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2. The Revolution in Symbols: Hungary in 1848–1849

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Constructing Nationalities in East Central Europe
This chapter is in the book Constructing Nationalities in East Central Europe
Chapter 2THEREVOLUTION INSYMBOLSHungary in 1848–1849dRobert NemesThe great figures of the Convention floated before his eyes. A magnificent new dawnwas surely breaking. Rome, Vienna and Berlin were in revolt; the Austrians had beenkicked out of Venice; the whole of Europe was in ferment. It was time to hurl oneselfinto the fray and perhaps help events along; he [Frédéric] was also greatly attracted bythe clothes which, it was said, the Deputies would be having. He could already seehimself wearing a tricolor sash and a waistcoat with lapels.—Gustave Flaubert, A Sentimental Education1The 1848 revolutions were long described in terms of what they did not ac-complish, rather than what they actually achieved. Like Flaubert’s FrédéricMoreau, more interested in clothes than constitutions, the actors in 1848 seemed apale reflection of the generation of 1789. From this perspective, the mid-nineteenth-century revolutions stood out for their conspicuous lack of success, a judgmentneatly contained in A.J.P. Taylor’s famous description of the revolution in theGerman lands as a turning point that failed to turn.2Starting with the publica-tion of Peter Stearns’s 1848: The Revolutionary Tide in Europe (1974), however,English-language scholarship in the last three decades has emphasized the diver-sity of revolutionary experiences and has largely overturned this verdict.3Onceviewed as an ignominious failure, the revolutions are now seen as a “pioneeringventure in mass political mobilization” and as a watershed in the development ofmodern nationalism.4Recent writing on collective memory has further under-02 chap 10/4/04 11:06 AM Page 37
© 2022, Berghahn Books, New York, Oxford

Chapter 2THEREVOLUTION INSYMBOLSHungary in 1848–1849dRobert NemesThe great figures of the Convention floated before his eyes. A magnificent new dawnwas surely breaking. Rome, Vienna and Berlin were in revolt; the Austrians had beenkicked out of Venice; the whole of Europe was in ferment. It was time to hurl oneselfinto the fray and perhaps help events along; he [Frédéric] was also greatly attracted bythe clothes which, it was said, the Deputies would be having. He could already seehimself wearing a tricolor sash and a waistcoat with lapels.—Gustave Flaubert, A Sentimental Education1The 1848 revolutions were long described in terms of what they did not ac-complish, rather than what they actually achieved. Like Flaubert’s FrédéricMoreau, more interested in clothes than constitutions, the actors in 1848 seemed apale reflection of the generation of 1789. From this perspective, the mid-nineteenth-century revolutions stood out for their conspicuous lack of success, a judgmentneatly contained in A.J.P. Taylor’s famous description of the revolution in theGerman lands as a turning point that failed to turn.2Starting with the publica-tion of Peter Stearns’s 1848: The Revolutionary Tide in Europe (1974), however,English-language scholarship in the last three decades has emphasized the diver-sity of revolutionary experiences and has largely overturned this verdict.3Onceviewed as an ignominious failure, the revolutions are now seen as a “pioneeringventure in mass political mobilization” and as a watershed in the development ofmodern nationalism.4Recent writing on collective memory has further under-02 chap 10/4/04 11:06 AM Page 37
© 2022, Berghahn Books, New York, Oxford

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi
  3. CONTENTS vii
  4. List of Maps ix
  5. List of Illustrations x
  6. Preface xi
  7. Notes on Contributors xiv
  8. Introduction: Constructing Nationalities in East Central Europe 1
  9. 1. From Tolerated Aliens to Citizen-Soldiers: Jewish Military Service in the Era of Joseph II 19
  10. 2. The Revolution in Symbols: Hungary in 1848–1849 37
  11. 3. Nothing Wrong with My Bodily Fluids: Gymnastics, Biology, and Nationalism in the Germanies before 1871 50
  12. 4. Between Empire and Nation: The Bohemian Nobility, 1880–1918 61
  13. 5. The Bohemian Oberammergau: Nationalist Tourism in the Austrian Empire 89
  14. 6. The Sacred and the Profane: Religion and Nationalism in the Bohemian Lands, 1880–1920 107
  15. 7. All For One! One for All! The Federation of Slavic Sokols and the Failure of Neo-Slavism 126
  16. 8. Staging Habsburg Patriotism: Dynastic Loyalty and the 1898 Imperial Jubilee 141
  17. 9. Arbiters of Allegiance: Austro-Hungarian Censors during World War I 157
  18. 10. Sustaining Austrian “National” Identity in Crisis: The Dilemma of the Jews in Habsburg Austria, 1914–1919 178
  19. 11. “Christian Europe” and National Identity in Interwar Hungary 192
  20. 12. Just What is Hungarian? Concepts of National Identity in the Hungarian Film Industry, 1931–1944 203
  21. 13. The Hungarian Institute for Research into the Jewish Question and Its Participation in the Expropriation and Expulsion of Hungarian Jewry 223
  22. 14. Indigenous Collaboration in the Government General: The Case of the Sonderdienst 243
  23. 15. Getting the Small Decree: Czech National Honor in the Aftermath of the Nazi Occupation 267
  24. Index 283
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9781782388579-008

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi
  3. CONTENTS vii
  4. List of Maps ix
  5. List of Illustrations x
  6. Preface xi
  7. Notes on Contributors xiv
  8. Introduction: Constructing Nationalities in East Central Europe 1
  9. 1. From Tolerated Aliens to Citizen-Soldiers: Jewish Military Service in the Era of Joseph II 19
  10. 2. The Revolution in Symbols: Hungary in 1848–1849 37
  11. 3. Nothing Wrong with My Bodily Fluids: Gymnastics, Biology, and Nationalism in the Germanies before 1871 50
  12. 4. Between Empire and Nation: The Bohemian Nobility, 1880–1918 61
  13. 5. The Bohemian Oberammergau: Nationalist Tourism in the Austrian Empire 89
  14. 6. The Sacred and the Profane: Religion and Nationalism in the Bohemian Lands, 1880–1920 107
  15. 7. All For One! One for All! The Federation of Slavic Sokols and the Failure of Neo-Slavism 126
  16. 8. Staging Habsburg Patriotism: Dynastic Loyalty and the 1898 Imperial Jubilee 141
  17. 9. Arbiters of Allegiance: Austro-Hungarian Censors during World War I 157
  18. 10. Sustaining Austrian “National” Identity in Crisis: The Dilemma of the Jews in Habsburg Austria, 1914–1919 178
  19. 11. “Christian Europe” and National Identity in Interwar Hungary 192
  20. 12. Just What is Hungarian? Concepts of National Identity in the Hungarian Film Industry, 1931–1944 203
  21. 13. The Hungarian Institute for Research into the Jewish Question and Its Participation in the Expropriation and Expulsion of Hungarian Jewry 223
  22. 14. Indigenous Collaboration in the Government General: The Case of the Sonderdienst 243
  23. 15. Getting the Small Decree: Czech National Honor in the Aftermath of the Nazi Occupation 267
  24. Index 283
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