Pan-Slavism :: European Europe History

Pan-SlavismIn the early nineteenth century, Slavic peoples from multiple empires in east and southern Europe began to pursue a movement to protect and organize Slavic culture. In 1848, this movement became more political. It gained a reputation and an attempt was do to unify all Slavic peoples. This movement became known as Pan-Slavism. Pan-Slavism appealed to many Slavs who felt nationalism towards their race. However among the Slavs, at that place were many different opinions. Some believed that there was a cultural, ethnic, and political continuative among all Slavs. Others argued that there was no place for Pan-Slavic goals in the present empires. Above all, the cultural and political issues in the debate all over Pan-Slavism were nationalism for ones race and a quest for power. In 1871 Slavs occupied most of eastern and southern Europe. The Slavs came from many nations. They populated the Austro-Hungarian, German, Russian, and the Balkan Areas of the Ottoman Empires. Howev er as a result of their geographic diversity, there was no single language or literature for the Slavic population. Slavs were so disunited that although they shared a common nationality, there was ignorance, hatred, and oppression of each opposite. Slavic nationalists wanted to unify and form a free and content Pan-Slavic Empire. They believed that all Slavic peoples should maintain a close connection to one another. They were unhappy that among the Slavs, nationality came after humanity, while the opposite of this was true for other nations. In a lecture given by Bronislaw Trentowski in 1848, he tell that if he were ever a tsar, he would destroy the Ottoman and Austrian Empires, thus liberating the Slavic peoples and hence gaining their support. He would free Poland, along with every other Slav occupied country. Some people saw Pan-Slavism as the freeing of non-Russian Slavs from their Ottoman, German, and Austro-Hungarian rulers. Not everyone agreed with the intentions of Pan-S lavism. Some people did not think that that the Slavs were one nation. Karel Havlicek, a Czech journalist shared this belief. He believed that nationality was not plainly determined by language, but also by customs, religion, government, and way of education. In 1848, he promulgated an article called Slav and Czech, in which he stated that the name Slav is and should always remain a geographical name. Bulgarian poet, Christo Boter, who strongly believed that only small federations of Slavs, in accordance to location should be built, shared a similar yet different view.