UPRISING AS SURVIVAL IN OCCUPIED SERBIA – THE CENTENARY OF THE TOPLICA UPRISING 1917 – 2017.

Abstract

During the years of "the Great War" challenges to Serbian identity were characterized by crucial struggle for national identity and demographic survival. Military activities during 1914 and 1915, testified about the unequivocal social consensus of the population of the Kingdom of Serbia to preserve its state in the defensive war that had been imposed on them. Due to the unfavorable development of the military-political situation, Serbia was occupied in 1916. There were two occupation zones: Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. Testimonies about life under occupation, although they might have had insufficient historiographical interests, were numerous and waarning because of its nature. Following their national idea's instinct Bulgarian occupation was emotionally focused on vindictiveness against the Serbs, thus it literally aimed at both assimilation and national disintegration of Serbs. Unacceptable people estrangement culminated with the attempt to mobilize young men who were to be sent to fight against their compatriots to the Salonika front. This attitude caused the population that was in a hopeless situation to massively join Komitas rebel bands that were recognized as being a certain resistance to the occupation. These events resulted in the national uprising in the South-West Serbia in 1917, known as the Toplica Rebellion – the only of the kind in the occupied Europe. The occupying authorities had to engage significant military forces to stifle the uprising. Kosta Vojinovic Kosovac and Kosta Pecanac were the two most prominent leaders in this battle but they stood for two oposed concepts as to how the uprising should be organied and carried out. Due to the superiority of the enemy the uprising was suppressed and then followed by reprisals from Bulgarian frustrated nationalism.