Vojna Krajina" (literally military zone or region).
This region was populated chiefly by Serbs. Most of the Croatians, who were
tenants or landed estates in this area, fled to Hungary, Austria, Italy,
Bavaria or Croatia proper (Croatia had been absorbed in the twelf century by
Austria and Hungary). The Austrian rulers settled the
depopulated areas with Serbs, who had come, not as refugees, but as warriors.
They were given land (they became free peasant owners), but they had to
promise that a certain number of man had to be under arms constantly. All men
between 18 and 60 had to do military service whenever they were called.
Thus, the Serbs came to empty, deserted property. And
the Austrian authorities were glad to have them, because they did not come as
ordinary refugees, seeking merely to save their necks, but as warriors
willing to continue the fight against the infidel Turk, in the eternal hope
that one day Turkey would be defeted and they could return to their own lands.
But the Turkish occupation was to last some five hundred years. In the
meantime, the Serbs became valuable and respected citizens, settled in their
new home, although they often had to pay a dear price for living on the
frontier, exposed to periodic Turkish military onslaughts.
But the Serbs were also to face difficulties inside the Austrian an
Hungarian kingdoms. To the north of them was Croatia proper, a strongly
clerical land. Life was difficult there for anyone who was not a Roman
Catholic. The Catholic bishops (from Zagreb and from Senj), with the help of
Viennese Jesuits, sought constantly to convert the newly-arrived Serbs to
Catholicism in the regions bordering on Croatia, or at least to get them to
accept the Uniate rite. Many times those attempts were aided by military
authorities using brute force, althought the Austrian kings were officially
and formally on the side of the Serbs.
In short, the Serbs in these regions were to be on the defensive for 350
years, trying to preserve their religion (Serbian Orthodox) and their national
identity. Their right to own land and their right to work for the state were
limited because they were not Catholics. Serbian priests were tortured and
imprisoned because they refused to join Uniates. These restrictions and
persecutions have been described by Croatian and German (Austrian) historians.
And they were admitted by the various official promises of rectification.
