
Following the imposition of Habsburg rule on Ottoman Bosnia in 1878, a new garrison was constructed in the old citadel of Trebinje. By using a micro-historical approach, this innovative book tells the story of the garrison in times of peace and war, describing the way in which the Austro-Hungarian administration rapidly transformed Trebinje into a tree-lined city dominated by the army.
Yet, the Habsburg “civilizing mission,” marked by the building of hospitals, schools, roads, and railways was accompanied by ruthless violence against those who resisted the new foreign occupiers, especially after 1914. The tragic violence is described in the book alongside accounts of daily life. By personalizing historical events, the narrative reveals the perspective of people who found themselves in Trebinje and its garrison complex: the ordinary soldier, the condemned “insurgent,” the career officer, the cook, the shepherdess, the hotelier, or the journalist―all willing or unwilling participants in an extra-European style colonial project in the heart of Europe.
Cathie Carmichael, The Habsburg Garrison Complex in Trebinje: A Lost World, Central European University Press, 2024 (296 p., 74,90$)
Au terme de ce qu’il est convenu d’appeler la « Question d’Orient », le traité de Berlin du 13 juillet 1878 redéfinit les équilibres entre grandes puissances et dessine la nouvelle carte politique des Balkans. l’Autriche-Hongrie obtient un mandat sur la Bosnie-Herzégovine. L’Empire des Habsbourg annexera le pays quelques années plus tard. C’est dans ce contexte que se situent les voyages d’observation en Bosnie-Herzégovine menés simultanément, an 1879, mais indépendamment l’un de l’autre (ils ne se rencontrèrent qu’une fois), par deux auteurs français aujourd’hui oubliés, un aristocrate érudit, le vicomte Amédée de Caix de Saint-Aymour et un journaliste-géographe, Édouard Marbeau.