Eastern Neighbors as Objects for Colonization? Hungarian, Polish, and Czech Perspectives on Romanians, Slovaks, and Ukrainians in the Habsburg Monarchy

This presentation examines the colonialist lens through which Hungarian-, Polish-, and Czech-speaking political elites within the Habsburg monarchy often conceived of the groups that populated the peripheries of the territories those elites ruled or claimed. Specifically, the paper compares the attitudes and policies of the Hungarian and Polish nationalist elites towards the inhabitants of Slovakia, Transylvania, and Galicia, and it surveys the attitudes of Czech nationalists toward the Slovak-speaking population of Hungary as well. What concrete purposes did the civilizing rhetoric invoked by nationalist elites actually serve? Did the elites' efforts to establish specific cultural norms among populations produce colonialist policies, or did they serve more to mobilize their own nationalist base of supporters? What kind of colonialist political action was even possible, given the constraints imposed by the institutions and laws of the Habsburg Monarchy? The analysis examines both the nationalists' rhetorical strategies, as well as the mental maps that shaped their ambitions for the region. The paper concludes by questioning the applicability of empire theory, nationalism theory, and post-colonial theory as a means to analyze the relationships between nationalist elites and minority populations.