FOREIGN REPORTS ON THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT EASTERN CRISIS IN THE NEWSPAPER “SRPSKE NOVINE”

Abstract

The Great Eastern Crisis (1875-1878) is considered one of the turning points in recent Serbian history, which occurred as a result of decades of agrarian and social dissatisfaction and the desire for the national liberation of the Christian population from the Turkish authorities. In historiography, the eastern crisis encompasses a somewhat wider chronological framework, and its beginnings are related to the uprising in the village of Krekovi, near Nevesinje, on July 9, 1875. In a short time, the uprising spread to Bosnia, and then to the Macedonian, Bulgarian and Kosovo territories. Taking into account the fact that this issue has attracted a lot of attention from the European public, the subject of this paper is the reports and announcements of the foreign press about the beginning of the Great Eastern Crisis, which “Srpske Novine” published in parts or in whole during July 1875. Due to the relatively fast flow of information and the use of telegraph services, the press was, at that time, an extremely important source. Based on the offered foreign reports and announcements, which were published almost daily by “Srpske Novine”, we analyzed the first conflicts in Herzegovina, in July 1875, in order to bring closer the way in which the appearance of the uprising was interpreted on the pages of the European press.