On October 5, 1908, Emperor Franz Joseph I announced the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria-Hungary. In international documents, the action is often dated October 6, and the imperial rescript to the population of the two regions was published on October 7. Thus, Vienna turned the 30-year rule into a formal annexation.
The Treaty of Berlin of 1878 gave Austria-Hungary the right to occupy and govern Bosnia and Herzegovina, but left the formal sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire. Over the following decades, Vienna built up the administration, army, and infrastructure in the provinces without changing their legal status.
The Young Turk Revolution accelerated the decision
The turning point came in July 1908, when the Young Turk Revolution restored the Ottoman constitution. Fears arose in Vienna that the new authorities in Constantinople would seek to restore Ottoman control and include representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Ottoman parliament. The Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Alois von Ehrenthal used the crisis to end the ambiguous status of the provinces.
At the Buchlau meeting in September 1908, Ehrenthal discussed with the Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Izvolsky a possible change in the Balkan status. Russia did not want the annexation to be carried out unilaterally, but was interested in changing the regime of the straits. Before a general international agreement could be reached, Vienna announced its decision.
“You will have a voice in the decisions of your home“, Franz Joseph declared in his proclamation to the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.The emperor presented the annexation as a necessary legal step and promised constitutional institutions that would give representation to the population. At the same time, Austria-Hungary ordered the withdrawal of its troops from the Sanjak of Novi Pazar in an attempt to limit the international reaction.
Serbia and Russia protest
The annexation provoked a sharp reaction in Serbia and Montenegro. Belgrade had national and territorial claims to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where large Slavic communities lived. Russia, Serbia's traditional protector, also protested the violation of the status established in 1878.
The Bosnian Crisis of 1908–1909 began. Russia was weakened by its defeat in the war with Japan and did not receive support from the other great powers for military confrontation. Germany sided with Austria-Hungary, and Serbia eventually accepted the new situation in 1909. The crisis thus ended without war, but left deep tensions between Vienna and Belgrade.
The annexation did not resolve the national question in the region. It made it a permanent source of conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Six years later, Sarajevo, the capital of annexed Bosnia, was the scene of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The event precipitated the outbreak of World War I.
Sources: history.com, history.state.gov, encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net