Approximately in the mid-nineteenth century, the Ottoman province of Bosnia was considered by the Sultan's governing bureaucracy as a problematic domain. Here the regional Muslim elite had withheld the Tanzimat for many years. After years of obstruction, the Porte finally sent a large military force led by the rigorous Ottoman commander Omer Pasha Latas to Bosnia. In the early 1850s, on strict order of the Ottoman centre and by punitive military force, Omer Pasha broke the resistance to the Tanzimat of the leading Muslim beys, by far the most dominant group in exerting local power at that time. Most of the actively resistant beys were even sent for long years of exile to Anatolia and other places within the Ottoman Empire that were far away from Bosnia. Omer Pasha Latas also commanded another military expedition a few years later. This time it was against Montenegro, a principality within Ottoman suzerainty but with already lasting rights to self-rule. Montenegrin leadership and fighters heavily supported rural insurgent leaders in the neighbouring Ottoman Eastern Herzegovina border region and in this way had destabilised Ottoman rule directly in the Herzegovinian Montenegrin border regions for years in the late 1850s and early 1860s. In 1862, this resistance was also crushed when a massive Ottoman military campaign temporarily conquered even large parts of then Montenegro.
Ahmed Cevdet's mission and the patriotic response
In summer 1863, Ahmed Cevdet arrived with a special mission to the Bosnian province. Ahmed Cevdet's assignment was to resolve the difficult political situation on the border between Herzegovina and Montenegro, to supervise the further implementation of the ongoing and far-reaching administrative reforms and – in particular – to accomplish the start of the new public conscript recruitment system to the Ottoman army now also foreseen for the Bosnian province. Ahmed Cevdet was a prominent man and was sent to several other provinces on the same mission during his career. He was a member of the Central Council of the Tanzimat at the Sublime Porte and in this way belonged to the inner circle of the reform elite of the Ottoman Empire (at this time he had already been an official imperial chronicler and was considered as being among the leading legal scholars of the empire).2 When in summer 1863 Ahmed Cevdet came to Sarajevo (Saraybosna), the situation in the province was regarded as again relatively stable in the eyes of the Ottoman administration. After the military campaign against Montenegro in the first half of 1862, the situation across the border in Eastern Herzegovina was brought under control again.3 This was also the case in those places throughout Eastern and Northern Bosnia where sporadic peasant unrest – specifically in some districts of Zvornik (İzvornik), Banja Luka (Banaluka) and Bihać (Bihke) – had accompanied the implementation of the reformed Land Code of 1858 for several years.4 Ahmed took the time to do this. He stayed in Bosnia for more than a year, travelled with a capable staff to all corners of the province and tried to find solutions for all kinds of problems that he became aware of.5
In his many long letters and reports, one can read in detail about the individual stages and challenges of his mission.6 While these letters often focused on obstacles Cevdet encountered, they also displayed how the Tanzimat began to take effect. With the war campaign of 1862, the situation at the Herzegovinian-Montenegrin border was stable again after years of unrest. A special administrative arrangement in which local Christian leaders were incorporated into the Ottoman border defence system (something that was rather exceptional in the Bosnian Vilayet – although not uncommon, for instance, in the Scutari Sanjak) played an important role in this regard.7 New administrative procedures and modes were institutionalised in all sanjaks and lower administrative entities.8 After this had been achieved, the most delicate remaining task in Ahmed Cevdet's mission was to begin with the new military conscription system. There had been fierce resistance from the Bosnian Muslim elite to this earlier. Several attempts had been made in the directive central Ottoman policy without really achieving anything.9 But Ahmed Cevdet did long preparations and obviously began to convince the Muslim elite that this (further) change was a “patriotic duty” as well as also an inevitable step towards “modernity”. All European Powers already had made this turn to a public compulsory military service earlier or were in the process of implementing it in the 1860s. The Ottoman Empire would have no alternative in this regard – as Ahmed repeatedly explained this to the local elites throughout the Bosnian province.
One year later, in summer 1864, it became clear that the mood of the Bosnian elites had changed. The earlier resistance had given way to a surprising eagerness for cooperation. Throughout the province, conscripts volunteered to fill the ranks.10 Within a few months, three Bosnian battalions (one more than planned for this phase) were conscripted and started military education. Ahmed described the day when the battalion's banner (sent by the Sultan by a special envoy) was handed over to the First Bosnian Battalion as the most emotional event. This took place during a festive event in Sarajevo on 21 September 1864.
This day became a hitherto unprecedented manifestation of patriotism for the Ottoman Empire and devotion to the Sultan. The big square (meydan) in front of the main garrison building was overcrowded with people. The houses surrounding the place were packed with many spectators, also with many women who as well gathered to watch the announced handover of the Sultan's banner and military parade from there. Then the recruits marched in, accompanied by the garrisons’ military brass band. It played a newly composed marsh. The text and patriotic refrain of this march, which was repeatedly sung by the recruits, was written by Sarajevo's Catholic parish priest Fra Grga Matić. Matić, who later became a member of the Grand Vilayet Meclis, in this way also manifested his loyalty to the Sultan and to Ottoman rule.11 The capellmeister of the military brass band, Fuad Aga, had written the march music.12 Ahmed Cevdet illustrates the appearance of the recruits to the square in the following way in a letter:
The imperial music band started to play the mentioned military march and then the musicians joined in singing with a thundering voice: ‘Come, come under the banner’. This happened in such an impressive way that the meydan got embraced and immediately all were caught in amazement. … So well trained were these soldiers that someone who did not know that they were fresh recruits and was watching from some distance might even think that it is the imperial guard. … The signee [of this letter] turned to the present Bosnian heads and leaders and said: ‘Bosnians, here you are watching the first Bosnian battalion, the result of just one month of training!’ This remark did as well induce so much on the present Bosnian leaders that some were beginning to weep so copiously that their tears ran down along their beards.13
Speeches praising the Sultan and acknowledging the patriotism of the “Bosnians” were held. And with the official handover of the Sultan's banner, the celebration reached its peak:
Afterwards the imam of the First Battalion spoke a prayer and the soldiers of the new army proclaimed three times: ‘Long live the Sultan!’ From the fortress followed twenty-one cannon salutes. Then the soldiers again marched in rank and file and performed a beautiful parade. … Later the banner was displayed in front of the barracks guarded by one soldier. The townspeople were now given the opportunity to pay their respects to the banner. Big crowds of people went to the flag. On this day the space in front of the barrack gate was stuffed with people rotating and greeting the flag.14
Honorary guests – first and foremost the consuls of the Powers – were also present and seemed to be impressed at the event.16 Ahmed Cevdet depicts a joyful atmosphere on this day when the First Bosnian Battalion was celebrated in the streets of Sarajevo. In many locations throughout the Bosnian province, the recruitment would conti...