Pan-Slavism

 

theory and movement intended to promote the political or cultural unity of all Slavs. Advocated by various individuals from the 17th cent., it developed as an intellectual and cultural movement in the 19th cent. It was stimulated by the rise of romanticism and nationalism, and it grew with the awakening of the Slavs within the Austrian and Ottoman empires. Slavic historians, philologists, and anthropologists, influenced by Johann Gottfried von Herder, helped spread a national consciousness among the Slavs, and some dreamed of a unified Slavic culture to replace an allegedly declining Latin-German culture. The first Pan-Slav Congress, held at Prague in 1848 and presided over by František Palackÿ, was confined to the Slavs under Austrian rule and was anti-Russian. The humiliating defeat suffered by Russia in the Crimean War (1853–56) helped transform a vague, romantic Russian Slavophilism into a militant and nationalistic Russian Pan-Slavism. Prominent among the Russian Pan-Slav publicists were Rotislav Andreyevich Fadeyev and Nikolai Yakovlevich Danilevsky. Fadeyev claimed that it was Russia's mission to liberate the Slavs from Austrian and Ottoman domination by war and to form a Russian-dominated Slavic federation. Danilevsky predicted a long conflict between Russia and the rest of Europe, to be followed by a federation of states including the Greeks, Magyars, and Romanians as well as the Slavs. In the reign of Czar Alexander II, the foreign minister, Aleksandr Gorchakov, opposed Pan-Slav aspirations, although many officials were Pan-Slavist. Pressures from the Pan-Slavs probably helped provoke the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 but afterward declined. In the decade preceding World War I, Pan-Slav agitation again increased and played a role in the growing conflict between Russia and Austria in the Balkan peninsula, where the Serbs opposed Austria. In 1908, Russia was forced to allow Austrian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but in 1914 Russia supported Serbia in the crisis that began World War I. After the Bolsheviks triumphed in the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Soviet government renounced Pan-Slavism. In World War II, however, Pan-Slavist slogans were revived to facilitate Slavic and Communist dominance of Eastern European countries. Both in the 19th and 20th cent. Pan-Slav aspirations were limited by the conflicting political and economic hopes of the various groups of Slavs.

Bibliography

See studies by A. Kostya (1981) and M. B. Petrovich (1956, repr. 1985).

Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid 19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by the two great empires, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. It was also used as a political tool by both the Russian Empire and its successor the Soviet Union.

Origins

Although Pan-Slavic ideas were first widely promoted by Vinko Pribojević in the early 16th century and Juraj Križanić in the mid-17th century, full-scale Pan-Slavism began much like Pan-Germanism, both of which grew from the sense of unity and Nationalism experienced within ethnic groups under the domination of France during the Napoleonic Wars. Like other Romantic nationalist movements, Slavic intellectuals and scholars in the developing fields of history, philology, and folklore actively encouraged the passion of their shared identity and ancestry. Pan-Slavism also co-existed with the Southern Slavic independence.

Commonly used symbols of the Pan-Slavic movement were the Pan-Slavic colours (red, white and blue) and the Pan-Slavic anthem, Hey, Slavs.

The movement began following the end of the wars in 1815. In the aftermath, the European leaders sought to restore the pre-war status quo. Austria's representative in the Congress of Vienna, Metternich, felt the threat to this status quo in Austria was the nationalists demanding independence from the empire. While their subjects were composed of numerous ethnic groups (such as Italians, Romanians, Hungarians, etc), most of the subjects were Slavs.

The First Pan-Slav Congress, Prague, 1848

The First Pan-Slav congress was held in Prague, Bohemia in June, 1848, during the revolutionary movement of 1848. The Czechs had refused to send representatives to the Frankfurt Assembly feeling that Slavs had a distinct interest from the Germans. The austroslav, František Palacký, presided over the event. Most of the delegates were Czech. Palacký called for the co-operation of the Habsburgs and had also endorsed the Habsburg monarchy as the political formation most likely to protect the peoples of central Europe. When the Germans asked him to declare himself in favour of their desire for national unity, he replied that he would not as this would weaken the Habsburg state: “Truly, if it were not that Austria had long existed, it would be necessary, in the interest of Europe, in the interest of humanity itself, to create it.”

The Pan-Slav congress met during the revolutionary turmoil of 1848. Young inhabitants of Prague had taken to the streets and in the confrontation, a stray bullet had killed the wife of Field Marshal Alfred, Prince of Windischgrätz, the commander of the Austrian forces in Prague. Enraged, Windischgrätz seized the city, disbanded the congress, and established martial law throughout Bohemia.

Pan-Slavism in Central Europe

The first Pan-Slavic convention was held in Prague in 1848 and was specifically both anti-Austrian and anti-Russian. Pan-Slavism has some supporters among Czech politicians but never gained dominant influence, possibly other than treating Czechs and Slovaks as branches of a single nation.

During World War I captured Slavic soldiers were asked to fight against the "oppression in Austrian Empire: some did (see Czechoslovak Legions).

Creation of an independent Czechoslovakia made the old ideals of Pan-Slavism anachronistic. Relations with other Slavic states varied, sometimes being tense. Even tensions between Czechs and Slovaks had appeared.

Pan-Slavism in the Balkans

The Southern Slavic movement was active after Serbia regained independence from Turkish Ottoman Empire. Meanwhile, Austria feared that nationalists would endanger the empire. Pan-Slavism in the south was vastly different, instead it often turned to Russia for support. The Southern Slavic movement advocated the independence of the Slavic peoples in Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. The Serbian people sought to unite all of the Southern, Balkan Slavs under their rule(rather like the Prussians united Germany) . Serbia, just having gained independence, was a small nascent state, whereas the Austro-Hungarian Empire, though unstable, was still a strong opponent to Serbia. In this circumstance, the idea of Russia involving the Southern Slavic unity was favored.

The Southern Slavs were some of the first to revolt against the decaying Ottoman Empire. In 1806 and again in 1815, the Serbs secured autonomy from the Ottomans. Almost immediately after Serbia's autonomy, the Serbs began seeking expansion and unity of all the Southern Slavs not under Serbian rule.

In Austria-Hungary Southern Slavs were distributed among several entities: Slovenes in the Austrian part (Carniola, Styria, Carinthia, Gorizia and Gradisca, Trieste, Istria), Croats in the Hungarian part within the autonomous kingdom of Croatia, and Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia, where the latter was under direct control from Vienna. Due to a different position within Austria-Hungary several different goals were prominent among the Southern Slavs of Austria-Hungary. A strong alternative to Pan-Slavism was Austroslavism, especially among the Slovenes. Due to the fact that the Serbs were distributed among several provinces, and the fact that they had special ties to the independent nation state of Serbia, they were among the strongest supporters of independence of South-Slavs from Austria.

After World War I the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, under Serbian royalty, did unite most Southern Slavs.

Pan-Slavism in the grand duchy of Finland

The Pan-Slavistic ideals also led to the rethinking of the autonomous situation of the Grand duchy of Finland. The Grand duchy of Finland, the area that today largely is Finland, had come under Russian rule in 1809 and given an autonomous position for governing by the Tsar Alexander I of Russia. During the Pan-Slavism intents of making Finland an area with a stronger Slavic presence arose, this became evident in the suppressing the rights of the two national languages of Finnish and Swedish, and making the governing of Finland more centered to Russia. The plans received heavy resistance in Finland, one of the culminations were the assassination of governor general Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov by the Finnish student Eugen Schauman. Schaumann is today remembered in Finland as a symbol against the oppression brought on by the Pan-Slavic ideals.

Pan-Slavism in Poland

Although early Pan-Slavism had found interest among some Poles, it soon lost its appeal as the movement became dominated by Russia, and while Russian Pan-Slavists spoke of liberation of other Slavs through Russian actions, parts of Poland were under the Russian control since the Partitions of Poland. Historically, Poland often saw itself in partnership with non-Slavic nations most of the time, such as Hungary, or Lithuania under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1795. The influence of 19th century Pan-Slavism had little impact in Poland except for creating sympathy towards the other oppressed Slavic nations to regaining independence. A Pan-Slavic federation was proposed, but on the condition that the Russian Empire would be excluded from such an entity. After Poland regained its independence (from Prussia, Austria and Russia) in 1918 no major or minor force considered Pan-Slavism as a serious alternative, viewing Pan-Slavism, largely overshadowed by Russification, similar to Germanization. During Poland's communist era the USSR used Pan-Slavism as propaganda tool to justify its control over the country. The issue of the Pan-Slavism was not part of the mainstream political agenda, and is widely seen as ideology of Russian imperialism.

Modern day developments

The authentic idea of unity of the Slavic people was all but gone after World War I when the maxim "Versailles and Trianon have put an end to all Slavisms" [2] and was finally put to rest with the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in late 1980s. With failures in establishing and harmonizing within Pan-Northern (Czechoslovakia), Pan-Southern (Yugoslavia) Slavic state, or the problem of Russian dominance in any proposed all-Slavic organisation the idea of Pan-Slavic unity is considered dead. Varying relations between the Slavic countries exist nowadays; they range from mutual respect on equal footing and sympathy towards one another through traditional dislike and enmity, to indifference. None, other than culture and heritage oriented organizations, are currently considered as a form of rapprochement among the countries with Slavic origins. In modern times the appeals to Pan-Slavism are often made by nationalist circles in Russia, Serbia and Slovakia to demonstrate their anti-Western attitude, see NATO Research Fellowship Program reference^[1]

References

• Pan-Slavism in Columbia Encyclopedia
• Pan-Slavism in "Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements" by Edmund Jan Osmanczyk
• Nicholas Valentine Riasanovsky, A History of Russia, p. 450, Oxford University Press US, 2006, ISBN 0-19-512179-1.

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