The Habsburg Empire (1790-1918)

by C A Macartney

  Nationalities

  For my population figures I have, as I have said elsewhere, had to work backwards. For early history and distribution, Auerbach, op. cit., the monumental unfinished Ethnographie der Oe. Monarchie by Baron K. Czoernig, Vienna, 1855, 3 vols, and the mass of later literature, often polemical, listed in the bibs. It is only recently that the idea of national hierarchies and differentiations has surfaced from the state of unthinking acceptance; for the Monarchy it was, if not invented, then certainly popularized by Bauer, O., in his Nationalitäten etc. (below), and is now being taken up with enthusiasm by the Marxist historians, with many illuminating results, although carts, it seems to me, often lead horses. Kann, op. cit., is steeped in it. A valuable article (by a German chauvinist, but an intelligent one) is H. Steinacker’s long introduction to Hugelmann’s Nationalitätenrecht (below). Literature of developments of national movements is given in the next section. For the actual development of linguistic usage in the western half of the Monarchy, Fischel, Das oe. Sprachenrecht, Brünn, 1906, good collection, and Gumplowicz, L., Das Recht der Nationalitäten, etc., Innsbruck, 1879.

  CHAPTER II

  Joseph II

  Nearly all J.’s correspondence has been published in various collections by the Viennese Akademie der Wissenschaften; see the bibs. There is a severely eclectic selection of his decrees, which does not include any relating to Hungary, etc. in vols II. I. 2/2 (narrative) and II. 4 (texts) of the Zentralverwaltung series, ed. Walter. There is a complete Sammlung of all enactments, ed. Kropatschek, W., Vienna, 1785–90, 18 vols. All earlier biographies of J. and accounts of his reign were superseded by the magnificent and all-embracing work of P. von Mitranov, German trans, by V. von Demelic, Joseph II, Vienna, 1910, 2 vols. Of the later biographies the best (although short) is Bibl’s Kaiser J. II, Vienna, 1944. Padover, S. K., The Revolutionary Emperor, London, 1934, Benedikt, E., Kaiser J. II, Vienna, 1936, and Fejtö, F., J. II, Un Empéreur revolutionnaire, Paris, 1953, are far inferior. Bright, J. F., J. II, London, 1907, is almost purely diplomatic.

  CHAPTER III

  Leopold II

  For L.’s published correspondence, see the bibs. Walter’s vol on Joseph in the Zentralverwaltung series cover L.’s reign also. Kropatschek produced a collection of his Gesetze in 5 vols, Vienna, 1792. In spite of its importance for the history of the Monarchy, L.’s reign was for long singularly neglected by historians. The neglect has been largely made good by Wandruschka, A., in a big and important work, Leopold II, Vienna, 1965, 2 vols, but this still does not entirely fill the gap, for it is a biography, rather than a history, devotes most of its space to L. in Italy, and often spend more time on explaining what made L. act as he did, than on saying what he did do. The gap is, however, partially filled by Mitranov, who, after describing Joseph’s actions, often gives the reactions to them, and L.’s treatment thereof. Kerner covers L.’s reign for Bohemia and Szekfü for Hungary, but a good monograph in a major language on L. and Hungary, including Transylvania and the Serbs, is badly needed. Interesting recent works on L.’s plans, etc., especially as regards Hungary, include Wangermann, E., From J. II to the Jacobin Trials, Oxford, 1959, Silagi, D., Ungarn und der Geheime Mitarbeiterkreis Kaiser L. IIs, Munich, 1961, and id., Jakobiner in der Habsburger Monarchie, ibid., 1962.

  CHAPTERS IV–VIII

  Francis I (II) and Ferdinand I

  A. General and Statistical. There are ‘Statistische Tabellen’ for several years, still unpublished, in the Austrian archives in Vienna. Censuses were taken every three years, and there is one printed digest of them, covering twenty-five years: Becker, S., Die Bevölkerung Oe. 1818–1843, Vienna, 1846, purely demographic. Works which use many statistics, but also go wider afield, like Demian (above) include Bisinger, J. G. Generalstatistik des oe. Kaiserstaates, Vienna and Trieste, 1808–9, 2 vols; Springer, S., Statistik des oe. Kaiserstaates, Vienna, 1840, 2 vols; and Hain, J., Handbuch der Statistik des oe. Kaiserstaates, Vienna, 1852 (but the figures which he uses are those of the Vormärz). All three are mines of information. For the similar works dealing only with Hungary, see below, Section V, E.

  B. Francis I, political. For the central documents, Walter’s vols in the Zentralverwaltung series, II./I/2.2 (narrative) and II. 5 (texts), also covering the reign of Ferdinand; Hock and Biedermann, op. cit.; and another Sammlung der Gesetze, etc. in 60 vols, Vienna, 1792–1836, vols 1–25 ed. by Kropatschek, 25–57 by Goutta, W. G., and 58–60 by Pichl, F. X. Another excellent summary of all the main enactments in all fields is given by Beidtel, op. cit., vol II.

  Personalities. Biographies of Francis, Meynert, H., Kaiser F. I, Vienna, 1872, a curious collection of disconnected studies on various aspects of F.’s personality and activities, sometimes unexpectedly informative; Wolfsgruber, C., Franz I, Kaiser von Oe., Vienna, 1899, 2 vols, only goes up to F.’s coronation; Langsam, W. C., Francis the Good, N.Y., 1949, also deals only with F.’s early years. Bibl’s Kaiser Franz, Vienna, 1938, is a re-write of vol I of his Zerfall (above), unfairly hostile to F., of whom a very different picture is given by Hartig in his Genesis (below) and by Corti in his Von Kind bis Kaiser (below).

  There are three main lives of the Archduke Charles: Zeissberg, H., Erzherzog Carl, Vienna, 1895; von Angeli, M., Erzherzog Carl von Oe., etc., Vienna, 1896–7, 5 vols, this rather a history of the Austrian army, and valuable as such; and Christe, O., Erzherzog Karl, Vienna, 1912, 3 vols; also a sketch in Gestalter. The latest on the Archduke John is Theiss, V., Erzherzog Jo hann, Graz, 1950, popular.

  For Metternich, see his own Nachgelassene Papiere, ed. Prince R. von M., Vienna, 1880–4, 8 vols, and the monumental biography of him by Srbik, H., Metternich, Munich, 1925, 2 vols, extremely full, a storehouse of information. The favourable view taken by Srbik of Metternich was challenged by Bibl in M., der Dämon Oe.s, Leipzig, 1937, who accuses Srbik above all, of taking Metternich’s own word about himself too uncritically. The lesser scholar, Bibl makes some good points, and proves the advisability of taking some of Srbik’s judgments cautiously. What is original in the rest of the enormous literature on M. (e.g. A. Cecil’s biography) is exclusively diplomatic, and may be passed over here.

  Gentz’ diaries (Tagebücher), a valuable source for the history of the time, were edited in 4 vols, Leipzig, 1873–4. The latest work on him is Mann, G., Frh. von Gentz, Zürich, 1947. Kübeck’s Tagebücher were edited by his son, Frh. v. Kübeck, in 4 vols, Vienna, 1909–10; further, Walter, Aus dem Nachlass des Frh. Karl v. K., Graz, 1960 About 20 pp. of these are entirely invaluable; the rest could safely be scrapped. There are studies of K. in Gestalter and the N. Oe. B. Otherwise, the biographical literature for the period is weak; Stadion, Kolowrat and Sedlnitzky have entries in the N. Oe. B.

  There is a recent life of Andreas Hofer by Paulin, K., Leben Andreas Hofers, Innsbruck, 1952.

  Narrative accounts. Of the general historians listed in Section I, B, Hantsch gives the most illuminating interpretive account, while M.K.P. gives an excellent factual account of the wars, etc. I pass over the enormous special literature on A.’s wars and foreign relations up to 1815; see the bibs, in Uhlirz and Zöllner. Charmatz’ is still a very convenient compendium of A.’s foreign relations. For general internal history, Wertheimer, G., Gesch. Oe.s und U.s im ersten Jahrzehnte des XIX Jhr., Leipzig, 2 vols, 1884, 1890, is still the fullest account of its period. Where Wertheimer leaves off, the torch is taken over by Springer, A., Gesch, Oe. seit dem Wiener Frieden, 1809, Leipzig, 1883, 2 vols, of which vol I goes up to the 1840s, perhaps the best work on any period of Austrian history ever written, covers the entire Monarchy. Srbik’s Metternich now also becomes a valuable source. Between them these works, with the standard histories, cover the meagre political history of Francis’ later years adequately enough.

  Walter provides an acute analysis of the philosophical basis of Franciscean absolutism in his Zentralverwaltung volume and in his essay on Francis in Gestalter, pp. 299ff. Other pictures are those given by Redlich in the opening pages of his Problem
, by Eisenmann, op. cit., and to my mind the best of all, by Beidtel, op. cit. On the question of ultimate responsibility, see also Srbik’s Metternich and the rejoinders by Bibl, who in his various works spreads himself with relish on the oppressive aspects of the regime. The best-known ‘foreign observer’ of the period is ‘A. Sealsfield’ (really a German Bohemian émigré named Karl Postl) whose Austria as it is, London, 1828, is much quoted, but probably unduly spiteful. Other travellers’ accounts include Russell, J., Tour in Germany, etc., 2nd ed., Edinburgh, 1825, 2 vols. C. Ferdinand, political. Walter’s volumes cover Ferdinand’s reign, to which Beidtel devotes a separate book. On Ferdinand, Ségur-Cabanac, Count V., Kaiser Ferdinand als Regent und Mensch. For the intrigues following Francis’ death, Srbik and Bibl, Novotny’s biography of Kolowrat in N. Oe. B. and several periodical articles quoted in Zöllner’s bib. Kübeck now becomes important, and the critics and observers of the regime are reinforced by Hartig, F., Genesis der Revolution in Oe., English tr. printed as appendix to vol 4 of Coxe’s House of A., London, 1872. An undeservedly forgotten book, Oe. in 1840, by ‘ein oe. Staatsmann’ (Count F. L. Schirnding), Leipzig, 1840, 2 vols, not only gives a clear account, such as I have vainly sought elsewhere, of the actual machinery of government in the Vormärz, but also acute criticisms of political and social conditions. The best-known ‘anti’ pamphlets are Andrian-Warburg, Oe. und dessen Zukunft, Hamburg, 2 vols, 1843, 1847; Möring, K., Sybillinische Bücher aus Oe., Hamburg, 1848, 2 vols, and various works by Schuselka, the best-known of which are Ist Oe. deutsch?, Leipzig, 1843, and Deutsche Worte eines Oe.s, Hamburg, 1843. More favourable impressions by some foreign travellers: so Turnbull, P. E., Austria, Edinburgh, 1840, 2 vols, very informative, and Wilde, A. A., A. and its Institutions, Dublin, 1842, worth reading.

  The movements of the Estates from the mid-1840s on are given most fully by Springer, Hartig and Beidtel, and in Schlitter, A., Aus Oe.s Vormärz, four parts: (1) Galizien und Krakow, (2) Böhmen, (3) Ungarn, (4) Nieder Oe., all Zurich, 1920; also Bibl, V., Die Nieder Oe. Stände im Vormärz, Vienna, 1911; but see also the sections on Lands and nationalities below.

  Excellent account of the annexation of Cracow in Srbik, op. cit., II. 149ff. In general, Srbik covers A.’s foreign relations for the period exhaustively. D. General questions, 1792–1847.

  i. Cultural and religious: exhaustive documentary collection, Maass, F., Der Josephinismus, Vienna, 1951, etc., 5 vols. For general developments, no one is better than Beidtel. For Hofbauer, Till, A., Hofbauer und sein Kreis, Vienna, 1951.

  The police and censorship: Fournier, A., Die Geheimpolizei auf dem Wiener Kongress, Vienna, 1913, and Marx, J., Die Zensur im Vormärz, Vienna, 1959, also covers Francis’s reign.

  ii. Finance. Beer, op. cit., is still the stand-by. For Austria’s loans, Helleiner, K., *The Imperial Loans, Oxford, 1965. The State bankruptcies, Kraft, J., Das Finanzreform des Grafen Wallis, Graz, 1927; Stiassny, P., Das Oe. Staatsbankrott von 1811, Vienna, 1912. Stadion’s reforms, a good essay by A. Brusatti in Oe. und Europa, Graz, 1965, pp. 281ff. All the more important historians, notably Springer and Beidtel, have much to say on the subject. Certain passages in Kübeck’s Tagebücher are indispensible. Interesting figures in ‘Tebeldi’ (pseudonym of C. Beidtel, jun.), Die Geldangelegenheiten Oes., Leipzig, 1847, interesting work, much wider than its title would suggest.

  For the bankers, Corti, A., Der Aufstieg des Hauses Rothschild 1770–1830, Leipzig, and id., Das Haus R. in seiner Blüthe, 1830–1871, ibid.; English trs., The Rise and The Reign of the House of R., London, 1928; but the really intimate glimpses are only occasional. Something in Scheffer, op. cit., and in Franz’ Liberalismus (below).

  iii. Agriculture and the peasant question. Blum, J., *Noble Landowners and Agriculture in A., 1815–1848, Baltimore, 1947, is a first-class work, covering all parts of the Monarchy and dealing with agricultural production, as well as the social question. Its bib. lists the sources, such as they are, on the former subject. For the latter, besides Blum, Grünberg’s Bauernbefreiung and id., Die Grundentlastung, in vol I of the Gesch. der oe. Land – und Forstwirtschaft (quoted as L. u. F.), Vienna, 1889, 5 vols, an exhaustive survey which, except for Grünberg’s contribution, does not go back before 1848. G.’s article is particularly valuable for the developments of 1846–8. Some material in ‘Tebeldi’, op. cit. (extraordinary as it may seem, no one in Vienna has been able to suggest to me where Tebeldi got his statistics from) and in the works quoted below, ad 1848, of Bach, Violand, Zenker, Fischer and Endres, and Kudlich, H., Erinnerungen, Vienna, 1873, 3 vols. All these writers are left-wing, and the impressions of travellers such as Turnbull do not altogether bear out their picture.

  iv. Industrial development; the question of industrial labour. Needless to say, nothing for the Monarchy as a whole, and not even anything truly satisfactory for the Western half of it as a whole. Slokar, J.’s often quoted Gesch. der oe. Industrie, etc., Vienna, 1914, is little more than a thoroughly uninformative list of foundations of enterprises. There are, however, numerous periodical articles on developments of individual industries, and in individual localities, and it may be hoped that some useful general works will shortly be emerging. The economic fluctuations of the 1840s in the Lands administered by the Vereinigte Hofkanzlei are described in some detail in Marx, J., Die wirtschaftlichen Ursachen der Revolution in Oe., Graz, 1965, which combines and revises several earlier studies by the author; much valuable material, but the wood is hard to see for the trees. This work is also good for the social problem of industrial labour, on which see also the chapters in the Left-wing historians of 1848: but here again, compare the travellers, especially Turnbull. For detailed figures of prices and wages, Pribram, K. and others, Materialien zur Gesch. der Preise und Löhne in Oe., Vienna, 1938.

  E. Lands and Nationalities. The German-Austrian and Bohemian Lands have no private political histories until the mid-1840s, whereafter see above. For the Czech national revival, Denis, op. cit., very full, Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, and Raupach, N. D., Der tschechische Frühnationalismus, Essen, 1938. The French in Illyria, Marmont, Mémoirs, vol III, Paris, 1857, and other works listed by Haumant, op. cit., p. 239. Galicia and the Poles: a valuable work from the Austrian side is Anon., Polnische Revolutionen, Prague, 1863. The author, L. Sacher-Masoch, was for many years Director of Police, Lemberg. For the 1846 revolution in Galicia, Sacher-Masoch, Schlitter, Galizien und Krakow, an unexpected chapter on ‘Die nationale Bewegung in Galizien’ in vol I, pp. 335 ff., of F. Strobl von Ravensberg, Metternich und seine Zeit, Vienna, 1906, 2 vols.

  There is no full-length account from the Austrian side of the Austrian rule in Lombardy-Galicia (and, I am informed, nothing first-class either from the Italian side). Glimpses in Beidtel, II. 244 ff., Srbik, I. 465–91, Benedikt, H., *Kaiseradler über dem Apennin, Vienna, 1964, and vol I of C. F. H. Berkley, Italy in the Making, Cambridge, 3 vols, 2nd ed., 1968. Sandona, A., Il Regno Lombar do-veneto, 1814–1859, Milan 1912, is a collection of texts. For Venice, Trevelyan, G. M., Manin and the Venetian Revolution of 1848, London, 1927.

  German bourgeois liberalism in the Vormärz, Franz, G., *Liberalismus: die deutschliberale Bewegung in der Habsburgermonarchie, Munich, 1953; Eder, K., *Der Liberalismus in Alt.-Oe., Vienna, 1965; both good. Valjavec, F., Der Josefinismus, Munich, 2nd ed., 1945, is slight. Some penetrating remarks in Burian, P. *Die Nationalitäten in Cis-Leithanien, Vienna, 1962, a good little work.

  The much livelier political existence led at this time by Hungary has, on the other hand, evoked a number of works. Besides Szekfü and Spira, Wertheimer (himself a Hungarian) and Springer take adequate cognisance of Hungarian affairs. For the early years, see also Benda, K., A. M. Jakobinosok Iratai (The Writings of the H. Jacobins), Bp., 1932, 3 vols, the documentation largely in German or Latin, the sequel to which is Malyusz, E., Sándor Lipot Föherceg Iratai (The Writings of the Archduke Alexander Leopold), Bp., 1932, the documentation again mainly in German or Latin; but Malyusz’s conclusions were effectively chal
lenged by B. Iványi-Grünwald in his introduction to Széchenyi’s Hitel in the latter’s collected works (below). For Alexander’s successor, Domanovszky, S., József Nádor, etc. (The Palatine Joseph), Bp. 1945, 4 vols. Vol VIII of Horváth, E.’s great M. Történet (H. History), which runs up to 1823, has never been translated, but his next vols have appeared in German as 25 Jahre U. Gesch., Geneva, 1866, 2 vols. They are very chauvinistic, but detailed and informative. For the great figures, there have been various eds. of Széchenyi’s Oesszes Müvei (Collected Works), the most recent a 12 vol one, Bp. 1930 ff. There is no really satisfactory biography of him in any language, Silagi, D., Der grosste Ungarn, Vienna, 1967, is short, and patchy at that but profound meditations by Szekfü in his Három Nemzedék (Three Generations), 2nd ed., Bp., 1935. See also Grünwald, B., Az Uj M.-g. (The New H.), Bp., 1890, and an interesting special number on Sz. in the Journal of Central European Affairs, Denver, Colorado, XI. 3, Oct. 1961. Kossuth’s Oesszes Müvei have also been collected, most recently, Bp., 1948 ff., 15 vols, and an Emlékkönyv (memorial vol) on him appeared in Bp. in 1952, in 2 vols. Of him, too, there is no satisfactory biography in any language: Zarek, O., K. Die Liebe eines Volkes, Zurich, 1935, is journalistic. There is a classic life of Deák by Ferenczy, Z., Deák Ferenc Élete, Bp., 1904, 3 vols. No worthy full-length biography of Eötvös (Söter, E.’s Eötvös József, Bp., 1953, does not fill the gap). The excellent study of him in Mervyn Jones, Five Hungarian Writers, Oxford, 1966, is literary rather than political. For Eötvös and the Nationalities question, see below, Section IX. General surveys, economic and social conditions. There is a good ‘statistical’ (in the wider sense) description of H. in the opening years of the century in Schwartner, M. von, Statistik des Königreiches U., Ofen (Buda), 3 vols, 1809–11, and another, very valuable one for the end of the period: Fényes, E., M-g. Sztatisztikája (Statistics of H.), Pest, 1842, 3 vols, revised 2 vols ed., ibid., 1847, German tr. U. im Vormärz, Leipzig, 1851. J. Springer’s and Hain’s works (above) cover H. Travellers’ impressions include Bright, A., Travels through Lower H., Edinburgh, 1800, Bendant, F. S., Travels in H., London, 1837 (from the French), Paget, J., H. and Transylvania, London, 1837, 2 vols, deservedly famous work with excellent pen-portrait of Széchenyi, whom Paget admired greatly; Kohl, J. G., Reisen in U., etc., Leipzig, 1840, 2 vols. For a picture of H. in the 1840s the reader could not do better than look at Eötvös’s famous novel, A Falusi Jegyzö (The Village Notary), many eds.; has also appeared in German, English, etc. Agriculture and the peasant question, see Blum, op. cit., and for an excellent modern work, Merei, G., Mezögazdaság és Agrártársadalom M-gon 1790–1848 (Agriculture and Agrarian Society in H., 1790–1848), Bp., 1948. The chapter by Ember, Gy. in various, Forradalom és Szabadságharc (Revolution and Fight for Liberty; quoted as F. és Sz.) is intemperate. Some good pages in Szabó, E.’s Harcok (below). See also Le Play’s investigations quoted in the text. Industry: vol I of Futo, M., A. M. Gyáripár Története (The History of H. Factory Industry), Bp., 1944, 2 vols; good, many facts and figures; Merei, G., M. Iparfejlödés (H. Industrial Development), Bp., 1952, also good. A chapter by Nemes, D., on industrial labour in F. és Sz.