Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule

Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule - A Study of the Ideals and Aspirations of the Bohemian and Slovak Peoples, as They Relate to and Are Affected by the Great European War

The object of this volume is to make Bohemia and her people better known to the English-speaking world. The average Englishmans and Americans knowledge of Bohemia is very vague. It is only within recent years that Anglo-American writers have begun to take a deeper interest in her people. Among the more prominent students of Bohemian contemporary life should be mentioned: Will S. Monroe, Emily G. Balch, and Herbert Adolphus Miller, in the United States; and A. R. Colquhoun, Richard J. Kelly, F. P. Marchant, James Baker, Wickham H. Steed, Charles Edmund Maurice, W. R. Morfill, and R. W. Seton-Watson in England. Count Ltzow has written in English a number of works on Bohemian matters. While it is yet too early to foresee the precise results of the Great War, one may judge of coming events by the shadows they cast before them. A close observer of the Austrian shadows is justified in thinking that the Bohemian people, so long suppressed, stand on the threshold of a new destiny. This destiny points to the restoration of their ancient freedom. If the Allies winand every loyal[8] son of the Land of Hus fervently wishes that their arms might prevail, notwithstanding the fact that Bohemian soldiers are constrained to fight for the cause of the two KaisersBohemia is certain to re-enter the family of self-governing European nations. The proclamation which the Russian Generalissimo addressed to the Poles may be said to apply with equal force to the Bohemians: The hour has sounded when the sacred dream of your fathers may be realized.... Bohemia will be born again, free in her religion, her language, and autonomous.... The dawn of a new life begins for you.... In this glorious dawn is seen the sign of the cross, the symbol of suffering and the resurrection of a people. At the close of the Franco-Prussian War, Frenchmen erected in the Place de la Concorde in Paris the Statue of Strassburg, which they have kept draped, as a sign of mourning for the loss of their beloved Alsace-Lorraine. The Bohemians have grieved for their motherland much longer than the French for the Lost Provinces. Bohemia put on her mourning garb in 1620, the year her rebel army was defeated by the imperialist troops of Ferdinand II., at the Battle of White Mountain near Prague, the capital of the kingdom. May it not be hoped that the joyous moment is near when her sons can substitute for the black and yel[9]low of Austria the red and white of Bohemiathe colors that Charles Havlek loved so well. My colors are red and white, declared this fearless patriot to his Austrian tormentors. You can promise me, you can threaten me, but a traitor I shall never be. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 45993
Author: Capek, Thomas
Release Date: Jun 16, 2014
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Capek, Thomas, 1861-1950