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"In this way the Border is bloody: We have blood,for lurzch, blood for dinner Evero,one is chewing blood, Never a white day to rest. "
The authorities of the Croatian military border lands were primarily interested in developing the military and strategic significance of the Slavonian part of Gradiška and neglected the elements needed for the economic and urban development of the settlement (crafts and trade). This is demonstrated by the reconstruction of Gradiška fortification that took place between 1725 and 1765, with no regard for the valuable archaeological remains.(24) Reconstruction and building of new ramparts, bastions and buildings required by the army was carried out within the area formerly occupied by houses, work- shops and other business properties. By reducing the area intended for the population living in Gradiška, the economic basis for the growth and development of the settlement was dramatically reduced and due to the new circumstances the population was falling.
Even though Gradiška on the River Sava was granted the privileged status of a Community ( 1745 - 1785) before other settlements in Slavonia within the Croatian military border lands, this administrative measure was not enough to encourage the development of the settlement artificially. The inhabitants never saw the privileges of becoming a Community realised and the settlement gradually faded away and the population started to leave.
The first preserved plan of Gradiška comes from Weigel's map of boundaries (1700) made after the Peace of Karlovac. The plan includes the groundplan of the old fortification - a quadrilateral base with two towers. The fortress is encircled by a ditch filled with water from the River Sava. The central fortress is additionally fortified by a triangular wall within which the settlement is situated.
The plan of 1715 shows the same situation with a more detailed groundplan of the settlement, showing the important buildings and road network within the protected zone. Only ten years later (1725) the lay-out of the roads inside the walls shows a regular ground-plan (the western part of the settlement), while the eastern side still shows its old irregularity. The author of this plan, the military engineer Andreas Zernizer, sketched in the ground-plan of the future new fortification by which, upon completion, the useful area within the defensive walls was to be increased by two thirds. Apart from houses and other buildings, the following structures were sketched in: the military barracks, the headquarters of the fortification commander,(25) the areas planned for the artillery, military store-houses, the church and the Franciscan monastery.
The town square was in the centre of the settlement and still had an extremely irregular form. There were five wooden watch-towers around the earthworks which provided additional protection to the settlement and the fortress itself. The watch-towers guaranteed a peaceful life for the inhabitants of the town since they were informed inmediately of any movements by the enemy on the other side of the River Sava. Two watch-towers were placed along the banks of the river and the other three were aimed at providing protection to the north-eastern and north-western sides of the settlement. (26) The northern part of the "Community road" established links between the settlement and the fortress and the other settlements in the district of the Gradiška regiment.(27) New settlements were founded along the River Sava: Gornji Varoš with 79 houses in 1725 and Donji Varoš (downstream) with 34 houses and the church sv. Jakov (St. Jacob). The population that lived in the newly- founded settlements raised cattle, kept bees and caught fish while agriculture was uncertain due to periodical flooding of the River Sava.(28) Outside the fortification, townspeople had gardens that were parcelled out and sketched into the maps, as were the area intended for the army to exercise ("Exserzier Platz"), the health centre "kontumac", the civil and military graveyard with the chapel of St. Rok and the Franciscan's estate.
At the time of the Community proclamation (1745), Gradiška consisted of five settlements: the Fortress, Gornji Varoš, Donji Varoš, Gorice and Mali Strug. Houses, which showed a tendency to collapse, were not allowed to be rebuilt inside the walls. Instead, the owners had to build new houses along the road leading towards Nova Gradiška, at that time the centre of the regimental district.(29) The whole settlement had 1490 inhabitants, excluding the garrison. In 1760, according to church records, eighteen German families (57 inhabitants) lived in Gradiška. The Croats were a significant ethnic majority in the settlements scattered around Gradiška as well as in the fortress itself. At the same time, however, settlements were founded in the hinterland with a majority Orthodox population (the area around Okučani). According to a census taken in 1760, there were 179 Croatian and 34 Serbian families within the fortress. Catholics from Bosnia reinforced the small Croatian population that had lived in this area uninterrupted since before the arrival of the Turks. The Croatian ethnic group was the largest ( 1058 inhabitants) but Germans, Hungarians, Serbs and Bohemians also lived in this area. At that time, the authorities encouraged the arrival of skilled workers (craftsmen and merchants) as they hoped that this was the way to stimulate more rapid development. The specific and very hard way of life caused by the immediate vicinity of the border was the basic reason why people were unwilling to come to this area. Several German families who lived in the district of the Gradiška regiment asked permission to move to the district of the Brod regiment in 1817.(30)
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