Čitaonice Banske krajine u kontekstu sazrijevanja stranačko-političke scene na krajiškom području (1873. - 1881.)
The Role of Reading Rooms in the Portion of the Military Frontier controlled by the Ban in the Development of Party Political Life, 1873-1881

Summary/Abstract: In the Ban’s Military Frontier, a specific portion of the Croatian-Slavonian Military Frontier, the first reading rooms, termed “cassinos” were organized in the regimental headquarters of Petrinja and Glina in 1842 and 1846 respectively. Unlike these reading rooms, in which the leading positions were held by high ranking Frontier officers, with the discontinuation of the regiments in 1873 and the establishment of Frontier districts under the Ban, the casino reading rooms that existed until then were either reorganized under new regulations or shut down completely. New reading rooms were set up, which had an important stimulatory role in the cultural and political life of the inhabitants of the Military Frontier. The predominant influence of military personnel which was clear in the first years of their operation gradually gave way to newer members of the reading rooms who were recruited from civilians, younger merchants, tradesmen, teachers and officials. The reading rooms had an important role in spreading national consciousness and political culture among the inhabitants of the Frontier. During the Bosnian revolt of 1875-1878 and following the reform of the Party of Right in 1878, the attention of the reading rooms turned increasingly to dissection of the political pursuits going on in Civil Croatia, various centres of the Church, southern Hungary, and Serbia. The reading rooms in the Ban’s Military Frontier contributed to the maturation of the party political scene in the Frontier as well as to the direction of the political notions its inhabitants had imbued up to that time, especially among its members, toward those political parties in which they were actively engaged and in which they played an important part prior to the final demilitarization of the Military Frontier in 1881.

• Details
• Contents