Thesis info "Pravda vítězí"
The Czech Victimisation Narrative and the Creation of the First Czechoslovak Republic in the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
Every nation has its myth; every myth has its own discourse and narratives. The Czech nation was first built on the martyrdom of historical figures such as Jan Hus, and then on a duality of heroism and victimisation once it moved towards Czechoslovak nationalism. Indeed, including various nationalities with very different historical experiences required a less exclusive version of the Czech national identity. This evolution of the national discourse occurred shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, which saw many of the "small nations" of Central Europe gain independence. The narrative of victimhood was the most influential part of this newly imagined identity; it even infiltrated Czech historiography up until today. One of the recent traces of this narrative can be found in the works of one of the most prominent Czech historians, Miroslav Hroch.
While the narrative has been identified and its historical accuracy has been challenged and discussed multiple times already, I examined its diffusion patterns and its role, thus sketching its map. Thanks to this discourse-historical research drawing on Ruth Wodak's methodology for national discourses, the narrative's crucial role at the core of the Czech national myth is highlighted. The victimisation narrative enabled Czech Nationalism to be inclusive, to be efficiently branded when addressed to a foreign audience, and eventually, to gain considerable influence during one of the most important events of the twentieth century in Europe.
This inclusive character of the narrative is the main finding of the present research, alongside the extent of its diffusion. The narrative travelled from Prague to Paris, London, Geneva; it crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the shores of the New World through the Czech-American community; and it inspired Czech Jews to seize this unprecedented momentum and cross the traditionally impenetrable religious borders of Austria-Hungary.
Using both published and unpublished sources, including private correspondence of T. G. Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Ernest Denis and other key figures of the Czech nation-building process, this analysis demonstrates through qualitative methods that the victimisation narrative was not just a small detail in Czech nationalism - it was its main driving force.
Annotation in English
Every nation has its myth; every myth has its own discourse and narratives. The Czech nation was first built on the martyrdom of historical figures such as Jan Hus, and then on a duality of heroism and victimisation once it moved towards Czechoslovak nationalism. Indeed, including various nationalities with very different historical experiences required a less exclusive version of the Czech national identity. This evolution of the national discourse occurred shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, which saw many of the "small nations" of Central Europe gain independence. The narrative of victimhood was the most influential part of this newly imagined identity; it even infiltrated Czech historiography up until today. One of the recent traces of this narrative can be found in the works of one of the most prominent Czech historians, Miroslav Hroch.
While the narrative has been identified and its historical accuracy has been challenged and discussed multiple times already, I examined its diffusion patterns and its role, thus sketching its map. Thanks to this discourse-historical research drawing on Ruth Wodak's methodology for national discourses, the narrative's crucial role at the core of the Czech national myth is highlighted. The victimisation narrative enabled Czech Nationalism to be inclusive, to be efficiently branded when addressed to a foreign audience, and eventually, to gain considerable influence during one of the most important events of the twentieth century in Europe.
This inclusive character of the narrative is the main finding of the present research, alongside the extent of its diffusion. The narrative travelled from Prague to Paris, London, Geneva; it crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the shores of the New World through the Czech-American community; and it inspired Czech Jews to seize this unprecedented momentum and cross the traditionally impenetrable religious borders of Austria-Hungary.
Using both published and unpublished sources, including private correspondence of T. G. Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Ernest Denis and other key figures of the Czech nation-building process, this analysis demonstrates through qualitative methods that the victimisation narrative was not just a small detail in Czech nationalism - it was its main driving force.
Keywords
First World War (1914-1918), Czech Nationalism, Czechoslovakia, T. G. Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Ernest Denis, Czech-Americans
Keywords in English
First World War (1914-1918), Czech Nationalism, Czechoslovakia, T. G. Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Ernest Denis, Czech-Americans
Length of the covering note
69
Language
AN
Annotation
Every nation has its myth; every myth has its own discourse and narratives. The Czech nation was first built on the martyrdom of historical figures such as Jan Hus, and then on a duality of heroism and victimisation once it moved towards Czechoslovak nationalism. Indeed, including various nationalities with very different historical experiences required a less exclusive version of the Czech national identity. This evolution of the national discourse occurred shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, which saw many of the "small nations" of Central Europe gain independence. The narrative of victimhood was the most influential part of this newly imagined identity; it even infiltrated Czech historiography up until today. One of the recent traces of this narrative can be found in the works of one of the most prominent Czech historians, Miroslav Hroch.
While the narrative has been identified and its historical accuracy has been challenged and discussed multiple times already, I examined its diffusion patterns and its role, thus sketching its map. Thanks to this discourse-historical research drawing on Ruth Wodak's methodology for national discourses, the narrative's crucial role at the core of the Czech national myth is highlighted. The victimisation narrative enabled Czech Nationalism to be inclusive, to be efficiently branded when addressed to a foreign audience, and eventually, to gain considerable influence during one of the most important events of the twentieth century in Europe.
This inclusive character of the narrative is the main finding of the present research, alongside the extent of its diffusion. The narrative travelled from Prague to Paris, London, Geneva; it crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the shores of the New World through the Czech-American community; and it inspired Czech Jews to seize this unprecedented momentum and cross the traditionally impenetrable religious borders of Austria-Hungary.
Using both published and unpublished sources, including private correspondence of T. G. Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Ernest Denis and other key figures of the Czech nation-building process, this analysis demonstrates through qualitative methods that the victimisation narrative was not just a small detail in Czech nationalism - it was its main driving force.
Annotation in English
Every nation has its myth; every myth has its own discourse and narratives. The Czech nation was first built on the martyrdom of historical figures such as Jan Hus, and then on a duality of heroism and victimisation once it moved towards Czechoslovak nationalism. Indeed, including various nationalities with very different historical experiences required a less exclusive version of the Czech national identity. This evolution of the national discourse occurred shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, which saw many of the "small nations" of Central Europe gain independence. The narrative of victimhood was the most influential part of this newly imagined identity; it even infiltrated Czech historiography up until today. One of the recent traces of this narrative can be found in the works of one of the most prominent Czech historians, Miroslav Hroch.
While the narrative has been identified and its historical accuracy has been challenged and discussed multiple times already, I examined its diffusion patterns and its role, thus sketching its map. Thanks to this discourse-historical research drawing on Ruth Wodak's methodology for national discourses, the narrative's crucial role at the core of the Czech national myth is highlighted. The victimisation narrative enabled Czech Nationalism to be inclusive, to be efficiently branded when addressed to a foreign audience, and eventually, to gain considerable influence during one of the most important events of the twentieth century in Europe.
This inclusive character of the narrative is the main finding of the present research, alongside the extent of its diffusion. The narrative travelled from Prague to Paris, London, Geneva; it crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the shores of the New World through the Czech-American community; and it inspired Czech Jews to seize this unprecedented momentum and cross the traditionally impenetrable religious borders of Austria-Hungary.
Using both published and unpublished sources, including private correspondence of T. G. Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Ernest Denis and other key figures of the Czech nation-building process, this analysis demonstrates through qualitative methods that the victimisation narrative was not just a small detail in Czech nationalism - it was its main driving force.
Keywords
First World War (1914-1918), Czech Nationalism, Czechoslovakia, T. G. Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Ernest Denis, Czech-Americans
Keywords in English
First World War (1914-1918), Czech Nationalism, Czechoslovakia, T. G. Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Ernest Denis, Czech-Americans
Research Plan
I will discuss the role of the victimisation narrative in the Czech(oslovak) nation-building process, using (Czech, Austrian, German) newspaper articles, letters exchanged by some of the main protagonists of this crucial period that preceded the creation of the First Czechoslovak Republic, but also published works by Ernest Denis, and speeches and political essays by American politicians and scholars. The motivation for using such sources is that I wish to give an account of how this narrative was spread inside and outside Austria-Hungary, and whether it influenced certain steps or decisions within the process.
The questions I will aim at answering are the following:
1)What was the role of the victimisation narrative in the nation-building process of the First Czechoslovak Republic?
2)Should we understand this narrative only as part of the Czech national myth, or was it a reality in the beginning of the 20th century?
My hypothesis is that the narrative was based on facts that were used for the benefit of the Czechoslovak cause, sometimes distorting historical truth for this purpose, and that it had an impact on how the Czechoslovak state was built.
I will be using qualitative content analysis methods, namely the discourse-historical approach of critical discourse analysis as defined by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer. I will indeed be analysing historical texts that shape a discourse within which I will be looking for specific patterns - the ones of the victimisation narrative. The coding will be done through a summative approach. The discourse analysis will be done with the aim to identify phrases, sentences or general comments making reference to the victimisation narrative, not in the form of a linguistic "word-by-word" analysis of the sources.
Primary sources will consist of Czech newspaper articles collected from the national archives of the Czech Republic, Austrian (German) articles, and letters exchanged between Masaryk and Beneš. Additional primary sources will be added during Phase 3 of the research process (as agreed in the timeline). Two secondary sources have been included as data for this research: the book of Karel Čapek, useful for understanding Masaryk's political and historical perspective, and the monograph of Ernest Denis, which sheds light on how the victimisation narrative was approached from the perspective of the French historian. So far, primary sources and secondary sources in four languages will be included in the corpus of the analysis (Czech, English, French and German).
Research Plan
I will discuss the role of the victimisation narrative in the Czech(oslovak) nation-building process, using (Czech, Austrian, German) newspaper articles, letters exchanged by some of the main protagonists of this crucial period that preceded the creation of the First Czechoslovak Republic, but also published works by Ernest Denis, and speeches and political essays by American politicians and scholars. The motivation for using such sources is that I wish to give an account of how this narrative was spread inside and outside Austria-Hungary, and whether it influenced certain steps or decisions within the process.
The questions I will aim at answering are the following:
1)What was the role of the victimisation narrative in the nation-building process of the First Czechoslovak Republic?
2)Should we understand this narrative only as part of the Czech national myth, or was it a reality in the beginning of the 20th century?
My hypothesis is that the narrative was based on facts that were used for the benefit of the Czechoslovak cause, sometimes distorting historical truth for this purpose, and that it had an impact on how the Czechoslovak state was built.
I will be using qualitative content analysis methods, namely the discourse-historical approach of critical discourse analysis as defined by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer. I will indeed be analysing historical texts that shape a discourse within which I will be looking for specific patterns - the ones of the victimisation narrative. The coding will be done through a summative approach. The discourse analysis will be done with the aim to identify phrases, sentences or general comments making reference to the victimisation narrative, not in the form of a linguistic "word-by-word" analysis of the sources.
Primary sources will consist of Czech newspaper articles collected from the national archives of the Czech Republic, Austrian (German) articles, and letters exchanged between Masaryk and Beneš. Additional primary sources will be added during Phase 3 of the research process (as agreed in the timeline). Two secondary sources have been included as data for this research: the book of Karel Čapek, useful for understanding Masaryk's political and historical perspective, and the monograph of Ernest Denis, which sheds light on how the victimisation narrative was approached from the perspective of the French historian. So far, primary sources and secondary sources in four languages will be included in the corpus of the analysis (Czech, English, French and German).
Recommended resources
Čapek, Karel. Talks with T.G. Masaryk. Edited by Michael Henry Heim. New Haven, CT: Catbird Press, 1995.
Čapek, Thomas (ed). Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule: A Study of the Ideals and Aspirations of the Bohemian and Slovak People, as they relate to and are affected by the great European War. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1915.
Denis, Ernest. La Boh?me Depuis La Montagne Blanche. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1903.
Pergler, Charles. The Bohemians (Czechs) in the Present Crisis: An Address Delivered by Charles Pergler on May 28th, 1916 before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the United States. Bohemian National Alliance of America, 1916.
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflection on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 2006.
Black, Jeremy. Using History. London: Hodder Headline, 2005.
Evans, Robert J. W. "Historians and the State in the Habsburg Lands." In Visions sur le Développement des États Européens : Théories et Historiographies de l'État moderne. Actes du colloque de Rome (18-31 mars 1990) Rome: École Française de Rome, 1993. 203 - 218.
Ferenčuhová, Bohumila. "Ernest Denis, Robert William Seton-Watson a slovenská otazká počas prvej svetovej vojny". In Historik a Dejiny: V česko-slovenskom storočí osudových dátumov. Jubileum Ivana Kamenca. Bratislava: Veda, 2018.
Hájková, Dagmar, and Ivan Šedivý (eds). Korespondence: T.G. Masaryk - Edvard Beneš 1914 - 1918. Prague: Masarykův ústav AV ČR, 2004.
Jenkins, Keith. Re-Thinking History. London: Routledge, 1991.
Michel, Bernard. "Le rôle d'Ernest Denis et du Journal ? La Nation Tch?que ? dans la Naissance de la Tchécoslovaquie." Guerres Mondiales et Conflits Européens 169 (1993): 17 - 25.
Orzoff, Andrea. Battle for the Castle: The Myth of Czechoslovakia in Europe 1914-1948. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Pánek, Jaroslav, and Oldřich Tůma (eds). A History of the Czech Lands. Prague: Karolinum Press, 2009.
Teich, Mikuláš (ed.). Bohemia in History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Wodak, Ruth, and Michael Meyer (eds). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Sage Publications Ltd, 2002.
---, Rudolf de Cillia, Martin Reisigl, and Karin Liebhart. The Discursive Construction of National Identity. Second edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
Skilling, H. Gordon. T.G. Masaryk: Against the Current, 1882-1914. Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press, 1994.
Wein, Martin J. "Chosen Peoples, Holy Tongues: Religion, Language, Nationalism and Politics in Bohemia and Moravia in the Seventeenth to Twentieth Centuries". Past & Present, 202 (2009): 37 - 81.
Recommended resources
Čapek, Karel. Talks with T.G. Masaryk. Edited by Michael Henry Heim. New Haven, CT: Catbird Press, 1995.
Čapek, Thomas (ed). Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule: A Study of the Ideals and Aspirations of the Bohemian and Slovak People, as they relate to and are affected by the great European War. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1915.
Denis, Ernest. La Boh?me Depuis La Montagne Blanche. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1903.
Pergler, Charles. The Bohemians (Czechs) in the Present Crisis: An Address Delivered by Charles Pergler on May 28th, 1916 before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the United States. Bohemian National Alliance of America, 1916.
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflection on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 2006.
Black, Jeremy. Using History. London: Hodder Headline, 2005.
Evans, Robert J. W. "Historians and the State in the Habsburg Lands." In Visions sur le Développement des États Européens : Théories et Historiographies de l'État moderne. Actes du colloque de Rome (18-31 mars 1990) Rome: École Française de Rome, 1993. 203 - 218.
Ferenčuhová, Bohumila. "Ernest Denis, Robert William Seton-Watson a slovenská otazká počas prvej svetovej vojny". In Historik a Dejiny: V česko-slovenskom storočí osudových dátumov. Jubileum Ivana Kamenca. Bratislava: Veda, 2018.
Hájková, Dagmar, and Ivan Šedivý (eds). Korespondence: T.G. Masaryk - Edvard Beneš 1914 - 1918. Prague: Masarykův ústav AV ČR, 2004.
Jenkins, Keith. Re-Thinking History. London: Routledge, 1991.
Michel, Bernard. "Le rôle d'Ernest Denis et du Journal ? La Nation Tch?que ? dans la Naissance de la Tchécoslovaquie." Guerres Mondiales et Conflits Européens 169 (1993): 17 - 25.
Orzoff, Andrea. Battle for the Castle: The Myth of Czechoslovakia in Europe 1914-1948. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Pánek, Jaroslav, and Oldřich Tůma (eds). A History of the Czech Lands. Prague: Karolinum Press, 2009.
Teich, Mikuláš (ed.). Bohemia in History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Wodak, Ruth, and Michael Meyer (eds). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Sage Publications Ltd, 2002.
---, Rudolf de Cillia, Martin Reisigl, and Karin Liebhart. The Discursive Construction of National Identity. Second edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
Skilling, H. Gordon. T.G. Masaryk: Against the Current, 1882-1914. Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press, 1994.
Wein, Martin J. "Chosen Peoples, Holy Tongues: Religion, Language, Nationalism and Politics in Bohemia and Moravia in the Seventeenth to Twentieth Centuries". Past & Present, 202 (2009): 37 - 81.