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The Germans as an Integrative Force in Imperial Austria: The Dilemma of Dominance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Andrew G. Whiteside
Andrew G. Whiteside
Affiliation:
Queens College of the City University of New York
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Extract

During the past hundred years a vast literature ranging from scholarly analyses of a high order to crudely polemical disputations has been devoted to analyzing the question of why all attempts to consolidate the Habsburg monarchy ended in failure. Since 1945 it has become increasingly possible to investigate and explain the causes of failure without national or other partisan bias. The dissolution of the empire in 1918 was, after all, the result not of defeat on the battlefield but of a long organic process.

Type
The Ruling Nationalities
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , January 1967 , pp. 157 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1967

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References

1 For a discussion of population statistics and sources, see Kann, Robert A., Das Nationalitätenproblem der Habsburger Monarchic (2nd ed., 2 vols., Graz: Hermann Böhlaus Nachf., 1964), Vol. II, pp. 387–397CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Rauchberg, Heinrich, Der nationals Besitzstand in Böhmen (Leipzig: Duncker and Humblot, 1905), pp. viii and 13–21Google Scholar.

2 The number of Germans living in each province of the Austrian part of the empire and the percentage of the total population which they constituted in 1910 are as follows:

3 In Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, and Vorarlberg the sole language legally used (Landessprache) and therefore the language of all government offices was German. In Styria and Carinthia, German was the official Landessprache and was regarded in law as landesüblich, that is, as acceptable in direct dealings between officials and the people throughout the province, although, in districts where most of the people spoke Slovene, the Slovene language was also accepted as landesublich. In Carniola, German as well as Slovene was a Landessprache and counted as landesüblich in the entire province; both German and Slovene were used in the provincial diet. For the “inner service” the language was German, except when “internal Slovene matters” were concerned. In the three parts of the Küstenland, German was a Landessprache, along with Slovene and Italian (plus Croatian in Istria); landesüblich regulations varied in the different prefectures. The diet deliberated in Italian, but the language of the inner service was German “in principle.” In the Tyrol, German and Italian were Landessprachen; German was landesublüch throughout the province; Italian, only in the Italian-speaking part. The diet used both German and Italian, and the inner-service language was German “in principle,” though in practice often Italian in Italian districts. In Bohemia, German and Czech were “fully equal” Landessprachen, and by 1910 they were both recognized as landesüblich throughout the province, including all law courts. In practice, in the German districts the courts still refused to allow the use of Czech, while insisting that German be accepted in Czech districts; other officials dealt with the public in either of the two languages. Except for the brief interval between 1897 and 1899, German was the language of the inner service; the diet used both German and Czech, but its important committees on schools and agriculture had been divided by 1910 into national monolingual sections. Regulations in Moravia were similar, except that Czech was accepted by the German courts and there was generally more flexibility in the use of the two languages. In Silesia, German was the Landessprache and was landesüblich everywhere, while Polish and Czech were recognized as landesüblich only in individual districts; the inner service used German, and German was the language of the diet. Even in Galicia, where only one percent of the population officially counted as German, German was “theoretically” a Landessprache, along with Polish and Ruthenian; it was recognized as landesüblich in part of the western tip of the province. The inner-service language for internal Galician affairs was Polish, but in communication with the central government and in all military matters German was generally used; the diet used Polish, though Ruthenian was tolerated. In Bukovina the Landessprachen were German, Rumanian, and Ruthenian, all of which were also used in the diet. Only in Dalmatia, one of the smallest provinces, was German not a Landessprache and not recognized as landesublüch, but there German was also the language usually employed by the officials in communication with Vienna and in military affairs. The foregoing is based on von Fischel, Alfred, Das Österreichische Sprachenrecht (2nd ed., 2 vols., Brünn: F. Irrgang, 1912), Vol. I, pp. xcii–xciiiGoogle Scholar. For a definition and discussion of the concepts Landessprache and landesübliche Sprache, see ibid., Ch. V, Sect. 7, pp. 238–244.

4 Schneefuss, Walter, Demokratie im alten Österreich (Klagenfurt: F. Kleinmayer, 1949), pp. 167–168Google Scholar; von Wieser, Friedrich, “Die deutsche Steuerleistung im öffentlichen Haushalt in Böhmen,” Deutsche Arbeit, Vol. III (1898), pp. 344–351Google Scholar.

5 Jászi, Oscar, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy (Phoenix, ed., Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1961), p. 173Google Scholar.

6 Hantsch, Hugo, Die Nationalitätenfrage im alten Österreich. In Wiener Historische Studien (Vienna: Herold Verlag, 1953), pp. 30–31Google Scholar; Österreichisches Statistisches Handbuch (Vienna: Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1900), pp. 395 and 410; Whiteside, Andrew G., Austrian National Socialism before 1918 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1962), p. 26CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Hantsch, Die Nationalitätenfrage im alten Österreich, pp. 33–34; Schneefuss, Demokratie im alten Österreich, p. 167; Rauchberg, Der nationale Besitzstand in Böhmen, pp. 395–421; Österreichisches Statistisches Handbuch, 1911, p. 441.

8 Karl, Gottfried Hugelmann(ed.), Das Nationalitätenrecht des alten Österreich (Vienna: W. Braumüller, 1934), p. 280Google Scholar; Kann, , Das Nationalitätenproblem der Habsburger Monarchie, Vol. II, p. 398Google Scholar.

9 Hugelmann, Das Nationalitätenrecht des alten Österreich, p. 418.

10 Kleinwächter, Friedrich F. G., Der Untergang der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie (Leipzig: K. F. Koehler, 1920), pp. 107–118Google Scholar; Bahr, Hermann, Wien (Stuttgart: Karl Krabbe, 1906), p. 21Google Scholar.

11 See Wolfsgruber, Colestin, Josef Othmar Kardinal Rauscher (Freiburg/ Breisgau, 1886)Google Scholar; Kardinal Schwarzenberg (3 vols., Vienna, 1906–1917).

12 See especially Johann, Willibald Nagl, Jakob, Zeidler, and Eduard, Castle(eds.), Deutsch-Österreichische Literaturgeschichte (2nd ed., 4 vols., Vienna: C. Fromme, 1927–1937), Vol. II (1848–1990), passimGoogle Scholar; Vol. IV (1890–1918), passim.

13 There are virtually no secondary works analyzing Austrian social structure that are comparable to what exists for other European states. The following are useful: Most, Otto, “Die berufliche und soziale Gliederung der Bevölkerung Österreichs,” Schmollers Jahrbücher, Vol. XXIX (1905), pp. 209–241Google Scholar; Buchinger, Josef, Der Bauer in der Kulturund Wirtschaftsgeschichte Österreichs (Vienna: Österreichischer Bundesverlag, 1952)Google Scholar; Waentig, Heinrich, Gewerbliche Mittelstandspolitik (Leipzig: Duncker and Humblot, 1897)Google Scholar; Schwiedland, Eugen, Kleingeiverbe und Hausindustrie in Österreieh (Vienna: Braumüller, 1908)Google Scholar.

14 Jászi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, p. 163.

15 Whiteside, Austrian National Socialism before 1918, p. 25 and n. 15 and 16. Jászi observed that “one of the most powerful forces which upheld the Habsburg Monarchy was, without any doubt, the growing capitalistic penetration of its economic organization.” See his The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, p. 170. Robert A. Kann provides additional evidence of capitalist integrative functions. See his The Habsburg Empire. A Study in Integration and Disintegration (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1957), p. 95. Professor Jenks' current paper also covers this ground. See ante, pp. 32–47.

16 Wassermann, Jakob, Mein Weg als Deutscher und Jude (Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag, 1911), pp. 11–38Google Scholar; Mayer, Sigmund, Die Wiener Juden (2nd ed., Vienna: R. Löwt, 1917)Google Scholar; Molisch, Paul, Geschichte der deutschnationalen Bewegung in Österreich von ihren Anfängen bis zum Zerfall der Monarchie (Jena: G. Fischer, 1926), pp. 1–120 and passimGoogle Scholar.

17 Jászi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, p. 173.

18 Mommsen, Hans, Die Sozialdemokratie und die Nationalitätenfrage im habsburgischen Vielvölkerstaat, Vol. I. In Veröffentlichungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für die Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung in Österreich, No. 1 (Vienna: Europa Verlag, 1963)Google Scholar; Whiteside, , Austrian National Socialism before 1918, pp. 37–122Google Scholar.

19 Jászi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, pp. 176, 185–212, and 220–239.

20 Bauer, Otto, Die Nationalitátenfrage und die österreichische Sozialdemokratie (Vienna: Wiener Volksbuchhandlung, 1907), pp. 322–360Google Scholar.

21 Diamant, Alfred, Austrian Catholics and the Social Question (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1960), pp. 29–69Google Scholar.

22 Jászi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, pp. 175–179. See also Kessler, Adolf, Die Juden in Österreich unter Kaiser Franz Josef I (Unpublished dissertation, University of Vienna, 1932), passimGoogle Scholar; Olesker, Israel, Der Anteil der Juden an den Nationalitätenkämpfen in Böhmen im XIX. Jahrhundert (Unpublished dissertation, University of Vienna, 1934), pp. 24–64Google Scholar.

23 See Kramař's, and Masaryk's, remarks in the Reichsrat, Stenographische Protokolle des Abgeordnetenhauses des Reichsrates, XVIII Session, November 26, 1908, pp. 3417–3419Google Scholar.

24 As quoted in Jászi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, p. 106.

25 Steinacker, Harald, “Die geschichtlichen Voraussetzungen des österreichischen Nationalitätenproblems und seine Entwicklung bis 1867,” in Hugelmann, Das Nationalitätenrecht des alten Österreich, pp. 59–60Google Scholar; Bernatzik, Edmund, Die österreichischen Verfassungsgesetze (2nd ed., Vienna: Braumüller, 1911)Google Scholar; Kohn, Hans, Pan-Slavism. Its History and Ideology (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1953)Google Scholar; Jászi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, p. 108; Beneš, Eduard, Bohemia's Case for Independence (London, 1917), p.29Google Scholar.

26 DrWeeber's, August memorandum concerning his audience with the emperor, December 13, 1879, Paul Molisch (ed.), Briefe zur deutschen Politik in Österreich von 1898 bis 1918 (Vienna: Braumüller, 1934), pp. 235–243Google Scholar; von Plener, Ernst, Reden 1873–1910 (3 vols., Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1911–1921), passimGoogle Scholar.

27 von Hasner, Leopold, Denkwürdigkeiten (Vienna: Braumüller, 1892), p. 68Google Scholar.

28 Redlich, Josef, Das österreichische Staats- und Reichsproblem (2 vols., Leipzig: P. Reinhold, 1920–1926), Vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 657Google Scholar.

29 Taylor, A. J. P., The Habsburg Monarchy (Harper, Torchbooks ed., New York: Harper and Row, n. d.), pp. 183 and 239Google Scholar.

30 Gumplowicz, Ludwig, Österreichisches Staatsrecht, Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsrecht (Vienna: Manz, 1891), p. 72Google Scholar.

31 The Liberal defense committee of the lower house rejected the premier's military budget on December 13, 1878; whereupon the emperor abruptly lost confidence in the Liberal Party and accepted Count Taaffe's (and others') suggestion that he replace it with a coalition, including the Liberals if possible, if not, without them. But underlying sources of opposition to the party—anticapitalism, anti-German dominance, clericalism, demands for greater democracy—were the really important reasons for the party's fall.

32 See the dispatches by Lichnowsky, Prince and Eulenburg, Count from 1898 to 1899, in Die Grosse Politik der europäischen Kabinette (40 vols. in 54, Berlin: Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft für Politik und Geschichte, 1922–1927), Vol. XIII, pp. 114–122Google Scholar.

33 Kolmer, Gustav, Parlament und Verfassung in Österreich (8 vols., Vienna: C. Fromme, 1902–1913), Vol. IV, p. 66Google Scholar.

34 Adler's, version of the national question in the socialist movement can be found in Protokolle über die Verhandlungen der deutschen Sozialdemokratischen Partei zu Innsbruck, 1911 (Vienna, 1911), pp. 71–76, 91–92, 172–173, and 183Google Scholar. See also Mommsen, Die Sozialdemokratie und die Nationalitätenfrage im habsburgischen Vielvölkerstaat, pp. 168- 196, 267–279, and passim.

35 Protokolle über die Verhandlungen der österreichisehen Sozialdemokratischen Partei zu Brünn, 1899 (Vienna, 1899), pp. 104–130; Protokolle über die Verhandlungen der österreichisehen Sozialdemokratischen Partei zu Wien, 1897 (Vienna, 1897), pp. 74–75 and 163–164.

36 See Kann's analysis of the theoretical work of Renner and Bauer in his Das Nationalitätenproblem der Habsburger Monarchie, Vol. II, pp. 157–173. Sieghart, Rudolf says these theories had no influence on the government in his Die letzten Jahrzehnte einer Grossmacht (Berlin: Ullstein, 1932), p.351Google Scholar.

37 Redlich, Josef, Kaiser Franz Josef von Österreich (Berlin: Verlag für Kulturpolitik, 1928), p. 393Google Scholar.

38 Sutter, Berthold, Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen von 1897. In Veröffentlichungen für neuere Geschichte Österreichs, No. 46 (2 vols., Graz: Hermann Böhlaus Nachf., 1960), Vol. I, pp. 11 and 139–243Google Scholar; Forst-Battaglia's, Otto comments in Die Furche (Vienna), February 25, 1961, p. 11Google Scholar; Posch, Andreas A., Heinrich von Srbik (Graz: Leuschner & Lubensky, 1948), p. 188Google Scholar; von Plener, Ernst, Erinnerungen (3 vols., Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1911–1921), p. 279Google Scholar.

39 Vanek, Edith, Die politische Tätigkeit des Abgeordneten Dr. Otto Steinwender (Unpublished dissertation, University of Vienna, 1948), pp. 61–110Google Scholar; Sutter, , Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, Vol. I, pp. 245–247 and 262–265Google Scholar.

40 Sutter, , Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, Vol. I, pp. 245–247 and 259–260; Vanek, Steimvender, pp. 97–114Google Scholar.

41 Funder, Friedrich, Von Gestern ins Heute (Vienna: Verlag Herold, 1954), pp. 196–197Google Scholar; Czoklich, Fritz, Die Christlich-Soziale Partei und das Nationalitätenproblem (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Vienna, 1952), pp. 78–99 and 114–122Google Scholar; Sutter, , Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, Vol. I, pp. 247–249Google Scholar; Mommsen, , Die Sozialdemokratie und die Nationalitätenfrage im habsburgischen Vielvölkerstaat, Vol. I, p. 275Google Scholar.

42 Sutter, , Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, Vol. II, pp. 11–12Google Scholar.

43 Mommsen, , Die Sozialdemokratie und die Nationalitatenfrage im habsburgischen Vielvölkerstaat, Vol. I, pp. 275–277Google Scholar.

44 As quoted in Hantsch, Hugo, Österreichische Geschichte, Vol. II: 1648–1918 (Graz: Styria, 1947), p. 465Google Scholar.

45 Herwig (pseudonym for Eduard Pichl), Georg Schönerer und die Entwicklung des Alldeutschtums in der Ostmark (2nd ed., 6 vols., Oldenburg: G. Stalling, 1938), Vol. V, p. 346.