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In this paper, the writings of the daily newspaper “Politika” regarding the events preceding the Annexation Crisis were analyzed. The political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the beginning of the XX century was extremely complex and tense. Combined with the already complicated international circumstances, a favorable environment was created for one of the greatest political crises in Europe at the time. The period between the Young Turk Revolution and the Annexation Crisis was characterized by the attempts of Serbs from Bosnia and Herzegovina to resolve legally the question of Bosnia and Herzegovina without changing the state and legal status of the territory, as well as by the attempts by Austria-Hungary to integrate Bosnia and Herzegovina into its state structure. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina and thus abused its mandate for occupying Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was provided by the Treaty of Berlin from 1878. The preparations for the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina were covered by the correspondents of “Politika”, who informed the Serbian public about it. The articles published in “Politika” at the time are invaluable for obtaining an accurate picture of the state of affairs at the time, as well as of a reign of terror that the Austro-Hungarian rule imposed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Garašanin's Progressive Government proposed to the National Assembly, which was held in Niš in May 1884, to adopt amendments to several laws of a political nature after the demise of the Timok rebellion. These were the bills amending the law: on the press, on the associations and choirs, on the municipality, and on the gendarmerie. By adopting these repressive laws, the progressives practically prevented the work of political parties, reinforced police surveillance over the municipalities, and increased the gendarmerie forces further. The lost war with Bulgaria in 1885 marked the beginning of the political breakdown of the Progressives and King Milan, who was close to them, although they repeatedly disagreed with his political actions. However, their departure from the political scene did not begin immediately after the lost war, as many expected, but took another year and a half for the Progressives, and three years for King Milan. On the other hand, the Radicals began to believe in the possibility that the defeat that they experienced during the Timok rebellion could come to a victory, that is, to power. A long-standing march against the Radical Party was halted, as King Milan realized that he could not rule with the constant ignorance of the will of the people. The broad popular masses led by the People's Radical Party should have approached the throne and the dynasty and together with the representatives of the Progressive Party alleviate the difficult situation created by the war against Bulgaria, and later provide the crown prince with a safer ruler. The royal attempt to persuade the Radicals to agree with the Progressives failed, as representatives of the Radical Party at the assembly held in February 1886 in Niš resolutely refused an agreement with the Progressives. In April 1886, they signed an agreement with the Liberals, which contained a joint program of work of both parties. The most important points of this program, which was a reflection of the compromise on both sides, concerned the change of the Constitution in the internal and the improvement of relations with the Russians in foreign policy. In June 1887, a liberal-radical government was formed, the first coalition government in the political history of Serbia.

The paper explores the history of the Serbian Progressive Party in the Kingdom of Serbia from 1887 to 1896. After the fall of the government of Milutin Garašanin in June 1887, the Serbian Progressive Party ended among the opposition parties. After the fall of the Progressive Party from power, the first coalition liberal-radical government was formed, headed by Jovan Ristić. The Progressive Party members and supporters were persecuted by the ruling People's Radical Party. The Progressive Party lost the voters and deputies in the National Assembly, which suggested that it would not be able to recover for an extended period. However, less than two years later, in May 1889, the Progressive Party managed to organize a General Assembly, attended by over 2,000 members, who adopted the party program and statute which did not differ substantially from the one from 1881. It was quite obvious that the party leadership wanted to show that the Progressive Party did not disappear from the political scene, but that it temporarily withdrew to reconsolidate and focus on gathering voters. Yet, due to the unrest that erupted in Belgrade during the party assembly, the Party leadership announced in June 1889 that the Progressive Party would temporarily suspend its activities. As the withdrawal from the political scene did not produce any results, the Party leaders decided to resume the Party's activities, hoping that the situation would eventually change in their favor. In the September 1890 elections, the Progressive Party won one parliamentary mandate, which went to the Party's leader, Milutin Garašanin. In the National Assembly, his political struggle against the ruling Radical Party government was hardly observable, but his articles published in the Progressive Party newpaper 'Videlo' (Daylight) had a much greater impact on the readers. During the minority liberal government of Jovan Avakumović, in 1892-1893, there were attempts to reach an agreement on a pre-election coalition between the Liberals and the Progressives against the Radicals, but these attempts failed. After the coup of 1st April 1893, when the Radicals regained power, it was quite clear to the Progressive Party leaders that they could not fight the Radicals on their own. The idea of forming a new political grouping of liberals and progressives was soon abandoned. After the 1888 Constitution had been repealed and the 1869 Constitution had been reinstated, King Alexander tried (with the assistance of rare non-partisan people) to avoid the intransigence of the Progressive Party leaders and the supremacy of the Radicals. After the period of several neutral governments headed by Đorđe Simić (January - April 1894), Svetomir Nikolajević (April - October 1894), and Nikola Hristić (October 1894 - July 1895), the Progressive Party government headed by Stojan Novaković (July 1895 - December 1896) was formed. This government initiated a change in the Constitution but the idea was not upheld by King Alexander, as the Liberals and the Radicals did not agree to instituting the constitutional reform under the administration of the weakest party in the country. In such circumstances, Novaković resigned on 29 December 1896. The next day, the Progressive Party was dissolved by the decision of the Party leadership.