Following the imposition of Habsburg rule on Ottoman Bosnia in 1878, a new garrison was constructed in the old citadel of Trebinje. By using a micro-historical approach, this innovative book tells the story of the garrison in times of peace and war, describing the way in which the Austro-Hungarian administration rapidly transformed Trebinje into a tree-lined city dominated by the army.

Yet, the Habsburg "civilizing mission," marked by the building of hospitals, schools, roads, and railways was accompanied by ruthless violence against those who resisted the new foreign occupiers, especially after 1914. The tragic violence is described in the book alongside accounts of daily life. By personalizing historical events, the narrative reveals the perspective of people who found themselves in Trebinje and its garrison complex: the ordinary soldier, the condemned “insurgent,” the career officer, the cook, the shepherdess, the hotelier, or the journalist—all willing or unwilling participants in an extra-European style colonial project in the heart of Europe. 

Cathie Carmichael is Professor of European History at the University of East Anglia, Norwich.

Acknowledgments
A Note on Language
List of Figures
Brief Chronology

Prologue: The Long Gaze of Reinhold Oeser

Chapter One: Place and People
Introduction
Mountains, Settlements, and the Trebišnjica
Catholics, Muslims, and Orthodox

Chapter Two: The Turbulent 1870s
The Collapse of Ottoman Power, 1875–1878
The Arrival of Habsburg Troops

Chapter Three: Creating the Trebinje Garrison Complex
The Vision and Drive of Djuro Babić and Anton Galgóczy
Reluctant Soldiers: Uprisings against Conscription in 1881–1882

Chapter Four: Life in the Citadel, 1882–1914
Urban Infrastructure
Challenges and Catastrophe

Chapter Five: Citadel and Countryside
The Bounty of the Land
Candles, Clothing, and Sounds
The Accumulation of Scientific Knowledge

Chapter Six: Crisis, War, and a New Era
The Gathering Storm, 1908–1914
Violence in the Rimland
From Victory to Defeat, 1915–1918

Epilogue: Victors and Vanquished after 1918

Bibliography
Printed Primary Sources
Secondary Sources

Index