CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Aliprantis, Christos Nikolaos |
|---|---|
| Title | The Austrian Centennial of Emperor Joseph II in 1880 |
| Summary | This-thesis-aim s-to-cover-a-su bstantial-bibli ographic-lacuna -in-the-field-o f-19th-century Josephinism in the Habsburg Empire, i.e. the centennial of Joseph II in 1880. The essay wishes to revisit the traditional view, which tended to see the end of Josephinism in the period after 1848, to mark the 1880 centennial as a turning point in the history of Josephinism and to draft a typology of the Josephinian and anti-Josephinian forces in 1880. In the first part, the evolu-tion of the Josephinian remembrance from 1848 to 1880 is studied as a preface to the actual centennial. The key points under consideration are the 1848 revolution, the 1860s and the 1870s and the blossom that the Josephinian memory experienced then under the influence of the contemporary public issues (emancipation from oppression, confessional struggles). Va-rious social groups are studied regarding their attitude in favor or against the late emperor, like the 1848 revolutionaries, the liberal politicians of the constitutional era, the imperial bureaucracy, the clergy and the dynasty. In the second part, after a brief introduction on dyna-stic celebrations in general, the political motivation, protagonists and events of the centennial are studied. Initially the focus lies on the festivities of Vienna, the way that the newspapers covered the event and the commemorative literature published then. After that the point of view of the centennial-hostile power is studied (government, clergy, dynasty). Subsequently, the scope is moved towards the celebrations in the Alpine lands, Bohemia, Moravia and Galicia. Particular attention is given to the rise of German nationalism in relation to the Jose-phinian memory and how Joseph II was seen increasingly as the monarch of the Austro-Germans alone against most other nationalities and also the Taaffe ministry. Finally, in the epilogue, after a brief narration of the post-1880 Josephinism, the gathered evidence is conse-ntrated and it is concluded that the centennial was indeed a turning point as there is a clear difference between the liberal secularizer of the 1860s and 1870s from the more aggressive nationally-motivated centralizer of the 1880s onwards. At the end, four social categories are formulated according to their attitude towards Joseph II: A) the German liberals (positive); B) the dynasty and the civil service (positive under terms or ambivalent); C) the clergy (nega-tive) and D) the non-German nationalities that can be divided into categories: Czechs (still positive in the 1860s but increasingly negative after 1880) and Ruthenians (positive). |
| Supervisor | Janowski Maciej |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/aliprantis_christos.pdf |
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