Krisztián Csaplár-Degovics
keywords: Albania, Austria–Hungary, humanitarian intervention, Shkodra (Skutari / Scutari), football
Research into the history of humanitarian actions prior to 1918 focuses primarily on the past of transatlantic countries; studies regularly omit the reconstruction of the humanitarian past of Eastern European empires, especially Austria–Hungary. One reason for this is that Central European historians have also neglected research into this topic. However, in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula, primarily in regions inhabited by Albanians, the Habsburg Monarchy organized dozens of humanitarian aid campaigns since the mid-19th century to provide food, clothing, and diplomatic protection to starving and needy Catholic Albanians. After 1896, for foreign policy reasons, these aid efforts were extended to Muslim Albanians. From that year onwards, the Austro–Hungarian Foreign Ministry, the Ballhausplatz, regarded the Albanians as potential allies of the Danube Monarchy.
The largest series of humanitarian actions took place during the First Balkan War in 1913, the year independent Albania was founded. The Ottoman Empire suffered a historic defeat in this war, with its troops being pushed out of the eastern Adriatic coast by the armies of the modern Serbian, Montenegrin, and Greek nation states. A serious humanitarian crisis developed in the war-torn region: hundreds of thousands of Albanian refugees arrived from the central Balkans in Albania, where the government was unable to provide even its own citizens with food.
The humanitarian catastrophe caused by the war and the wave of refugees occurred when Austria–Hungary’s pro-Albanian foreign policy came to a standstill. The Ottoman Empire’s state presence was destroyed, so the previous agreements between Istanbul and Vienna could no longer be enforced. Independent Albania was recognized on July 29, 1913, at the London Conference of the Great Powers, which meant that for a long time it was not possible to conclude new agreements with the new state. Order prevailed only in one city, Shkodra in Northern Albania, which the great powers jointly took under military control in May 1913 in order to drive Montenegrin and Serbian troops out of the city and its surroundings and force them behind the new state borders. In a strange twist of history, the first football match in Albania took place during this turbulent period in Shkodra, as part of a humanitarian action by Austria–Hungary.
Shkodra, or Skutari (Scutari) as it was called in the contemporary press and diplomatic language, with a population of nearly 35,000, was the largest city inhabited by Albanians and the third largest military stronghold of the Ottoman Empire on the Balkan Peninsula. In late autumn 1912, Serbian and Montenegrin troops laid siege to the city. The aim of the seven-month siege was to bring the city under Montenegrin control. Esat Toptani Pasha, who defended the city, finally surrendered to the Montenegrin and Serbian forces on April 24, 1913, a few weeks after the city was awarded to independent Albania at the London Conference of the Great Powers.
Since the South Slavic states refused to retreat and hand over the city to Albania, the great powers launched a joint military action to drive them out of the city. In April, a fleet of great powers led by British Vice-Admiral Commanding Atlantic Fleet Sir Cecil Burney (1858–1929) blockaded Montenegro, and in May, the marines of five great powers marched into the city. The international military mission led by Vice-Admiral Burney was transformed into an international military administration. The marines of the great powers stationed in the city took possession of one district each. They built barracks in their own districts and established independent administrations based on the British, French, German, Italian, and Austro–Hungarian models (Russia was represented by French troops). In the middle of the summer of 1913, marines were replaced by international soldiers. One third of the approximately 1,500-strong international contingent consisted of units from the Austro–Hungarian joint army. The troops of the Danube Monarchy were so overrepresented compared to the other great powers because the city and the entire mountainous region of Northern Albania had been part of the Habsburg Empire’s sphere of influence for nearly a century and a half due to the Catholics living there.
Although the military action led by Vice-Admiral Burney and the military administration set up in Shkodra met the theoretical conditions of humanitarian intervention at the time, the humanitarian intervention research has not viewed it this way. The reason for this is that, according to international law historians, who essentially only scrutinize humanitarian interventions in the transatlantic world, before 1945, military humanitarian actions were only launched by the great powers to protect Christians. The so-called Skutari operation did not come to their attention because approximately 63% of the inhabitants of the city of Shkodra were Muslim; Catholics accounted for about 34% of the population; and Orthodox Christians accounted for around 3%.
The humanitarian situation in the city (and in Albania) was so dire that the foreign ministries of Austria–Hungary and Italy decided to launch a large-scale humanitarian action to help the suffering population. The two great powers assembled a fleet of several ships to deliver humanitarian aid (food, tents, blankets, clothing, medical supplies) to the site, which was protected by destroyers and torpedo boats of the two states. Ilija Dušan Živković, an officer of the joint Austro–Hungarian army, a Hungarian citizen (but an ethnic Serbian) was responsible for the transport and distribution of the Austro–Hungarian humanitarian aid. The lieutenant was an officer in the 32nd Joint Infantry Regiment. According to his personnel file, he was considered a capable soldier who spoke many languages, maintained good relations with his subordinates, and was able to successfully carry out the complex tasks involved in humanitarian actions.
After the distribution of Austro–Hungarian humanitarian aid, Lieutenant Živković remained in Shkodra, where he participated in overseeing public safety in the city district that had come under Austro–Hungarian control. The lieutenant noticed that after the siege, dozens of young people were wandering idly through the streets, either because they had been orphaned or because their schools had been bombed and they were unable to continue their studies. In June 1913, Živković grew tired of the idleness and aimless days of Albanian youth, so he decided to teach them modern sports. With the support of the local Austro–Hungarian military command, he held a number of demonstrations where curious spectators could learn about various athletics and gymnastics disciplines. Over time, nearly a hundred young people between the ages of 14 and 20 took part in the training sessions, and football proved to be the most popular sport. Since the Albanian youths were physically strong and fast, and quickly understood the rules, Živković organized the first football matches.
News of the football matches taking place in the Austro–Hungarian district, which attracted large crowds, quickly spread throughout the city. Not only among Albanians, but also among the military circles of other great powers. The British officers were genuinely offended that they were not the first ones to think of teaching football to the local youth who were hanging around in large numbers in the neighborhood. However, they quickly put aside their grievances and set about teaching the Albanian youth the secrets of football. Of course, this did not leave French, German, and Italian military officers indifferent. Soon, dozens of footballers were available in every district, and it was only natural that the teams from the different districts would compete against each other. Thus, the first international tournament in Albania’s history was organized, where Austro-Hungarian–Albanian, British–Albanian, French–Albanian, Italian–Albanian, and German–Albanian teams began playing friendly matches against each other shortly before World War I. The teams played prestigious matches against each other, where the football schools of the time also competed against each other. Unfortunately, no unpublished archival sources or photos of these matches have been found so far, so the results are unknown.
Austria–Hungary’s successful humanitarian actions were intended to concealed a serious diplomatic failure. The Danube Monarchy, which considered itself the greatest protector of the Albanians, was unable to prevent the partitioning of Albanian ethnic territories at the London Conference and failed to ensure that Albania would begin its existence as an indirect rule protectorate of Austria–Hungary. The humanitarian aids, actions and intervention organized to help the Albanians thus had serious internal political significance, as it sought to make the Danube Monarchy’s serious diplomatic defeat more acceptable to Central European public opinion. Živković’s attitudes toward sports, however, reinforce the historical interpretation that Austria–Hungary did indeed pursue a colonial policy toward Albania.
According to Uma Kothari (Kothari 2006, p. 121), when British officers were sent to serve in colonial territories, they often found themselves in environments where they felt isolated. In order to cope with their fears, emotions, alienation, and loneliness, they adopted life strategies that allowed them to continue to live according to the rituals, protocols, and behavioral norms of their distant homeland without disruption in the colonies. They adopted life strategies that allowed them to stay connected to their distant homeland, but also reminded them of who they wanted to be when they had to hold their own in foreigner surroundings and among ‘other’ (‘barbaric’, ‘savage’, ‘uncivilized’) people, or represent their empire. Modern sports offered such a life strategy, through which it was possible to simultaneously meet the cultural expectations of the metropole and adapt to the conditions of colonial society. Živković is a clear example of how empire-building, colonization, and sports went hand in hand not only in the case of British officers and the British Empire, but sometimes also in the case of Austria–Hungary.
Unpublished Sources
Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv
XII. Türkei, Kt. 429/11., Kt. 430/Varia
Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Kriegsarchiv
Militärkanzlei Seiner Majestät (MKSM), Kt. 15/1/21-18/1 (1913)
References
Csaplár-Degovics, Krisztián: Az albán nemzettéválás kezdetei (1878–1913): a Rilindja és az államalapítás korszaka. Budapest: ELTE BTK TDI, 2010.
Csaplár-Degovics, Krisztián: Humanitaere Aktionen Österreich – Ungarns im Jahr 1913. In: Cziráki, Zsuzsanna et al. (hgg.): Festschrift für den ungarischen Archivdelegierten in Wien, István Fazekas. Wien: Institut für Ungarische Geschichtsforschung in Wien / Ungarische Archivdelegation beim Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, 2014. 383–391.
Kothari, Uma: From Colonialism to development: Reflections of former Colonial Officers. In: Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Vol 44, Nr. 1 (2006): 118-136, DOI: 10.1080/14662040600624502
