User talk:Zoupan/Unification of Serbia and Bosnia

The unification of Serbia and Bosnia was a political concept in the 19th century that culminated in the creation of Yugoslavia in the early 20th century. It was in its early form a central theme in Pan-Serbian ideology and also of the South Slavic Pan-Slavism (see Yugoslavism).

1817–1878
Local anti-Ottoman political activity and liberation aspirations for Bosnia with Serbian aid appear in 1840. At the end of 1844, the Austrian government was informed on individuals who called on both Orthodox and Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina to unite with Serbia and Montenegro. The activists were merchants, or disguised as such. There were intel of constant correspondence between the Serbian government and Montenegrin metropolitanate. A report from August 1845 claimed that there were signs of an uprising, especially in Bosnian Krajina. The Ottoman government began monitoring, and saw Uskoplje and Mostar as potential starting points. An Orthodox priest, one of the leaders, was captured, tortured, and then sent to Istanbul. This brought fear in the Christian population. Another Austrian report told of agitators of unification with Serbia and Montenegro, into a Serb kingdom.

In 1849–55, a secret revolutionary organization was active in eastern Bosnia, preparing an uprising against Ottoman rule. It was transformed into an intelligency agency in 1851 and was disestablished in 1855 after financial problems.

Herzegovina uprising (1875–77).

Yugoslavia
With the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed "Yugoslavia"), Bosnia and Herzegovina was united with the Serbian monarchy. In the first Yugoslavia, which was Serb-dominated, Bosnia was seen as a Serb land. It is assumed Bosnian Serbs welcomed the Yugoslav unification as realisation of Greater Serbia, although there was never a formal unification of Bosnia with Serbia. In 1939, the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was basically divided between Croatia and Serbia (or rather, Serb-dominated banovinas) with the establishment of the Banovina of Croatia. During World War II the Independent State of Croatia annexed half of the territory as part of the Greater Croatian project of the Axis Ustashe. The Chetniks, made up of Serbs, fought for a continued Serb-dominated Yugoslav state. The war ended with victory for the Yugoslav Partisans, which although dominated by Serbs, concluded equality of the three peoples in the country "which is their common and indivisible homeland" (as per ZAVNOBiH). Some Partisan leaders argued against republic status of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and favoured autonomy or even unification with Serbia.

The establishment of BiH as a Yugoslav republic can be seen as the earliest recognition of the country as that of three constituent peoples (Serbs, Croats and Muslims/Bosniaks).

During the Yugoslav wars there were plans to unite Serb territories in Croatia and Bosnia into an united republic that would join the federation of Serbia and Montenegro, also called "third Yugoslavia".