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GREATER SERBIA
from Ideology to Aggression
Jovan Cvijic
Selected statements
Excerpts written mainly around the turn of the century,
revealing his Greater Serbian inclinations
Jovan Cvijic (1865-1927) is considered the founder of modern geographic science in Serbia.
He did extensive research and writing on Balkan geography. He had a great knowledge not
only of the geography of Serbia and the surrounding regions but also of the history and
current events of those areas.
He was also interested in Serbia's political advancement and because of this he often lost
his scientific impartiality when writing about Serbia or the Balkans in a geographic
context. Much of is work was and is used as a scientific justification for Greater Serbian
politics.
There is no one work of Cvijic that can be set aside as some kind of geographic doctrine
for the Greater Serbian idea, but his political inclinations regarding Serbia's expansion
can be seen throughout his body of work. In this section, statements from various articles
and publications by Cvijic in which he clearly shows his Greater Serbian inclinations in
the context of an academic/scientific work are presented. All of these statements reflect
the assertions of present Greater Serbian ideologists, and it can be seen that Cvijic's
work, since he was a reputable geographer, is used as 'scientific proof' of their
territorial claims.
* * *
First, some of Cvijic's general thoughts on Serbia's need and fitness to dominate the
surrounding areas. Here he displays a great deal of emotional involvement in the subject
at hand: ". . . all Serbs were inspired by high national morale and a desire to
avenge the old defeats and found a new, even larger state." (Cvijic,
"Balkansko Poluostrvo i juznoslovenke zemlje, osnove antropogeografije, I, Zagreb
1922.)
"The world must know and realize that Serbia can operate with a much larger entity
that the territory it now holds. The greatest possible territorial transformations may
take place with Serbia. And we must not flinch from this fear pouring into the world if it
is useful to our national interests." (Cvijic, "O nacionalnom radu",
commemorative speech 1907, reprinted in Govori i Clanci, I, Beograd 1921 p. 51-76).
"The Serbian problem must be resolved by violent means. Both Serbian states must
chiefly prepare themselves militarily and educationally, sustain their national energy in
the military portions of the Serbian population, and use the first possible opportunity to
debate Serbian questions with Austro-Hungary." (Cvijic, Aneksija Bosne i
Hercegovine i srpsko pitanje, 1908. reprinted in Govori i Clanci I, Beograd 1921, p.
202-233.)
Cvijic also claims provides reasons for the incorporation of surrounding Balkan
territories into Serbia. The Dinaric region he speaks of is Bosnia and Dalmatia:
"Outside of the Morava-Vardar depression (South Serbia and Macedonia) there are no
territories in the western half of the Peninsula suitable for forming durable life. . .The
economic and trading interests of certain Dinaric regions even now aim for the
Morava-Vardar depression; these lands canot acquire life and importance unless they join
with the Morava-Vardar state. . ." (Cvijic, "Geografske osnove makedonskog
pitanja", Questions balkaniques, Paris 1916. Reprinted in Govori i Clanci I, Beograd
1921, p. 27-51.)
He has this to say about Bosnia and Herzegovina. Note that he boldly assumes the Serbian
nature of this region thus making it seem that Serbia has a right to claim territory that
it never held: ". . . it is widely known that Bosnia and Herzegovina are lands
settled entirely by people who are purely Serbian in race. . ." "As an
unassailable minimum for the principle of nationality it must stand that one cannot
relinquish that central dominion, the heartland of a nation to another country, a foreign
state (Austro-Hungary); this is what Bosnia and Herzegovina are to the Serbian
people." (Cvijic, Aneksija Bosne i Hercegovine i srpsko pitanje, 1908. Reprinted in
Govori i Clanci I, Beograd 1921, p. 202-233).
He has the following to say on Serbia's need and 'right' to an Adriatic outlet: ". .
.the aspirations of Serbia for the Albanian coastline are justified and conditioned not
only by geographic but also by historic tradition." ". . .for economic
independence, Serbia must acquire access to the Adriatic Sea and one part of the Albanian
coastline: by occupation of the territory or by acquiring economic and transportation
rights to this region. This, therefore, implies occupying an ethnographically foreign
territory, but one that must be occupied due to particularly important economic interests
and vital needs. Such occupation might be called an anti- ethnographic necessity and in
such a form it is not against the principle of nationality. In this case it is all
the more justified because the Albanians of northern Albania came about through a merging
of the Albanians and Serbs."
(Speaking of the Serbian army in the Balkan Wars): ". . .every soldier knew that this
military march must secure one part of the Adriatic castline and an Adriatic port, on
which economic independence of his country would depend. . . a single thought and a single
will led all members of the Serbian people to spread their state territory to the shores
of the sea and an Adriatic port." (Cvijic, "Izlazak Srbije na Jadransko
More", Glasnik Srpskog Geografskog Drustva, 1912. Reprinted in Govori i Clanci II,
Beograd 1921, p. 9-25).
He also made ethnographic arguments for Serbian claims to coastal regions when, like Vuk
Karadzic, he asserted that the people of Dubrovnik were Serbians: "It seems that the
Slavs who settled these lands in the 6th and 7th centuries were settled at first on the
steep cliffs above the town where the is located today, on cliffs that used to be wooded
with an oak forest, known then as a 'dubrava'. This, then, is the origin of the Serbian
name form the city of Dubrovnik, that replaced the earlier Greek-Romanese name (Ragusa).
Subsequently the development of the city was marked by this two-fold Slavic- Roman
identity. The Latin and Slavic people merged here, a mixture that can always be noted
though the population quickly and completely became Serbian." (Cvijic, "Iz
drustvenih nauka." Selected texts. Cvetko Kostic, editor. Beograd 1965.)
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