The End of Austria-Hungary by Leo Valiani (review)

486 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW TheEndofAustria-Hungary. LEO VALIANI. NewYork,Alfred A. Knopf, •973. PP.xiv, 474.$•5.00. In •966 Leo Valiani published La Dissoluzione dell'Austria-Ungheria to enthusiastic acclaim.Now, with its footnotes updated,two appendices added,and the title changed, theworkisavailable in English.Its appearance provides a furtheropportunitytoassess thesignificance ofthedistinguished Italian's analysis ofthecollapse of the Dual Monarchy. The centralthemelinkingthe five monographic essays is the subtleinterplay between thenationality issue andthediplomacy of thegreatpowers. After aninitial reviewof the nationalmovements before •9•4, Valianishiftshisattentionto their wartimemachinations. Althoughhe doesnot ignorethe domestic activities of the nationalgroupswithinthe monarchy,hisnarrativeemphasizes their externalattempts toinfluence thediplomacy ofItalyandtheententepowers. Theeffortsbythe Yugoslav proponentFranoSupiloare examinedin detail;others,suchasEduard Beneg,receivelessattention.The nationalist search, first for recognition of their legitimacy,then for the acceptance of their territorial ambitions, is a recurrent theme.Indeed,the competition for territorialgainat Habsburgexpense, whether Poland,Croatia, Trentino, Transylvania,or Dalmatia, dominatedthe contentof muchof thisdiplomacy. The importance of Italy'sposition ontheterritorialissue isdifficulttoexaggerate. The Russian, Serbian, and Rumanianambitions wereexpansive, theCzechaspirationswere not conducive to the monarchy's survival,but thoseadvanced by the Italiansproveddecisive. Drawingskilfullyupon boththe publicarchives and the papersof Luigi Albertiniand SidneySonnino, the authorexamines the pressures thatpromptedItalianintervention in •9•5 andthatlaterthwartedalleffortsfor a negotiated settlement. Putsimply, theTreatyof Londonshackled everymanoeuvre to divide the Central Powers. If Vienna was successfulon the battlefield, it saw no reason topurchase Italiandefection withterritorialconcessions. If Romewasunappeased , it possessed noincentive tocompromise withthemonarchy andsought to frustrate French and British moves in that direction. In the critical weeks before and afierBrest-Litovsk, whentheDualMonarchy mightstillhavesurvived thecrescendo of nationalist demands, Rome's stance wasinsurmountable. And byintensifying still further the pressures for disintegration,the Congress of subjectnationalities in Romein April •9•8 represents for Valiani the effectiveend of the monarchy. WoodrowWilson's subsequent appeals for itsdisappearance, coupledwiththe GermanandAustrian defeats, simply accelerated theprocess. Other themes buttress Valiani'sprobingexamination of thediplomaticinterplay. He reiteratesthe tenacious loyaltymanynationalgroupsdisplayed towardthe Habsburgs, the diplomats'reluctance to admit the implications of territorialdemandson the monarchy's fate, and the changingattitudesof Austrianand HungarianSocialDemocrats towardthe old regime.Further, a pungentanalysis of Hungarianeffortsfor a separatepeaceaccord,includingthe ambivalent role of MihhlyKhrolyi,isincludedintheaccount. Eachof thefiveessay-chapters, alongwiththethreelengthy appendices, reflects REVIEWS 487 Valiani'simpressive erudition.Aidedbymastery of the majorlanguages of theold empireandacyclopaedic graspof themonographic literature,hisscholarship forcefullysupports hisanalysis. There isin factapageof footnotes for everytwoof text, manycontaining sparkling gemsforthespecialist. And hisrelentless archivalworkis particularlyimpressive in the newappendices whichexaminethe Britishand Germandocuments onthenegotiations for aseparate peace andtheFrenchrecords on theYugoslav movement. The translation doesnotof course overcome someof thevolume's originalweaknesses : thedisjointed natureoftheessay format;anoccasional unevenness ofanalysis withinthechapters; andtheabsence fromtimetotimeof aclearconceptualization of the problemunder discussion. Nor isthe focusof the work balanced.The Italians, Slovenes, Croatians, and,to alesser degree,the Czechs receivethebulkof Valiani's attention;the Poles,Rumanians,and eventhe Serbssuffer by comparison. Also, someinterestingissues, suchasthe subsidization of the nationalgroupsby the established governments, areslighted. Finally,thereisalingeringregretthatValiani didnotaddonemorechapterdescribing theactual collapse ofAustria-Hungary. For that aspect,the essays in DieAufliJsung des Habsburgerreiches (Munich 197o ) are an excellentsupplement. Butthese areminorpoints thatshould notdistract fromthemagisterial qualityof Valiani'sresearch, the originalityof hisquestions, and the thoroughness of his answers. He hascontributed significantly to explainingthe dynamicinteraction of diplomacy, nationalitymovements, and nationalambitions (especially the Italian) in fatallyundermining themultinational empireof theHabsburgs. SAMUEL R. WILLIAMSON,JR University ofNorthCarolina, Chapel Hill TheChurches andPolitics inGermany. FREDERIC SPOTTS, Middletown, Conn.,Wesleyan University Press, 1973.Pp.xii, 419,maps.$15.oo. Lestthetitleof thisstudymislead thereader,heshouldknowthatMr Spotts' work dealswiththewesternhalfof thecountryandevents in thefirsttwenty-five yearsof the FederalRepublicafter •945. As such,thisexcellentsurveyhastwo particular merits:it istheonlyoneof itskind in English,anditscomparative treatmentof the twomain'Germanchurches,RomanCatholicandEvangelical, avoidsthelimitations ofthemajorityof Germanaccounts, whichhaverigidlylookedonlyattheactivities of onechurchwithoutregardtotheother. Mr Spotts'themeisthat [West]'Germanhistorysince1945marksan evolution from the ideological to the pragmatic.'The growthof a liberal, pluralistic,and democratic society with itsalmostdeliberateavoidance of ideological positions has involved thechurches in arapidityof social changes andaconfusion of values which haveleft manyfamiliarlandmarks behind.Mr Spotts' shrewdeyehasobserved the frequentattempts madebythechurches toclingontotheprivileges of thepast,and hisjudgment is criticalof church leadersand their methods.His conclusion is ambivalent. On theonehand,hecriticizes theCatholicchurchfor takinga narrow political stance inthedefence ofCatholic interests-thesubject ofchurchschools, for ...