Voivodeship Serbia and Temeshvar Banat

In 1848, revolutionary unrest began in the Austrian Empire, as throughout Europe. The Serbian May Assembly held in Karlovtsy proclaimed the formation of the Serbian Voivod . Since the Serbs demanded autonomy, but agreed to remain part of the empire, the Vienna court, for the sake of fighting the Hungarians who proclaimed the creation of an independent state , was forced to compromise. The imperial constitution, announced on March 4, 1849 , provided that the “Province of Serbia” would receive a device “which would confirm its church and nationality on the basis of old“ privileges ”and imperial decrees”, and a separate territorial unit “Voivodeship of Serbia and the Temeshvar Banat” (informally often called “Vojvodina”).

The Serb name of the administrative-territorial unit covered a smaller space than that claimed by the Serbs. It did not include sections of the Military Border and areas in Hungary, which, according to "privileges", were previously compactly inhabited by Serbs; at the same time, part of the Banat , populated by Romanians, became part of it. The Voivodship, separated from Hungary, was directly subordinated to Vienna , but was not declared a separate “crown land”. The title "governor" belonged to the emperor, and an Austrian general was appointed vice-governor; later, the imperial governor began to act as military and civil governor. Instead of the abolished old provinces , first appeared two, and then five districts , which were divided into sections and communities . The administrative center of the voivodship was Temesvar , and not Novi Sad , as the Serbs expected.

The defeat of Austria in the war with France and Sardinia made it necessary to regulate relations with the Hungarian part of the empire, which could only be possible as a result of the restoration of constitutional rights and the integrity of the Hungarian kingdom . One of the first victims was Vojvodina, formally abolished in December 1860 . In May 1861, the bodies of the Serbian Voivodeship transferred power to the administration of renewed provinces. The title of "governor of the Serbian" ( German: Grosswojwod der Wojwodshaft Serbien ) remained in the title of Emperor of Austria (later - Austria-Hungary) until the collapse of the empire in 1918 .

According to the census of 1850-1851, the following lived in the Voivodeship:

• Romanian - 347.459 people
• Germans - 335.080 people
• Serbs - 321.110 people
• Hungarians - 221.845 people
• others - 200.727 people

(among the “others” there were Bunevites and Shokians - 65.796 people, Bulgarians - 22.780 people, Slovaks - 25.607 people, Jews - 15.507 people, Gypsies - 11.440 people, Greeks and Tsintsars - 2.820 people)

The official languages ​​were German and Illyrian (the future Serbo-Croatian): the language of the administration was German, but official bodies were also allowed to speak in their native language.

The Voivodship was initially divided into two districts:

• Bucca Torontal
• Temeshwar-Karash

Then division into five districts was introduced:

• Grossbeckerek
• Lugos
• Neusatz
• Temeshwar
• Zombor

• Ferdinand Maierhofer (1849-1851)
• Ivan Coronini (1851-1859)
• Josip Shokchevich (1859-1860)
• Karl Bigot de Saint - Cantin (1860)

• Sima M. Chirkovich. “History of the Serbs” - Moscow: “The World”, 2009. ISBN 978-5-7777-0431-3