Description
July 9, 2025 marks the 150th anniversary of the first organized struggle of the Nevesinje insurgents for liberation from centuries of Ottoman rule.
The flames of uprising spread to all of Herzegovina and Bosnia, and Montenegro, Serbia, and Russia also entered the war against Turkey. The three-year war ended with the Congress of Berlin, at which Serbia and Montenegro gained internationally recognized independence and territorial expansion, while Herzegovina and Bosnia, instead of the freedom they had earned through struggle and unification with Montenegro and Serbia, were united into one entity by the will of the great powers and occupied by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
The uprising is known in historical science as the Nevesinje Rifle and it had an extremely large resonance, not only in the Balkan Peninsula where the Serbian people lived, but also among other freedom-loving peoples throughout Europe. The uprising initiated unprecedented diplomatic activity by the great European powers. The most important Serbian and world media reported on the insurgents, the goals of their struggle, and their brilliant victories against the many times more numerous and better equipped units of the regular Turkish army and the local Bashibozuk, and folk artists sang numerous songs that became an integral part of the collective memory of the Serbian people.
The Nevesinje Rifle is also the first event in recent Serbian history that had a direct impact on European and world politics and international relations. The armed uprising of the Serbian people in Herzegovina and Bosnia, started on July 9, 1875 in the vicinity of Nevesinje, was one of the events that influenced all subsequent events in Serbian, European and world history from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The uprising subsequently led to the largest conflict in the history of mankind at that time, World War I, which resulted in the collapse of monarchical Europe and the emergence of new states, as well as the final liberation and unification of the Serbs.
Professional cooperation: Association of the People of Nevesinje in Belgrade
Artistic realization: Nadežda Skočajić, Academic Graphic Artist
