Czech Politics and the Habsburg Empire in 1914-1917

Abstract

During the interwar period, the first Czechoslovak Republic successfully created its own historical mythology, based on the idea of the constant desire of the Czechs and Slovaks to free themselves from the «people’s prison» and the role of the Czech national movement in the struggle for independence during the First World War. Like any myth, the republican Czechoslovak myth had an important symbolic significance, which was actualized by the communist regime in the issue of Czech-German relations after the events of the Second World War. However, political necessity overshadowed the real sentiments of the Czechs and their leading political actors in 1914-1917. On the other hand, the Habsburg state apologists have to date diminished the role of the systemic internal problems of the empire by insisting on the decisive role of the war in the Habsburgs’ inability to reform. Concordantly, there is a need to find out the attitude of Czech political representation on imperial politics, the problem of Czech-German relations, and the various options for solving the «Czech issue» during the First World War.
Therefore, the article analyzes the main options for solving the Czech national issue proposed by the Czech national movement during the First World War. The status of Czech-German relations on the eve of the war is clarified; the reaction of the main Czech political actors to its beginning is highlighted. The foreign policy priorities and discrepancies between the projects of the Czech state-building, which served as a benchmark for political activity for Czech politicians of the empire and emigration, were clarified. The intellectual sources, ideological and practical principles of Czech «activism» are characterized. The motives of activism of the most influential Czech parties – the agrarians and the Social Democrats – are analyzed. The reasons are explained that the majority of Czechs preserve fidelity Habsburg Empire in the period.