КОНЗУЛ ФОНБЛАНК О СРБИМА У РЕВОЛУЦИЈИ 1848. ГОДИНЕ (Од Мајске скупштине до смрти војводе Шупљикца)
CONSUL FONBLANQUE ABOUT THE SERBS IN REVOLUTION 1848 (Since the May Assembly until the Duke Šupljikac’s death)

Summary/Abstract: Consul Thomas Grenier de Fonblanque was a British diplomat with the longest appointment in Serbia, considering all the British diplomats throughout the whole nineteenth century who got their transfer to the Principality of Serbia. His animosity towards the Serbian government in Belgrade, the Serbian population in Serbia, and the Serbian population in the Habsburg monarchy was open, decisive and unhidden. In the conflict between the Serbs and the Hungarians in the year of 1848, his favoritism was on the Hungarian side. This article presents his views about the Serbs during the Revolution of 1848, the Serbs in the Principality of Serbia and the Serbs in the southern part of Hungary, and the Military Frontier as well. He depicted, what he called, characteristics of a Serbian nation and race, Serbian leaders, and what he called the biological and mental references of the common people. Even though his sympathies were on the Hungarian side during the conflict, he thought that both Serbs and Hungarians should stay under the role of the Habsburg dynasty with Wiena as their capital. His most overwhelming fear was that conflict inside the Habsburg monarchy would be an excuse for the Russian Empire to interfere and expand the Russian political and military influence in this part of the world. For a British diplomat, that was one of the worst scenarios that could happen, considering that Russia and Great Britain shared political rivalry from southeast Europe, through central Asia, all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Fonblanque looked at Serbs as a potential instrument in Russian hands for increasing Russian power in the Balkans. We conclude that thid is one of the main reasons for Fonblaque’s shady (re)presentation of the Serbs and painting a bright picture for Serbian opponents in national conflicts.

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