Military Frontier


The Military Frontier was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and later the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Empire. It acted as the cordon sanitaire against incursions from the Ottoman Empire.
The establishment of the new defense system in Hungary and Croatia took place in the 16th century, following the election of Ferdinand I as king. Six districts under special military administration were established in Hungary and Croatia. The Croatian Military Frontier and the Slavonian Military Frontier came under the jurisdiction of the Croatian Sabor and ban. In 1627, they were placed under the direct control of the Habsburg military. For more than two centuries, they would retain complete civilian and military authority over the area, up to the abolition of the Military Frontier in 1881.
During the 17th century, the territory was expanded towards the east and new sections were created. By then, it stretched from Croatia proper in the west to eastern Transylvania in the east and included parts of present-day Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Romania and Hungary. During this period, the defence system was also changed, from a conventional garrison model to one of 'soldier-settler' communities.
The inhabitants of the area were known as the Grenzer. They were mostly Serbian, Croatian, German, Vlach and other colonists. In exchange for land-grants, religious freedom and favorable tax rates, they colonized the area and served as the bulwark for the monarchy against Ottoman incursions. Germans had been recruited by Hungary in the late 18th century to resettle and develop the Danube River Valley, and became known as Donauschwaben. The military regiments formed by the settlers had a vested reason to stand and fight and were familiar with local terrain and conditions. They soon gained a formidable military reputation.

Background

The Ottoman wars in Europe caused the border of the Kingdom of Hungary – and subsequently that of the Habsburg monarchy – to shift towards the northwest. Much of the old Croatian territory either became Ottoman land or bordered the new Ottoman domain.
In 1435, in an attempt to strengthen the defences against the Ottomans and Venice, King Sigismund founded the so-called tabor, a military encampment, each in Croatia, Slavonia and Usora. In 1463 King Matthias Corvinus founded the banovina of Jajce and Srebrenik, and in 1469 the military captaincy of Senj, modeled after the Ottoman captaincies in the Province of Bosnia. All these actions aimed to improve defence, but ultimately proved unsuccessful. But, they did lead to development of the Pandur infantry and the Hussar cavalry.
Soldiers known as "Martolos" and "Voynuks" were the most dangerous military element under Ottomans, while Vlachs and Serbs which fled from the Ottomans in the 15th century had a similar military tradition which Habsburgs began to use on their side of the border. Under the Habsburgs a special system of land ownership and military organization was created, i.e. a military frontier. This military border was an area of some major war campaigns, but mostly consisted of eternal clashes between the Ottoman and the Habsburg forces.

History

16th century

After the Croatian Parliament elected the Austrian Habsburgs as kings of Croatia in 1526, Ferdinand I promised the Croatian Parliament that he would give them 200 cavalrymen and 200 infantrymen, and that he would pay for another 800 cavalrymen who would be commanded by the Croatians. Soon the Habsburg monarchy founded another captaincy in Bihać. In the short term, all this was ineffective, as in 1529 the Ottomans swept through the area, captured Buda and besieged Vienna, wreaking havoc throughout the Croatian border areas.
The Habsburgs aimed at holding the Ottoman forces on Hungarian and Croatian territory before they could reach Austria, but did not have a clear defense plan. In the 1530s, significant reinforcements were sent only to the most important forts on the border with the Ottoman Empire. In the 1540s and following the Ottoman campaign of 1552, several conferences were held in which a new defense strategy was adopted. Separate defense zones were to be established in parts of Hungary and Croatia around the border forts. Austrian and Bohemian provinces were obligated to help finance this new system, beginning in the 1550s. At the end of the 1560s, the new border system consisted of around 100–120 forts and extended from the Adriatic Sea to Transylvania. It was organized into six Border Fortress Captain Generalcies :
  1. The Croatian and Adriatic Border Fortress Captain Generalcy, centred initially in Bihać, and from 1579 in Karlovac;
  2. The Slavonian or Wendish Captain Generalcy, centred in Varaždin, after 1578 known as the Wendish-Bajcsavár Captain Generalcy;
  3. The Kanizsa Captain Generalcy, centred in Kanizsa. Renamed the Captain Generalcy across from Kanizsa following the loss of Kanizsa in 1600;
  4. The Györ Captain Generalcy, protecting Vienna;
  5. The Captain Generalcy Defending the Mining Towns, centred in Léva, and in Érsekújvár after 1589;
  6. The Upper Hungary or Kassa Captain Generalcy, centred in Kassa.
In addition, there were four District Captain Generalcies.
From the 1530s, immigration to the Military Frontier began to include a large number of Martolos, Vlach military colonists and other irregulars who were part of the Ottoman military system, they were mostly Christians and some were Muslims.
The new military expenditures became a considerable concern, and the Congress of Inner Austrian lands in Bruck an der Mur in 1578 defined the obligations of each land in covering the military expenses and defined the priorities in improving the defensive strategy. It was determined that the Duchy of Styria will finance the Slavonian and Hungarian Frontiers, and the Duchy of Carniola will finance the Croatian Frontier. The Duchy of Carinthia put their finances at the disposal of Styria and Carniola, to direct the money where needed. In the 2nd half of the 16th century, there were around 20,000 troops stationed in Hungarian and Croatian border forts.
By the end of the 16th century Slavicized Vlachs, other Vlachs and Serbs flee from Ottoman territory to Military Frontier and Dalmatia. At the same time the Croatian Military Frontier became known as the cat=no, and from the 1630s the Upper Slavonian Military Frontier was known as the Varaždin generalat. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the military administration of the Frontier was moved away from the Croatian ban and the Sabor and instead instated in the high command of Archduke Charles and the War Council in Graz.

17th century

Despite the financial support of the Inner Austrian nobility, the financing of the Military Frontier was not efficient enough. The military leadership in Graz decided to try solutions other than mercenary units. In the 1630s the Imperial Court decided to give land and certain privileges to immigrants into the Frontier at the area of Žumberak. In return they would serve in the Imperial army. The remaining local population was also encouraged to remain by receiving the status of free peasants and other privileges. These new units were organized into ten or more voivodeships per each captaincy.
In 1627, the Military Frontier was removed from the control of the Croatian Sabor and put under direct rule of the Habsburg military. It would have complete civilian and military authority over it until abolition of the Military Frontiers. In November 1630, Emperor Ferdinand II proclaimed the so-called Statuta Valachorum, which regulated the status of so-called Vlach settlers from the Ottoman Empire with regard to military command, their obligations, and rights to internal self-administration. Over time, the population of the Frontier became mixed between the autochthonous Croats and Croatian serfs who had fled the Ottoman territories, and the numerous minority of the Serb and Vlach refugees who strove to expand their rights as a major contributor in the defense of the land. By creating the new military class in the Frontier, the territory of the Frontier eventually became fully detached from the Croatian Parliament and the ban. As freedom of faith was granted to them, they preserved their Orthodox faith in spite of their living in a Catholic country. Eventually, the whole male population of the Military Frontier became professional soldiers who served the Empire on several fronts and through many European wars, even after the relaxation of the Ottoman threat.
File:Serbmigra.jpg|thumb|Migration of the Serbs, by Paja Jovanović, portrays Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević, surrounded by soldiers, flocks of sheep and women with babies, leading some 36,000 families from his seat in Peć, to what is now Vojvodina in 1690, after the failure of a Serb revolt.
During the 17th century territory of the Military Frontier was expanded towards the East and new sections were created. By then, it stretched from Croatia in the west to eastern Transylvania in the east and included parts of present-day Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Hungary. The area was settled primarily with Croatian, Serbian and German colonists who, in return for land grants, served in the military units defending the empire against Ottomans. The majority of immigrants were Serbs, and some were ethnic Croats, mainly from Bosnia. A large migration of Serbs to Habsburg lands was undertaken by Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević. The large community of Serbs concentrated in Banat, southern Hungary, and the Military Frontier included merchants and craftsmen in the cities, but mainly refugees who were peasants.
The 17th century was a relatively peaceful period, during which only smaller raids were made from the Province of Bosnia. After the Ottoman army was repelled at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Great Turkish War ended with much of the former Croatian lands under Habsburg control. Despite this, the Frontier system was retained, and expanded onto former Ottoman territories in Lika, Kordun, Banija, lower Slavonia, Syrmia, Bačka, Banat, Pomorišje, and Transylvania. The Habsburg Empire valued the ability to centrally control the area and to draft cheap and numerous army units.
After the Treaty of Karlowitz of 1699, the Seressaner troops were established with both military and police duties. They were not paid, but were exempted from taxes. Over the following century, each regiment had one section of Seressaners that organized border patrols towards Bosnia, particularly on difficult terrain, and stopped incursions of bandits.
Orthodox Christians who settled Military Frontier from the Ottoman Empire were called in sources as "Vlachs schismatics" and Vlachs or Uskoks, other names which are mentioned are "Valachi seu Rasciani"
"Valachi seu Serviani", "Valachi seu Graeci", Vlachs or Morlachs, "Illirica gens graeci ritus" and "homines Ritus Ruthenici seu Graeci". During the 17th and first half of the 18th century Catholic natives and Catholics immigrated from Bosnia and Kingdom of Croatia also converted to Orthodoxy. Most documents state that the Vlachs arriving "from Turkey" or "from Bosnia", ie the Bosnia Eyalet.