Thomas Angerer

Wiener Zeitschrift zur Geschichte der Neuzeit 1/01

Österreich in Europa

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Beiträge
Michael Hochedlinger: Abschied vom Klischee. Für eine Neubewertung der Habsburgermonarchie in der Frühen Neuzeit
Thomas Fröschl: Ein teutscher Europäer, kein Österreicher. Ein Blick auf Mozart – mit Seitenblicken auf Goethe und die USA
Emiel Lamberts: The Leading Role of Austrian Catholic Conservatives in the „Black International“ (1870-1878)
Thomas Angerer: „Österreich ist Europa“. Identifikationen Österreichs mit Europa seit dem 18. Jahrhundert

Forum
Ludger Kühnhardt: Europa als Wertegemeinschaft – Verlierer der Österreich-Krise 2000?
Wolfgang Schmale: Körper – Kultur – Identität: Neuzeitliche Wahrnehmungen Europas – Ein Essay
Birgit Wagner: Europa, auf einem Stier reitend. Variationen zu Wolfgang Schmales Essay über Europa-Wahrnehmungen
Alan S. Milward: European Uses of Neutrality: An Essay on the Occasion of a New Conference Volume

Neu gelesen
Alexander Sperl: Überlegungen zur Aktualität von Otto Brunners „Adeliges Landleben und Europäischer Geist“

Hefteditorial: Österreich in Europa

Wie europäisch ist Österreich? Darüber gehen die Meinungen seit der Regierungsbeteiligung der FPÖ in Europa wie im Lande selbst wieder auseinander. Die einen sehen Österreich gegenwärtig so ähnlich wie einst Ludwig Börne in seiner radikalliberalen Kritik am System Metternich – als „europäisches China“, nur gottlob kleiner; die anderen verteidigen es als vornehmen Rechtsstaat mit einer vorbildlichen, auf Altösterreich zurückgehenden Tradition. Für die einen hat die Regierung das Land ins Abseits der europäischen Wertegemeinschaft manövriert, für die anderen bleibt es in ihr nach wie vor „fest verankert“, setzten vielmehr die Vierzehn ihre „Maßnahmen“ gegen die österreichische Bundesregierung „außerhalb der Rechtsgemeinschaft“ (so der Bundespräsident bzw. der Bundeskanzler in ihren Ansprachen zum Nationalfeiertag des Jahres 2000). Wie auch immer man dazu steht, die Sanktions-Krise hat die Frage nach Österreichs Verhältnis zu Europa neu aufgeworfen. Die Krise ist durch die Aufhebung der „Maßnahmen“ entschärft worden, die Frage aber weitgehend offen geblieben, und zwar nicht nur wegen mancher Ungereimtheiten des „Weisenberichtes“. Welches Österreich in welchem Europa? Wo darin und wie? Die Geschichtswissenschaft gehen diese Fragen direkt an, denn sie haben eine Vergangenheit, die neu auf dem Spiel steht. Die Wiener Zeitschrift zur Geschichte der Neuzeit will ihnen ins Auge sehen und dabei den Mut fassen, vorschnelle Antworten zu vermeiden. Zunächst einmal gilt es, den Zeithorizont der Debatte zu vertiefen und historische Zusammenhänge herzustellen, die bislang übersehen worden sind.
(Thomas Angerer)

Abstracts:

Michael Hochedlinger: Farewell to a Cliché: Towards a Revaluation of the Early Modern Habsburg Monarchy
The article pleads for a revaluation of a hitherto one-sided understanding of the early modern Habsburg Monarchy. As was the case with most polities in early modern Europe, the Habsburg Monarchy was shaped to a large extent by the requirements of European power politics and war. The author examines why this central aspect of early modern Habsburg history still plays an insignificant role in Austrian historiography. He emphasizes the need of a comprehensive approach to power politics in early modern Austrian history that gives sufficient attention to foreign policy concerns and actions, their domestic foundations, and the permanent interaction between the two levels.

Thomas Fröschl: A „German“ European, not an Austrian – A Look at Mozart, with a Glance at Goethe and the USA
Mozart is almost universally known as an Austrian composer, an assignment which continues to provoke criticism in Germany as Salzburg did not belong to Austria at the time of Mozart’s birth. However, it is no less misleading to claim Mozart for Germany. The obvious difference between the political pluralism, multinationalism and multiculturalism of the Holy Roman Empire and the German nation state seriously challenges the argument of an unbroken German continuity in national politics and culture since the 18th century. Mozart and, for that matter, Goethe had their roots in a pre-modern Germany, which makes Austria’s appropriation of Mozart since 1945 analogous to Germany’s appropriation of Goethe since 1871. The article also argues that the formation of two nation states within the same language is nothing exceptional, as the emergence of the USA out of the British orbit demonstrates.

Emiel Lamberts: The Leading Role of Austrian Catholic Conservatives in the „Black International“ (1870-1878)
After the seizure of Rome by the Italian army in September 1870, prominent laymen who wanted to co-ordinate Catholic efforts to restore papal temporal power and the socio-political influence of the Church founded a secret international association in Geneva. This association, called „the Black International“ by its members, was explicitly recognized and supported by the Holy See. Austrian aristocrats played a leading role in its activities. The organisation co-ordinated the mobilisation of Catholics in various countries, and functioned as a semi-official press agency for the Vatican. Its activities fitted in perfectly with the new objectives of Vatican diplomacy, which from now on were increasingly oriented towards reinforcing the moral influence of the papacy. The Black International strengthened Catholic press and popular movements all over Europe. At the same time, it functioned as a think tank, and in this capacity it lived on in the Union of Fribourg (1884-1891), which played an important role in the development of Catholic social teaching.

Thomas Angerer: „Austria is Europe“. Austrian Identifications with Europe since the 18th Century
„We are Europe!“ was the slogan of the EU entry campagain in Austria in 1994. This article argues that the tradition of identifying Austria with Europe goes back to the early 18th century. Whether Austria had to justify its existence as a great European power or as a small state after 1918 and 1945, Europe served as a fundamental reference. To begin with, Austria was identified with European culture (which Austria had to defend against „barbarians“) and the European powers system (in which Austria had to hold the balance). Later on, when the principle of the nation state threatened Austria’s coherence and existence as a multinational Empire, she was also identified with Europe’s multiplicity of peoples. In turn, Austria served as reference for ideas of European unity. Insisting on Austria’s European identity originally aimed at justifying her position both in Germany and in Europe. Eventually this changed and became an argument for maintaining Austria’s independence from Germany.

Ludger Kühnhardt: The European Community of Values: the Loser of the Austrian Crisis of 2000?
After recapitulating the main phases of European integration this article analyses certain aspects of the measures taken by 14 EU member states against Austria in response to the forming of a government including the  FPÖ. It argues that in so doing the 14 acted against the procedures developed by Community law during the past decades. As the rule of law is a fundamental value of the EU, the sanctions  themselves violated the community of values which they were intended to defend. Moreover, history shows that the future of the EU will depend on whether its members fully respect the legal frameworks for politicial action they have agreed upon. The article concludes by proposing a definition of Europe as a community of values and insists on the primacy of law over politics in a pluralistic world.

Wolfgang Schmale: Body – Culture – Identity: Perceptions of Europe in Modern and Contemporary Periods
What Europe is depends on discourses. Europe does not have material objective existence as a geographical definition may suggest. In the 16th and early 17th century, discourses on Europe were focused on the description of Europe as a female body signifying the unity of the Christian Republic. The suggestive character of this discourse can only be understood by taking into account that the body was then imagined to offer a comprehension of the world as constituted by God. From the second half of the 17th century onwards, the body centred discourse lost comprehensibility. Since the middle of the 18th century body was replaced by the more abstract concept of culture. Europe was imagined as a cultural network. This image is still valid although the mental foundations of culture have changed. Since the late 1940s the question has been raised what European identity actually is. Thus, the contemporary discourse on the perception of Europe focusses on the notion of identity.

Alan S. Milward: European Uses of Neutrality: An Essay on the Occasion of a New Conference Volume
In post Second World War Europe, there were more reasons for neutrality and more meanings to be attributed to it than there were neutral countries. Generally speaking, neutrality was an instrument of domestic political integration. As such, neutrality made participation in any form of European integration which required a cession of national sovereignty much more difficult, because it endowed the nation with a characteristic which the European Community did not know whether it wanted or not. The USA did not want neutrals in the European Community until Soviet policy changed under Gorbachev. The USSR did not regard any of the neutrals other than Finland as being truly neutral. In western Europe, however, neutrals were seen as useful. Their existence helped the ancient European state system to function diplomatically in the way it always had done.

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