Krivošije uprising (1869)

Although the men traditionally bore arms and some had volunteered in the Austrian Navy—there being a major naval base at Kotor—they had never been obligated to serve in the army.

[3] Despite the opposition raised by the new order, in his initial reports the Dalmatian governor, Feldmarschalleutnant Johann Ritter von Wagner, insisted that the situation was under control.

[3] Because the Kotor district was cut off from the rest of the empire by Ottoman Sutorina, and because of the poor state of its roads, the Austro-Hungarian navy had the large task of ferrying all 10,000 reinforcements.

The Minister of War, Franz Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld, downplayed it, believing the troops could "deal with a few hundred bandits", while Feldzeugmeister Gavrilo Rodić and the Chef der Militärkanzlei, Friedrich von Beck-Rzikowsky, urged a compromise with the rebels, support for whom was increasing in other south Slavic areas.

The Compromise of 1867 with the Hungarians was "widely considered as a sell-out of the South Slavs" and the Krivošije revolt engendered sympathy among the empire's Croats.

[4] Friedrich von Beust, Chairman of the Ministerial Council, blamed the Italians for smuggling arms to the rebels, although no evidence of such trans-Adriatic shipments was ever found.