From that time until the present
the Habsburg monarchy, largely owing to the predominance of the Magyars in
Croatia, adopted a policy of prevention--Jugo-Slav nationality was to be
prevented. Viewed in that light the rule of Count Khuen-Hederv[a]ry, Ban of
Croatia from 1883 to 1903, in which time, according to Croats, he corrupted
a whole generation, turned Serb against Croat, and played out the radical
demands of the party of Star[c]evi[c] and Frank, is intelligible. The
policy of Count Khuen, which was based on corruption and forgery, on
press-muzzling and career-exploding, has since been imitated, and its
imitation has been largely responsible for this war.
It was not until the Serbs and Croats formed their coalition in 1905 that
the trial of strength had come. In Serbia, Peter Karageorgevitch ascended
the throne and reversed the pro-Austrian policy of his predecessor. This
it will be remembered was influenced until then by the Bulgarian policy
of Russia and by Serbia's defeat at the hands of Bulgaria in 1885. The
commercial treaty with Bulgaria in 1905, and the tariff war which Austria
began immediately afterward, pointed out which way the wind was blowing.
An era big with decisive events arrived. The Jugo-Slavs had learned that
union meant victory, division foreign mastery. Petty politics and religious
fanaticism were forgotten, and Jugo-Slav nationality was formed in the
fierce fires of Austro-Magyar terrorism and forgery and in the whirlwind
reaped from the Balkan wars.
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