The Development of Austro-Hungarian Sarajevo 1878–1918

Towards the end of her slim but informative study of the changes wrought in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia-Hercegovina, during forty years of rule by the Habsburg Monarchy, Mary Sparks quotes the claim in 1898 of the British travel-writer, William Miller, that Austria–Hungary’s stewardship was an ‘experiment ... calculated to serve as a model for the future guidance of statesmen dealing with the Eastern Question’ (p. 174). And, indeed, the Austro-Hungarian administration, especially under the driving influence of Benjámin Kállay, the Hungarian statesman responsible for Bosnia from 1882 to 1903, never denied that its aim was to turn this backward Ottoman province into a showcase for the benefits of enlightened Habsburg rule, thus justifying the Monarchy’s existence as a multinational state as well as its predominant role in the western Balkans. Sparks is neutral on this wider political picture, although she acknowledges the pioneering work of scholars such as Peter F. Sugar on the industrialisation of Bosnia, Robin Okey on the handling of nationality issues and Robert J. Donia for his in-depth history of Sarajevo. Instead, Sparks’s avowed brief is to chart the impact on Sarajevo of the modernisation kick-started by Habsburg rule, in terms of changes to the built environment and the occupations and lifestyles of Sarajevo’s citizens

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