The Image of the Habsburg Dynasty in Czech Nationalist Thinking in the 1860s and at the Beginning of the 1870s (on the Example of the Sokol Movement)

Abstract

This article analyses the image of the Habsburg dynasty in Czech nationalist thinking in the 1860s and at the beginning of the 1870s. This complex and changing image is explored through the case of the Sokol movement, which combined Czech nationalism with gymnastics. The research is based on the analysis of newspapers and other primary sources. The complexity of the analysed image derives from the existence of three interrelated currents of monarchist thought in the socalled Czech lands. The traditional current can be described as paternalistic, imperialist, and Catholic. The constitutional current was related to the emperor’s acceptance of the limitation of his power. The third current was Czech nationalist monarchism characterised by the link between the concept of Czech historical state right and the prospect of Franz Joseph I’s coronation as King of Bohemia. Among the main principles of Czech nationalist thinking was totalism, which in this case meant conceiving the nation as the supreme value. Among the consequences of putting Czech national interests over everything else were the merging of nationalist and constitutional currents of monarchist thought, the differential attitude towards Franz Joseph I’s predecessors, and the alternation of anifestations of loyalty and disloyalty. Among the latter were the decisions of the Prague Sokol society not to take part in the emperor’s visit to Prague in June 1868 and to purchase the copy of his rescript dated 12 September 1871, which contained the unfulfilled coronation promise. The totality of nationalism as a political religion and the existence of different interpretations of Austrianness led Czech nationalists to take it as simultaneously their anti-identity and subsidiary identity. Austrianness as the Czech subsidiary identity was related to the idea of multinational monarchy and the concept of Austro-Slavism, while the anti-identity was incited by the German and supranational interpretations.