Books by Pieter M. Judson

This panoramic reappraisal shows why the Habsburg Empire mattered for so long to so many Central Europeans across divides of language, religion, and region. Pieter Judson shows that creative government-and intractable problems the far-flung empire could not solve-left an enduring imprint on successor states. Its lessons are no less important today.

In the decades leading up to World War I, nationalist activists in imperial Austria labored to transform linguistically mixed rural regions into politically charged language frontiers. Using examples from several regions, including Bohemia and Styria, Judson traces the struggle to consolidate the loyalty of local populations for nationalist causes.