi svjetski rat s osobitim osvrtom na radničku klasu”, [Social situation in Dalmatia before the First World War, with particular empha-sis on the working class], Radovi Filozofskog fakulteta u Zadru, II, Razdio Historije, arheologije, historije umjetnosti, (1963), no. 1:, Dinko Foretić, “O ekonomskim prilikama u Dalmaciji u drugoj polovici XIX stoljeća do Prvog svjetskog rata”, [The economic situation in Dalmatia in the second half of the nineteenth century until the First World War], Hrvatski narodni preporod u Dalmacij i Istri, zbornik (Zagreb: Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, 1969).

Review of Croatian History 10/2014, no.1, 47 - 75

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Hrvatska stranka [Croatian Party] was created in 1905 as a merger of the old Narodna hrvatska stranka [National Croatian Party] and liberal part of the Party of Rights. The party had a majority in Dalmatian Diet and the Land Committee, and conducted an opportunistically moderate policy towards the centre of the monarchy in Vienna. It also held power in most Dalmatian mu-nicipalities, especially on the coast and the islands. By its social structure, it consisted of the members of the wealthy Croatian elite. The party’s organ was Narodni list from Zadar.5

Stranka prava u Dalmaciji [Party of Rights in Dalmatia] was established in the late 19th century. Its programme campaigned for unification of all Croa-tian lands into one state unit within the Habsburg Monarchy. The party was anti-Serbian, and saw the Great Serbia ideology as the greatest danger for the Croats. After the unification of the liberal part of the Party of Rights with the Narodna hrvatska stranka [National Croatian Party], Catholic priests and teachers took dominant roles in the party. The party enjoyed great popularity among the rural population in Dalmatian hinterland and the Zadar district. As for major towns, the party held power in Šibenik. Its official organ was Hrvatska kruna from Zadar.6

Hrvatska pučka napredna stranka [Croatian People’s Progressive Party] was formed in 1905 in Split from a minor part of the Party of Rights. Although their wish was to influence the entire Dalmatia, their factual influence was limited to the area around Split. The party’s programme was pronouncedly anticlerical and promoted the idea of integral Yugoslavism. They were decid-edly anti-Austrian-minded. The party, according to the social structure, repre-sented a mixture of lower social classes of Split and a minor part of the town’s elite. Its official organ was Sloboda from Split.7

Srpska stranka na Primorju [Serbian Party on the Coast] was predominant within the Serbian community in Dalmatia. After sharp conflicts in the early 20th century, a small group of Catholic Serbs, representatives of Dubrovnik’s elite, prevailed within the party. The party gathered all social classes within the Serbian community. It was also extremely anti-Austrian and participated in

5 “Politički profil Jurja Biankinija”, [Political Profile of Juraj Biankini], Zadarska revija, 27 (1978), no. 5/6: 455-471, Stijepo Obad, “Biankini, Juraj”, Hrvatski biografski leksikon, vol. 1 (Za-greb: Jugoslavenski leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, 1986), pp. 747-748.6 Marjan Diklić, Pravaštvo u Dalmaciji do kraja Prvog svjetskog rata, [Party of Rights in Dal-matia until the end of World War One] (Zadar: Matica hrvatska and Zavod za povijesne znanos-ti HAZU u Zadru, 1998), Marjan Diklić, Don Ivo Prodan : političko djelovanje i parlamentarni rad [Don Ivo Prodan: political action and parliamentary work], (Zadar: Matica hrvatska, 2003).7 Josip Smodlaka, Izabrani spisi, [Selected writings] (Split: Književni krug, 1989), J. Smodlaka, Zapisi dra Josipa Smodlake, [The records of Dr. Josip Smodlaka] (Zagreb: Jugoslavenska aka-demija znanosti i umjetnosti, 1972), Kosta Milutinović, “Istorijski lik Josipa Smodlake”, [Histori-cal figure of Josip Smodlaka] Radovi Odjeljenja društvenih nauka Akademije nauka i umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine, 15, (1972): 101-141.


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the regional autonomous bodies (Zemaljski odbor) together with the Croatian Party. The party’s organ was Dubrovnik.8

Italian (Liberal) Party continued the policy of the “old” Autonomist Par-ty and, from the beginning of the 20th century, was dominated by irredentist elements. The party gathered higher social classes of the Italian community and implemented an opportunistic policy towards the Austrian authorities, expecting support from Vienna to retain dominance in Zadar, the capital of Dalmatia. The organ of the party was Il Dalmata.

Italian Democratic Party represented a more radical portion of the Ital-ian community in the town of Zadar, with its social base consisting of lower and middle urban classes and students. Its members were the organizers of pro-Italian demonstrations. They worked closely with the irredentist circles in Italy. They did not have representatives in the Dalmatian Parliament. The organ of the party was Risorgimento.9

The electoral system in the Austrian part of the Monarchy, at least for mu-nicipal councils and provincial parliaments, was a curial electoral system that favoured wealthier social strata. In fact, the wealthiest members of community used to elect a third of representatives for municipal councils, while the lower classes, which formed the majority in electoral bodies, also elected a third of the representatives. The wealthy were also overly represented in the provincial Diet (Zemaljski sabor). Dalmatian Diet consisted of four “curiae”: the commer-cial chambers curia (3 members), curia of higher-income taxpayers (individu-als who paid over 100 crowns a year for taxes) (10 members), the curia of cities (8 members), and the curia of external (rural) municipalities (20 members). Along with 41 elected members, the Catholic archbishop of Zadar and the Orthodox archbishop were also MPs by virtue of their positions. The curial structure shows that the largest number of voters, who belonged to the curia of rural municipalities and accounted for nearly 90% of the population, had less than 50% of MPs. Such social inequality had its national implications. Namely, Dalmatian Italians who made less than 3% of the population had 15% of MPs,

8 Tihomir Rajčić, “Sukobi unutar Srpske stranke u austrijskoj pokrajini Dalmaciji 1897.-1902.”, [Conflicts within the Serbian party in the Austrian province of Dalmatia, 1897-1902], Radovi Zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Zadru, 41 (1999): 247-260., Tihomir Rajčić, “Vrhunac sukoba unutar srpskog nacionalnog pokreta u austrijskoj Dalmaciji 1902./1903.”, [The highlight of the conflict within the Serbian national movement in Austrian Dalmatia 1902/1903], Ra-dovi Zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Zadru, 40 (1998): 413-424, Tihomir Rajčić, “Neka zapažanja o društvenoj osnovici srpskog nacionalizma u Dalmaciji”, [Observations on the social basis of Serbian nationalism in Dalmatia], Radovi Zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Zadru, 39 (1997): 255-279. 9 See: Ante Bralić, “Zadarski fin-de siècle – Političke i društvene prilike u Zadru i Dalmaciji uoči Prvog svjetskog rata”, [Fin-de siècle in Zadar - Political and social conditions in Zadar and Dalmatia on the eve of the First World War], Časopis za suvremenu povijest, 39 (2007), no. 3: 731-775., Luciano Monzali, Italiani in Dalmazia. Dal Risorgimento alla grande guerra, [Italians in Dalmatia. From the Risorgimento to the Great War] (Firenze: Le Lettere, 2004).


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to the detriment of the Croatian representatives. The number of Serbian rep-resentatives corresponded to their statistical representation in the province.

After the assassination

Shock dominated in Dalmatia after the news of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Dalmatian Italians and Serbs did not grieve over his death, since he was considered one of the greatest enemies of Italian and Serbian national interests. Twofold mood ruled among the Dalmatian Croats. On the one hand, the pro-Yugoslav current (progressives and much of the members of the Croa-tian party) had similar thoughts as the Serbs, while the Rightist expressed out-rage with the assassination and tried to realize political advantage from this situation.

The capital city of Zadar was one of the rare Dalmatian towns where there were no anti-Serbian demonstrations before the declaration of war on Serbia. All press wrote more or less the same about the death, as well as the expres-sions of mourning for the murdered ducal couple. News on the international reactions to the assassination was similar, which is understandable because they all condemned the assassination. In addition, if the government is prepar-ing for war it will control the press even more intensively.10

Smotra dalmatinska11 informed its readers on the journey of Francis Fer-dinand and his murder in great detail informing the readers that the crown prince moved from Trieste with the battleship “Viribus unitis” to Metković, then through Mostar to Sarajevo.12 On the day of the murder, on Sunday, June 28th a special issue was released entirely dedicated to the assassination, which was repeated on Monday and Tuesday, June 30th, as well. The first extraordi-nary enclosure provided no broader context of the assassination, but retained the pathetic description of the event:

10 The article in Split’s Sloboda talks about the growing political control and censorship: “Due to opportunities that have taken over in Split and due to which writing of the independent press is prevented, and so that we, as far as possible, avoid useless huge costs, which our newspaper is subjected to by regular confiscations from the state attorney, we decided that for now, until this abnormal condition persists and until opportunities are better, we are publishing the newspaper in advance on two sides from tomorrow”, “Iz uredništva”, [“From the Editorial Board”], Sloboda, No. 121, 22 July 1914.11 Smotra dalmatinska (hereinafter SD) expressed the opinion of the central government of Vienna.12 An article in the section Telegrams of the editorial board, “N. V. nasljednik prijestolja nadvo-jvoda Franjo Ferdinand na vojne vježbe u Bosnu” [“N. V. crown prince, Archduke Franz Ferdi-nand in a military exercise in Bosnia”], No. 50, 24 June 1914; and “Bosna i Hercegovina. Doček N. V. nadvojvode Franje Ferdinanda u Mostar. Put u Ilidže I u Sarajevo” [“Bosnia and Herzegovina. Admittance of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Mostar. Travel to Ilidža and Sarajevo”], SD, No. 51, 27 June 1914.


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“This morning a terrible transgression was carried out in Sarajevo, which fills with horror and casts deepest sorrow and mourning on our Monarchy that will arouse indignation throughout the whole enlightened world ... In this cruel moment, all the nations of the empire, deeply moved by the memory that the awful news arouse in them turn their thought to their ruler who was once more so tragically hit and join their hearts in prayer in order for God to give him strength in this overwhelming temptation, to withstand all terrible accidents that very deeply afflict his old days.”13

It is possible to read about anti-Serb demonstrations in another special is-sue from June 30th, with a description of the demonstrations of the Croatian school youth in Sarajevo, its greeting of the army that came out on the streets to maintain order.14 Smotra would defame assassins in the same release and would express doubts in their connection with the forces outside the Monar-chy. This will be confirmed in another article but would stand in defense of the “Serbian-Orthodox” population in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was largely loyal to the Monarchy, and only the outdoor propaganda “seduced high school youth and socialists of the Serbian Orthodox faith”.15 On the other hand, writ-ing of the Smotra on the death of Franz Ferdinand could be construed as in-citement to anti-Serb demonstrations:

“The noble folk soul flared at the sight, offended in its pride, wounded in its lively feeling, and gave vent to its anger, its grief. The bastards who attacked the Archduke would have a hard time if they fell in the hands of the people in that hour; because wherever they were, whether in Bosnia or in other regions of the Monarchy inhabited by the people of our blood ... the love for the ruler ... is sincere, pure.”16

The spread of anti-Serbian demonstrations across the Croatian lands and the violence in which it occurred worried the Austrian authorities. Smotra was working towards minimizing the image of the violence of the demonstra-tions noting that not a single Serb was killed by the demonstrators, while two demonstrators were killed by the Serbs. In addition, it was pointed out that the Serbian agitation in Bosnia and Herzegovina had been particularly strong since 1908. Given that no government can allow anarchy in its territory nei-ther could the Austrian government. That is why with the description of the Dubrovnik anti-Serbian demonstrations Smotra gave a comment of the latest

13 SD, No. 51, attachment of 28 June 1914. 14 “Iskazi protiv Srba u Sarajevu. Proglašenje prijekog suda” [“The testimonies against the Serbs in Sarajevo. The announcement of the court martial”], SD, No. 51, attachment dated 30 June 1914.15 “Izjave atentatora i njihovo ponašanje” [“Testimonials of assassins and their behaviour”] and “Moralni pokretači atentata” [“Moral drivers of the assassination”], SD, No. 51, attachment of 30 June 1914.16 “Nadvojvoda Franjo Ferdinand i vojvotkinja Sofija od Hogenberg” [“Archduke Franz Ferdi-nand and Duchess Sofia of Hohenberg”], SD, No. 52, 1 July 1914.


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events and urged residents to preserve peace and that the whole nation cannot suffer because of the “vile hand of the wicked”.17

In the descriptions of the demonstrations Smotra clearly indicates that peas-ants from the surrounding area are involved in the most part. The situation was particularly tense in Dubrovnik, where the gathered demonstrators demanded the removal of the Serbian flag from the municipal building, which the governor Melko Čingrija did, but only at the request of the district council. After this kind of opposition to the demonstrators, his house was guarded by the constabulary.18 Smotra denied the writing of Split’s Sloboda of the alleged anti-Serb demonstra-tions of Italians in Zadar.19

Through this whole period Smotra publishes a variety of articles, letters and sketches that accompanied the display of public mourning for the murdered ducal couple. They are mainly commemorative gatherings, funeral masses and homages towards the murdered pair as well as towards the ruler. The total number is large, and amounts to 153 articles in seven numbers of Smotra or an average of 22 articles published per sheet.20

Narodni list also issued a special edition the day after the assassination, June 29th, which, unfortunately, is not preserved.21 In the first number after the assas-sination, that is, in number 52, Narodni list immediately clearly defined itself against anti-Serb demonstrations taking place across the Croatian lands:

“It is with great sadness that we note these emergences by condemning the callousness of the Frankist22 leaders, who want to use, in these times, the

17 “Nakon sarajevskog atentata”, “Prutusrpski iskazi” [“Following the Sarajevo assassination”, “Anti-Serb testimonies”], SD, No. 53, 4 July 1914; and “’Fremden-Blatt’ o demonstracijama pred srpskim poslanstvom u Beču” [“‘Fremden-Blatt’ on the demonstrations in front of the Serbian Legation in Vienna”], SD, No. 54, 8 July 1914. 18 “Protusrpske demonstracije u Dubrovniku. Oružništvo čuva Čingrijinu kuću” [“Anti-Serb demonstrations in Dubrovnik. Constabulary guards the Čingrija house”], SD, No. 54.19 “Izmišljotine” [“Fabrications”], SD, No. 54. Sloboda from Split wrote about the alleged anti-Serb demonstrations in Zadar in the article “Protusrpski iskazi” [“Anti-Serb testimonies”]: “Nowadays it is already known everywhere that the non-national Muslim mob had a major role in anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo and Mostar, which has only one feeling of patriotism in its heart: unquenchable hatred against the ‘infidel’. The better part of Catholics, and especially prominent Croats, did not participate in the hunt for the Serbs. In Tuzla demonstrations against the Serbs were prepared by the Gypsies. The Italian ragtag was especially prominent in Zadar. Frankists, the most degraded political group in Yugoslavia, were in charge in Croatia, with the clapping of German and Hun-garian kikes. This (...) Turkish-Gypsy-Italian-kike-Frankist congregation was intended to develop Croatian hatred for Serbs, but it did not happen”, Sloboda, No. 108, 7 July 1914. 20 Refers to number 53-59, from 4th to 25th July 1914.21 Article from the city and the surroundings in the section “Viesti”, “Posebno izdanje” [“Special edition”], NL, No. 52, 1 July 1914. 22 Members of one of the Rightist fraction, named after its leader Joseph Frank. They had a distinct anti-Serb orientation, and collaborated with the Greater Austrian circuit connected to the murdered crown prince.


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general sorrow against the Serbian part of our people for the purposes of their parties. As if it was not enough that with the terrible atrocity, committed in Sa-rajevo, every Serbian heart shuddered, in deep mourning and pain for the sake of that wrongdoing in which all our people take place, wether Serbs or Croats. Brutal Frankist party freaks corrupt the unanimity of this national mourning in an ugly way.”23

Narodni list conviction of the anti-Serbian demonstrations is understand-able, because as we have seen in this article, the newspaper considers Serbs part of a single Croatian-Serbian nation, and the attack on Serbs is equal to the at-tack on Croats, and only the “partymen”, as Narodni list considers the Frankists, do not realize national unity. But the Nationalist (Yugoslav oriented) youth who is dealing with the Rightist youth in Zagreb “understands” that unity.24

Anti-Serb demonstrations horrified Narodni list. They asked where the forcefulness of state government dissapeared, how it was possible to allow the writing of part of the Vienna and Budapest press that openly attacked and blamed the Serbs, as well as all the South Slavs for the assassination, when the deep loyalty of “our people” was known. The most tragic thing according to the Narodni list were the exploits of Frankists who rebelled part of the people against the other part. They saw the inactivity of Croatian public in opposing Frankists as an effort to blow out in “their wild passions”. Also, we must note that Narodni list somewhat exaggerated in the description of demonstrations in Sarajevo, citing damages of Serbian property that go up to, according to them, tens of millions of crowns.25 What was initially a shy monitoring of anti-Serbian demonstrations in Dalmatia was not possible after the Dubrovnik in-cidents. Narodni list tracked all demonstrations, reported the conviction of the Czech press and the Yugoslav youth from Prague, and itself condemned, once again, the inactivity of state authorities. They noted that not a single promi-nent member of the Dubrovnik rightist party participated in the descriptions of Dubrovnik demonstrations, but “rabble” from the country, and especially members of the shooting association from Brgat.26

23 “Veliki izgredi po Bosni i u Zagrebu. Obsadno stanje u Sarajevu” [“Large incidents in Bosnia and in Zagreb, Martial law in Sarajevo”], Narodni list, (hereinafter NL), No. 52, 1 July 1914.24 “Izgredi na ulici” [“The incidents on the street”], NL, No. 52.25 “Nakon sarajevskog atentata. Posljedice” [“Following the Sarajevo assassination. Consequenc-es”], NL, No. 53, 4 July 1914. 26 “Nekoji izgredi”, “Drugi izgredi”, “Glasovi češke štampe” [“Few incidents”, “Other incidents”, “Voices of the Czech press”] etc., NL, No. 54, 8 July 1914. The Serbian Dubrovnik gave its view of the Dubrovnik demonstrations: “Rightist from Dubrovnik retreated after the mass [for the soul of the murdered couple, author’s comment] which was met with praise in Dubrovnik. So homeless groups were left in front of the municipality, for which nobody actually knows who or what they are, which family, or name and some of our farmers were with them. The only man from Du-brovnik is the captain Matičević who is giving a speech. Right then the warrant of the government arrived to strip the Serbian flag from the municipality which was granted. Attack on the Serbian societies, Radničko društvo, Pjevačko društvo Sloga, Srpska Zora, Matica Srpska and Štionica.


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Hrvatska kruna differently monitored anti-Serb actions than other Zadar newspapers. Kruna already devoted considerable attention to the anti-Serb demonstrations in Dalmatia in its first issues after the assassination. The anti-Serb demonstrations in these areas were described in two letters from Donja Kaštela and Split. Maybe Narodni list was even more bothered by the blade of the demonstrations against the local authorities because in Split the demon-strators threatened the municipal authorities that, as the Italian government fell, so would the current Serbian-dominated government have to fall.27 Just like Narodni list, Hrvatska kruna also condemned the writing of part of the Austrian and Hungarian press advocating an iron hand on the South Slavs:

“But we can not understand how it can be asked that the ‘iron hand’ is transferred on Croats, Serbs and Slovenes in the Monarchy because of the Greater Serbian propaganda from Serbia. It is the striving of Croats, Serbs and Slovenes to unite as a nation in the Monarchy, completely inconsistent with the Greater Serbian idea; that our national ideal is practically the opposite of the Greater Serbian idea”.28

The confirmation of the prevalence of Greater Serbian idea, according to the writing of the Frankist Hrvatska, was that prominent Serbs supposedly gathered in the apartment of Milan Pribićević, brother of Svetozar Pribićević, leader of the Croatian-Serbian Coalition, and that Milan Pribićević said that difficult days were coming for the Serbs because the crown prince hated Serbs.29 According to Hrvatska kruna the Serbs disliked the crown prince be-cause he was considered “the founder of trialism” and was therefore eliminat-ed.30 And the Serbian conspirators were located throughout the continent, as

They broke several shops and the falcon society Dušan Silni”. “Demonstracije i izgredi nepoznatih u Dubrovniku” [“Demonstrations and unknown incidents in Dubrovnik”], Dubrovnik, No. 20, 9 July 1914. These demonstrations took place on 4th of July 1914. 27 “Pišu nam iz Spljeta na 2 ov. mj.” [“They write to us from Split on the 2nd this month”], Hrvats-ka kruna (hereinafter HK), No. 52, 4 July 1914. 28 “Iz temelja” [“From the ground up”], HK, No. 53, 8 July 1914 29 “O boravljenju Milana Pribićevića u Zagrebu” [“About the stay of Milan Pribićević in Za-greb”], HK, No. 53.30 “Sudbina Bosne i Hercegovine” [“The fate of Bosnia and Herzegovina”], HK, No. 54, 11 July 1914. Hrvatska kruna quite sharply described the departure of the Bosnian Serbs to Vienna and Budapest: “Newspapers make that the deputation of Bosnian Serb was led by Dimović, who himself said to the Hungarian Minister President, that the Serbs of Bosnia-Herzegovina are overwhelmingly loyal to the government and ‘faithful as dogs’ to the Hungarians. Is it pos-sible that the Serbs are so spineless in certain moments?” “Vjerni kao psi” [“Faithful as dogs”], HK, No. 59-60. Serbian newspaper Dubrovnik used a completely different tone to follow the departure of Dimović, Serbian politician from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Istvan Tisza, where he expressed loyalty of Bosnian Serbs to the Monarchy. To that Tisza replied that the Bosnian Serbs will be his friends. “After Count Tiszas statement Dimović is prescribed great success in the removal of all the intrigues that were directed against the Serbian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and had the main support in Stadlers Muslim bloc”. “Dimovićeva akcija” [“Action by Dimović”], Dubrovnik, 23 July1914. Joseph Stadler was a Catholic Vrhbosnian (Sarajevo)


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notified by the Hrvatska kruna commenting raids in Berlin, which allegedly proved the connection of the local students with the Greater Serbian organiza-tion “Jedinstvo”.31 Hrvatska kruna offered a cure to this type of youthful “anar-chism” in the form of the return to Christian education in schools, that is, the motto of the action should be “Cross in schools”. Liberalism that has caused so much damage to “our youth” should be left out.32 With this sort of writing Hrvatska kruna wanted to defame, in the eyes of the Greater Austrian circle, opponents of the Rightists, the Croatian-Serbian coalition in Croatia proper and the Croatian Party and Croatian Popular Progressive Party in Dalmatia. The apparent strengthening of the military factor in the Austro-Hungarian politics, closely associated with the Greater Austrian idea, encouraged the part of the Rightists in Croatian countries to present themselves to the Austrians as the only loyal element in the south of the country. To this end, the most promi-nent members of the Coalition in Cratia proper were attacked because they were pro-Serbian minded, and because of their cooperation with the Hungar-ians as well, the largest opponents of the Greater Austrian idea. With the attack on the liberal idea in Dalmatia their biggest proponents were also attacked, primarily Dalmatian progressives but also a good deal of the Croatian Party. At the same time Kruna was “courting” the Dalmatian clergy urging them to take ideological control over education, and thus the Rightists were portrayed as the biggest fighters against the liberal ideology.

Anti-Serb demonstrations were more than welcome with the Italian press in Dalmatia that could gloat with interpersonal conflicts between Croats and Serbs. In the context of the conflict, the leading Italian newspaper in Dalmatia Il Dalmata, held the Serbian side which was an echo of those earlier times when the Serbian and Italian parties were allies in the fight against the Croatian Dal-matian parties. Il Dalmata condemned the demonstration in a commentary since a nation could not be held responsible for the behavior of a few. On the other hand, it pointed out that there was no demonstration in Zadar because the leaders of the Italian parties had invested all their authority to prevent it. This did not happen in some places where the power was held by representa-tives of the Croatian parties that had the support of the Serbs. Herein there was a vicious allusion on Dubrovnik where the Croatian party carried the author-ity with the support of Serbian parties on the coast. The sharp response to Slo-boda from Split is understandable in this context which wrote that “the Italian ragtag” organized the anti-Serb demonstrations in Zadar.33

Archbishop with a distinct Croatian orientation. About Stadler see: Zoran Grijak, Politička ak-tivnost vrhbosanskog nadbiskupa Josipa Stadlera [Political activity of the Vrhbosnian Archbishop Josip Stadler] (Zagreb, 2001). 31 “Srbi u Berlinu” [“Serbs in Berlin”], HK, No. 58, 22 July 1914. 32 “Što da se radi?” [“What to do?”], HK, No. 59-60, 25 July 1914. 33 “A proposito degli eccessi anti-serbi” and “Eccessi anti-serbi in provincia”, Il Dalmata (herein-after DAL), No. 43, 8. 7. 1914. The newspaper stated the expression “the Italian ragtag” in original, i.e. the Croatian language.


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On the occasion of anti-Serb demonstrations in Dubrovnik Il Dalmata gave a comment full of sting against the Croats. Newspaper asked the Croats where their determination to protect the Serbs which they showed against the Italians was. The Serbian flag was removed by “imperative order” of the district governor addressed to the mayor of Dubrovnik, whom the newspaper asked where the freedom, the municipal autonomy and “other nice things” were. The mayor went to Zadar to seek help from the Regency and to ask: “What is left of Slavic reciprocity?”34 The newspaper accused the Croats of sectarianism even in expressing sadness because they played the Croatian anthem “Lijepa naša” at the memorial in Kotor even in these situations in order to “provoke”. As the Belgrade Pijemont wrote and Il Dalmata reported, the Austrian clericals and spies were the demonstrators and not the Croats.

As a remedy for the revolutionary mood of high school students’ and youth the newspaper sought tougher discipline in schools, and by the way vi-ciously mentioned cases of anarchy in Croatian schools throughout Dalmatia, to which Narodni list responded by calling the writing of Il Dalmata “police-like and shameful”.35

Risorgimento followed the anti-Serb demonstrations with considerable at-tention. In the first issue after the assassination a great editorial about the “Yu-goslavian lie” was written. The article presented a number of ideas of which the most important one was that the idea of Yugoslav nationalism was very young, resulting in the Balkan wars, and that the Croats joined the triumph of the Serbian army as “parasites”, but it should be recognized that a certain portion of Croats did not recognize the Serbian supremacy, and these were the clerical Catholics who “hated” the Serbs. However, anti-Serb demonstrations showed n all the make-believe of Yugoslav nationalism, which was based only on sentiment and disappeared in blood. Of course, Risorgimento mocked the so-called brotherhood of Serbs and Croats, and claimed that the promoters of the Yugoslav idea had forgotten how different the people who should form the new nation were.36 The newspaper noted that the idea of austroslavism, which Risorgimento connected with the trialism should be a counterweight to the irredentist Serbian policy, which the Austrian ruling circles wanted. The news-paper asked weather Austria could rely on the loyalty of Croats who shouted “Long live King Peter of Croatia” two years before, and now they were attack-ing the Serbs and insulting King Peter.37

34 “Ancora delle dimostrazioni anti-serbe”, DAL, No. 44, 11 July 1914. 35 “Anarchia scolastica”, DAL, No. 45, 15 July 1914; and “Preturski duh” [“The spirit of police-man”], NL, No. 57, 18 July 1914. Narodni list goes on to accuse and claims that the “Il Dalmata’” goal of writing is: “They always criticize the government: those are the fruits of the Croatianization of schools in Dalmatia! As if Dalmatia had to stay a monster in the world, out of the governments love for the Lapenns askeri: Italian schools for the Croatian population!”36 “La menzogna jugoslava”, RIS, No. 253, 4 July 1914.37 “Facce dello slavismo”, RIS, No. 254, 11 July 1914.


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The descriptions of demonstrations bear the clear anti-Croat tone of Risorgimento. It mocked the Frankist obstruction in the Croatian Parliament and used harsh words in the article “The tenderness of the Croats”38, in which it accused the clerical leadership of the Rightists for organizing demonstrations and the helplessness of Smodlaka to resist it in Split because his “empire” ended with the end of the city.39 The newspaper expressed surprise in the violence of the demonstrations in Dubrovnik, in that “Republican” city and “the center of the Dalmatian Serbianism”.40 Risorgimento was particularly sharp on the writing of Sloboda from Split on the fictional Zadar demonstrations. The answer was that Zadar was an Italian city with ancient tradition of civility and such an event could not happen in it.41

The largest part of the Dalmatian newspapers condemned the anti-Serb demonstrations, except for the ones of the right orientation such as Hrvatska kruna.42 Every newspaper had condemned these events out of their particular interests. Narodni list was a strong advocate of the Croatian-Serbian national unity in the period immediately before the First World War. It believed that the Croats could solve their nation’s problems only in close collaboration with the Serbs. Breaking the Croatian-Serbian Unity, which was one of the goals of anti-Serbian demonstrations, for that newspaper meant the return to previous periods of fruitless friction between Croats and Serbs. Semi-official Smotra could not tolerate anarchy and legal uncertainty even though it used the anti-Serb statements as a response to the Serbian policy of most South Slavic politi-cians. Il Dalmata condemned the riots in the name of principles of justice, and in that way wanted to show that the Italians were the only allies of the Serbs in Croatia. Risorgimento condemned the demonstration as an anticivilized act which was not possible in Zadar, which was governed by the “Italian” civiliza-tion and culture, rejoicing the collapse of the Yugoslav idea to which the Croats fled as “parasites”.

Hrvatska kruna positively described the anti-Serb demonstrations although the main bulletin of Starčević’s Rightist party Hrvat convicted them. With this writing Hrvatska kruna had neared politically to Frankists and their attitude to-wards the Serbs. The reasons are numerous. Firstly, Hrvatska kruna never ad-opted the policy of national unity with the Serbs, not even a policy of active cooperation with them. The idea of the Yugoslav state union was never positively

38 “Gentilezza Croata”, RIS, No. 254.39 “Cronaca della provincia – Da Spalato”, RIS, No. 254.40 “Anche a Ragusa”: “Sono avenute assai gravi dimostrazioni antiserbe se credeva generalmente che Ragusa fosse la Mecca del serbismo dalmati, che in lei, nutriato di tradizioni repubblicane, si fosse accumulata la fierezza della stirpe anelante alla indipedenza. Invece le dimostrazioni furono a Ragusa molto più gravi che a Spalato (…)”, RIS, No. 254. 41 “La ‘Sloboda’”, RIS, No. 254. 42 Anti-Serb demonstrations were supported by Dan from Split (newspaper close to Frankist views) and Rightist newspaper from Dubrovnik Prava Crvena Hrvatska.


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treated in Hrvatska kruna. Secondly, Franz Ferdinand was portrayed as an ad-vocate of the idea of trialism, and a shot at him meant a shot in the Croatian interests, an idea going through the writing of Hrvatska kruna. The third reason is of local nature. Namely, Rightists in the Zadar area were the main fighters in Croatinizing Zadar and were the only to have the native Croatian population alongside them (Arbanasi, Croatian villages around Zadar, the island’s munici-palities and municipality Nin), and the cooperation of the Serbian population in Zadar would fail despite the Zadar resolution, which contributed to further mistrust of most of Zadar Croats in local Serbs. The fourth reason lies in parties. Hrvatska kruna wrote against the respective municipal authorities in its letters, beside the anti-Serbian tone of the demonstration, who were ruled by the Croa-tian Party in cooperation with the Croatian People’s Progressive Party.

It should be noted that the Dalmatian public was not expecting a declara-tion of war. According to the Serbian newsletter Dubrovnik dated July 13th, 1914, “The punishment of Serbia for the Greater Serbian propaganda is requested. This sudden ultimatums over the kike [[derogatory term for Jews] -Viennese press are a little strange, and sound almost ridiculous. So ... you will get no note or ultimatum.”43

Declaration of War, July 28th, 1914

Psychosis of uncertainty gripped Dalmatia even before a formal declara-tion of war. Four days before the declaration of war, on July 24, 1914, Hrvatska kruna announced that a news on the attempted bombing of the Regency was spreading through Zadar. Apparently an Albanian with a bomb was arrested in Arbanasi. One of the consequences of the alleged bombing was that from that point on one could only enter the Regency after a check up. There is no confirmation of such news in the available archives, but the news had been screened, so the question is whether the government placed that rumor so that it would be easier to introduce security measures at the governor’s office. Later it was determined that a certain Lukšić, a returnee from America, was falsely accused of the bomb threat, and was “beaten to death” by the crowd.44 On the eve of the declaration of war, the Ministry of Finance issued the instruction on July 27th, 1914 to the Financial Guard with a coded telegram under the “strictly confidential” mark, instructing them “not to be considerate as they were while securing the border and to prevent the emigration of individuals.”45

43 “Poslije izvršenog atentata – Beč, 13. Jula” [“After the assassination - Vienna, 13 July”], Du-brovnik, No. 21, 16 July 1914. The press of pro-Yugoslav and Serbian orientation in Dalmatia often had anti-Semitic writings.44 “Glasovi o bombam u Zadru” [“Voices of bombs in Zadar”], HK, No. 59-60, 25 July 1914. “Apšenja” [“Arrests”], HK, No. 61, 29 July 1914.45 Državni arhiv u Zadru (State Archives in Zadar, hereinafter DAZD), Spisi Pokrajinskog finan-


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The declaration of the Austro-Hungarian war to Serbia July 28, 1914 prompted anti-Serb demonstrations even in Zadar. Demonstrations took place in front of the the “Srpska čitaonica” and the Episcopal residence, when the glass in the windows started to break, and the Orthodox priest was physi-cally attacked.46 At the beginning of the war, the Serbian community in the city felt unsafe and even Serbian leaders in the city, like the deputy of the Imperial Council Dušan Baljak, feared for their safety. Therefore Baljak was afraid to walk alone along the waterfront fearing that the police might push him into the sea to drown. Otherwise, Baljak later enthusiastically came to the Italian consul in mid-August of 1914 following the Serbian victories in the battle of Cerska.47 Anti-Serb statements emerged after the formal session of the Zadar Municipal Council, July 29th, when the citizens of Zadar expressed loyalty to the ruler. During the ending of the session someone shouted “Down with Ser-bia!”. Thereafter, Mayor Ziliotto asked all those present “to look that their pa-triotism statements exemplify the cultured world and let no one mix the state of Serbia, against which we heard a shout the previous moment, with a part of our fellow citizens who are also loyal subjects of the state and the emperor, and who are ready as we are to seize weapons against a country with which we are now at war”.48

While the leadership of the Zadar Italians tried to avoid clashes with Serbs in the town and acted on their membership in that direction, conflicts with Zadar Croats continued. Bengal shows were organized in Zadar on September 2nd, even during the temporary Austrian victories in early September of 1914 against the Russians in Galicia. During the celebration there was singing in Croatian, which the Italian majority in the city did not want to endure. There was an anti-Croatian protest in which even women participated.49 However, due to fears of anti-Serb actions the Serbian flag was removed from the build-ing of the National Committee. By the end of the war, the Dalmatian, Croatian and Habsburg black and yellow state flag would be flying for which there was no room at the front of the building before the war.50

The decision of the authorities to ban the ringing from of the Zadar church-es for three days contributed to the general feeling of insecurity. After the dec-

cijskog ravnateljstva [Files of the Provincial Financial Directorate, (hereinafter Fin)], vo. 82, No. 4135/14. 46 “Pred srbskom čitaonicom i episkopskom residencijom” [“In front of the Serbian reading room and the Episcopal residence”], HK, No. 61, 29 July 1914.47 Antonino D’Alia, Aneddoti ed episodi dell’ irredentismo italiano in Dalmazia (Rome, 1930), p. 20.48 “Svečana sjednica obćinskog vieća u Zadru” [“Ceremonial Meeting of the Municipal Council in Zadar”], HK, No. 62, 1 August 1914. 49 “Bakljada radi pobjede našeg oružja” [“Bengals because of the victory of our arms”] and “Nizki istinkti(!)” [“Low instincts(!)”], HK, No. 72, 5 September 1914. 50 “Ne više srbska” [“No more Serbian”], HK, No. 86, 24 October 1914.


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laration of war, the people sought solace in God, so the churches in Zadar filled with people.51 Masses were held for the victory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A prayer for the ruler and a prayer “in time of war” was introduced at quiet masses.52 A sense of insecurity had inspired people to replace paper money with silver equivalent in the branch of the Austro-Hungarian Bank in Zadar. To prevent the outflow of precious metals from the State Treasury:

“The Regency has issued the necessary measures to explain that there is no any imminent financial crisis and to reassure the population. It is unfortunate that among them there is a good part of the population of civil servants that instil the people with more fear that necessayr to reassure the population”.53

Tragicomic situations occured such as a peasant being arrested who was suspicious because he hung around the monastery. Later it was established that the peasant sought monks for a confession.54

“Six hours before the declaration of war”, on July 28th, 1914 the Austrian authorities arrested the progressive oriented youth: Antonio Filipić, Ivo Svetec, Đivo Višić, Marko Valčić, Špiro Čakić, Vinko Vladović and Ivo Marković. After the arrest they were taken to internment in Maribor and subsequently transferred to Göllersdorf near Vienna. 48 men and 42 women were incar-careted in the Zadar prison for political reasons up to August 14th, and then they were transferred to Rijeka with the steamer “Višegrad”. Among the pris-oners there were known Dalmatian political workers of Serbian and Yugoslav orientation: Melko Čingrija, archpriest Sava Barbić, Anthony Pugliesi, Maja Nižetić-Čulić, Jerko Čulić, Niko Bartulović, Oskar Tartaglia i Dimitri Kačić.55 Among those arrested was a longtime opponent of the Rightists and Yugoslav-oriented politician Dr. Jerko Machiedo, Member of the Dalmatian Parliament and assessor of the National Committee. Machiedo was arrested on charges that he urged the soldier from Poličnik not to perform his duties. Although he was acquitted three months later, Machiedo did end up in internment. The Regency requested, under the “strictly confidential” label, that the National Committee replace Jerko Machiedo as the member of the Provincial school

51 “Zavezana I razvezana zvona” [“Tied up and untied bells”], HK, br. 61, 29 July 1914; and “Narod se Bogu utiče” [“The people are influenced by God”], HK, No. 62, 1 August 1914.52 “Crkvena vlast je naredila” [“The church authorities have ordered”], HK, br. 62, 1 August 1914; and “Svečana misa za pobjedu austrougarskog oružja” [“Solemn Mass for the victory of the Aus-tro-Hungarian arms”], HK, No. 63, 4 August 1914. 53 DAZD, Fin, vo. 82, No. 4626/14. 54 “Fantazija” [“Fantasy”], HK, No. 63, 4 August 1914. 55 Ljubo Jurković –Kosta Milutinović, “Jugoslavenski nacionalno-revolucionarni omladinski pokret u Zadru (1910.-1914.)”, [Yugoslav national-revolutionary youth movement in Zadar (1910-1914)] Zadarska revija, XV, br. 1, (Zadar, 1965), 25. Regency forwarded a command of the KÜA prohibiting the publication of news about the arrest of political suspects. DAZD, Presidijalni spisi namjesništva [Presidial documents of the Regency (hereinafter PSN)], vo. 699, No. 57/geh (classified), 27 August 1914.


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Council because, remarking sarcastically, “although they hope he will prove his innocence they still expect his reputation will suffer and therefore seek another member in the Council”.56 Prodan had no understanding for political detainees, but described them as “rot” that the “unfortunate Serbs threw in our nation”.57 By the end of July 1914 the total number of arrested in Dalmatia was: 4 representatives on the Imperial Council, 5 representatives of the Dal-matian Parliament, 16 Catholic and Orthodox priests, 17 lawyers and notaries, 5 doctors and pharmacists, 33 merchant bankers and traders, 13 professors and teachers, 14 private clerks, seven journalists, 16 state, land and municipal clerks, 32 landowners, 12 students and more girls and ladies, among which two were lactating and over 200 villagers. All were taken to Maribor.58

At the beginning of the war the temporary victories of the Austrian army were celebrated by the general decoration of the city, by playing marches of the municipal music, special illuminations, numerous telegrams-congratulations. As the war continued the manifest celebration would gradually be held less and less. Indeed, decoration of the city would be organized only by orders.59

During 1914 Dalmatia was not so open to attacks, except for minor as-saults of the French Navy on the islands of Šipan and Vis. The situation was much different in the Bay of Kotor, that directly bordered with the hostile Montenegro. Commander of the Lovćen Detachment Adjutant General Mitar Martinović surrendered the note at the turn Trojica on August 8th at 8.49 a.m. to the military commander of Kotor, thus starting the warfare within six hours of the surender of the note: “The dispute of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with the Serbian nation moves into open hostility within six hours after the receipt of the newspaper. We are awaken with the feelings of humanity to give you this knowledge so that you promptly get out from the town of Kotor in a safe place or shelter all noncombatants, i.e. women, weak (!), children, the elderly and the sick, and so that the humanitarian and religious buildings are not damaged, please mark them with visible signs as directions to our artillery”. The mili-tary commander of Kotor Bata registered that the population left the city on August 8th but that it is slowly returning. Writing about the military-political situation in Kotor, district governor Budisavljević noble Prijedor writes about

56 DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, No. 6397/1914. 57 “Dr. Mahciedo uapšen” [“Dr. Machiedo arrested”], HK, No. 64, 8 August 1914; and [“Dr. Jerko Machiedo”], HK, No. 93, 18 November 1914. 58 “Politička progonstva u Dalmaciji” [“Political persecutions in Dalmatia”], NL, No. 62, 4 Au-gust 1917. 59 “Radi pobjede” [“In order to win”], and “Čestitali sun a pobjedam zapovjedniku Potioreku” [Commander Potiorek was congratulated on his winnings”], HK, No. 91, 21 November 1914. Regency ordered the principalities to “in occasion of great success of our brave army against Italy we command general decoration tomorrow on 23 of May on the anniversary day of the announced war”. PSN, vo. 687, no number.


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Montenegro’s warning: “But as experience has shown that the Montenegrin grenades and shrapneli have not been spared, but quite the contrary aimed primarily at buildings having white flags (referring to the Montenegrin attack on Skadar 1912/1913, AN) etc. so there is a general suspicion that Montenegro, if it comes to the bombing of Kotor and the surrounding area, will try to target and destroy just the Catholic churches and cultural and other buildings in this episode, especially where Croats (Catholics) reside.” After the declaration of war, the district government of Kotor moved to Herceg Novi.60

Montenegrin attack on the Bay of Kotor acted indirectly on Zadar. The city took hundreds of refugees from the Bay, and the director of Kotor gymnasium Vilim Gross replaced the retired Marcel Kušar on the position of the director of the Croatian gymnasium in Zadar.61

Mobilisation

In historiography, as well as in the conversation, the efficiency of the Aus-trian government is often highlighted.62

In principle, we can agree with this statement, but there are cases when disbelief follows disorganization and inefficiency of public administration. It is more surprising when it happens during recruitment. Specifically, the archival material shows that the military authorities who have dealt with recruitment did not have data on dead recruits or those who have emigrated abroad. Police Department of the district government is overwhelmed with reports of mili-tary organs failing to respond to the mobilization precisely in these cases. We can also mention the incredible cases. The army reported Ernest Bauer (1869) for his non-response to mobilization. Bauer was a clerk in the governor’s of-fice (the highest civilian authority in Dalmatia) and went to Drniš during the evacuation of the Regency offices and half a year after the evacuation (January 1916) the military authorities did not know anything. Or a complaint against Venceslav Stermich for whom the army did not know that he was the Zadar Municipal assessor and thus exempted from conscription.63 Of course, there are anonymous tips by locals of conscripts that failed to respond because of

60 DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, No. 4290, 1914. 61 “Promjena na upravi Hrvatske gimnazije u Zadru” [“The change in administration of the Croatian gymnasium in Zadar”], HK, No. 85, 21 October 1914.62 By December 1914, 1 117 military conscripts of the peoples uprising were mobilized from Zadar. It looked like this according to municipalities: Nin - 136, Rovinj - 82, Zadar - 490, Pag - 93, Silba - 49, Rab - 86 and municipality Sali - 62 soldiers. “How many soldiers were taken from the peoples uprising”, HK, No. 98, 5 December 1914. 63 DAZD, Kotarsko poglavarstvo u Zadru [A district government in Zadar (hereinafter KPZ)], vo. 291, No. 32406/16, 32577/16.


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personal or political hatred as reporting of Pag people being an “Italian nation” because of their avoidance of military service.64

In addition to all principle positions on the general susceptibility to mili-tary service, the tenure in the governor’s office allowed many officials to be ex-empt from military service. Among those freed from military service was Pe-ter Kasandrić, editor of the semiofficial Smotra dalmatinska, who for his entire editorial mandate was officially listed and received a salary as a computational clerk.65 Essential professionals or wealthy owners of agricultural enterprises were freed from military service, such as the director of the Veresien National Institute Franjo Žižka, or a master for plows Antun Stipter as well as mill own-ers Doimo Busolich and Michele Bakmazs. Some tried to show their economic activity as necessary requisite, for example Nino Detoni, manufacturer of ice. The Regency refused his request by pointing out that during the 1915 and 1916 his factory worked very little and that he imported ice from Šibenik.66 Right at the beginning of the war, in August 1914 the authorities, by order of the Military Command of Mostar, took action of evidenting cars in order of possible mobilization of vehicles. In Zadar out of 21 vehicles, 12 vehicles that were privately owned and 5 vehicles that were owned by the transport com-pany “Autobus” were mobilised. Estimated value of each vehicle ranged from 10,400 to 15,000 kruna.67 The vehicles were requisitioned and added to the company “Autobus” that was responsible for a variety of services for the army (the transportation of mail and soldiers). The increased scope of action soon led to shortages of gasoline, and the management of the company contacted the governor’s office to assist them in the procurement of gasoline as it would otherwise had to stop its postal service in Northern Dalmatia. Also, due to mobilization, the company was left without a mechanic. The problem was not only in the purchase of gasoline but in tires as well and during the 1915 and 1916 their requisition was exercised.68

64 DAZD, KPZ, vo. 291, No. 59628/15. 65 DAZD, KPZ, vo. 316, No. 42343, 5 October 1917. and No. 42613, 9 October 1917. 66 DAZD, KPZ, vo. 318, No. 46565, 10 December 1917; No. 46894, 13 December 1917; No. 46192, 4 December 1917; No. 47490, 26 December 1917. Also, the governor of the Zadar Municipality Škarić directly addressed the military command in Mostar to release Lovro Babić, pasta producer, from military service. The Regency warned Kotar government to prevent future direct commu-nication of municipalities with military commands because it exceeds their competence. DAZD, KPZ, vo. 318, No. 46760 and 45725/1917. 67 Zadar wealthy persons, owners of the mobilized vehicles: Giuseppe Mazzoni, conte Begna, Gi-useppe Perlini, Dr. Carlo Hoeberth Antonio Perlini, Konrad Röpper, Mestrovich Antonio, Antonio Marušić, Manfred Borelli, Vladović, Dante Benevenia and owner of an illegible name. Governor of Obrovac Milan Urukalo brought his vehicle. DAZd, KPZ, vol. 276, No. 19637/1914. Dante Beneve-nia has a “Puch” motorcycle with strength of two horsepower. Most of these owners have drivers, while Counts Begna and Borelli were themselves drivers.68 DAZD, KPZ, vo. 276, No. 1117/1914. No. 1256/1914. and vo. 276, No. 27449/1916.


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The requisition of horses and mules had significant social and economic effects on the Dalmatian village. Municipalities were required to keep records of horse owners and supervise them. The requisition of horses was done in Ze-munik since the beginning of the war until February 1915, so over 1,000 horses were seized. The price of each horse is evident from the requisition archives. The average price was between 550 and 600 crowns, while the army paid the owners over 623,000 crowns. Requisition continued throughout the war. Sad-dle manufacturers Fabulichu and Piccolo were paid almost 10,000 crowns for confiscated products.69

Political control

The day before the declaration of war a new central office for monitoring in time of war was formed in Vienna (Kriegüberwachungsamt, abbreviated KÜA). The office had accommodation in the building of the Ministry of War, while the board members were representatives of several ministries (Foreign Af-fairs, Interior, Finance, Trade, Land defense, Justice). Activity of the Office was to monitor all anti-state activities, and “service was performed day and night continuously”.70 Among the first steps of the Office was warning all state security organs that the Monarchy had a lot of subversive elements, and that special at-tention should be paid to protecting telegram and telephone lines, railways and water supply. However, during 1914, the sources did not encounter any subver-sive acts in Dalmatia. The governor hired Zadar and Arbanas Italianissimies71 to protect the Zadar pipeline.72 To strengthen the security forces in the field, au-thorities engaged additional manpower in the service of the gendarmerie from the ranks of officers and members of the people uprising. A particularly difficult situation was in Split where, as assessed by the authorities, 5 marshals from Za-dar came to assist the local police department during 1914. 73

The declaration of war led to changes in the supervision of the printing of newspapers because it represented an important segment of state propaganda. For example, military headquarters in Mostar, asked of the Regency to publish a notice in Smotra that women could participate in the police service.74 The proof 69 DAZD, KPZ, vo. 290, No. 11618/14, 556-res/15.70 DAZD, Fin, vo. 82, No. 4437, 2 August 1914. 71 Italianissimi - members of the society Società dei bersaglieri, sports and propaganda associa-tion of Italian orientation. 72 DAZD, Fin, vo. 82, No. 4573/14. 73 Zadar gendarmes arrived in Split on 21 March 1914 and certainly did not come back until the end of October of the same year. DAZD, Presidial documents of the Regency, vo. 680, No. 3850, 14 July 1914. Regarding additional gendarmes, the state could not provide a sufficient number of uniforms so they wore a black band with yellow border which said „Gendarme“, DAZD, Presidial documents of the Regency, vo. 681, No. 5418, 14 September 1914. 74 DAZd, PSN, vo. 683, No. 7305/14.


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of the official character of Smotra is in the fact that in the Regency orders there was always a note “to publish in Smotra”.75 Before the war, newspapers were censored after leaving the press, while the repressive organs performed quite unsuccessfully, subsequent seizure of editions, and now introduced preventive censorship. This meant that the printed copy of the newspaper was carried to the censorship office at the State Attorney’s Office that gave permission for printing. White patches were left on the site of seized articles or parts of articles. Newspa-pers did not go into distribution in the morning but in the afternoon when the cenzor process was finished. Number of seized articles varied from 1 to 6, as in Hrvatska kruna.76 Precisely the censorship prevented the press to truthfully re-port on the defeat of the Austrian army in Serbia (“Cer battle” - August 1914) but the news of the defeat was announced indirectly through the news of the arrival of wounded to Zadar and the heroism of the Austrian army on Cer.77 In August 1914 the Austrian authorities introduced the censorship of newspapers from Ita-ly. Regency determined that “all newspapers in Italy should be given to the main post office in Zadar, and from there to the police department in Zadar for cen-sorship”. Same procedure was intended for “Slavic-American” newspapers, or newspapers of South Slav immigrants.78 However, authorities were familiar with the fact that the distribution of Italian newspapers was still unfolding through-out Dalmatia. They suspected postal clerks, for example, a postal controller in Split, Albert Knight de Beden while the newspaper were smuggled across the Italian steamships that came to Zadar.79 The main office for defensive spying in Zadar received Italian newspaper Corriere della sera and Avanti through the Austro-Hungarian consulate in Switzerland for the purpose of monitoring ac-tivities of Austrian citizens abroad. However, even such specimens were not safe from abuse. The Office complained to the Directorate of mail and telegraphs that some numbers were missing, and the resulting numbers were in such a condi-tion that it could be concluded they were previously read. In addition to the pro-hibition of receiving newspapers from hostile countries, receiving newspapers from neutral countries was also strictly overseen. The postal censorship went so far as to stop the Vatican official gazette Acta Apostolicae Sedis received by Giovanni de Borzatti, auxiliary bishop of Zadar.80

75 DAZd, PSN, vo. 681, No. 7181/1914, 6150/1914, 6074/1914, 6033/1914, 5134/1914.76 “Naš list” [“Our newspaper”], HK, No. 67, 19 August 1914.77 “Ranjenici u Zadru” [“Wounded in Zadar”] and “Ratnik o bitci na 15. kolovoza” [“Soldier talk-ing about the battle of August 15th”], HK, No. 77, 23 September 1914.78 DAZD, PSN, vo. 683, No. 5099/14. 79 DAZd, PSN, vo. 683, No. 5874/14. and No. 6810/14. Themistocles Rongier was arrested and sentenced to five days in prison in Zadar on the 23rd December 1914 for smuggling Corrie della sera. Simonelli points out “it is an open secret that foreign, Monarchy opposing newspapers are being smuggled into the city”. DAZd, PSN, vo. 685, No. 232/14. 80 DAZd, Misc., vo. 18, pos. 28, No. K89-105/15.


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At the beginning of the war a special measure of state control of citizens' activities was introduced through military courts. Their activity expanded on December 16th, 1914 and included 11 areas:81

1. a) Wrongdoing of treason, b) crime of accomplice in treason, c) crime of accomplice in treason by deliberate omission to report

2. Crime against the military power of the state

3. Crime of disturbing the public peace

4. Crime of uprising

5. Crime of revolt

6. Crime of of violence against public officials or on railways, telegraphs and telephones

7. Crime of murder

8. Serious bodily injury

9. Crime of Robbery

10. Crime of arson at military facilities

11. Providing assistance for the above offenses.

From this it is evident that the military authorities had taken practically most of the civilian judicial authority, and thus expanded its jurisdiction over the civilians.

Austrian authorities considered Serbian political organizations and pro-Yugoslav oriented individuals and society as their greatest political opponents. Austrian authorities did not medlle in organizations impacted by a dominant Rightist ideology. It is clear from the letter of the Dubrovnik district governor Renkin to the Regency in which he justified the disbarment “of Italian and Ser-bian societies” (the letter was written in September 1915 after the outbreak of war with Italy). According to Renkin, societies should be disbared to “preserve the emotion present in the loyal Croatian layers (Rightists, AN), that all these so-cieties were aimed against state interests”. Or, according to the report of the Split governor Lane, “Hrvatski sokol” in Kaštel Sućurac was disbanded because of its Rightist orientation although its society president Ivan Alfirević was sentenced to a month because of anti-state statements. The clearest stance of Austrian au-thorities toward the falcon societies was by the military command in Sarajevo in a telegram to the governor’s office. According to it, “Serbian falcon societ-ies should be disbared forever, compromised Croatian falcon societies too, their property managed and curators appointed. Leave the remaining (Dalmatian, author’s comment) five Rightist falcon societies but keep constant surveillance

81 DAZd, Misc., vo. 19, pos. 22, No. 7131/14.


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on them”.82 Immediately after the declaration of war with Serbia, the authori-ties disbanded the “Srpski sokol”, “Hrvatski sokol” and “Hrvatsko akademsko društvo” (Society of Zadar Croatian and Serbian students).

During the disbandment of “Hrvatski akademski klub” in Zadar, the Re-gency opened a special file on the club. The file shows that the Austrian au-thorities followed the actions of the society even before the war. A particularly incriminating move of the club was the organization of marking the anniver-sary of the death of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan. At the memo-rial service in 1914 it was allegedly said that for 243 years people who speak Croatian have been enveloped in grief (the anniversary was attended by Zadar Serbs, and therefore the formulation of the Croatian people was omitted). The speech ended with the statement that “our blood is overcomed by the Italian and German lordship”. “Hrvatski akademski klub” was extremely active dur-ing the death of Serbian scientist and publicist Jovan Skerlić, the progressive icon of the South Slavic unity. The club participated in the commemoration for Skerlić, sent a telegram of condolence to the family and authorized the Belgrade university youth to represent them at the funeral, which in its own way speaks about previous contacts of the “Klub” with the Belgrade university students.83

Austrian security services monitored the anarchists, opponents of war and military obligations. According to Austrian sources, only two anarchists oper-ated in Zadar, Vjekoslav Collodrovich, a shoemaker by trade, and Fortunato Stanicich, server. Both were indicated to be non-believers. They were allegedly dangerous because they could come into contact with a known anarchist from Triest Marcel Bol who was monitored by safety authorities.84

Newspapers were forbidden to disclose the information that might give information about the military strength of the country. The privacy of corre-spondence was abolished. All letters had to be submitted and opened and were subject to censorship. They must not be written in non-European languages, and incomprehensible acronyms must not be used. Letters were subject to censor-ship of the Military - censor post-office in Zadar (KuK Militär-Brief-Zensur in Zara). In the case of letters coming from overseas to sender, the Military cen-sors asked for a report to the Kotar government, more accurately its Police de-partment of political opportunism for delivering letters to the addressee.85 The population was instructed not to be afraid of enemy aircrafts, explaining that the aircrafts could not fly at night, and the scope of their flight was limited by the

82 DAZD, PSN, vo. 683, No. 183/15., vo. 687, No. 649/16. and Misc. vo. 18, pos. 32, No. R-649-31, 25 April 1916. 83 DAZD, PSN, vo. 683, No. 6281/14.84 DAZD, PSN, vo. 683, No. 647/12. 85 DAZD, Misc., vo. 18, pos. 28.


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amount of gasoline. Citizens were supposed to report any information about the “flying machines” to military commanders.86

A more far-reaching decision was of the Marine Government of Trieste of August 4th 1914 that prohibited fishing, except in the area one mile of the coast. The decision destabilized the supply of population with fish, and especially hit the island population that largely lived off fishing.87 Dalmatia was hit even harder by a decision to ban the steamship navigation from August 16th, 1914. Steamship navigation would be permitted only with the consent of the Navy (Command in Šibenik).88 Maritime government in Trieste amended the command with a decision from September 26th 1914 that entering the harbor is only permitted by day.89 Communication control was extensive. In addition to the newspapers being placed under censorship, free telephone traffic was interrupted90, mail was monitored, while the state administration conducted a census of the owners of pigeons, to avoid possibly sending of messages via pigeons.91 An Italian memoir writing from the First World War established that the military authorities were promoters of stronger repression than the civilian government. Confirmation for this hypothesis was the appointment of a censorship comittee for telegrams. Regency endorsed the appointment of Martin conte Viskovich, high official of the Regency for the member of the censorship comittee. However, command in Sarajevo vetoed the decision, stating that Viskovich spent some time with Ghiglianovich before the war. Formal investigation was launched and Viskovich was acquitted. However, he was given a shadow of doubt, and therefore was not appointed as a member of the censorship committee.92 Also, military command in Mostar warned the police in Zadar that there were two groups of politically suspicious citizens. The first group consisted of Zadar Serbs and Serbian minded individuals, and the other group was of the Italian orientation. The first group included Orthodox priest Parent, father in law of the organizers of the “Yugoslav student union” Filipović, a lawyer Desnica, Marko Car, an official at the National Committee (writer and a Serb-Catholic, author’s comment), an Orthodox priest Raketić and Božičković, employer of the company “Autobus”. The second group included Krekich (financial advisor), professor Domiacussich and a port official Perić. Both groups walked the Kalelarga and military command asked if there was any contact between them. The district government responded that the po-lice was aware of these groups, but denied contact between the two groups.93

86 DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, No. 4598/1914.87 DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, No. 4372/1914. Municipality Sali already protested against the ban on August 19th. DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, No. 4372/1914.88 DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, No. 4967/1914. 89 DAZD, Fin, vo. 82, No. 3400/14. 90 Interrupted by the command of military authorities. DAZd, Fin, vo. 82, No. 5800/14. 91 DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, No. C20f/1914. and DAZd, PSN, vo. 699, R-72/3, 29 September 1915.92 DAZD, PSN, vo. 694, No. 633/16. 93 DAZD, PSN, vo. 699, No. 6/31


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Authorities had significantly limited the freedom of travel. For travel within the district, the municipality issued a pass that was valid only for 14 days. The pass had to be confirmed by the police station in the place. Passes may have been be issued by the village governor. For travels outside the district, a pass was is-sued by the Police Department of the district. For travels outside of Dalmatia a photo was required.94 In doing so the pass could be stamped only by the district governor or his deputy. When arriving by boat outside of Dalmatia the passen-gers, after landing, had to report to the police in the cities of Rab, Pag, Novalja, Novigrad, Ražanac and Zadar. All other places were closed for disembarkation of passengers arriving outside of Dalmatia. Captains of ships were required to keep lists of passengers.95

Austrian bureaucracy was particularly widespread in the field of security. However, excessive red tape does not indicate an increased efficiency of state bodies. During the war, not a single spy organization was discovered in Zadar, nor was the spread of anti-state news prevented. After the war, it was discov-ered that there were systems of spreading Italian newspapers while the Zadar mayor Ziliotto was informed of all the major plans of the Austrian authorities.

From the very beginning of the war of the Austrian government made plans on the activities of state bodies and institutions in the event of an im-minent threat. In late July 1914 the first war actions on the Dalmatian coast started. In the first line, the French ships attacked in southern Dalmatia. At-tacks occurred on the islands of Šipan and Vis. To avoid possible chaotic situa-tion at such times, the government issued general guidance on the action. First of all they pointed out that the national authorities, in the event of temporary occupation of the territory, should in any case preserve peace in the occupied territories. Armed resistance should not be an option. In the event that they could not leave the occupied territory, officials did not need to carry out their duties. In each case they must not do anything that would directly harm the Monarchy. If the occupier started performing requisitions, payment for goods or at least confirmation of the requisitioned funds should be demanded. In the case of armed actions without occupation, such as bombing, treasury funds should be protected and moved. District leaders and police stations should find suitable shelter for more valuable resources in advance.96

In addition to these general guidelines on the conduct in the case of war actions, the Regency initiated planning the evacuation of the coastal state in-stitutions to the interior of Dalmatia. Zadar would present a particular prob-lem for evacuation. The other centers such as Šibenik and Split were connected

94 DAZD, PSN, vo. 701, No. 24 c-45/15. 95 DAZD, PSN, vo. 701, No. 24 c-26/15, 9954/15, 1307/16. 96 On November 11th, 1914 the Austrian authorities issued detailed instructions in the event of temporary occupation and the behaviour of the population, which were complemented on March 5th, 1916. DAZD, KPZ, vo. 330, no number, 5 March 1916.


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by rail with the interior - Knin, that was again connected with the Steinbas nar-row-gauge railway with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Zadar had no rail link, and it severly limited the possibility of rapid and comprehensive evacuation. The problem was even greater given that the largest number of national and pro-vincial institutions was precisely in Zadar. Firstly, the Regency planned with-drawal of its departments. Knin, Drniš and Siverić (construction department of the Regency) were named as places of evacuation. The presidency of the Regency and the governor himself would be housed in Knin, while the gover-nor deputy Thun would be housed in Drniš with the other offices. Relocation of staff would be performed either by boat to Šibenik, then by rail to Knin or by the regular bus line Zadar - Knin. Special train compositions were provided for the evacuation. In addition, each coastal district should foresee evacuation of government and offices. Zadar district governor Simonelli, emphasized the patriotism of Zadar bureaucracy and predicted the possibility of moving to Zemunik. For this purpose, evidence on available horse-drawn carts in the city and Arbanasi was kept which would be used to conduct the transfer.97 Simonelli considers that the officialdom should evacuate exactly for safety rea-sons since the Allied robberies of Austrian ships led to a feeling of insecurity among the population, especially among officials. In doing so he emphasized the objective difficulties of evacuation such as a lack of transport and sought help from other parts of the province. He also proposed the begining of con-struction of at least the narrow gauge railway Zadar - Benkovac with the help of the army due to traffic, military and rationing reasons.98 According to the districts’ plan, 11 officials were determined that should be moved to Zemunik and 10 other officials would get leave from the day of the retreat, including itinerant teacher of agriculture and the district school superintendent, while a certain 35 officials would stop work on the day of evacuation.99 However, al-ready in 1915 Simonelli abandons the idea of moving to Zemunik considering that there was not enough adequate space to accommodate offices and clerks. According to him, 100 clerks that practically needed to go on foot to Zemunik should be accommodated. Also, a problem with feeding the additional clerks appeared. Simonelli proposed that the district government remained in Zadar, which would have a moral impact on citizenship.100

97 DAZD, KPZ, vo. 330, “Spisi o evakuacijam” [The files on the evacuations”], no number. 16 institutions that have to move out of the city except the Regency were stated: Financial Office, Court of Appeals, Financial Attorney, Oil consortium, Post office, District office for public good, Telegram, Port Authority, the Financial Guard, the Gendarmerie Provincial Office, District Ad-ministration gendarmerie, Industrial School, the Office of censorship, Provincial treasury, District government and the Logistic ward of the Zadar coast security battalion. A total of 67 specific pri-vate carts were named. 98 DAZD, PSN, vo. 699, No. 5821, 10 October 1914.99 DAZD, KPZ, vo. 330, No. 822/res, 1915.100 DAZD, PSN, vo. 699, No. 1106, 9 March 1915. It is noted that there are only 10 rooms available in Zemunik. DAZd, KPZ, vo. 330, No. 447/res, 12 February 1915.


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Problems around the supply of the population

Traffic isolation and difficult naval communications underlined the im-portance of rail connections within the Empire for the supply of Dalmatia. Rail transport in wartime was particularly difficult due to the transport of mili-tary and a lack of fuel. Authorities warned the population that the rail traffic was, due to military operations, subjected to enormous pressure and sought understanding. The start of War, on July 28th, 1914 inevitably led to disrup-tions in daily life of the city as well as in rationing. The Austrian government was faced with the large task of mobilizing the needed troops which caused disruptions in rail traffic.101 Right at the beginning of the war municipalities were required to ensure a two-month supply of flour. However, even with the greatest effort a part of the municipalities could not provide such demands. The island’s municipalities were particularly affected102 and municipalities di-rectly exposed to war actions such as the case of the Bay of Kotor. For example, the municipality of Kotor urgently notified the National Committee, and the Committee forwarded the request to the Regency that they generally had a two-month supply of flour, but some rural sections did not have any stock, and could not even be helped financially since banks or savings bank did not work in the city since the beginning of the war. Regency urgently responded on August 19th, approving 5000 crowns out of the Tax Office in Herceg Novi “as soon as a steamship connection is possible”.103 The Central Committee for supply in Dubrovnik of the Chamber of Commerce and Trades in Dubrovnik took over the supply of the Bay of Kotor and Dubrovnik. On August 5th they reported that the situation with regards to food was the toughest in the mu-nicipalities of Budva, Paštrovići and Spič who already had no bread, and that Budva would remain without that grocery in 4 to 5 days. The municipality Tivat sent a similar request and states that due to the huge presence of the mili-tary, there was not enough food. They sought financial assistance.104 Dalmatia was particularly hit by the decision of the Marine Government of Trieste, from July 31st 1914 prohibiting free movement on the sea which caused shortages of food in the city and raised prices accordingly. To counteract raising prices, the Regency reacted with a proposal to commercial and trade chambers to come out with maximum prices for basic grocery products.105 The first maximum price was released on August 5th for coal. Price ranged from 0.04 up to 0.06

101 “Objavitelj dalmatinski” (hereinafter OD), No. 120/1914. 102 Municipalities Hvar and Bol seek cash or food assistance, and as a special relief require ex-emption from import duties on flour from Italy. As Italy immediately banned grain exports making that part of their claims was pointless. DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, 4776, 29 August 1914, No. 4592, 12 August 1914. 103 DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, No. 4743, 19 August 1914.104 DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, No. 9918, 9 September 1914, DAZD, PSN, vo. 681, No. 4500, 10 August 1914, No. 4495, 10 August 1914. 105 OD, No. 62 and 63/1914.


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pound per heller.106 The range of measures was expanding. On August 8th, the Regency ordered all traders to compile a list of goods needed in everyday life within 24 hours and to give it to the District governments. Data were subject to government verification. On August 15th the government announced to the population that in case of shortage of labor in agriculture private parties could be orderd to participate.107

On December 11th the Regency prescribed maximum prices for bread. The price of bread was 48 heller for rye bread, and 68 heller for bread from a mix-ture of white flour (70%) and barley (30%).108

Early in the war, the National Committee, conscious of food and traffic limitations of Dalmatia, invited municipalities to take care about the procure-ment of food for its inhabitants. In addition, they should determine the maxi-mum prices for basic groceries.109 On behalf of the National Economic Council Hubert Count Borelli Vrana called the Dalmatian farmers to further engage-ment: “With the departure of reservists, farming lost its labor force, so it is up to you, brother farmers, who are staying home, to recover the loss of this work force if possible with your diligence and hard work, and to help one an-other fraternally”.110 In order to improve the general condition of the supply of Dalmatia and prevent price increase, governor Attems organized the purchase of 65 wagons of Canadian wheat and 45 wagons of rice from Trieste in early August 1914. Transportation costs of 320 thousand crowns had to be paid in advance which was secured with the help of banks. Also, nine wagons of Hun-garian flour were acquired for the purposes of the Zadar region.111

In December 1914 the Austrian authorities began to take first major ad-ministrative measures of market control in order to control the supply and price of flour. The district commissioner Josip Deutschmann was assigned to the district government of Zadar, to compile an inventory of the most need-ed groceries, especially flour based on the survey of Zadar retailers business books “in the afternoon hours”.112

During the second half of 1914 the grocery supply system, despite all the problems related to transport in major cities, functioned relatively well. Proof of this is the fact that the press paid relatively little attention to the problem of supply while with time, as the war went on, the number of articles dealing with the supply of the population grew exponentially.106 Austria-Hungary carried out a monetary reform in 1900. Two crowns replaced one fiorin (forint), and the crown was divided into 100 heller.107 OD, No. 66 and 72/1914. 108 OD, No. 172/14. 109 “Okružnica Zemaljskog odbora” [“Circulars of the National Committee”], SD, No. 63, 5 Au-gust 1914. 110 “Poljodjelci” [“Farmers”], GV, No. 14-16, 31 August 1914. 111 “Za opskrbu Dalmacije” [“For the supply of Dalmatia”], SD, No. 65, 12 August 1914. 112 DAZD, PSN, vo. 680, 12 December 1914.


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Conclusion

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie redirected the political developments in the province. Until then, most notably political is-sues such as electoral reform for the Dalmatian Parliament or the anticipated unification Croatian People’s Progressive Party and Croatian parties had fallen into the background, and soon disappeared from the political horizon. An-ti-Serb demonstrations became the primary political issue of the Dalmatian newspapers during turbulent July in 1914. Declaration of war dramatically in-creased the degree of political control over Dalmatia. Numerous arrests were made, numerous politically dubious societies were disbanded and many con-stitutional freedoms were suspended such as the secrecy of correspondence, freedom of assembly and of the press. Serbian organizations and those Croa-tian organizations and individuals of Serbian orientation were particularly tar-geted. The Italian community was spared of political persecution during 1914 because the policy was to appease the Kingdom of Italy. The first year of the war showed deficiencies in the supply of the population which would signifi-cantly worsen during the war years. Traffic isolation, economic underdevelop-ment and peripherality of the position would be the cause of high prices that the Dalmatian population would pay during World War One.


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Anfang des Ersten Weltkrieges in Dalmatien

Zusammenfassung

Mit der Ermordung des Erzherzogs Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo 1914 be-gannen auch neue politische Prozesse in Dalmatien. Die bisherigen politischen Bewegungen wurden unterbrochen und neue Themen auferlegt. Die antiser-bischen Demonstrationen im Juli 1914 erregten heftige Auseinandersetzun-gen im Rahmen des dalmatinischen politischen Raumes. Die Kriegserklärung erzeugte auch neue politische, gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Umstän-de. Politische Kontrolle wurde auf politischer Ebene verstärkt und viele von Verfassungsfreiheiten wurden aufgehoben. Die „alten“ politischen Parteien legten ihre Tätigkeit auf Eis und die Presse wurde ziemlich strenger Zensur unterworfen. Das dalmatinische Volk konfrontierte sich mit dem Problem der Bevölkerungsversorgung. Während im Jahre 1914 der Krieg nur in einigen Randgebieten Dalmatiens zu merken war, verschlimmerte sich das Problem der Bevölkerungsversorgung mit der Dauer des Krieges immer mehr.

Schlagwörter: Dalmatien, Erster Weltkrieg, politische Kontrolle, Bevölke-rungsversorgung, Mobilisierung

beginning of the first world war in dalmatia

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