Enjoy the Library!:

22. 3. doc. Jiří Hutečka: Breaking a Society: First World War in Austro-Hungarian Hinterland
 

In traditional narratives of World War I, Austria-Hungary usually plays the role of the aching "sick man of Europe", a state whose usefulness had ran its course. In Czech narratives, World War I is usually presented as a mere step on the path to national independence, and the monarchy as the true "prison of nations" destined to fail in the face of nations struggling for freedom. The lecture will try to re-assess these positions, following the developments of the Austro-Hungarian home-front, Bohemia and Moravia in particular, from the first minutesof the war until the last gasps of the imperial government in late October 1918.

It will try to present a more dynamic picture, a society which went to war dutifully and will little objections, even though with plenty of doubts, only to radicalize over increasinly oppresive wartime measures, sacrifices and casualties, to the point that any alternative seemed preferrable to staying withing the old political or even social framework. In other words, the lecture will tell the story of how the monarchy lost its legitimacy with the general population by stripping away the layers that kept the people loyal to the crown over the course of previous decades - in particular, by destroying people´s civil rights, rule of law, and, above all, the promise of eternal prosperity. As such, the story may well serve as a warning to any government facing a potential crisis.