The Habsburg Empire (1790-1918)

by C A Macartney

  B. Economic and social developments: Gratz, op. cit., is excellent on economics. A grandiose survey was produced in connection with the millenary celebrations, Matlekovits, S., A M. Államháztártásának Története (The History of the H. State Economy), Bp., 1894, 2 vols, followed by id., Das Königreich U. wirtschaftlich dargestellt, Leipzig, 1900, 2 vols. Also: Szterényi, J., La Grande Industrie du Royaume de H., Bp., 1901; Mandello, K., Rückblicke auf die Entwicklung der u. Volkswirtschaft, 1877–1902, Bp., 1902; Offergeld, W., Grundlagen und Ursachen der Industriellen Entwicklung H., Jena, 1914; and vol II of Futó, op. cit. The Évkönyvek (Yearbooks) of the Royal Hungarian Statistical Service are often mines of information.

  Szekfü’s writings are good on the changing social pattern, but otherwise, this seemed, until recently, to interest foreign writers more than Hungarian. I venture to draw attention to my own two books (above) and to my Hungary (Modern World Series, 1934). Lately, there has been much retrospective sociological writing on nineteenth-century Hungary, some of it valuable, some merely shrill, but so difficult of access that it seems useless to list it here. It is, moreover, still afflicted with a certain indigestion. Among older works, Bunzel, J., Studien zur Sozial- und Wirtschaftspolitik U.s, Leipzig, 1902; Mailáth, J., Studien über die Landarbeiterfrage in U., Vienna, 1905; id., La Hongrie rurale, sociale et politique, Paris, 1909; Jaray, G., La Question Sociale, etc., Paris, 1909. Some judicious remarks in the works of Drage and May (above).

  C. The Nationalities. Statistics in the official publications, summarized in Waber, op. cit. Collection of documents, Keményi, G., ed., Iratok a nemzetiségi Kérdés, etc. (Documents on the Nationalities question), Bp., 1955, 2 vols. On Hungarian policy, Seton-Watson, R. W., *Racial Problems in H., London, 1908, primarily but not exclusively concerned with the Slovaks, denunciatory, documented; Jászi, Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy (above); Macartney, C. A., H. and her Successors (above); Kemény, G. A., A m. nemzetisegi kérdés története (History of the H. nat. q.), Bp., 1946; Farkas, G., Az Assimilado Kora (The Age of Assimilation), Bp., n.d. (1935?), is an interesting study of the large-scale voluntary assimilation, especially of middle-class Germans and Jews, which actually took place. Balogh, A., A Népfajok Mg.-on (The Races in H.), Bp., 1901, shows, on the basis of the censuses, which communes actually changed the nationality of their majorities 1870–1900; unexpected results emerge. For the general political history of the problem, the works of Graz, Szekfü and myself. The Slovaks: Seton-Watson, Racial Problems (above) and numerous works by Czech and Czechophile historians; from the other side, Steier, L., A Tót-kérdés Mg.-on (The Slovak Question in H.), Liptószentmiklós, 1912; Szána, A., Gesch. der Slowakei, Bratislava, 1930. The H.-Germans, no special study for this period, which is covered in innumerable more general writings; see the full bib. in Paikert, G. C., *The Danubian Swabians, The Hague, 1967. The Roumanians: see Section I; also Jancsó, B., A Román irredentista Mozgalmok Története (History of the Roumanian Irredentist Movements), Bp., 1920; Popovici, A., La Question Roumaine en Transylvanie, etc., Bucharest, 1915; Moroianu, G., La Lutte des Roumains Transylvains, Paris, 1933. The Hungarian Serbs have little accessible literature of their own, but are usually given some pages in the works on the Southern Slavs generally, or the Croats. There are essays on the Omladina and on Svetozar Marković in Wendel’s Südslawisches Risorgimento (above). See also the A.H. Yearbook, 1967. For the Croat question, the works listed in Sections I and IX, above; also some facts in Graz. Literature on the Jews is mostly scurrilous, but there are sober statistics in Kovács, A., A Zsidóság Térfoglalása Mg.-on (The Spread of Jewry in H.), Bp., 1922.

  CHAPTER XVI

  Bosnia, 1878–1903

  The occupation: Weltze, A., Unsere Truppen in B., etc., Vienna, 1907–8, 6 vols. The administration: Schmid, F., B. und H. unter der Verwaltung O.U.s, Leipzig, 1914, very full, based on the official documents; shorter, Stöller, F., Die Kulturelle Entwicklung B. und H., Vienna, 1961. Sugar, F., The Industrialisation of B.H., Seattle, 1963. There is a separate study of the agrarian problem by Grünberg, K., Die Agrarverfassung und die Grundentlastungsprobleme in B. und H., Leipzig, 1911. While Schmidt and Stöller paint very rosy pictures, a flood of Serbian pamphlets, mostly dating from in or about 1907, depict Austrian rule as the blackest tyranny and exploitation. Of the more accessible works, easily the most balanced is that of Drage, op. cit., pp. 596–650, full of facts, but the author does not commit himself much to imponderables. Südland is full of intimate political details, but intemperately pro-Croat; Haumant, strongly pro-Serb. It is a sad pity that ‘Odysseus’, who understood the Balkan peoples better than any other European of his age, seems to have spent only a couple of days in Bosnia.

  CHAPTER XVII

  The Last Years of Peace

  A. General pictures: an interesting little ‘Sammelwerk’, Hantsch, H., ed., Oe. am Vorabend des Weltkrieges, Graz, 1964 (quoted as Vorabend). Economics, general, Hertz, F., The Economic Problem of the Danubian States, London, 1947, very rosy, hard to reconcile with Burgatti’s essay in Vorabend. I have not read two volumes ed. by Barter, R., Die Agrarfrage in der Oe.U. Monarchie, 1908–1914, and Die Frage des Finanzkapitals ditto, both Bp., 1965, records of a conference of contemporary-minded historians held in Budapest in 1964.

  B. Central figures and top-level policies: the best of the many biographies of Francis Ferdinand is Kiszling, *F.F., Vienna, 1953; others still worth reading, Chlumetzky, L., Erzherzog F.F., Berlin, 1929, and Nikitsch-Boulles, P. V., Vor dem Sturm, Berlin, 1925; the writer was private secretary to the Archduke, and actually liked him. No satisfactory biography of Aehrenthal; Molden, A., Graf A., Stuttgart, 1917, is a war-time product; a sketch of him by Hantsch in Gestalter. Many glimpses of him in Fellner, F., ed., Schicksalsjahre Oe.s 1908–1919, das politische Tagebuch Josef Redlichs, also of great general interest. For Berchtold, Hantsch, H., *Leopold, Graf B., Graz, 1963, 2 vols. Conrad: his own memoirs, Aus meiner Dienstzeit, Vienna, 1902–5, 5 vols; the latest of the big literature on him is Regele, O., *F.M. Conrad von H., Vienna, 1965. Beck, Allmayer-Beck, J. C., Baron Beck, Munich, 1956. Tisza: Erényi, G., Graf Tisza, Vienna, 1935; his letters (Briefe), ed. by O. von Wertheimer, Berlin, 1928; his speeches (Beszédei) and collected works (összes munkai) have also appeared in Hungarian. For Koerber, see above.

  Foreign policies and relations: exhaustively treated in many works not Austrian in authorship or specifically Austrian in angle, e.g. for the whole period, Albertini, op. cit.; for the diplomatic history of the annexation, Schmitt, Bernadotte, The Annexation of Bosnia, Cambridge, Mass., 1937; the diplomacy of the Balkan wars, Helmreich, E. (that title), Oxford, 1938; the outbreak of war, besides Albertini, Fay, S. B., The Origins of the World War, N.Y., 1928; Schmitt, B., The Coming of the War, N.Y., 1930, 2 vols. I add only a few titles: Musulin, A., Das Haus am Ballplatz, Vienna, 1924; for the Austro-Serb-Russian complex, Uebersberger, H., Oe. zwischen Russland und Serbien, Cologne, etc., 1958; Carlgren, H. M., Iswolski und Aehrenthal vor der bos, Annexionskrise, Uppsala, 1953; Seton-Watson, H., The Decline of Imperial Russia, pp. 347ff., brilliant. The Balkan background to the Annexation, best in Südland, op. cit. Some new diplomatic details in Hantsch’s Berchtold (above). For the last years, the A. Govt. published a series of documents, ed. Bittner, L., Oe.U.s Aussenpolitik, 1908–1914, Vienna, 1930, 9 vols. Short account, Pribram, A. F., A’s Foreign Policy, 1908–1918, London, 1923, only a sketch, but P. had access to the documents; id., Austria and Great Britain, Cambridge, 1931. Wedel, O., Austro-German Diplomatic Relations, 1908–14, Stanford, 1932. For Austro-German military relations, a most useful article by Wagner in Vorabend. Oe. u. in der Weltpolitik 1900–18, Berlin, 1965, is a product of the Budapest conference. Many novel interpretations, not all of them convincing. For the military side: Conrad’s Dienstzeit and (shortly) an article by Kiszling, ‘Die Entwicklung der oe.u. Wehrmacht’, etc., in Berliner Monatshefte, XII, 1934, pp. 735ff. The assassination. Most of the enormous earlier literature on this subject is more safely disreg
arded; Uebersberger, too, should be used with caution. Albertini seems to be sound. The latest special studies are Remag, J., Sarajevo, London, 1959, somewhat superficial, and Dedijer, V., The Road to Sarajevo, London, 1967. Dedijer goes into every minutest detail of the background and personal lives of the young conspirators themselves, and probes deeply into the history of the Ujedinjenje and its relations with the Serb dynasty and politicians, but he too fails to reach, or at any rate, to convey, any firm conclusion on the ultimate questions. Background often unsound.

  On the Monarchy’s final decision for peace or war, an interesting, if indulgen article by Goldinger, W., in Vorabend.

  C. Austria, internal: The course of events can be followed in the last vol of Charmatz series and in Kolmer, with some details of what went on behind the scenes in Sieghart, op. cit., Redlich’s Tagebuch, Baernreither, J. M., Fragments of a Political Diary, ed. J. Redlich, London, 1930, Allmayer-Beck’s life of his father, the biographies of Francis Ferdinand, etc.; seen from a socialist angle in Bauer, O., Die oe. Revolution, Vienna, 1923. The real interest has, however, passed by now to the development of the national and social movements, for which see previous sections. The Moravian and Bukovinian ‘Compromises’ are analysed in detail in Hugelmann, op. cit. For Neo-Slavism, Section XI of Fischel, Panslawismus, H. Seton-Watson, op. cit.; also Zeman’s Break-up of the Habsburg Monarchy (below), pp. 15ff. National movements in general, Hanak, P., ed., Die Nationale Frage in der Oe.U. Monarchie, 1900–1918, Bp., 1966, another product of the conference mentioned above (see Barter, ed.).

  D. Hungary, internal. The crisis of 1905 is told in detail by Graz, Steed, op. cit., Kiszling, Franz Ferdinand, and others. For general internal history, see also Erényi’s Tisza (above). M. Károlyi’s own story in Gegen eine ganze Welt, Munich, 1924, English tr. Fighting the World, London, 1925. His later Faith without Illusion, London, 1956, is less informative.

  E. I list here a few of the books which appeared during the period setting out proposals for the reconstruction of the Monarchy, or after it, suggesting the reasons of its dissolution:

  Steed, The Habsburg Monarchy (above); Sosnowski, Th. von H., Die Politik im Habsburgerreich, Berlin, 1912, 2 vols, lively and anecdotal; Popovici, A., Die Vereinigten Staaten Gross-Oe., Leipzig, 1906 (for its place in history, see text); Bauer, O., Die Nationalitätenfrage und die Sozialdemokratie, Vienna, 1906, Social Democrat solution, to be found also in two works by K. Renner: Grundlagen und Entwicklungsziele der oe.u. Monarchie, Vienna, 1906, written under the pseudonym of ‘R. Springer’, and Oes. Erneuerung, Vienna, 1916 (under his own name). Christian Social angle, Seipl, I., Nation und Staat, Vienna, 1916. Early works by Jászi, A nemzeti államok kifejlödése, etc. (The Development of the National States), Bp., 1912; Der Zusammenbruch des Dualismus, etc., Vienna, 1918; Magyariens Schuld, Ungarns Sühne, Vienna, 1923; of these, the Zusammenbruch nad the misfortune to be published just after events had taken place which proved many of its main premises to have been mistaken; Magyariens Schuld explains this away. Other ‘plans’ in the literature on Francis Ferdinand, including Hodža, M., Federation in Central Europe, London, 1942. Analyses of these and other proposals in Kann, Multinational Empire (above) and Wierer, op. cit. Jászi’s Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy (see Section I, B) is the most read today of the retrospects, but the best of them (although somewhat Germanic in outlook) is, to my mind, Kleinwächter, F., Der Untergang der Oe.U. Monarchie, Leipzig, 1920.

  CHAPTER XVIII

  The End of the Monarchy

  Latest, May, A. J., *The Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy, Philadelphia, 1966, 2 vols, comprehensive, covers all aspects. Penultimate, Zeman, A. B., *The Break-up of the Habsburg Empire, Oxford, 1961, good on some points, especially the Czech movement, but enormous gaps. Macartney, C. A. and Palmer, A. W., *Independent Eastern Europe, London, 2nd ed., 1967, gives, we believe, all the essential facts briefly. Still useful, although written before the appearance of many documents, Glaise-Horstenau, E., *Die Catastrophe, Zurich, 1929; English tr., with some cuts, *The Collapse of the A.H. Monarchy, London, 1930. The narrative in Uhlirz is remarkable and the bib. enormous. Namier, Sir L., The Downfall of the Habsburg Empire, London, 1959, is a reprint of an earlier chapter in the History of the Peace Conference, London, 1921–3. A brilliant achievement in its day, it is now long out-dated and it was a pity to reprint it.

  As most of these works have full bibs., I add only a few other titles. The military history, Oe. Bundesministerium, etc., Oe.U.s letzter Krieg, 1914–18, Vienna, 1931, 15 vols; short sketch, Kiszling, Oe.U.s Anteil am ersten Weltkrieg, admirable. The Emperor Charles: latest, and far best, Lorenz, R., *Kaiser Karl, Graz, 1959, exhaustive; Polzer-Hoditz, A., Kaiser Karl, Zurich, 1929, is subjective. The diplomats: Burian, S., Drei Jahre meiner Amtführung, Berlin, 1923; English tr., A. in Dissolution, London, 1925. Czernin, O., Im Weltkriege, Berlin, 1919; English tr., In the World War, N.Y., 1920. On Czernin, Singer, L., *Ottakar, Graf Czernin, Graz, 1965, admiring but useful. Andrássy, G., Diplomatie und Weltkrieg, Vienna, 1920; English tr., Diplomacy and the War, London, 1921.

  These works give, or their bibs, indicate, all important literature on A.’s foreign relations, including the Emperor Charles’s peace offers (the Sixtus Letter, etc.), and on the attitudes of the Powers towards the Monarchy, and on these points I will add only a second mention of Pribram’s Austrian Foreign Policy (above), and a couple more titles on A.’s Polish policy: Hausner, A., Die Polenpolitik der Weltmächte, etc., Vienna, 1935, and Fischer, F., Griff nach der Weltmacht, Düsseldorf, 3rd ed., 1963, by a German hostile to the then regime.

  Internal, general. The Carnegie Trust planned an ambitious series of books relating to the Monarchy in its Economic and Social History of the World War. All those completed and published are listed in May’s bib. The most important (given under their English titles, where available) are Redlich, J., A. War Govt., New Haven, 1929, Gratz, G. and Schüller, A., The Economic Policy of A.H. during the War (ibid.) and id., Der Wirtschaftliche Zusammenbruch Oe.U.s, Vienna, 1930. Also Löwenfeld, H., Die Regelung der Volksernährung, etc., Vienna, 1926. Winkler, W., Die Totenverluste, etc., is instructive. Internal, Cis-Leithania. Redlich, Tagebuch; Adler, F., Vor dem Ausnahmgericht, Jena, 1923; Bauer, O., Die Oe. Revolution, Vienna, 1923 (these two Socialist works); Macartney, C. A., The Social Revolution in A. (above); Höglinger, F., Minister Präsident Graf Clam-Martinitz, Graz, 1964; Rumpler, H., Max Hussarek, Vienne, 1965. For the national movements, see the general works above.

  Internal, Hungary. There is little that it would serve any purpose to record, even in Hungarian, for both Gratz and Pethö are short, and Szekfü stops with the outbreak of war. May, however, has a couple of chapters, and see also Windischgrätz, Prince L., Vom Roten zum Schwarzen Prinz, Vienna, 1920, tr. and abbreviated in his My Adventures and Misadventures, London, 1967.

  For the decisions of the Powers to break up the Monarchy, the recognition of the Governments, etc. of the ‘Nationalities’, the general works above; Macartney and Palmer is convenient. Also History of the Peace Conference, vol IV and bibs., including that in Macartney, Hungary and her Successors. For the end in Hungary, Károlyi, op. cit., Jászi, Magyariens Schuld, Ungarns Sühne (above); Batthyány, T., Für Ungarn gegen Hohenzollern, Vienna, 1930. For Austria, the chapter by Goldinger in Benedikt’s Gesch. der Rep. Oe. (above) and I end this wearisome task by recording that one of the very few Austrian historians (so far as I know, indeed, the only one) who ever read my Social Revolution told me that ‘it was to this day the only book in any language to treat the subject from the sociological angle’.

  Copyright

  This ebook edition first published in 2014

  by Faber and Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  All rights reserved

  © C. A. Macartney, 1968

  The right of C. A. Macartney to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Secti
on 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–30629–9