Serbian Vojvodina was a short-lived self-proclaimed autonomous province within the Austrian Empire in Kingdom of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849, which existed until 1849 when it was transformed into the new (official) Austrian province named Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat. It was created and led by political leaders of Serbs in regions of Syrmia, Banat, Bačka and Baranja. The Serbian Vojvodina gave its name to the present Vojvodina autonomous region in Serbia.
The first capital was Sremski Karlovci. It was later moved to Zemun, Veliki Bečkerek (now Zrenjanin).
Name In contemporary Serbian, it was known as the "Serb Voivodeship", the official summary document using mostly Vojvodovina Srbska (archaic , modern ) and in one instance Srbska Vojvodina (archaic , modern ). In Serbian historiography, it is known as Srpska Vojvodina (), rendered "Serbian Vojvodina" in English,, and Srpska Vojvodovina ()., In contemporary German, it was known as Serbische Woiwodina, or Wojwodina.Stojacskovics, Alexander. Über die staatsrechtlichen Verhältnisse der Serben in der Wojwodina... M. Hazan, 1860. In Hungarian, it is known as Szerb Vajdaság. The name is made up of the Serb ethnonym and vojvod(ov)ina, a "domain ruled by a vojvoda" (the title of the revolutionary leader). By naming the self-proclaimed province a "voivodeship", recalling the Imperial privileges given to the Serbs through history, the Serb leaders sought to attain a self-government within the Habsburg Monarchy, headed by a Serb vojvoda. The Austrian leadership avoided naming the province a duchy () and instead adopted the special administrative term Woiwodschaft.
Background Serbs in the Habsburg monarchy
The concept of a Serb political unit in the Habsburg monarchy was envisioned since the late 17th century. Following the Ottoman expansion in the late 14th century, Serbs began to cross the Danube and Sava rivers into what was then Hungarian lands. Only following the Great Serb Migrations did the Serbs in the Habsburg monarchy gather ecclesiastically and politically, under the leadership of Patriarch Arsenije III Crnojević. The Privileges defined the acquisition of lands within the monarchy to the Serbs, and the Austrian military command proposed areas in the southeastern Military Frontier to be settled with Serb soldiers. At the Krušedol Assembly (1708), the Serbs requested the Serbs within the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary to be granted Bačka, Banat, Srem, and Slavonia. Serb representatives did not request any separate land until the Transylvanian Diet of 1790 when a demand for Banat was made based on the Privileges. The Serbs in the monarchy were not in the position to demand a specific land until 1848.
By 1840 data, Serbs formed relative majority of 49.1% in what would become Vojvodina (compared to absolute majority of 51.1% in 1828). Besides Serbs, these areas were also populated by some other ethnic groups such as Hungarians, Germans, Romanians and Croats.
Hungarian Revolution and split with Serb movement
With the outbreak of the Hungarian revolution, the Serbs who lived in the south of Hungary (which would become Vojvodina) sought equality and participation in the Hungarian assembly, official usage of Serbian in Serb-majority areas, and autonomy in predominant Serb areas. The Hungarian view of primacy, that all inhabitants belonged to the single Hungarian nation drew intolerance among the minorities. Serb demands were viewed of as an attack on Hungarian integrity. The Austrian court used the conflicts to win over minorities and remain in power. By the end of March 1848, the first verbal conflicts began in Pest between the Hungarian and Serb side when the Hungarian side declined the reasonable Serb demands. The opposition from the Hungarians which saw inequality in the state led to a more nationalistic approach among the Serb movement in southern Hungary. The Hungarian government, represented by Lajos Kossuth, claimed that the new Hungarian constitution granted freedom and equality to all in the country, however, this was not correct on the whole, and a Serb representative, Đorđe Stratimirović, noted this and asked for the Habsburg privileges to the Serbs to be respected and the Serbs given the status of a nation. Kossuth commented that only a people with its own government and state could become a nation, implying only the existing of the one Hungarian nation. A fierce conflict between the two sides ensued, and Stratimirović threatened they would seek the status of nation elsewhere, if not given by Hungary, and Kossuth replied that such a situation could only be resolved by war, and thus, the split between the Serb and Hungarian movement in the empire began.
During the 1848 Revolution, the Hungarians demanded independence from the Austrian Empire. However, they did not recognize the national rights of other nationalities which lived in Hungary at that time. Therefore, the Serbs of Srem, Bačka, Banat, Baranja took action to separate from the Hungary (which at that time was part of Habsburg Austria). After failed talks in Pressburg, the Serbs convened a "national diet", the May Assembly, in Sremski Karlovci that began on 1/13 May 1848.
Government
The May Assembly (officially known as the "Serb National Assembly") was convened in Sremski Karlovci lasting from 13 to 15 May 1848. On the first day of the assembly, the metropolitan of Sremski Karlovci, Josif Rajačić, was elevated to Patriarch, and Stefan Šupljikac, a colonel of the Ogulin Regiment, was elected the vojvoda (commander, or "duke"). The borders of the "Serb Voivodeship" were delineated on the third day of the assembly, and the territory included Srem, Bačka, Baranja and Banat. An alliance with Croatia was anticipated. The Serb people were stated to be politically free and equal under the Habsburg dynasty and Hungary, and would not infringe on state integrity. The Serb National Board (or "Main Board", ) as the governing body was created. The Wallachian-Romanians were recognized as a separate people, to emphasize principles of equality of rights, and also, a proclamation was made to honor all rights of non-Orthodox people within the polity. The Main Board designated the delegations that would present the decisions at the May Assembly to emperor Ferdinand and the Croatian Assembly, while another delegation was sent to the Prague Slavic Congress.
The Main Board had 48 members of whom a smaller number were immediately elected to stay at Karlovci and receive petitions from the people. It was a de facto executive body, government, of the Serb people in rebel-held territory. At the very beginning, it had no actual executive power nor fixed scope of activities and seats of authority. Several departments were established, such as military, political, judicial, financial-economic and educational. With the progression of the Revolution, the Board became the highest governmental organ in the Voivodeship. In order to gain confidence among the people, district boards were established in larger towns such as Mitrovica, Zemun and Pančevo, and subcommittees in villages, in late May 1848. The first president of the Board was Patriarch Josif Rajačić, the spiritual leader of Habsburg Serbs, who also had the decisive word in the Board. The Board was authorized to use money from the people's treasury for its most urgent needs, with consent of the Patriarch and the assistants of the National Fund. The Assembly instructed the Board, in agreement with the Patriarch, to select persons who would submit its decisions to the Austrian monarch and the Croatian Parliament. For transparency, the newspaper Vestnik, up until then an editorial of Konstantin Bogdanović published in Pest, would become an organ of the National Board. In the absence of Patriarch Rajačić, who was part of the Serbian delegation in Vienna and Innsbruck for a long time, Đorđe Stratimirović was elected president of the Main Board. He explained in a proclamation that the Main Board was created to work for the benefit of the people until the vojvoda Stevan Šupljikac came, to ease his work. When the Hungarians began to prepare for war and set up several military camps on the territory of the Voivodeship, the Board, through several printed proclamations, called on the people to arm themselves, prepare for defense, join the ranks of the national army and give financial contributions. The Board encouraged the people to fight against the Hungarians, convinced them that the Emperor and King Ferdinand and his entire army agreed with the Serbs because the Hungarians wanted to overthrow the emperor and rule the entire empire. As relations strained and conflict approached, the Board changed the tone and manner of its address to the people, at first informing on events, appealing for unity and giving advice. With the outbreak of military conflict, the Board began to give orders and subsequently became the supreme authority of Vojvodina, and in that capacity on 10 June 1848 called on the Serbs to obey only its orders from now on.
Rajačić confirmed the alliance of Vojvodina and Croatia with ban Josip Jelačić at Zagreb. At Innsbruck, however, the May Assembly decisions were rejected due to the still good relations between Ferdinand I and the Hungarians. Ferdinand dubbed the May Assembly an "illegal gathering" of "my subjects of the Eastern Greek faith" and only acknowledged the Serb right to hold church assemblies and not national-political assemblies, acknowledged the Orthodox faith but not the Serb political nation. As the May Assembly were characterized as rebellion, the Hungarians were allowed by Ferdinand (influenced by the Hungarians) to quell it. A group in the Habsburg court, made up of especially generals, however met with Rajačić and offered cooperation as they did not share that opinion and prepared for the emperor's abdication. As the Habsburg Serbs feared a military conflict, they increased talks with Jelačić and the Principality of Serbia.
Hungary declared the May Assembly illegal and requested only a church assembly to be held by the Serbs, and the commissar of south Hungary, the Serb Petar Čarnojević did not take measures to quell the Serb efforts and was replaced by the strict , while general of Peterwardein (Petrovaradin), John Hrabowsky, was ordered to quell the Serb movement, he hesitated until the Hungarian part of the Military Frontier was subjugated to the Hungarian cabinet. Smaller skirmishes and threats between the Hungarian National Guard and the Serbs in Bačka and Banat ensued. After general Hrabowsky's attack on Karlovci on 12 June, several members of the Board, especially older and more respectable, and more wealthier citizens, left Karlovci. Only supporters of the so-called Parties of Action, mostly youth, led by Stratimirović stayed in the Board. For the sake of safety, the Board moved to Zemun. Through the Board, the Serbian National Army was organized and Serbian military camps were established throughout the Voivodeship. The Board passed the "Law of War" on 18 July to raise the morale and ensure order and discipline. The Board highlighted Hungarian crimes against the innocent Serb population and invested in preserving unity between Serbs and Catholic Croats, preventing a religious conflict between them.