A Hungarian Quo Vadis

Fülszöveg

Hungary was ailing. Unless somé remedy was found, the disorder would pro ve fatal. What physic would prevent the patíent's taking a turn for the worse, and in what dosage? This was the problem facing Hungary's politicians in the first half of the nineteenth century. It gave rise to controversies in which reasoned arguments as well as emotions had free play. There were those who would have been satisfied to treat just the symptoms. Others prescribed the remedies that had already proven effective in Western Europe. The one group wanted only to do away with certain elements of the obsolete socio-political system; the other believed that nothing short of radical reform would effect a cure. All parties, however, had to consider the crucial question of Hungary's place among the nations of Europe. Was the country to remain within the Habsburg Empire, or make a bid for independence? Either course of action was fraught with danger. Integration would mean renouncing the hopes of thoroughgoing... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Hungary was ailing. Unless somé remedy was found, the disorder would pro ve fatal. What physic would prevent the patíent's taking a turn for the worse, and in what dosage? This was the problem facing Hungary's politicians in the first half of the nineteenth century. It gave rise to controversies in which reasoned arguments as well as emotions had free play. There were those who would have been satisfied to treat just the symptoms. Others prescribed the remedies that had already proven effective in Western Europe. The one group wanted only to do away with certain elements of the obsolete socio-political system; the other believed that nothing short of radical reform would effect a cure. All parties, however, had to consider the crucial question of Hungary's place among the nations of Europe. Was the country to remain within the Habsburg Empire, or make a bid for independence? Either course of action was fraught with danger. Integration would mean renouncing the hopes of thoroughgoing reform: it meant eschewing all measures incompatible with the imperial structure. Indepencence - assuming it could be achieved at all - would most likely mean the disintegration of historic Hungary, since the non-Magyar population was bent on establishing nation-states of their own. Nor were the powers of Europe, indifferent to Hungary's fate, likely to take kindly to such a challenge to the status quo. Quo vadis, Hungary? It is the agonizing search for a solution to this dilemma that János Varga's book brings to life. Vissza