{"product_id":"2940016094144","title":"Independent Bohemia","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI. WHAT is AUSTRIA-HUNGARY?\u003cbr\u003eII. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE PRESENT WAR\u003cbr\u003eIII. CZECH POLITICAL PARTIES BEFORE AND DURING THE WAR\u003cbr\u003eIV. TERRORISM IN BOHEMIA DURING THE WAR\u003cbr\u003e    _(a)_ Czech Deputies and Leaders imprisoned and sentenced to Death;\u003cbr\u003e    _(b)_ Monster Trials, Arbitrary Executions, Internment of Civilians,\u003cbr\u003e    etc.;\u003cbr\u003e    _(c)_ Persecution of the Press;\u003cbr\u003e    _(d)_ Reichsrat Interpellations.\u003cbr\u003eV. HOW THE CZECHO SLOVAKS AT HOME ASSISTED THE ALLIES\u003cbr\u003eVI. THE MILITARY AND POLITICAL ACTION OF THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS ABROAD\u003cbr\u003eVII. THE CZECHS AT HOME BEGIN TO SPEAK\u003cbr\u003e    _(a)_ Czech Declaration of May 30, 1917;\u003cbr\u003e    _(b)_ Courageous Speeches delivered by Czech Deputies in the Reichsrat;\u003cbr\u003e    _(c)_ After the Amnesty;\u003cbr\u003e    _(d)_ During Peace Negotiations with Russia;\u003cbr\u003e    _(e)_ The Constituent Assembly of Prague on January 6, 1918;\u003cbr\u003e    _(f)_ The Oath of the Czecho Slovak Nation;\u003cbr\u003e    _(g)_ The Slovaks' Attitude;\u003cbr\u003e    _(h)_ The Czecho-Slovak National Council in Prague.\u003cbr\u003eVIII. CZECHO-SLOVAK CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER NON-GERMAN NATIONS OF CENTRAL\u003cbr\u003eEUROPE\u003cbr\u003e    _(a)_ The Congress of Rome;\u003cbr\u003e    _(b)_ The May Manifestations in Prague.\u003cbr\u003eIX. BOHEMIA AS A BULWARK AGAINST PAN-GERMANISM\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAPPENDIX OF SOME RECENT DOCUMENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBIBLIOGRAPHY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWHAT IS AUSTRIA-HUNGARY?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. The Habsburg Empire is built upon centuries-old traditions of reaction\u003cbr\u003eand violence. Its present power is chiefly based on the alliance which\u003cbr\u003eBohemia and Hungary concluded with Austria against the Turkish peril in\u003cbr\u003e1526. The Czechs freely elected the Habsburgs to the throne of Bohemia\u003cbr\u003ewhich remained a fully independent state, its alliance with Austria and\u003cbr\u003eHungary being purely dynastic. But soon the Habsburgs began to violate the\u003cbr\u003eliberties of Bohemia which they were bound by oath to observe, and this led\u003cbr\u003efinally to the fateful Czech revolution of 1618. At the battle of the White\u003cbr\u003eMountain in 1620 the Czechs suffered a defeat and were cruelly punished for\u003cbr\u003etheir rebellion. All their nobility were either executed or sent into\u003cbr\u003eexile, and their property confiscated. The country was devastated by the\u003cbr\u003eimperial hordes, and its population was reduced from 3,000,000 to 800,000\u003cbr\u003eduring the Thirty Years' War.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1627 Ferdinand II. greatly curtailed the administrative rights of\u003cbr\u003eBohemia, yet he did not dare to deprive her entirely of her independence.\u003cbr\u003eIn his \"Renewed Ordinance of the Land\" Ferdinand declared the Bohemian\u003cbr\u003ecrown to be hereditary in the House of Habsburg, and reserved legislative\u003cbr\u003epower to the sovereign. But otherwise the historical rights of Bohemia\u003cbr\u003eremained valid, notwithstanding all subsequent arbitrary centralising\u003cbr\u003emeasures taken by the Habsburgs. Bohemia's rights were repeatedly\u003cbr\u003erecognised by each succeeding Habsburg. Legally Bohemia is an independent\u003cbr\u003estate to-day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe heavy persecutions inflicted upon Bohemia had a disastrous effect upon\u003cbr\u003eher intellectual life and national development which were completely\u003cbr\u003eparalysed until the end of the eighteenth century, when owing to the\u003cbr\u003ehumanitarian ideals of those times, and as a reaction against the\u003cbr\u003eGermanising centralistic efforts of Joseph II., the Czechs again began to\u003cbr\u003erecover their national consciousness. This revival marked the beginning of\u003cbr\u003ethe Czecho-Slovak struggle for the re-establishment of their independence.\u003cbr\u003eThe movement was at first literary, and only in the forties became\u003cbr\u003epolitical. It was a continuous struggle against reaction and absolutism,\u003cbr\u003eand if the Czecho-Slovaks to-day can boast of an advanced civilisation, it\u003cbr\u003eis only owing to their perseverance and hard endeavours, and not because of\u003cbr\u003eany good-will on the part of the Austrian Government which put every\u003cbr\u003epossible obstacle in their way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2. _The present Austria-Hungary_ is primarily a dynastic estate, for the\u003cbr\u003ecrown was always its supreme political driving force, although at present\u003cbr\u003ethe Habsburgs are mere slaves of their masters, the Hohenzollerns. It is\u003cbr\u003ethis characteristic which justifies us in concluding that Austria is an\u003cbr\u003eautocratic state _par excellence_. If there were no other reason, this\u003cbr\u003eshould be sufficient to make every true democrat an enemy of Austria.\u003cbr\u003eFurthermore, it is this characteristic which makes us comprehend why the\u003cbr\u003eHabsburg monarchy is fighting side by side with German autocracy and\u003cbr\u003eimperialism against the allied democracies of the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNotwithstanding the so-called constitution which is a mere cloak for\u003cbr\u003eabsolutism, the monarch in Austria is emperor by \"Divine Right\" alone, and\u003cbr\u003eis the absolute master of his subject peoples in virtue of his privileged\u003cbr\u003eposition which confers on him an inexhaustible amount of power and\u003cbr\u003einfluence.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47180298289392,"sku":"2940016094144","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016094144","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}