The editors of this exceptionally strong collection of essays have laid out some quite ambitious goals. First and foremost, they describe a gap in our historiography when it comes to the political ideas produced by Hungarian thinkers during the vitally important years between the French Revolution and the Compromise (Ausgleich) of 1867 that turned the Austrian empire into what became commonly known as the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, and by which the Hungarian kingdom achieved a significant degree of autonomy over affairs within its borders. They aim to fill that gap, noting that “an overview of a full range of critical figures from this period has not been published recently in English.” (ix).
These were the years where not only ink but also blood was spilled in the struggle to define Hungary's internal political structure and its relationship with the Habsburg dynasty and its broader empire, as well as the extent to which the Magyar language and culture would hold sway within the borders of St. Stephen's kingdom. This book expertly explains the back and forth over the decades on these matters, with an appropriate focus on key periods of change, such as the revolutionary period of 1848–49 and the years leading up to 1867. Understanding the full range of reform proposals and related political thought put forth by its leaders is thus central to understanding the course of Hungarian history, as well as what the book's editors describe as “the contemporary fault lines in the European political palette” (ix).
The first section, covering about one-quarter of the book, offers a brief but thorough review of historical developments in Hungary, the broader Habsburg lands, and the European continent during the period covered. These chapters—the first one written by the editors and each of the others by contributing scholars—focus on constitutional and political questions, including serfdom and the all-important nationality issue, and comprehensively lay out the broad terms of the ideological debates (as well as the intellectual ideas, trends, and traditions that underlay them) on these matters, along with citing current relevant academic discourse surrounding them.
The nationalities question, in particular the matter of language use, was fundamental for the entire region, in which multiple tongues and cultures existed (if not always harmoniously co-existed) intermixed with one another in Hungary and virtually all the surrounding kingdoms and territories within in the Habsburg patrimony. One chapter in this first section does an excellent job of explaining the range of positions taken by each of Hungary's non-Magyar peoples on their group's relationship with the Hungarian state as well as Magyarization.
The editors make clear in the first chapter their general sympathies with Hungarian revolutionaries, including Lajos Kossuth, the leader of independent Hungary in 1848–49, as well as his martyred colleague, Lajos Batthyány, Hungary's first Prime Minister. They also praised the 1867 Ausgleich as a “win-win agreement” that ushered in a “Golden Age” of “spectacular development” and an “unparalleled boom in the Hungarian economy and culture by 1900” (11). Seeing the dualist structure in an almost wholly positive light is not something all historians do, to be sure, with some arguing that it essentially gave the Magyar nobility not only the power to dominate their own kingdom, but also a veto over necessary, comprehensive reforms in either half of Austria-Hungary. But from a Hungarian national perspective, this positive assessment of dualism certainly makes sense.
The second section, which moves roughly in chronological order, consists of ten chapters, most of which are devoted to a careful study of an individual Hungarian figure (the first two examine more than one within a particular era). This section “reconstructs the voices of the most outstanding Hungarian political thinkers of the period and traces their impact” (xi). The editors each take one chapter, with the other eight written by contributing scholars. These chapters uniformly do an outstanding job achieving their defined goals. They successfully synthesize the ideas of the figures under examination (as well as provide brief but illuminating biographical sketches for those who are explored in depth), place them in the context of political, social, and cultural developments, and constructively bring in related historiography.
My own research dwelled at some length on one of these figures, Baron József Eötvös, and focused on his reform plans for the Habsburg Monarchy. The chapter in this book that examines his life and ideas were thus of special interest to me, and I can say that it was exceptionally well done.
The book, somewhat surprisingly, does not contain a formal conclusion, which could have proven helpful. The final paragraphs of the last chapter, on Ferenc Deák, do serve as somewhat of a conclusion, as they offer brief thoughts on the post-1867 era. Nevertheless, the lack of a conclusion is a small flaw, not a serious problem.
Overall, this collection is a highly valuable contribution to the scholarship on Hungarian intellectual and political history during the period 1790–1867. It strikes an excellent balance between diving into detail and tracing developments in broader strokes. The book will be of great interest above all to scholars and students of Hungarian history, as well as those studying the Habsburg Monarchy, central and eastern Europe, and nineteenth century European political thought. It is written in lively, accessible prose, with little in the way of jargon, and so can be profitably read by both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as those in the general public with a desire to learn more about the important topics covered within.
