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The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy and Its Significance for the New Order in Central Europe: A Reappraisal1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Fritz Fellner
Affiliation:
University of Salzburg

Extract

In 1929, when Oscar Jászi published his study on The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, he began his discussion by remarking: “When the task of describing the mass-psychological process of the disintegration of the Habsburg Monarchy and of the failure of the conscious elaboration of a common will was tendered me, I was hesitant for a long time in accepting it… I clearly felt that such an undertaking would mean the work of many years and the energies of a man equally qualified as a historian, a sociologist, and an economist. How could one dare to do such a work in a comparatively short time without being an expert in all these fields?” The task has by no means become easier during the forty years that have elapsed since the publication of Jászi's manuscript. In addition to political tracts written during the course of various events or for the deliberate purpose of influencing these events, treatises permeated with resentments rooted in conflicts between the nationalities, and writings dominated by political interpretations in propaganda tracts, a large number of scholarly monographs have been written during the past decades which endeavor to examine all details connected with the causes and process of the collapse of the Central Powers and the reorganization of Central Europe in 1918. The opening of the archives has recently intensifiedthe interest in questions dealing with the disintegration of the monarchy. The bibliographies of the past two years indicate that in the near future the scholarly literature dealing with this problem will be enriched by the publication of many detailed and thorough studies based on new documentary evidence.

Type
The Disintegration of the Habsburg Monarchy: Some Semi-Centennial Reappraisals
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1968

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References

2 Oscar, Jászi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy (Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1929), p. xvGoogle Scholar.

3 Since the major historical works dealing with the last decades of the Habsburg monarchy are listed in the Austrian History Yearbook, I am providing bibliographical references only for quotations. An expert in the field can easily recognize the principal works which I have used. I am, however, citing the more recent Austrian studies in the footnotes, if only to call the readers' attention to the fact that we have some promising young Austrian historians.

4 See, for example, Der Donauraum, 1960, Supplement 2: Die Pariser Verträge 1919–20 und Europa.

5 Otto, Bauer, The Austrian Revolution (London: L. Parsons, 1925), pp. 7273Google Scholar.

6 See Ambassador Lützow's report in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv (Vienna) (hereafter cited as “Staatsarchiv [Vienna]”),Politisches Archiv XI, Italien, Karton 135.

7 See Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Politisches Archiv, Liasse Krieg 25/33.

8 Baron de Vaux's telegram from Bern, dated October 24, 1918, is a typical example. See ibid., Fos. 171–172.

9 Jan, Opočenský, Konec Monarchie rakousko-uherské. Publikaí arehivu ministerstva zahraničnich věci ČSR řada prvni (Prague: Čin a Orbis, 1928)Google Scholar. This is the only edition which includes footnotes and a bibliography. The German edition (Umsturz in Mitteleuropa. Der Zusammen- bruch Österreich-Ungarns und die Geburt der Kleinen Entente [Hellerau bei Dresden: Avalun-Verlag, 1931]) contains only the text.

10 Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States: The Paris Peace Conference 1919, Vol. I (Washington, D. C: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1942), p. 45Google Scholar.

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14 See Fellner, Fritz (ed.), Schicksalsjahre Österreichs. Das politische Tagebuch Josef Redlichs, 1908–1919 (2 vols., Graz: Böhlau, 19531954), Vol. II, p. 287Google Scholar.

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19 Kogan, Arthur G., “Germany and the Germans of the Habsburg Monarchy on the Eve of the Armistice 1918. Genesis of the Anschluss Problem,” Journal of Central European Affairs, Vol. XX (1960), pp. 2450Google Scholar.

20 Ibid., p. 34.

21 Ibid., p. 39, n. 41.

22 Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Politisches Archiv, Liasse Krieg 25/33, Fos. 227–228, 251–254, and 263–264.

23 Haas, Österreichr-Ungarn ala Friedensproblem, Ch. I.

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