The inexorable Ottoman march continued with their execution of King Stjepan Tomasevic of Bosnia in 1463 and the conquest of Albania by 1468. The Croatians held on a bit longer conceding some of their territory when much of their nobility was killed at the Battle of Krbava Field in 1493.  However, the Croatians retreated to safer areas in the north and west and to the islands off the coast thereby managing to preserve much of their identity and religious tradition.

Here’s a visual of the Ottoman Empire from its outset:.

[Map from Wikimedia Commons Atlas of the World.]

As we imagine all these battles and bloodshed, we must also keep in mind that one of the governing principles of the Ottomans could be called the Islamic Principle.

Political, cultural, and legal forms followed Islamic law or sharia. The Turks were Sunni Muslims who, in contrast to Shiite Muslim societies of the time, viewed religious institutions as serving the secular state which had three purposes:

First, the preservation and expansion of Islam.

Second, the defense and expansion of the sultan’s power, wealth, and possessions since he was viewed as god’s agent in the world. This meant that his interests and those of Islam were believed to coincide. These first two purposes intersected seamlessly and acted in full agreement.

The third purpose was justice and security for the sultan’s subjects, as foundations of the first two purposes. In a well-run Islamic state, all elements functioned in a smooth cycle. The government dispensed justice, safe and secure subjects prospered, taxation flowed from their wealth, the state and its military were sustained at necessary strength, and good government was preserved to begin the cycle again.

Because of these ideals, Ottoman rule in its early days, held a certain attraction even in conquered lands. Jews, Christians and Muslims worshipped the same god. Jews and Christians were penalized only partially for failing to accept god’s most recent revelation through the prophet Mohammed and had to pay what is essentially a tax. Importantly for the current discussion, the Islamic conquerors tolerated the other two religions, at a time when religious toleration was rare in Europe.

After the Frankish and Venetian sack of Byzantium in 1204,

[Palma le Jeune – Public Domain.]

Orthodox Byzantine Greeks thought that Catholic Western Europeans were as bad or worse than the Turks. In the Ottoman administration, talented men of all faiths could fulfill at least limited roles. For peasants, the finality of Ottoman victory also meant an end to centuries of wars between Serbs, Bulgars, Byzantines, and Crusaders, and thus, offered stability. Ottoman taxes were lower than the taxes assessed in the now conquered Balkan Christian kingdoms.

While frequently better than the alternative, Ottoman rule wasn’t without its drawbacks. For one thing, the Ottomans generally used up a conquered land’s resources and constantly sought new lands to maintain itself. Thus, it’s in this need for Ottoman Islamic expansion, we now see how the third of the three religions – Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Islam all managed to thrive in the Balkans.

Meanwhile…

As there is with any good story, there’s always another “Meanwhile…” because we can’t entirely ignore the presence of the Venetian Empire and its influence in Istria and along the east coast of the Adriatic. I’ll try to sum it up in a few sentences. Better termed the Stato da Mar (or Domain of the Sea), we need to know for the current report that the Republic of Venice controlled much of Istria, Dalmatia, and parts of present-day Montenegro and Albania. Venetian influence reached its greatest extent in 1204 but, though Venice lost significant territory in the first Ottoman-Venetian War from 1463 to 1479, its influence could and can still be seen from Dubrovnik along the coast and into Istria. (On a side note the Ottoman-Venetian war allowed the expansion of the Ottoman navy which challenged the Venetians and the Knights Hospitallers in the Aegean Sea. Those who have been following me since my recounting of my sojourn in Malta might recall the importance of the Knights Hospitallers to that tiny island nation.)

A few final thoughts.

One reason for laying this historical groundwork is that the wars of 1991-1995 bear a heavy imprint nearly everywhere we stop. The trip doesn’t include all of the republics and regions of the former Yugoslavia – with the most important exclusion being Serbia which is seen in the west as the aggressor and which was certainly central to that war.

Pieces of the more modern chronology will fit into the trip as we travel from place to place. Some of the 20th and 21st century facts you need to keep in mind are that an entity formed in 1918 called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes that included much of what eventually became the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). In 1929, King Alexander 1 assumed dictatorial power and renamed his territory the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Alexander would be assassinated in 1934.

After leading the Yugoslav Resistance and at the end of World War II, Marshall Josip Broz (adopting as his last name the nickname by which he was best known, Tito) established the SFRY which, I hope you remember, consisted of the Socialist Republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hersegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Serbia. Within Serbia were two the “Socialist Autonomous Provinces,” Kosovo and Vojvodina.

Throughout the Cold War period of the second half of the 20th century, Yugoslavia remained officially non-aligned and Tito resisted all efforts to become part of the Soviet bloc while holding tight control over Yugoslavia both politically and socially. Unfortunately, with grudges that last for centuries and no strong, charismatic, and visionary successor in sight, Tito realized as he neared the end of his life that the Yugoslav republic was in danger of flying apart after he died. Thus, as we progress, I will bring up the constitution of 1974 that established the means through which the republics could declare their independence. Discussions of all of this will recur at various points throughout our journey.

Now that your mind is awash in all this history, in the next entry you can begin to share my journey across the Balkans beginning where we landed in the first entry – in Dubrovnik.