The Disputed Austro-Hungarian Border - (Austrian and Habsburg Studies) by Hannes Grandits & Ibolya Murber & Katharina Tyran (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The collapse of the Habsburg monarchy in the aftermath of World War I marked a foundational shift in the histories of Austria and Hungary. Previously part of the Habsburg's Austro-Hungarian Empire, this event stripped the two new states of a long-established territorial order, triggering a controversial redrawing of their borders. Whilst scholarship often focuses on the role played by state actors in Vienna and Budapest, The Disputed Austro-Hungarian Border refreshingly re-examines this event through investigating how processes of state and nation-building manifested within the contested region of Western Hungary and Burgenland. In doing so, this book innovatively resituates this border region within the larger context of post-Habsburg historical development taking place across Central Europe"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

The collapse of the Habsburg monarchy in the aftermath of World War I marked a foundational shift in the histories of Austria and Hungary. Previously part of the Habsburg's Austro-Hungarian Empire, this event stripped the two new states of a long-established territorial order, triggering a controversial redrawing of their borders. Whilst scholarship often focuses on the role played by state actors in Vienna and Budapest, The Disputed Austro-Hungarian Border refreshingly re-examines this event through investigating how processes of state and nation-building manifested within the contested region of Western Hungary and Burgenland. In doing so, this book innovatively resituates this border region within the larger context of post-Habsburg historical development taking place across Central Europe.

Review Quotes

"[T]his book is an important, significant addition to the current scholarship on empire and post-imperial breakdown and transition, and on the Habsburg/post-Habsburg history of borderlands." - Marco Bresciani, University of Florence

"This is a very convincing edited volume on the transformation of power from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the Austrian Republic after the First World War. Looking at one particular region, Burgenland, that was contested between two losers of the War, the book provides insight into macro- and micro-level decision making processes, changes in hierarchies and power relations between social, ethnic, political and religious groups inhabiting this border region." - Tim Buchen, Technische Universität Dresden

About the Author

Hannes Grandits is Professor of Southeast European History at Humboldt University in Berlin.