Unmaking Nations: Representation of National Minorities in Hungary (1867-1918)

1. Unmaking nationsThe representation of the national minorities of Hungary in the historiography of the dualistic era (1867-1918)

2. The structure of the presentation • I. Historical context • II. Problematic • III. Sources • IV. The events • V. Methodological framework

3. I. Historical context • Europe in 1900

4. Historical context • The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1914

5. Historical context • Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (green)

6. Historical context • The „Red Map” – the nationalities in Hungary according to the census of 1910

7. Historical context • The Law XLIV of 1868 „On equality of rights of the nationalities” “Politically all citizens of Hungary form one nation,the unified and indivisible Hungarian nation of which every citizen of the country is a member of equal rights, regardless of their nationality” (1868:44.). • The draft-bill of the committee of the national minorities “In Hungary, the following historical and country-wide peoples are recognized as nations of equal rights: Hungarians, Rumanians, Serbs, Slovaks, Russins and Germans; for which national and linguistic political equality of rights is guaranteed”. (TörvényjavaslatazországosnemzetiségeknekésnyelveknekMagyarországbanleendőszabályozásáraésbiztosításárain Kemény G. G. (ed.), Iratok a nemzetiségikérdéstörténetéhezMagyarországon a dualizmuskorában 1867-1918 I., Budapest, 1952,pp. 5-24.)

8. II. Problematic „The century of history” • „Political nation” “The history of Hungarians is the history of Hungary, the history of our Slav compatriots is also the history of Hungary. It would be in vain to deny that centuries have attached us to each other and with stronger chains than we would think. (…) We have lived together (…)have suffered and rejoiced together for a thousand years.” (L. Mocsáry, Nemzetiség, Pest, 1858, pp. 125-126) • „Nation state” “Whatever existed on this land for a thousand years, the exclusive subject has always been the Hungarian nation. The other races (…) can only be a part of our history. All the glory and sorrow belong to the Hungarian nation, as its rightful moral property.”(P. Balogh, A népfajokMagyarországon, Budapest, 1902, p. 20.)

9. Problematic • Revuehistorique(1876), Gabriel Monod “[It is now] our task to awake, in the mind of the nation, the conscience of itself through a deep knowledge of history.” (G. Monod, Du progrès des études historiques en France depuis le XVI. siècle, in „Revue Historique” 1876, 1, pp. 5-38.) • Századok (1867), Mihály Horváth “(…) history is the most efficient nurse of national feelings (…) There can be no conscious national feelings in anybody, who does not know their national history.” (M. Horváth, Beszéd, in „Századok” 1867, 1., pp. 3-11. p. 5.) • “Il y a un pacte vingt fois séculaire entre la grandeur de la France et la liberté du monde.” Charles de Gaulle, 1941.

10. III. Sources • 1. General works on Hungarian history Roman nationale • 2. Secondary school history textbooks “The Hungarian society can not be saved without a middle class (...) Only thorough such a middle class can new blood be transfused into our society.” (G. Beksics, Társadalmunkésnemzetihivatásunk, Budapest, 1884, p. 97.) “[a middle class] is only conceivable on the basis of general culture, where, once again, culture is not meant in the sense of scientific education, this not being part of the foundation of social relations; it is to be understood as social culture, as cultured manners.” (J. Asbóth, Háromnemzedék, Budapest, 1873, p. 87.) “Secondary schools are giant machines, where we put in Slovak boys by hundreds at one end and then collect Hungarian men at the other end”. (B. Grünwald, A Felvidék. Politikaitanulmány, Budapest, 1878, p. 140.)

11. IV. The events • I. The Magyar conquest of Hungary “The legislature of the countries of the holy crown of Hungary renders thanks to the divine providence with religious devotion for having taken the fatherland founded by Árpád and his brave warriors into its protection (…) has maintained its existence throughout a thousand years of innumerable vicissitudes.” (1896:7.) “[The country’s present-day leaders] take pains to organize in Hungary, artificially and using enormous amounts of money, festivities for Europe which, on the one hand lack real historical foundations, while on the other hand, can be considered as an insult to the majority of the peoples constituting our country. (…) The envisaged millennium festivities must prove for Europe that it was a thousand years ago that this country was conquered by a tribe and that that tribe continues to feel, even after a thousand years, to be entitled to be the exclusive leader of the Hungarian statehood. The so-called conquest of Hungary and the related funding of a State are pure fiction.” (A nemzetiségikongresszusvégrehajtóbizottságánaktiltakozása a millenniumiünnepségekkelkapcsolatban1896. április 30. in G. Pajkossy (ed.), Magyarországtörténete a 19. században. Szöveggyűjtemény, Budapest, 2006, p. 729.) • II. The revolution and freedom fight of 1849-1849

12. V. Methodological framework • SerhiyBilenky: Romantic nationalism in Eastern-Europe • Unmaking nationalities/nations: • How does the making of a nation lead to the unmaking of a rival nation on the same territory? • How does the presence of the others influence the self-representation of a nation?

13. Bibliography (selection) • Berger S. (ed.), Writing the nation. A global perspective, New York, 2007. • Bernard Michel, Nations et nationalismes en Europe centraleXIXe-XXe siècle, Aubier, Paris, 1995. • Bilenky S., Romantic nationalism in Eastern-Europe, California, 2012. • CarbonellCh-O., La naissance de la Revue Historique, in “Revue Historique”, 1976, 518, pp. 331-353. • Cipoeş R., Nationalism and identity in Romania. A history of Extreme Politics from the Birth of the State to EU Accession, London, New York, 2010. • Gérard A., A l’origine du concept des Annales : positivismehistorique et system universitaire, in CarbonellCh-O., Livet G. (eds.), Au berceau des Annales, Toulouse, 1979, pp. 79-89. • HitchinsK, Studies on Romanian National Consciousness, Montreal, Paris, Lugoj, Roma, 1983. • Magocsi P. R., The Shaping of a National Identity. Sub Carpathian Rus’, 1848-1918, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, 1978. • Masłovski M., Didier F., Gradvohl. P. (eds.), Culture et identité en Europe Centrale. Canons littéraires et visions de l’histoire, Paris, 2011. • NoirielG.,Naissance de métierd’historien, in “Genesès” 1990, pp. 58-85. • Nora P., L’Historie de France de Lavissein Nora P. (ed.), Les lieux de mémoire. La nation. III., pp. 317-375. • Prochasson Ch., L’empire des émotions. Les historiensdans la mêlé, Paris, 2008. • Smith A. D., Myths and memories of the Nation, Oxford, 1999. pp. 57-95. • Turda M., The idea of national superiority in Central Europe, 1880-1918, Wales, 2004.