Pregledni rad
Solin at the Time of the First World War
Stanko Piplović
Sažetak
The assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, marked the beginning of an immense human tragedy. A month later the war was declared to Serbia, gradually joined by numerous states. At that time, Dalmatia was a special, but also distant and poor district of the Habsburg Monarchy. Notwithstanding the tensions between the opposed world powers, the war took the common people by surprise. This event surprised Solin, then a village in the vicinity of the town of Split, same as the people in the entire district. Under the state propaganda, the combat was believed
to be a short one. Young men responded to the public mobilisation singing and in processions. People in the villages on their way welcomed and entertained them cheerfully. To cover the great costs of the state of emergency, the state required large funds, wherefore bonds were issued every year. The people of Solin too joined buying the bonds in great
numbers. Although a small community, quite far from the areas were the war was fought, Solin experienced hard times of shortages and demise of their sons who fought on fronts all over Europe. The overall global situation reflected to its inhabitants' settled lives. As the
time passed by, the situation further worsened, with restrictions of freedoms, new rules, sacrifices and suffering. The numbers of the casualties are unknown since the reports were incomplete and arriving with great delays. Lacking was the workforce to work in the fields.
In order to improve the situation slightly, school children were engaged in family works. Yet, in spite of all the troubles, the situation was made easier by this being a small rural community, where the people mostly dealt with agriculture, which lessened the hunger, of which
mostly suffered larger urban communities. Women made some earnings by selling milk in Split. In order to enhance this activity, the Perfect Dairy (Uzorna mljekara) was established.
Solidarity was also exercised through mutual help. Established was a soup kitchen for the destitute. A large contribution was made by the Red Cross local committee by collecting money for the poor. Women registered as nurses in case of need.
In spite of severity of the situation, the district authorities made efforts to help within the limits of their abilities. In 1915, Solin was visited by the general Stjepan Sarkotić and the Dalmatian governor, Marius Attems. Industry came to halt. Cement production was stopped. Work in the Majdan cement factory was controlled by the military. Of particular
help was the Village Mutual Funds (Seoska blagajna) that lent money at low interests, and stood out in charity activities. As the war dragged on, the situation worsened. Food was short. The worsened hygienic conditions resulted in spreading of typhoid and measles.
In the hard years of famine and suffering, the efforts of the conservator, Frane Bulić, in spite of all the obstacles, were successful. In an adroit way, he connected archaeological researches of Salona and life improvements in Solin. He was the main initiator of public works.
To this end he applied all the funds and means available. Very persistent and resourceful, by putting pressure on the authorities, he obtained subsidies from the district and the municipal authorities and also experts. All this also enabled earnings and nourishment improvements to the numerous destitute families.
Through the locality of Starine, a road was arranged and built, that connected the road to Sinj with the one to Trogir. The works started before the war, to have continued after it as well. This was an attempt to provide the workers with some earnings to feed their families with. But the works went on with stoppages due to lacking of funds.
In the beginning, archaeological researches of remains of the Roman Salona came to a stop, to be continued with engagement of Russian prisoners of war. The works mainly went on at the Amphitheatre, the Western Necropolis and the Five Bridges (Pet mostova) locality.
Ključne riječi
First World War; everyday life; public works; land improvement; monument researches
Hrčak ID:
148906
URI
Datum izdavanja:
8.9.2015.
Posjeta: 1.502 *