A Short History of Pan-Slavism

Eastern Europe's Ethnic Movement

Jul 26, 2008 Victor Mobley

Developed in the 19th century, Pan-Slavism was a strange movement devoted to the superiority and unity of the Slavic race.

Revolutionary 19th Century

One hundred and forty years ago, revolutions erupted all over continental Europe. Socialist and communist revolts threatened the established order of things, and the stranglehold monarchs held over their domains began to loosen. The rest of the century saw the explosion of nationalist and ethnic movements closely tied to social and political movements. One such movement would play a role in bringing on the most destructive conflict the world had seen to that point. This movement was first articulated in the early 1800s and throughout a tortured history tried to unite the Slavic people of Eastern Europe and re-define the politics of Europe.

The Origins of Pan-Slavism

Starting with a misguided notion that the Slavs had once ruled Europe, pan-Slavic advocates tried to reconnect with this glorious past. They argued that the existence of Slavic language place names and the existence of scattered Slavic tribes in early history proved that they were destined to be restored to their former glory. A strange idea even then, it gained some traction in the early 1800s when poet Jan Kollár and scholar Pavel Josef Safarik popularized the movement. Kollar’s lyrics tried to awaken the Slavs to reach their destined glory, and Safarik wrote a book in 1842 that documented the vast numbers of Slavic peoples in Europe. Many Slavs were surprised by his work, unaware of the size of their populations.[1]

Leadership in the Pan-Slavic Movement

It was clear to some that changing the movement to a political one was the best chance for Pan-Slavism to take root. Immediately it was beset by factionalism. Who would lead the Slavs? The Russians argued that it should be dominated by them, while others argued that the oppressed Poles or the Austrians should. True unity could not be reached because the Slavs were too busy fighting each other. The Russians occupied Poland and treated the Catholic inhabitants poorly, the Poles treated the Ukrainians as inferior, and the Balkans was a mess of Southern Slavs bickering over how best to deal with Ottoman occupation.

Europe's Fear of Russia

Looking in from the outside, Europe greatly feared Pan-Slavism as a tool of Russian domination. Pan-Slavists were often associated with tyrannical despots like Tsar Nicholas and felt that Pan-Slavism was an attempt to roll back Western liberalism. As Germany grew and Austria was weakened, it became clear that Russia was the largest threat to peace in the East. Even the Central European Slavs feared what would happen if the Russians ever gained power of Pan-Slavism.[2]

The Pan-Slavic Congresses

A series of conferences were called from 1848 into the early 1900s, but by far the most important was the Moscow Congress in 1867. A massive celebration of the Slavic identity, it was dominated by Russians with a noticeable absence of Poles and Ukrainians. Russia had become the representative of Pan-Slavism, like it or not. The Southern Slavs allied themselves with the Russians because they saw them as their protectors in an uncertain world. World War I would erupt in part because of the actions of Slavic forces and the Russian-Serbian alliance created by the Pan-Slavic movement.

In the end, a little understood ethnic and political movement forged by a strange hodgepodge of intellectuals and politicians would be partially to blame for setting the stage for a violent twentieth century.

[1] Hans Kohn, Pan-Slavism: Its History and Ideology (New York: NY: Random House, 1960): 13.

[2] Oscar J. Hammen, “Free Europe versus Russia, 1830-1854,” American Slavic and East European Review 11, No.1 (February 1952): 28.

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