Šlechta bez monarchie - Staré elity posthabsburské střední Evropy 1918-1938 – Županič Jan (2025)

The book focuses on the role of the nobility in the public life of Czechoslovakia and the Austrian Republic during the interwar period. It concentrates primarily on their activities in both armies, diplomacy, and the politics of these states. The authors address the question of how willing the nobility was to engage publicly after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the establishment of republican regimes. They identify both similarities and differences in the approaches of the nobility in Czechoslovakia and Austria. They state that in both cases, the nobility, especially its most elite part, the aristocracy, perceived the new conditions with considerable distrust. Through examples of specific nobles and noblewomen, the book simultaneously demonstrates that particularly in Austria, the aristocracy adapted to the situation relatively quickly and became an ally of conservative political forces concentrated both in the Christian Social Party and in the paramilitary organization known as Heimwehr. It also documents a similar, albeit less noticeable shift in the perception of Czechoslovak reality by the nobility in the 1930s. The authors see the reasons, among other things, in the Nazi threat, which led the aristocracy in Czechoslovakia and Austria to patriotic attitudes and thus to a higher degree…