Supra-National Patriotism and Dynastic Celebrations in the late Habsburg Monarchy

di Daniel Unowsky
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 42 (2013), p. 107

Many students of the Habsburg Monarchy continue to describe the last decades before World War I as a period in Habsburg history characterized by fierce nationalities problems that supposedly threatened the very existence of the state. Until recently, Habsburg historians paid far less attention to the factors considered that bolstered state cohesion, such as the dynasty itself, the Catholic Church, the Habsburg military, the bureaucracy, and so on. This article attempts to place the 1908 Kaiser-Huldigungs-Festzug, the most grandiose of all imperial celebrations during the reign of Franz Joseph, into context. Despite its failures and shortcomings, this article argues that the Kaiser-Huldigungs-Festzug of 1908 contributed to a broad public culture of patriotic celebration, participation, and consumption that punctuated the calendar and pervaded everyday life in the decades before the First World War. Key words: Austria, Habsburg monarchy, patriotism, nationalism, dynastic celebrations