Embers of Empire: Continuity and Rupture in the Habsburg Successor States after 1918

Description

The collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy at the end of World War I ushered in a period of radical change for East-Central European political structures and national identities. Yet this transformed landscape inevitably still bore the traces of its imperial past. Breaking with traditional histories that take 1918 as a strict line of demarcation, this collection focuses on the complexities that attended the transition from the Habsburg Empire to its successor states. In so doing, it produces new and more nuanced insights into the persistence and effectiveness of imperial institutions, as well as the sources of instability in the newly formed nation-states. Embers of Empire Copyright Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. Permanence and Revolution Chapter 1. Negotiating Post-Imperial Transitions Chapter 2. State Legitimacy and Continuity between the Habsburg Empire and Czechoslovakia Chapter 3. Strangers among Friends Chapter 4. Ideology on Display Part II The Habsburg Army’s Final Battles Chapter 5. Reflections on the Legacy of the Imperial and Royal Army in the Successor States Chapter 6. Imperial into National Officers Chapter 7. Shades of Empire Part III. Church, Dynasty, Aristocracy Chapter 8. “All the German Princes Driven Out!” Chapter 9. Wealthy Landowners or Weak Remnants of the Imperial Past? Chapter 10. Sinner, Saint-or Cipher? Part IV. History, Memory, Mentalité Chapter 11. “What Did They Die For?” Chapter 12. “The First Victim of the First World War” Afterword Index