The Resurrection and Collapse of Empire in Habsburg Serbia, 1914–1918: Volume 1

This book examines the Habsburg Army's occupation of Serbia from 1914 through 1918, arguing that it was different from other great power colonial projects.

Jonathan E. Gumz (Author)

9780521896276, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 June 2009

288 pages, 9 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.2 cm, 0.9 kg

'This brilliant account of the Austrian war against Serbia between 1914 and 1918 fills a huge gap in our understanding of the way the Great War reconfigured the boundaries between front, home front and occupation. Gumz shows authoritatively how the Austrian army marched through Serbia right back into the nineteenth century, by trying to do the impossible: to separate battle front and home front in the midst of total war. Their failure to do so is at the core of the failure of the Habsburg empire to survive the war.' Jay Winter, Yale University

This book examines the Habsburg Army's occupation of Serbia from 1914 through 1918. This occupation ran along a distinctly European-centered trajectory radically different from other great power colonial projects or occupations during the 20th century. Unlike these projects and occupations, the Habsburg Army sought to denationalize and depoliticize Serbia, to gradually reduce the occupation's violence, and to fully integrate the country into the Empire. These aims stemmed from 19th-century conservative and monarchical convictions that compelled the Army to operate under broad legal and civilizational constraints. Gumz's research provides a counterpoint to interpretations of the First World War that emphasize the centrality of racially inflected, Darwinist worldviews in the war.

1. The summer of 1914: the Hapsburg empire meets Serbian warfare
2. Eradicating national politics in occupied Serbia
3. Legal severity, international law, and the tottering empire in occupied Serbia
4. Food as salvation: food supply, the monarchy, and Serbia, 1916–18
5. A levee en masse nation no more? Guerilla war in Hapsburg Serbia.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]