Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid 19th century
aimed at unity of all the
Slavic
peoples.
The main focus was in the Balkans where the South
Slavs had been ruled and oppressed for centuries by the three
great empires, Austria-Hungary, the
Ottoman Empire and Venice
. It was also used as a political tool by both
the Russian
Empire
and its successor the Soviet Union
.
Origins
Full-scale
Pan-Slavism began much like Pan-Germanism, both of which grew from the
sense of unity and nationalism
experienced within ethnic groups under
the domination of France
during the
Napoleonic Wars. Like other
Romantic nationalist movements,
Slavic intellectuals and scholars in the developing fields of
history,
philology,
and
folklore actively encouraged the
passion of their shared identity and ancestry. Pan-Slavism also
co-existed with the
Southern Slavic
independence.
Commonly used symbols of the Pan-Slavic movement were the
Pan-Slavic colours (blue, white and red)
and the Pan-Slavic anthem,
Hey,
Slavs.
Some of the earliest manifestations of Pan-Slavic thought within
the
Habsburg Monarchy have been
attributed to
Adam Franz
Kollár and
Pavel Jozef
Šafárik. The movement began following the end of the Napoleonic
Wars in 1815. In the aftermath, the leaders of Europe sought to
restore the pre-war
status quo. At the
Congress of Vienna, Austria's
representative,
Prince von metternich,
felt the threat to this status quo in Austria was the nationalists
demanding independence from the empire. While their subjects were
composed of numerous ethnic groups (such as Italians, Romanians,
Hungarians, etc), most of the subjects were Slavs.
The First Pan-Slav Congress, Prague, 1848
The
First Pan-Slav congress
was held in Prague
, Bohemia in June, 1848, during the revolutionary movement of 1848.
The Czechs had refused to send representatives to the
Frankfurt Assembly feeling that Slavs had
a distinct interest from the Germans. The
Austroslav,
František Palacký, presided over
the event. Most of the delegates were Czech. Palacký called for the
co-operation of the
Habsburgs and had also
endorsed the Habsburg monarchy as the political formation most
likely to protect the peoples of
central
Europe.
When the Germans asked him to declare himself
in favour of their desire for national unity, he replied that he
would not as this would weaken the Habsburg state: “Truly, if it
were not that Austria
had long
existed, it would be necessary, in the interest of Europe, in the interest of humanity itself, to create it.”
The Pan-Slav congress met during the revolutionary turmoil of 1848.
Young inhabitants of Prague had taken to the streets and in the
confrontation, a stray bullet had killed the wife of
Field Marshal Alfred, Prince of
Windischgrätz, the commander of the Austrian forces in Prague.
Enraged, Windischgrätz seized the city, disbanded the congress, and
established
martial law throughout
Bohemia.
Pan-Slavism in Central Europe
The first
Pan-Slavic convention was held in Prague
in 1848 and
was specifically both anti-Austrian and anti-Russian. Pan-Slavism has some
supporters among Czech politicians but never gained dominant
influence, possibly other than treating
Czechs and
Slovaks as branches
of a single nation.
During
World War I captured Slavic
soldiers were asked to fight against the "oppression in Austrian
Empire: some did (see
Czechoslovak
Legions).
Creation
of an independent Czechoslovakia
made the old ideals of Pan-Slavism
anachronistic. Relations with other Slavic states varied,
sometimes being tense. Even tensions between Czechs and Slovaks had
appeared.
Pan-Slavism in the Balkans
The Southern Slavic movement was active after
Serbia regained independence from the
Turkish
Ottoman Empire. Austria
feared that nationalists would endanger the empire. Pan-Slavism in
the south was vastly different, instead it often turned to Russia
for support. The Southern Slavic movement advocated the
independence of the Slavic peoples in
Austro-Hungarian Empire and the
Ottoman Empire. Some Serbian
intellectuals sought to unite all of the Southern, Balkan Slavs,
whether orthodox, catholic or Muslim, under their rule. Serbia,
just having gained independence, was a small nascent state, whereas
the Austro-Hungarian Empire, though unstable, was still a strong
opponent to Serbia. In this circumstance, the idea of Russia
involving the Southern Slavic unity was favored.
The Southern Slavs were some of the first to revolt against the
decaying
Ottoman Empire. In 1806 and
again in 1815, the Serbs secured autonomy from the Ottomans. Almost
immediately after Serbia's autonomy, the Serbs began seeking
expansion and unity of all the Southern Slavs not under Serbian
rule.
In
Austria-Hungary Southern Slavs were distributed among several
entities: Slovenes in the Austrian part
(Carniola, Styria, Carinthia, Gorizia and Gradisca, Trieste
, Istria
(also
Croats)), Croats and
Serbs in the Hungarian part within the
autonomous Kingdom of
Croatia-Slavonia and in the Austrian part within the autonomous
Kingdom of Dalmatia, and in
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
, under direct control from Vienna. Due to a
different position within Austria-Hungary several different goals
were prominent among the Southern Slavs of Austria-Hungary. A
strong alternative to Pan-Slavism was
Austroslavism, especially among the
Slovenes.
Because the Serbs were distributed among
several provinces, and the fact that they had special ties to the
independent nation state of Serbia
, they were
among the strongest supporters of independence of South-Slavs from
Austria.
After
World War I the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
, under Serbian royalty, did unite most Southern
Slavs regardless of religion and cultural background
(Orthodox/Muslim/Catholic). The only ones they did not unite
with were the
Bulgarians.
Still, in the years
after the Second World War, there
were plans that Bulgaria should join as a 7th republic in communist
Yugoslavia
, thus uniting all south Slavs into one state
. The idea was left after the break between
Tito and
Stalin in 1948.
Pan-Slavism in Poland
Although
early Pan-Slavism had found interest among some Poles, it soon lost
its appeal as the movement became dominated by Russia
, and while
Russian Pan-Slavists spoke of liberation of other Slavs through
Russian actions, parts of Poland
had been
under oppressive rule by the Russian Empire
since the Partitions of Poland.
Historically, Poland
often saw
itself in partnership with non-Slavic nations most of the time,
such as Hungary
, or Lithuania
under the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth from 1569 to 1795. The influence of 19th
century Pan-Slavism had little impact in Poland
except for
creating sympathy towards the other oppressed Slavic nations to
regaining independence.
At the
same time while Pan-Slavism worked against Austro-Hungary with
South Slavs, Poles enjoyed a wide autonomy
within the state and assumed a loyalist position as they were able
to develop their national culture and preserve Polish language, something under threat in
both German
and Russian
Empires. A Pan-Slavic federation was proposed, but on the condition
that the Russian
Empire
would be excluded from such an entity. After
Poland regained its independence (from Germany, Austria and Russia)
in 1918 no major or minor force considered Pan-Slavism as a serious
alternative, viewing Pan-Slavism as little more than a code word
for
Russification.
During Poland's
communist era the USSR
used
Pan-Slavism as propaganda tool to justify its control over the
country. The issue of the Pan-Slavism was not part of the
mainstream
political agenda, and is
widely seen as an ideology of Russian
imperialism.
Modern day developments
The authentic idea of unity of the Slavic people was all but gone
after
World War I when the maxim
"Versailles and Trianon have put an end to all Slavisms" and was
finally put to rest with the
fall of
communism in Central and Eastern Europe in late 1980s.
With the
failure of Pan-Slavic states such as Czechoslovakia
and Yugoslavia and the
problem of Russian and Serbian dominance in any proposed all-Slavic
organisation, the idea of Pan-Slavic unity is mostly considered
dead. Varying relations between the Slavic countries exist
nowadays; they range from mutual respect on equal footing and
sympathy towards one another through traditional dislike and
enmity, to indifference. None, other than culture and heritage
oriented organizations, are currently considered as a form of
rapprochement among the countries with Slavic origins.
In modern times the
appeals to Pan-Slavism are often made in Russia
, Serbia
and Slovakia
.
See also
References
- Robert John Weston Evans, Chapter "Nationality in East-Central
Europe: Perception and Definition before 1848." Austria,
Hungary, and the Habsburgs: Essays on Central Europe,
c.1683-1867. 2006.
- Comparative Slavic Studies Volume 6, by
Roman
Jakobson
- "In other words, the Pan-Slavic resentment is not strange
to the Russian Eurasianists, however, this is prevailingly limited
to the post-Soviet space. Therein lies the difference between the
Eurasians and the Russian radical nationalists in their
contemporary attitude to Pan-Slavism. Radical nationalists are the
only ones who follow up with the tradition and ideational message
of the Central- and South-European Pan-Slavism of the tsarist
Russia. Pan-Slavism serves as their tool for demonstrating decisive
anti-Western attitudes and as an "historical" folklore employed in
domestic-political battles, which sound so sweet to the Russian
ear. The ideas of Pan-Slavism only find some echo with the part of
some Serbian and partly Slovak nationalists" Alexander Duleba,
"From Domination to Partnership - The perspectives of
Russian-Central-East European Relations", Final Report to the
NATO Research Fellowship
Program, 1996-1998 [1]
External links