In the late 19th century, Bosnia and Herzegovina, small but strategically significant (with a predominantly Muslim population), became the subject of great power interests as the Ottoman period shifted to that of Austro-Hungarian rule in 1878. The impact of this on the Bosniak people suddenly finding themselves under the authority of European rather than centuries old Islamic rule, and how they chose to navigate the transition in terms of faith and loyalty, is the subject of this work.

Included in European affairs the Bosniaks managed to straddle two contrasting worlds, maintaining their own Islamic interests without alienating those of Central Europe. These turbulent times in the post-Ottoman era are remarkable to examine, revealing the nature of that transition, its complex dynamics, and more specifically how new political, economic, societal and cultural realities, as well as radical modernization processes, impacted Bosniak Muslims, and to what extent loyalties shifted from one civilization (Ottoman) to another (Austro-Hungarian).