Neo-Slavism was a short-lived movement originating in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

around 1908 and influencing nearby

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

states in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

as well as

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Neo-Slavists promoted cooperation between Slavs on equal terms in order to resist

Germanization Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people, and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nati ...

, pursue modernization and liberal reforms, and wanted to create a democratic community of Slavic nations without the dominating influence of Russia. It was a branch of a larger and older

Pan-Slavism Pan-Slavism, a movement that took shape in the mid-19th century, is the political ideology concerned with promoting integrity and unity for the Slavic people. Its main impact occurred in the Balkans, where non-Slavic empires had ruled the South ...

ideology. Unlike Pan-Slavism, Neo-Slavism did not attach importance to religion and did not discriminate between Catholics and Orthodox believers, did not support the creation of a single Slavic state and was interested mostly in a non-violent realization of its program.

History

The movement originated among the Slavs of Austria-Hungary who wished to achieve equal status in that state with the Austrians and Hungarians. It was particularly popular with the

Young Czech Party The Young Czech Party (, officially National Liberal Party, ''Národní strana svobodomyslná'') was formed in the Bohemian crown land of Austria-Hungary in 1874. It initiated the democratization of Czech political parties and led to the establi ...

and has been described as "essentially a Czech creation" instigated by the Young Czech leader

Karel Kramář Karel Kramář (27 December 1860 – 26 May 1937) was a Czech politician. He was a representative of the major Czech political party, the Young Czechs, in the Austrian Imperial Council from 1891 to 1915 (where he was also known as Karl Kramar ...

. The Neo-Slav movement held two congresses. The founding congress took place in Prague in July 1908, the second was held in Sofia in July 1910. Two other, less formal, gatherings of Neo-Slav activists were held in St Petersburg in May 1909 and February 1910. Despite this activity, the movement made little progress before dissipating in the wake of the

Bosnian Crisis The Bosnian Crisis, also known as the Annexation Crisis (, ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Aneksiona kriza, Анексиона криза) or the First Balkan Crisis, erupted on 5 October 1908 when Austria-Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzeg ...

and subsequent

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

and the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It also suffered from the differences between various Slavic groups, with antagonism between Poles and Ukrainians and between different Balkans nations and the lack of support from those nations for either Austria-Hungary and Russia. The movement declared itself

apolitical Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased p ...

, but it was nonetheless viewed with suspicion by Austro-Hungarian officials. One of the few effects of the movement was the creation of the Federation of Slavic Sokols (the

Sokol movement The Sokol movement (, ) is an all-age gymnastics organization founded in Prague in the Czech lands of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of "Mens sana in corpore sano, a strong mind ...

was highly supportive of Neo-Slavism).

Characteristics

Neo-Slavism aimed to build a barrier against German expansion, reliant on Russia. Germany was seen as a threat due to its

policies, and slow but steady expansion of influence over the Slavic lands. Compared to

, which was seen as subservient to the Russian interests since it advocated Russian dominance over all other Slavs, Neo-Slavists aimed at a more balanced

federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

of Slavic states, which was hoped to emerge from a reformed Austria-Hungary. It has also been described as a final evolution of

Austro-Slavism Austro-Slavism or Austrian Slavism was a political concept and program aimed to solve problems of Slavic peoples in the Austrian Empire. It was most influential among Czech people, Czech Liberalism, liberals around the middle of the 19th century ...

. Outside of Austria it aimed at reconciliation between Poles and Russians, with Russian Neo-Slavists declaring their support to recreation of independent Poland and Polish Neo-Slavists accepting that reconciliation was needed to counter the German threat. Russian Neo-Slavists were interested, among others, in fostering equal relations between the nations of the Russian Empire, creating a constitutional-liberal system, and by doing so modernizing Russia; their overall views were non-expansionistic and pursued a balance of power in Europe against increasing German power. In addition to Karel Kramář, prominent Neo-Slav activists included the Slovene banker and politician

Ivan Hribar Ivan Hribar (19 September 1851 – 18 April 1941) was a Slovene and Yugoslav banker, politician, diplomat and journalist. During the start of the 20th century, he was one of the leaders of the National Progressive Party, and one of the mo ...

and, until he distanced himself from the movement in protest against the Russification policies of the authorities in Russian Poland, the Polish politician

Roman Dmowski Roman Stanisław Dmowski Polish: (9 August 1864 – 2 January 1939) was a Polish right-wing politician, statesman, and co-founder and chief ideologue of the National Democracy (abbreviated "ND": in Polish, "''Endecja''") political movement ...

.Vyšný, Paul, ''Neo-Slavism and the Czechs, 1898-1914'', Cambridge, 1977, pp. 58, 178. While Neo-Slavism was short-lived, it has nonetheless been described as having exerted significant influence on inter-Slavic politics of the period.

History

Characteristics

See also

References

Further reading