ABSTRACT
The Bosnian Muslims had always lived under Muslim rule. The relatively short period of Austro-Hungarian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina is thus the story of the political awakening of the Bosnian Muslims. Austria-Hungary was eventually able to eliminate paramilitary units and brigand bands that had operated with impunity in Ottoman times, although there were flare-ups of socially based conflict during Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Muslims acquired little political influence under Austro-Hungarian rule, they remained somewhat quiescent when it became evident that the introduction of Austrian capitalism would not radically alter feudal agrarian relations. The congress formalized Austrian occupation and administrative rights over the province, although the sultan continued to hold formal sovereign rights over Bosnia and Herzegovina until 1908. The Habsburg army, under Croatian-born General Josef Philipovic von Philippsberg, entered the province fully expecting only slight indigenous resistance to occupation.
