Summary: Modern historians such as Noel Malcolm, Miranda Vickers, Oliver Schmitt, and Eva Anne Frantz show that reports of Albanians (Arnauts) murdering Serbs on a daily or systematic basis in the late Ottoman period were often exaggerated or politically motivated, especially in nationalist press and diplomatic propaganda used to justify territorial ambitions before the Balkan Wars.

While violent incidents did occur and are documented in contemporary sources, research indicates that the primary causes were commonly local conflicts, clan feuds, weak Ottoman authority, economic hardship, and social competition, rather than organized religious fanaticism or ethnic extermination campaigns. Religion functioned more as an identity marker than a primary motive.

Therefore, claims of constant mass murder driven by religious hatred should be approached critically, as they reflect propaganda and political agendas more than verified historical reality.

Introduction

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Kosovo and parts of today’s northern Albania and North Macedonia became a focal point of competing national ambitions. As the Ottoman Empire weakened, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece sought to expand their territories, while Albanian groups fought either for autonomy within the empire or for full independence.

Within this atmosphere, reports circulated widely in European and Balkan press describing Albanians (Arnauts), allegedly, committing widespread massacres and daily atrocities against the Serbian population. These dramatic narratives helped shape international perceptions and were often used to justify political and military intervention. Yet, diplomatic records and modern historical research suggest that many of these claims were heavily exaggerated or politically instrumentalized by Serbian propagandists.

Serbian propaganda

Serbian propaganda newspapers in Belgrade, Sofia, and Athens frequently published sensational accounts of mass killings, portraying Albanians as religious fanatics conducting systematic persecution against Orthodox Christians. Such portrayals served, intentionally or not, to mobilize domestic and international sympathy and strengthen territorial claims to regions such as Kosovo and Macedonia.

Austro-Hungarian diplomatic correspondence repeatedly noted that stories of mass killings were inflated and did not match observed reality. Envoys often mentioned isolated acts of revenge, banditry, and clashes between armed groups, rather than structured campaigns of extermination. A Serbian envoy spoke of “numerous murders of Serbs in the Turkish provinces,” yet knew of only a single recent case and described it not as religious fanaticism but as retaliation for a political provocation by the Serbian consul.

This gap between press rhetoric and verified incidents strongly indicates the presence of propaganda rather than objective reporting.

Violence in context: tribalism, poverty, and social structure

While propaganda exaggerated the scale and motives of violence, it is also clear from contemporary sources—including Russian Orthodox priests writing in the 1850s—that robberies, attacks, and killings did occur. These accounts often contain names, dates, places, and concrete details, which makes them valuable primary sources. However, the question remains: What motivated the violence?

Modern scholarship and many contemporaneous observers suggest that the primary drivers were:

1. Tribal and clan culture

Northern Albanian society was structured around clan alliances (fis) and the customary law code known as the Kanun. Blood feuds, honor-based retaliation, and cycles of revenge killings were widespread within Albanian communities and against outsiders. Violence was often personal or clan-based rather than ethnic or religious.

2. Weak Ottoman administration

In remote regions, the empire lacked control and enforcement capacity. Local power rested with armed groups, not centralized authority. Banditry was common among all ethnicities, including both Albanians and Serbs.

3. Economic desperation

Poverty and the lack of stable land ownership created competition for resources, especially during demographic shifts. Raids and plundering sometimes had economic, not ideological, motives.

4. Political conflict

With rising nationalism, Serb and Albanian armed bands fought for influence and territorial control. This politicized violence could later be reinterpreted as ethnically or religiously motivated when useful in propaganda.

Religious fanaticism or political Instrumentalization?

Although religion served as a symbolic marker of identity (Orthodox Christians versus Muslim Albanians), most historians agree that religion did not function as the primary cause of violence. Instead, it acted as:

• A label used in propaganda narratives
• A convenient justification for mobilization
• A marker of group boundaries in a conflict primarily about power, land, and autonomy

In short, many reports describing ”fanatical Muslim Arnauts slaughtering Serbs daily” reflected nationalist exaggeration rather than documented systemic violence motivated by religious hatred.

Conclusion

Violence between Albanians and Serbs in the late Ottoman Balkans was real, but its nature was far more complex than nationalistic narratives suggested. Much of it stemmed from tribal structures, cycles of revenge, weak state authority, poverty, and political struggle, rather than religious fanaticism or organized ethnic hatred.

The repeated depiction of Albanians as bloodthirsty religious fanatics served as a powerful propaganda tool, particularly for states seeking to legitimize territorial expansion during the decades leading up to the Balkan Wars. Modern historians generally agree that claims of daily mass murder and religiously motivated extermination were exaggerated and instrumentalized, rather than accurate representations of reality.

Sources

Malcolm, Noel. Kosovo: A Short History. London: Macmillan, 1998.

Schmitt, Oliver Jens (ed.). A Concise History of Albania. Cambridge University Press.

Frantz, Eva Anne. “Violence and its Impact on Loyalty and Identity Formation in Late Ottoman Kosovo.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 2009.

Inter-confessional Relations and Ethnicity in Late Ottoman Kosovo and Macedonia. OpenEdition Books.
https://books.openedition.org/efa/8820?lang=en

Vickers, Miranda. Between Serb and Albanian: A History of Kosovo. Hurst & Co, 1998.

Malcolm, Noel. Rebels, Believers, Survivors: Studies in the History of the Albanians. Oxford University Press, 2020.

Gawrych, George. The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874–1913. I.B. Tauris, 2006.

Blumi, Isa. Reinstating the Ottomans: Alternative Balkan Modernities, 1800–1912. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Durham, Edith. High Albania. London: Dent, 1909.

Yastrebov, Ivan Stepanovich. Stara Srbija i Albanija (Old Serbia and Albania). Belgrade, 1904.

Ottoman Archives (Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi), Istanbul — Kosovo and Vilayet of Kosovo administrative and security reports, 1850–1912.