Abstract

The overwhelming majority of historical work on the late Habsburg Monarchy has focused primarily on national movements and ethnic conflicts, with the result that too little attention has been devoted to the state and ruling dynasty. This volume is the first of its kind to concentrate on attempts by the imperial government to generate a dynastic-oriented state patriotism in the multinational Habsburg Monarchy. It examines those forces in state and society which tended toward the promotion of state unity and loyalty towards the ruling house. These essays, all original contributions and written by an international group of historians, provide a critical examination of the phenomenon of “dynastic patriotism” and offer a richly nuanced treatment of the multinational empire in its final phase.

Daniel Unowsky received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and is Associate Professor of History at the University of Memphis. He is the author of The Pomp and Politics of Patriotism: Imperial Celebrations in Habsburg Austria, 1848-1916 (2005).

"This fine collection on competing political loyalties in the late Habsburg Monarchy is framed by clear research questions.The dynasty faced formidable competitors in its own crownlands, cities and villages. [This volume] presents this competition in vibrant and varied case studies. From it readers will take a sampling of some of the best recent scholarship on the Habsburg Monarchy."  ·  Slavonic and East European Review

“Any future discussion on the last years of the Habsburg Monarchy’s political history should build on this collection’s significant achievements whether the point of departure is the monarchy’s ultimate failure or a decidedly a-teleological perspective...It is not a book that only critiques the old; but it also points to the possibility of something new, and arguably more exciting.”  ·  H-Net Reviews

“[The] rich case studies and vivid vignettes…[offer] the first coherent attempt in examining the efforts to generate dynastic-oriented patriotism and the responses to these efforts.[T]his book contains many seeds for a more nuanced and sophisticated discussion of the late monarchy. It is not a book that only critiques the old; but it also points to the possibility of something new, and arguably more exciting.”  ·  Habsburg

“There is a welcome intellectual coherence and high scholarship to this latest volume in Berghahn’s series on Austrian and Habsburg Studies.”  ·  German History

“This volume is a splendid addition to the invaluable Austrian and Habsburg Studies series. Each of its contributors has approached his or her subject in a novel way, and the result is a collection that obliges the reader to look at things with a fresh eye.”  ·  N-Net Reviews

“…a splendid volume…The essays in this volume offer scholars several fine theoretical alternatives for pursuing new narratives about Austro-Hungarian society.”  ·  Central European History

"The book succeeds by exploring the ways in which dynastic patriotism really operated…[It] offers a highly important contribution to scholarship. Advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars studying Habsburg and central and east European history, identity formation, as well as monarchy as a political institution will greatly benefit from and need to read this book."  ·  Slavic Review

"As with earlier volumes in this series, these essays are well-written and based on original research. There are extensive notes following each essay and ... readers will find them all of interest."  ·  German Studies Review

Laurence Cole is Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of East Anglia. He is the author of Für Gott, Kaiser und Vaterland: Nationale Identität der deutschsprachigen Bevölkerung Tirols 1860–1914 (2000), and has recently edited Different Paths to the Nation: National and Regional Identities in Central Europe and Italy, 1830–1870 (2007). He is also co-editor of European History Quarterly.