Authors

Discussion

The Serbian elites in the Habsburg Monarchy regarded the Eastern Question as crucial both for Great Power politics and as an internal issue within the Monarchy itself. In a large number of written texts, they analyzed the development of the Eastern Question, relations between Christians and Muslims, and the position of the Serbs in the Habsburg Monarchy and in the Balkans. While the military and ecclesiastical elites, on conservative foundations, shaped an image of the Monarchy’s “civilizational mission,” the liberals—especially after the defeat at Sadowa in 1866—called for internal reforms and for action that would bring about changes in the Balkans. Loyalty and the Eastern Question—the intertwining of interests, new visions, and attempts to create new models of integration—were among the key concerns of the Serbian elites in the Habsburg Monarchy; the response to them unfolded as a long-term political process, culminating in 1878