The historical region of the Sandžak of Novi Pazar—covering about nine thousand square kilometers, nowadays divided up by the Republics of Montenegro and Serbia—is a backwater of Southeast European historiography. Therefore, it is surprising that two books were recently published on its history: Tamara Scheer's “Minimale Kosten, absolut kein Blut”: Österreich-Ungarns Präsenz im Sandžak von Novipazar (1879–1908) and Kenneth Morrison and Elizabeth Roberts's The Sandžak: A History (London: Hurst, 2013).

Morrison and Roberts use the longue durée approach to write a kaleidoscopic history of the geographic region of the Sandžak of Novi Pazar from the Upper Paleolithic age to the twenty-first century, mainly relying on secondary literature. In contrast, Scheer—an Austrian historian who specializes in Austria-Hungary during World War I—extensively uses primary sources, mainly from the Viennese archives, to provide an in-depth analysis of the Austro-Hungarian “presence” (in contrast to “occupation”) in the Ottoman Sandžak of Pljevlja. This administrative unit had been created in the northwestern part of the former Sandžak of Novi Pazar after the Congress of Berlin, and Austria-Hungary was granted the right to establish garrisons in the towns of Pljevlja, Prijepolje, and Priboj. Soon, Austro-Hungarian civilians followed the military. Until Scheer's study, the Austro-Hungarian military and civilian presence in the Sandžak of Pljevlja from 1879 to 1908 had a tendency to vanish in the shadow of the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus, these sociohistorically and politically pivotal decades in the region's long transition from the imperial structures of the Ottoman Empire to the nation-state framework of the twentieth century were often neglected.

The short but informative introduction provides an overview of the “political and politicized history” of the Sandžak of Novi Pazar (15). Scheer further explains her choice of terminology—a bitter necessity in all publications on Southeast European history. After the introduction, the book is organized in five thematic chapters: in chapter I, Scheer describes the prehistory of the Austro-Hungarian presence in the Sandžak of Pljevlja, as well its legal and political framework. In the excellent sub-chapter I.IV (55–75), she explains the relations of the Austro-Hungarians in the Sandžak with the Ottoman Empire, Serbia, and Montenegro, and furthermore, their relations with the Muslim and Orthodox, Serbo-Croatian and Albanian inhabitants. The entry of the Austro-Hungarian troops and the administrative structure of the Sandžak are the subject of chapter II. Chapter III follows a classical top-down approach and covers Austria-Hungary's political and strategic interests in the area and how they were put into practice. Sub-chapter III.I (150–63) is the most intriguing in Scheer's monograph: using archival sources from Vienna and Sarajevo, she describes the complicated collaboration between the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman officials in the Sandžak of Pljevlja. Chapter IV is basically a bottom-up history, vividly illustrating the daily life of the Austro-Hungarians in their “colony” in the Sandžak.

In place of a conclusion, chapter V depicts the withdrawal of the Austro-Hungarian forces from the Sandžak as a consequence of the Annexation Crisis and the Young Turk Revolution. It evaluates the relevance of the military and civilian presence in the Sandžak for the multiethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire as a whole, focusing on political and diplomatic aspects. Scheer's most thought-provoking argument is that the local experiences of the Austro-Hungarians in the Sandžak contributed to an important change of mind among the Austro-Hungarian decision makers: from 1879 to 1908, the Ottoman officers and the Muslim population in the Sandžak became cautious friends of the Austro-Hungarians serving and living there (243–46). The Austro-Hungarians began to view the Ottoman Empire as a reliable partner.

Scheer's monograph is a thoroughly researched case study using many primary sources on a topic that is not the focus of mainstream Southeast European or Austrian historiography. On the downside, some of the examples are a bit lengthy, especially in chapter IV. Further, a few typos can be found (for example “Napeolon Dor,” 222). Scheer, however, should not be blamed for insufficient proofreading or editorial faults. The book is otherwise filled with informative short biographies of selected Austro-Hungarian officials in the Sandžak and a bibliography with publications in German, English, Serbo-Croatian, and Hungarian, though an index would have been desirable for the printed edition of the monograph.

Overall, I can wholeheartedly recommend Scheer's well-written book to all scholars interested in the history of the Western Balkans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and especially to historians interested in the Austro-Hungarian Balkan policy and Austro-Hungarian-Ottoman relations.