The Habsburg Empire (1790-1918)

by C A Macartney

  Lemberg G. Lwow P. Lvov Ru. Lviv modem Ukrainian (so I am informed). Léopol French.

  Máramaros H. Maramureş R.

  Marburg G. Maribor Sl.

  Munkács H. Mukačevo Cz. Slk.

  Muraköz H. Medjumurje Cr.

  Nagyszeben H. Hermannstad G. Sibiu R.

  Nagyszombat H. Tyrnau G. Trnava Slk.

  Nagyvárad H. Grosswardein G. Oradea Mare R.

  Olmütz G. Olomouc Cz.

  Passarowitz G. Passarovic H, S.

  Pécs H. Fünfkirchen G.

  Pilsen G. Plžen Cz.

  Pošega S. Pozsega H.

  Pozsony H. Pressburg G. Bratislava Slk.

  Reichenberg G. Liberec Cz.

  Sopron H. Oedenburg G.

  Szabadka H. Mariatheresiopol G. Subotica Serb.

  Szatmár H. Satu Mare R.

  Szeged H. Szegedin G.

  Székesfehérvár H. Stuhlweissenburg G.

  Szombathely H. Steinamanger G.

  Szrem H. Srem S. Syrmien G.

  Temesvár H. Timişoara R.

  Tisza (R). H. Theiss G.

  Trient G. Trento I.

  Turopolje Cr. Turmezö H.

  Turóczszentmartón H. Turčjanský Sväty Marton Slk.

  Ujvidék H. Neusatz G. Novi-Sad S.

  Varašdin Cr. Várasd H. Warasdin G.

  Virovica Cr. Veröcze H.

  Zagreb Cr. Zágráb H. Agram G.

  Zengg G. Senj Cr.

  Note to Map 6

  As bases for this map the Austrian and Hungarian censuses of 1910 have been used, and (for Bosnia-Herzegovina) the Yugoslav census of 1921. Generally, therefore, the map takes the linguistic criterion of ethnic appurtenance, but since the Austrian and Hungarian censuses counted ‘Serbo-Croat’ as one language, and thus did not distinguish between the two peoples, we have divided this linguistic group by religions. In general, Catholic speakers of ‘Serbo-Croat’ are equated with Croats, and Orthodox with Serbs; but we have given separate symbols to the Serb-speaking Moslems of Bosnia, and to the Catholic Serbs (Sokci and Bunyevci) of South Hungary.

  The Ladins, lumped together in the Austrian census with the Italian-speakers, are also shown separately here. It has not proved possible to show the distribution of the population of Israelite faith.

  Such allowance as space permits has been made for density of population by the device of spacing the lines more closely in densely-populated areas, and further apart where the population was sparse. The result is only to be taken as approximate, but it is hoped thereby to correct in some measure the enormously distorted impression of the relative numbers of the different ethnic groups resulting from a map which gives equal weight to the populations of a densely-populated conurbation and a mountain range containing only a few hamlets and scattered farms.

  Bibliography

  What follows is only a highly selective short list of works in which the reader may find more details on the subjects with which my book has dealt, or a different treatment of them. As in my text, I have cut references to diplomatic and military history, and to Kulturgeschichte, to the minimum. I have not listed older works where they have been superseded by later, nor, unless forced to do so by their importance or by the absence of anything more solid, articles in periodicals; for these the reader must consult the bibliographies listed below. I have, with reluctance, included a few books in Hungarian (Mr Péter has helped me in the selection of these), and Roumanian, but only where I have been unable to give anything of comparable value in a more accessible language. That I have not done the same for the Slav languages is due to my deficiencies as a linguist, and I am aware that the Poles, Ruthenes, Slovaks and Southern Slavs consequently come off very badly. The Czechs are better off, for there is a large literature on them in non-Czech, by their friends as well as their enemies.

  In the list which follows I have curtailed some of the names where they are very extensive (as is often the case with books by Central European writers) and where I am satisfied that the operation could not cause confusion or difficulty to anyone looking up the book in a library or bookseller’s catalogue. I have also allowed myself a few abbreviations: besides the familiar ed., vol, etc. (I also shorten bibliography to bib.), I have regularly used the following abbreviations: in English titles, A for Austria or Austrian, H. for Hungary or Hungarian; in German, Oe.(s) for Oesterreich(s), oe. for oesterreichisch and its declinations, Gesch. for Geschichte, Jht. for Jahrhundert, k. u. k. for kaiserlich und königliche, u.u. for ungarn ungarisch; in Hungarian, M-g, for Magyarország (Hungary) (if a suffix follows, this is postpositional), m. for magyar. When a section or sentence is specifically described as relating to some individual, I have not thought it necessary to exhaust the reader’s patience and insult his intelligence by writing out the name in full every time: thus I credit him with the ability to interpret the abbreviation F.J. in the section headed Francis Joseph, and S. in the sentence beginning: ‘biographies of Schwarzenberg’.

  [N.Y., indicating a place of publication, stands, of course, for New York; Bp., for Budapest.]

  General

  A. For a very full bib. of the whole subject, see Uhlirz, A. and M., Handbuch der Gesch. Oe.s und seiner Nebenländer Böhmen und Ungarn, Graz, 1927, 3 vols, with supplement 1941; new ed. now (1968) in course of preparation. This admirable work, which supersedes all its predecessors, is near-exhaustive for literature in German, especially on the Monarchy as a whole and its German Lands; less so for works in other languages, or for the ‘Nebenländer’, but the first vol of the new ed. includes bibs, in Hungarian, Czech, etc. and most of the chief works in those languages. It also lists the learned periodicals for all parts of the ex-Monarchy, besides referring in the appropriate places to articles in them. Bridge, F. R., The Habsburg Monarchy, 1804–1918, London, 1968, is a valuable list, with short critical notes, of books and pamphlets published in the U.K. between 1818 and 1967. There is a bib. of works in English on Hungary in Teleki, P., The Evolution of H., N.Y., 1923. Since 1965 Rice University, Texas, has issued a useful Austrian History Yearbook on work recently appeared or in preparation (I cite this as A.H. Yearbook). Many of the works listed below contain bibs. Where these are useful, I mark the work with a *.

  B. Works covering all or a substantial part of my period, and all or most of the Monarchy:

  Of these, Uhlirz’ own ‘Handbook’, viz. the sections of narrative which link the bibliographical chapters, is far from being the least helpful, until after 1870, when the author’s Germanic feelings rather run away with him. Another older work which needs very little revision even today, and is very convenient, is Charmatz, R.’s five-volume series, Gesch. der Auswärtigen Politik Oe.s im XIX Jht., I, bis 1848, II, 1848–1895; Oe.s Innere Gesch. 1848–1895, I, 1848–1871, II, 1871–1895; and Oe.s Aüssere und Innere Politik, 1895–1915, all last issued, Leipzig, 1918. Later histories include Hantsch, H., Gesch. Oe., Vienna, 3rd ed., 1964, 2 vols, of which the second covers our period, masterly writing and vision, Catholic-Conservative sympathies; Zöllner, E., * Gesch. Oe., Vienna, 3rd ed., 1964, summary for some aspects of the nineteenth century, but text and bibs. good, especially for economic and cultural developments in the German-Austrian Lands; Mayr-Kaindl-Pirchegger (quoted as M.K.P.), *Gesch. und Kulturleben Oe.s, an old work revised and brought up to date by later hands, 3 vols, of which vol 3 interests us, straightforward and informative, 2nd. ed. of last revision, Vienna, 1965. Further, Bibl, V. Der Zerfall Oe.s, Vienna, 1922, 2 vols, and id., Die Tragödie Oe.s (the Zerfall shortened and re-written); ‘Liberal’ ideology which finds everything in the old regime wrong, irritating, badly arranged and unindexed into the bargain, but stimulating. Benedikt, H., Monarchie der Gegensätze, Vienna, 1947, impressionistic. To all these, however, the remarks in my preface about tribal historians apply, least so to Hantsch, but he cannot be excepted.

  For institutions, etc. Luschin-Ebengreuth, A., Grundriss der oe. Reichsgesch., Bamberg, 2nd. ed., 1918, extraordinarily useful work, not tribal.

  In English, Tay
lor, A. J. P., The Habsburg Monarchy, London, 3rd ed., 1964, individual; Kann, A., The Habsburg Empire, London, 1957, short sketch.

  I place here, in deference to their scope, Eisenmann, L., *Le Compromis Austro-Hongrois de 1867, Paris, 1904, primarily a history and appreciation of the ‘Compromise’ of 1867, but extending far beyond this in every respect, often very brilliant; and Redlich, J., Der oe. Staats-und Reichsproblem (quoted as Redlich, Problem), Leipzig, 1924–6, 2 vols, primarily a history of the constitutional experiments of 1848–67, on which it is very profuse and heavily documented, but also with long introductory reflections. For 1867–1914, May, A.J., The Hapsburg Monarchy, 1867–1914, Cambridge, Mass., 2nd. ed., 1965, incomparably the best work in English in its field, and indeed, the only one to cover all aspects of its subject.

  This is also the place to list Jászi, O., *The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, Chicago, 2nd. ed., 1929, an essay rather than a history, but including much history in its enormous field; a very brilliant work, which anyone interested in the Monarchy will ignore at his peril. He will, however, also be unwise to make it his sole reading-matter on the subject.

  Of the great series, Die oe. Zentralverwaltung, begun by Fellner and Kretschmayer, then continued by F. Walter, the volumes quoted below belong to this period.

  Several biographical collections are concerned in whole or part with this period. Chief among them, the *Neue Oe. Biographie (quoted as N. Oe. B.), 17 vols to date, 1st vol, Vienna, 1923. Several good sketches also in Hantsch, H. (ed.), *Gestalter der Geschicke Oe.s (quoted as Gestalter), Innsbruck, 1962. Several good portraits in Charmatz, Lebensbilder aus der Gesch. Oe. (quoted as Charmatz, Lebensbilder), Vienna, 1947, and in Friedjung, A., Historische Aufsätze, Stuttgart, 1919.

  Military, v. Wrede, A., Gesch. der k. u. k. Wehrmacht, Vienna, 5 vols, 1896–1907. Horsetzky, General A., Kriegsgesch. Ueberblick über die Feldzüge seit 1790 Vienna, 7th ed., 1917.

  Finance. State finances: de Beer, A., Die Finanzen Oe.s, Prague, 1877, still the stand-by of all later writers. Private finance: Scheffer, E., Das Bankwesen in Oe., Vienna, 1924. Believe it or not, when seeking literature on the subject in 1964, I was referred to this book, which is quite a short one.

  The inter-Land variety of cultural and economic developments was such that no works have, to my knowledge, appeared on either subject which can fittingly be named in this section; but Tomek E., Kirchengesch. Oe.s, Innsbruck, 1949, 3 vols, (running up to 1848) is monumental, and Wodka, J., Kirche in Oe., Vienna, 1959, handy. Education, general: Strakosch-Grossman, G., Gesch. des oe. Unterrichtswesens, Vienna, 1905.

  C. General Histories of Lands and Peoples:

  General. Nearly all the ethnographical works come more properly under later headings, but I may place here: Auerbach, B., Les Races et les nationalités en Autriche-Hongrie, 2nd ed., Paris, 1917, much anthropology and pre-history, but also some later history, etc., with many curious details; and Kann, A., The Multinational Empire, 1848–1918, N.Y., 1950, 2 vols, a study of the nationalities, their ambitions and suggested solutions of their problems, which goes back before its professed starting-point; learned. A conference at Indiana in 1966 held a discussion on ‘The National Problem in the Habsburg Monarchy in the Nineteenth Century’, the record of which was published by the A.H. Yearbook, Vol. II, pt. 2, 1967. I received this too late to utilize it fully, but draw attention to the more valuable papers in the appropriate places.

  The Slavs in general. Fischel, A., Der Panslawismus, Stuttgart, 1919, a mine of information.

  Zöllner, M. K.P., etc. are already in reality essentially histories of German-Austria and its rulers: professedly so, Srbik, H., Oe. in deutscher Gesch., Munich, 4th ed., 1936, and many others. Most histories of the German-Austrian Lands are either antiquated, or sketchy, or both, but there are some notable exceptions, e.g. Pirchegger, H., Gesch. der Steiermark, Graz, 1920–42, 3 vols, and Gutke, H., Gesch. des Landes Nieder-Oe., St Pölten, 1957–65, 3 vols. For a full list, see Uhlirz. The sentimental literature about Vienna is enormous.

  Bohemia and the Czechs. Denis, E., La Bohème depuis la Montagne Blanche, Paris, 1930, 2 vols, grandiose work, strongly pro-Czech. Shorter, Seton-Watson, R. W., A History of the Czechs and Slovaks, London, 1943. From the German-Bohemian side, Bretholz, B., Gesch. Böhmens und Mährens Reichenberg, 1922–4, 4 vols. Münch, H., Böhmische Tragödie, Stuttgart, 1919, is badly arranged but fair and very informative.

  The Slovenes are badly served. Least unsatisfactory general account. Loncar, D., The Slovenes: A social history, Cleveland, 1949. Zwitter, F., in A.H. Yearbook, 1967, is vague. References in Fischel, Panslawismus and in the following more general works on the Southern Slavs: Seton-Watson, R. W., *The Southern Slav Question, London, 1911, Wendel, H., Der Kampf der Südslawen um Freiheit und Einheit, Frankfurt, 1925, Haumant, L. X., La Formation de la Yougoslavie. Paris, 1930, all three strongly ‘Yugoslav’. See also the provincial histories ap. Uhlirz.

  Galicia. Both papers on the Poles (by Wandycz, P. and Wereczycki, N.) and that on the ‘Ukrainians’ (by Rudnytsky, I. L.) in A.H. Yearbook, 1967, contain valuable material. Otherwise all I can find to put here is two chapters in the Cambridge History of Poland, vol. II, Cambridge, 1940, of which the second by R. Estreicher (1848–1918), is some use, although very short and chauvinistically Polish; the first (1815–48), by R. Fellman, is no use at all. There is no satisfactory full history of the Ruthenes. For the Bukovina, especially its Roumanians, Prokopowitsch, E., *Die rumänische nationale Bewegung in der Bukowina, Graz, 1965, useful.

  Hungary. The classic history is vol 5 (by Szekfü) of Hóman, B. and Szekfü, G., * Magyar Történet (Hungarian History), Bp., 2nd. ed., 5 vols, 1936, by a brilliant historian. Recent, Spira, G., A m. Nép Története (History of the H. People), Bp., 2nd. ed., 1953, Communist interpretation. Very useful is Miskolczy, J. (G), U. in der Habsburger-Monarchie, Vienna, 1959, less a history than an essay showing how far Hungary fitted into the Monarchy, and where not, why not; very fair to both sides, and perceptive. Short general histories in English: Sinor, D., A Short History of H., London, 1959, and Macartney, C. A., H., A Short History, Edinburgh, 2nd. ed., 1966.

  There are about twenty short histories of the Slovaks, none perceptibly better or worse than the others. Of the two papers in A.H. Yearbook, 1967, that by Holotik, L., is the better. For the Hungarian Serbs, Schwicker, J. B., Politische Gesch. der Serben in U., Bp., 1860, is still useful. General surveys by Vucinich, W. S. and Djordjevic, D., in A.H. Yearbook, 1967. Croatia and the Croats, the works of R. W. Seton-Watson, Wendel and Haumant quoted above, and Kiszling, R., *Die Kroaten, Graz, 1956, too short; also ‘Südland’ (I. von Pilar), Die Südslawische Frage, informative but intemperately pro-Croat, and Jelavich, C. and Krizman, B. in A.H. Yearbook, 1967. Transylvania and its Roumanians: Seton-Watson, R. W., *A History of the Roumanians (also covers Moldavia and Wallachia), London, 1940, scholarly; Gáldi, L. and Makkai, L., Gesch der Rumänen (again includes the Danubian Provinces), Bp., 1942, Hungarian standpoint, but tries to be fair; Jorga, N., Istoria Românilor din Ardeal şi Ungaria (History of the Roumanians of Transylvania and H.), Bucharest, 1916, 2 vols, Roumanian standpoint, makes no such attempt; Makkai, L., Histoire de la Transylvanie, Paris, 1946, rather sketchy; Jancsó, B., A Roman Nemzetiségi Törekvések, etc. (The Roumanian National Aspirations), Bp., 1898–9, 2 vols, by a Hungarian specialist on Roumanian wickedness, well-documented. The papers by Fischer-Galaţi, S. and Oţetea, A., in A.H. Yearbook, 1957, are controversial. The Transylvanian Saxons have a monumental history of their own, Gesch. der Siebenbürger Sachsen, first published by Teutsch, G., in 1870, later brought up to date, 4th ed., Hermannstadt, 1910, 3 vols, and a shorter Die Siebenbürger Sachsen, by Teutsch, Fr., Leipzig, 1916.

  CHAPTER I

  The Monarchy in 1780

  It would obviously be impossible for me to give anything like a full bib. for this section; what follows is the merest sketch. There are, of course, innumerable biographies of Maria Theresa, and all the standard histories describe
her reign at length, but the only general picture of the Monarchy in (or slightly after) 1780 which I know is a very old work, Demian C., Darstellung der Oe. Monarchie, Vienna, 1804, 3 vols, a sort of proto-Baedeker, almost forgotten today but containing an astonishing amount of assorted information. Another description of many aspects is contained in vol I of Beidtel, I., Gesch. der Oe. Staatsverwaltung, Innsbruck, 2 vols, published 1896 but written fifty years earlier, a remarkable work which describes not only the political institutions of the Monarchy before and after Maria Theresa’s reforms, but also its legal, educational, etc. systems, written with a refreshing independence of judgment; much of it superseded today by special studies, but its general picture still unsurpassed. There is a brilliant ‘picture’ of Hungary in Marczali, H., Hungary in the eighteenth century, Cambridge, 1910; good also is Grünwald, B., A Régi M-g. (The Old Hungary), Bp., 1889. For Bohemia, Kerner, J., Bohemia in the XVIIIth Century, N.Y., 1932, purports to do for Bohemia what Marczali did for Hungary, but is less exhaustive. For Galicia, Brawer, A. J., Galizien wie es an Oe. kam, Vienna, 1910, short study, essentially an interpretation of the statistics, valuable. For the Bukovina, Zieglauer, F., Geschichtliche Bilder aus der Bukowina, etc., Czernowitz, 3 vols, 1893–8.

  Some, but disappointingly few, of the top-level enactments are in F. Walter’s three volumes in the Zentralverwaltung series, II. I., Halbband I. and II (narrative), and II. 3 (texts), the results conveniently in Luschin-Ebengreuth, op cit. There is an excellent recent sketch of the first reform period in Walter, F., Der Theresianische Staatsreform von 1749, Vienna, 1948. For the Staatsrat, Hock, C. and Biedermann, J. H., Der Oe. Staatsrat 1790–1848, Vienna, 1879.

  Demographic statistics: for Western Lands, Gürtler, R., Die Volkszählungen Maria Theresiens und Joseph IIs, Innsbruck, 1909; for Hungary, Thirring, G., M-g. Népessége József II Korában (the Population of H. in the time of Joseph II), Bp., 1938, first-class study, with commentary; for Galicia, Brawer, op. cit. All these statistics were broken down occupationally (although, as remarked elsewhere, not on the lines which the modern reader would expect), and thus throw light on the economic and social structures of the Lands concerned. Almost all studies of economic problems are local, and most of them to be found only in periodicals, for which see the bibs, (excellent in Zöllner), but Marczali and Kerner describe their respective Lands, and there is a first-class recent study by Otruba, G. *Die Wirtschaftspolitik Maria Theresias, Vienna, 1963. For Viennese policy towards Hungarian industry, Eckhardt, F., A bécsi udvár gazdasági politikája M-gon (The Economic Policy of the Vienna Court in Hungary), Bp., 1922, excellent. For Transylvania, Müller, K., Siebenbürgische Wirtschaftspolitik unter Maria Theresia, Vienna, 1959, unfinished, published posthumously (the author was murdered in his hospital bed in 1945 by Czech freedom fighters). All the standard histories, including Luschin-Ebengreuth, have something on the peasants, and travellers’ descriptions such as those of Damian and of Riesbeck, Briefe eines reisenden Franzosen, English tr., Travels through Germany, London, 1787, 3 vols, throw light on how the peasants really lived. The classic work on the reforms is Grünberg, K., Die Bauernbefreiung in Böhmen und Mähren, Leipzig, 1894, 2 vols (quoted as Grünberg, Bauernbefreiung), much used by writers who do not always notice that it refers only to the Bohemian Lands. For these, see also Kerner and the c. (IX. 12) in Arneth’s Maria Theresia, valuable for its detailed record of the discussions in high places, but no general picture. Otruba, op. cit., is short but clear. For Hungary, besides Marczali, op. cit., Acsády, I., A M. Jobbágyság Torténete (History of villeinage in H.), Bp., 2nd. ed., 1944, excellent general sketch, and Szabó, D., A M.-g.i Urbérrendezés (The ‘Urbarial’ settlement in H.), Bp., 1933, 2 vols, account, with documentation (chiefly in Latin or German), of the reform imposed by Maria Theresa in 1764. A later (Marxist) work is Spira, G. (ed.), Tanulmányok aparasztság Történetéhez M-g.on 1711–1790 (Studies on the History of the peasantry in H., 1711–1790), Bp., 1952. Blum, J., Noble Landowners, etc. (below) begins with the reforms and gives a valuable picture for the whole Monarchy.