Publisher's Synopsis
This work argues that to understand current events in Europe, we need to look into the past at the construction and collapse of the multi-national Habsburg Empire. It examines the early 19th-century development of the Austrian Empire from the the Holy Roman Empire, which led to the growth of distinct regional identities in Hungary, Galicia, Trieste and Croatia. The book gives the historical background to nationalism in Central Europe today, describing official attempts to define "ethnic identity", the harm which resulted, the new Austrian identity under the semi-fascist rule of the 1930s and the early years of the post-war Second Republic. Contrasting the gradual integration of nations in contemporary Western Europe with the dissolution of multi-national states in the east, this is a re-appraisal of a fallen Empire.;This work is part of the "Austrian Studies" series, an annual volume reflecting the growing interest in the distinctive cultural traditions of the Habsburg Empire and the Austrian Republic. The focus is on Austrian culture from 1750 to the present and the series treats literature in relation to psychology, philosophy, political theory, music, theatre and the visual arts.
