Research Unit

History of the Habsburg Monarchy


This research area focusses on the forces of cohesion that for centuries facilitated the existence of the Habsburg territorial complex and in some cases continued to operate long after its demise. The chronological framework covers the history of the Monarchy from the 16th century onward, encompassing the early modern dynastically linked territories through the national states of the 20th century. Specific to all projects is the critical reflection of structural interaction, spheres of activity, and historical actors as regards the Monarchy’s development, of the factors for integration and disintegration, and of how these changed over time. Given the significance of western and central European perspectives on the continent’s past, a specific aim of this research area is to keep the entire Monarchy in focus, also by taking the eastern and southern regions into greater account, as well as differentiating among the parts more effectively. For one decisive epoch, the handbook enterprise “The Habsburg Monarchy 1848 until 1918”, whose last two volumes are now under preparation in the research area, is already meeting this goal. The research spectrum of more recent date is characterized by themes and approaches taken in part from the field of “new political history”. The three main thematic-methodological concentrations are closely interrelated:

 

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