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| Bács-Bodrog County | |
|---|---|
| County of theKingdom of Hungary (1802-1849, 1860-1946) County of theSecond Hungarian Republic (1946-1949) County of theHungarian People's Republic (1949-1950) | |
| 1802–1 February 1950 | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
 | |
| Capital | Zombor Baja (1920-1941, 1945-1950) |
| Area | |
• 1910 | 10,362 km2 (4,001 sq mi) |
• 1930 | 1,685 km2 (651 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 1910 | 812,385 |
• 1930 | 137,403 |
| History | |
• Established | 1802 |
• Disestablished | 18 November 1849 |
• County recreated | 27 December 1860 |
• Treaty of Trianon | 4 June 1920 |
| 11 April 1941 | |
• Merged intoBács-Kiskun County | 1 February 1950 |
| Today part of | Serbia (8,677 km2) Hungary (1,685 km2) |
| Sombor is the current name of the capital. | |
Bács-Bodrog County (Hungarian:Bács-Bodrog vármegye,German:Komitat Batsch-Bodrog,Serbian:Бачко-бодрошка жупанија,romanized: Bačko-bodroška županija) was an administrative county (comitatus) of theKingdom of Hungary from 1802 to 1920. Most of its territory is currently part ofSerbia, while a smaller part belongs toHungary. The capital of the county was Zombor (present-daySombor).
The county was named after two older counties: Bács and Bodrog. Bács county was named after the town of Bács (present-dayBač) and Bodrog county was named after the historical town of Bodrog (which was located near present-dayBački Monoštor), which itself was named after the Slavic tribe ofAbodrites (or Bodrići in Slavic) that inhabited this area in the Middle Ages. The Abodrites were originally from northwest Germany, but after their homeland fell to the Germans, some had moved toPannonia.
Bács-Bodrog county shared borders with several other counties of the Kingdom of Hungary:Baranya,Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun,Csongrád,Torontál,Syrmia, andVirovitica (the latter two counties were part of the autonomousKingdom of Croatia-Slavonia). The riverDanube formed its western and southern border. The riverTisza formed its eastern border, down to its confluence with the Danube. Its area was 10,362 km2 (4,001 sq mi) around 1910.
Bács county arose as one of the first[citation needed] counties of the medievalKingdom of Hungary, in the 11th century. Bodrog county was also formed in the 11th century.[1] The area was taken by theOttoman Empire in the 16th century[2] and the two counties were abolished. During the Ottoman administration, the area of the former counties was part of theSanjak of Segedin. The Bács and Bodrog counties were established again after theBácska region was captured by theHabsburg monarchy in 1699;[3] later, the two counties were joined into a single county in 1802.[citation needed] Some (mostly eastern) parts of Bácska were incorporated into the Theiß-Marosch section of theMilitary Frontier.[3] After this part of the Military Frontier was abolished in 1751, these parts of the Batschka were also included into Bács-Bodrog county. The only part of the Batschka region which remained within the Military Frontier wasŠajkaška, but it too came under civil administration in 1873.
In 1848/1849, the area of the county was claimed by the self-proclaimedSerbian Voivodeship, while between 1849 and 1860 it was part of theVoivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat, an official crown land of the Empire. During this time the county did not exist since the area was divided into districts. The county was recreated in 1860, when the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar was abolished and the area was again incorporated into the HabsburgKingdom of Hungary.[4]
Under theAustro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Hungarian government gained full powers in all internal affairs, including the governance of counties, that also included the Bács-Bodrog county, as part of theKingdom of Hungary.
In 1918, under theArmistice of Belgrade (13 November), armed forces of Austria-Hungary retreated from the territory of Bács-Bodrog county, and the region was possessed by theAllied Army of the Orient, thus allowing theRoyal Serbian Army to establish effective control south of theBaja-Szeged line.[5]
By that time, the process of politicaldissolution of Austria-Hungary was already initiated, and on 16 November theFirst Hungarian Republic was proclaimed. In order to secure incorporation of those regions, local Serbian and other Slavic leaders organized apolitical assembly, that was held on 25 November inNovi Sad, and proclaimed the unification of several regions, including the Bács-Bodrog county, into theKingdom of Serbia. Several days later, on 1 December 1918, theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed, encompassing Serbia with Montenegro, and South Slavic provinces of the former Austria-Hungary. Thus, two countries laid claims on the Bács-Bodrog county, the Hungarian Republic and the Yugoslav Kingdom.[6]
By theTreaty of Trianon of 1920, the territory of the county was divided between theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes andHungary. Most of the county (includingSombor,Subotica, andNovi Sad) was assigned to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929), while the northernmost part (approximately 15% of the county), including town of Baja, was assigned to Hungary.
Until 1922, the southern part of the former Bács-Bodrog county was ade facto province of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes with the seat inNovi Sad. The capital of the smaller Hungarian county of Bács-Bodrog wasBaja.
The former Yugoslav part of the pre-1920 Bács-Bodrog county wasoccupied and annexed by Hungary in 1941 and Bács-Bodrog county was extended to its historic boundaries. AfterWorld War II, the border between Yugoslavia and Hungary was restored in 1947 by theParis Peace Treaties and the county's territory was reduced again. The Yugoslav part of the former Bács-Bodrog county was later divided into 3 districts and is currently part of theSerbian autonomous region ofVojvodina.
In 1950, Bács-Bodrog was united with the southern part of the formerPest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county to form theBács-Kiskun county.
During the 18th century, the Habsburgs carried out an intensive colonisation of the area, which had low population density after the lastOttoman wars. The new settlers were primarilySerbs,Hungarians, andGermans. Because many of the Germans came fromSwabia, they were known asDonauschwaben, orDanube Swabians. Some Germans also came from Austria, and some fromBavaria andAlsace.LutheranSlovaks,Rusyns, and others were also colonized, but to a much smaller extent. According to the Austrian census from 1715,Serbs,Bunjevci, andŠokci comprised 97.6% of the county's population.
The 1720 census recorded 104,569 citizens in the county. Of those, there were 98,000 Serbs (divided into 76,000Orthodox and 22,000 Roman Catholics, or Bunjevci and Šokci), 5,019 Magyars and 750 Germans. The Serbs (73%) and Bunjevci and Šokci (21%) had an overwhelming majority in the county at that time.
There was also an emigration of Serbs from the eastern parts of the region, which belonged to Military Frontier until 1751. After the abolishment of the Theiß-Maros section of Military Frontier, many Serbs emigrated from north-eastern parts of Batschka. They moved either toRussia (notably toNew Serbia andSlavo-Serbia) or toBanat, wherethe Military Frontier was still in place.
By 1820, the county had grown to 387,914 in total population. The Serb (including Croats, Bunjevci and Šokci) share had dropped to 44% or 170,942, with the number of Hungarians rising to 121,688 and Germans to 91,016, or 31% and 23%, respectively.
| Census | Total | Hungarian | German | Serbian | Slovak | Ruthenian | Other or unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880[7] | 638,063 | 234,352(38.52%) | 162,894(26.77%) | 177,081(29.10%)[b] | 24,761(4.07%) | 7,294(1.20%) | 2,062(0.34%) |
| 1890[8] | 716,488 | 288,521(40.27%) | 189,051(26.39%) | 197,104(27.51%) | 29,025(4.05%) | 9,063(1.26%) | 3,724(0.52%) |
| 1900[9] | 766,779 | 327,108(42.66%) | 192,267(25.07%) | 139,412(18.18%) | 30,068(3.92%) | 10,055(1.31%) | 67,869(8.85%)[c] |
| 1910[10] | 812,385 | 363,518(44.75%) | 190,697(23.47%) | 145,063(17.86%) | 30,137(3.71%) | 10,760(1.32%) | 72,210(8.89%)[d] |
| Census | Total | Roman Catholic | Eastern Orthodox | Lutheran | Calvinist | Jewish | Greek Catholic | Other or unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 638,063 | 407,003(63.79%) | 121,838(19.09%) | 57,238(8.97%) | 24,227(3.80%) | 17,141(2.69%) | 8,696(1.36%) | 1,920(0.30%) |
| 1890 | 716,488 | 461,027(64.35%) | 131,303(18.33%) | 64,810(9.05%) | 27,934(3.90%) | 19,115(2.67%) | 9,983(1.39%) | 2,316(0.32%) |
| 1900 | 766,779 | 498,216(64.98%) | 138,344(18.04%) | 68,526(8.94%) | 29,261(3.82%) | 18,793(2.45%) | 10,814(1.41%) | 2,825(0.37%) |
| 1910 | 812,385 | 534,682(65.82%) | 146,015(17.97%) | 70,098(8.63%) | 29,772(3.66%) | 18,244(2.25%) | 11,684(1.44%) | 1,890(0.23%) |
As for the geographical distribution of the four largest ethnic groups in 1910,Hungarians mainly lived in the northern parts of the county,Germans in the western parts,Croats (includingBunjevci andŠokci) aroundSzabadka andSerbs in the southern parts. The city ofÚjvidék in the southern part of the county was the cultural and political centre of the Serbs in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Bács-Bodrog county were:
| Districts (járás) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| District | Capital | |
| Apatin | Apatin (nowApatin) | |
| Bácsalmás | Bácsalmás | |
| Baja | Baja | |
| Hódság | Hódság (nowOdžaci) | |
| Kula | Kula (nowKula) | |
| Óbecse | Óbecse (nowBečej) | |
| Palánka | Palánka (nowStara Palanka) | |
| Titel | Titel (nowTitel) | |
| Topolya | Topolya (nowBačka Topola) | |
| Újvidék | Újvidék (nowNovi Sad) | |
| Zenta | Zenta (nowSenta) | |
| Zombor | Zombor (nowSombor) | |
| Zsablya | Zsablya (nowŽabalj) | |
| Urban counties (törvényhatósági jogú város) | ||
| Baja | ||
| Szabadka (nowSubotica) | ||
| Újvidék (nowNovi Sad) | ||
| Zombor (nowSombor) | ||
| Urban districts (rendezett tanácsú város) | ||
| Magyarkanizsa (from 1908; nowKanjiža) | ||
| Zenta (nowSenta) | ||
The towns ofBaja andBácsalmás are now in Hungary; the other towns mentioned are now in Serbia.
In the early 19th century Bács-Bodrog County was divided into:[11][12]
Šajkaška was part of the Military Frontier at this time.
