Austrian soldiers fighting insurgents in Bosnia-Herzegovina in contemporary drawings (from 1878 onwards).

Below are 18 original drawings (ink, pencil) from the years 1878 onwards.

The historical background of these unique pieces is the occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by the troops of the K. u. K. Monarchy from 1878, also called the Bosnian Annexation Crisis or Bosnian Crisis.

Austria-Hungary had been authorized in Article 25 of the Treaty of Berlin of July 13, 1878 to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina indefinitely and place them under its administration.

Austria-Hungary also received the right to militarily occupy the Sanjak of Novibazar, which remained under Turkish administration.

The relevant contractual clause read: "The provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be occupied and administered by Austria-Hungary. As the Austro-Hungarian government does not desire to assume the administration of the Sanjak of Novibazar, which extends between Serbia and Montenegro in a southeasterly direction beyond Mitrovitza, the Ottoman administration there shall be continued. Nevertheless, in order to preserve both the existence of the new political order and the freedom and security of the lines of communication, Austria-Hungary reserves the right to garrison this part of the old vilayet of Bosnia to the full extent and to possess military and commercial roads therein."

Bosnia-Herzegovina had previously been part of the Ottoman Empire and remained so until the formal annexation by the K. u. K. Monarchy in 1908.

The territory - approx. 51,027 sq km - was militarily conquered between July 29 and October 20, 1878.

For the campaign, (according to a corresponding entry on Wikipedia) already by mid-1878 "82,113 soldiers, 13,313 horses and 112 guns, the XIII Corps (6th, 7th and 20th Divisions) as the main attacking force as well as, in the crown land Kingdom of Dalmatia, the 18th Infantry Division and other reserve troops were available."

The joint command was under Joseph Philippovich von Philippsberg and Stephan von Jovanović.

The deployed Austro-Hungarian troops unexpectedly met strong resistance, particularly from the Muslim population. They accounted for approximately 39% of the total population. But parts of the Serbian-Orthodox population (43%) also joined the resistance.

The administration of the occupied territory (Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina) was taken over by the Joint Finance Ministry of Austria-Hungary.

After the conquest, however, the unrest continued and led to further uprisings. They ultimately culminated in the assassination of heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este and his wife in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. Behind this act of violence was a group of six Serbian nationalists from the organization Mlada Bosna. This secret organization was composed mainly of Bosnian Serbs, but over time Croats and Bosniaks from Bosnia-Herzegovina also joined.

The actual assassin was Gavrilo Princip (July 13, 1994 - April 28, 1918).

This assassination was the trigger for the First World War.

The original aim of the occupation had been to create a counterbalance to Russian dominance in the Balkans; however, the related conflicts were only intensified and eventually set the whole of Europe ablaze.

The drawings shown below tell of the clashes (in the years 1878 - 1882) in the (later) Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The artist of the present drawings is, according to the signatures, presumably the Austrian painter Friedrich Schlegel (1865-1935).

The (loose and mostly folded) drawings were obviously created on site and were probably formerly part of a sketchbook.