The
Hungarians used this to their advantage by fanning Croat-Serb
hostility. After all, they had a historical account to settle with
the Serbs who quashed an Hungarian rebellion not 40 years before (in
1848-9) and were awarded with the half autonomous Duchy of
Vojvodina, an integral part of the Kingdom of Hungary.
The Ausgleich of 1867 (which divided the loot between Austria and
Hungary) deprived Vojvodina of its autonomy. The Magyars rushed back
in with German and Austrian settlers and immediately embarked upon a
massive campaign of forced assimilation. Thus, as Vojvodina
prospered with roads and railways and large commercial farms ("the
breadbasket of the empire") - it became more hate-riven and
explosive. In the Balkans, affluence and commerce seem only to
encourage envy and belligerence and neighbourly relations are no
barrier to mutual slaughter.
A self-appointed "guardian of all Serbs", the Serbian state
willingly engaged in agitation and confronted both other ethnicities
and the Dual Monarchy in its quest to safeguard the well-being,
welfare, prosperity and equal treatment of the Serbs, all noble
goals, no doubt.
Yet instability is contagious, a lesson not learn by Serb
politicians. Even as the Bosnian uprising was in progress, King
Milan stuck an Austrian knife unto its back.
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