| Summary: | As a new force on the political scene of Serbia after the 1903 Coup which
brought the Karadjordjević dynasty back to the throne and restored democratic
order, the Serbian army, led by a group of conspiring officers, perceived
itself as the main guardian of the country’s sovereignty and the principal
executor of the sacred mission of national unification of the Serbs, a goal
which had been abandoned after the 1878 Berlin Treaty. During the “Golden
Age” decade (1903-1914) in the reign of King Peter I, Serbia emerged as a
point of strong attraction to the Serbs and other South Slavs in the
neighbouring empires and as their potential protector. In 1912-13, Serbia
demonstrated her strength by liberating the Serbs in the “unredeemed
provinces” of the Ottoman Empire. The main threat to Serbia’s very existence
was multinational Austria-Hungary, which thwarted Belgrade’s aspirations at
every turn. The Tariff War (1906-1911), the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina
(1908), and the coercing of Serbia to cede her territorial gains in northern
Albania (1912-1913) were but episodes of this fixed policy. In 1991, the
Serbian army officers, frustrated by what they considered as weak reaction
from domestic political forces and the growing external challenges to
Serbia’s independence, formed the secret patriotic organisation “Unification
or Death” (Black Hand). Serbian victories in the Balkan Wars (1912-1913)
enhanced the prestige of the military but also boosted political ambitions of
Lt.-Colonel Dragutin T. Dimitrijević Apis and other founding members of the
Black Hand anxious to bring about the change of government. However, the idea
of a military putsch limited to Serbian Macedonia proposed in May 1914 was
rejected by prominent members of the Black Hand, defunct since 1913. This was
a clear indication that Apis and a few others could not find support for
their meddling in politics. The government of Nikola P. Pašić, supported by
the Regent, Crown Prince Alexander, called for new elections to verify its
victory against those military factions that acted as an “irresponsible
factor” with “praetorian ambitions” in Serbian politics. This trial of
strength brings new and valuable insights into the controversial relationship
between the Young Bosnians and the Black Hand prior to the Sarajevo
assassination in June 1914. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije,
br. 177011: History of political ideas and institutions in the Balkans in the
19th and 20th centuries]
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