Overview

Prague entered the First World War as the third city of the Habsburg empire, but emerged in 1918 as the capital of a brand new nation-state, Czechoslovakia. Claire Morelon explores what this transition looked, sounded and felt like at street level. Through deep archival research, she has carefully reconstructed the sensorial texture of the city, from the posters plastered on walls, to the shop windows' displays, the badges worn by passers-by, and the crowds gathering for protest or celebration. The result is both an atmospheric account of life amid war and regime change, and a fresh interpretation of imperial collapse from below, in which the experience of life on the Habsburg home-front is essential to understanding the post-Versailles world order that followed. Prague is the perfect case study for examining the transition from empire to nation-statehood, hinging on revolutionary dreams of fairer distribution and new forms of political participation.

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9781009335300

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'In chronological breadth and originality, this book surpasses even Prof. Li's now classic Nguyen Cochinchina. This latest meticulous research provides not only for Vietnam, but for the region at large an unprecedented model of a large-scale, longitudinal thematic study. A Maritime Vietnam will only enhance Prof. Li's reputation as one of most assiduous and persuasive scholars ever to have worked in precolonial Southeast Asian history.' Victor Lieberman, University of Michigan, USA 'This brilliantly researched and thoughtfully written history of Vietnam as viewed from the sea will force specialists and general readers alike to rethink traditional interpretations of this country's past, not least of all the outdated idea that the Vietnamese rarely ventured beyond the bamboo walls of their villages. They did - and did so over centuries. Li Tana's Maritime Vietnam is required reading for anyone interested in Vietnam, whether in ancient times or today.' Christopher Goscha, Professor of International relations at the Université du Québec à Montréal, author of Vietnam. A New History (Basic Books, 2016)

'A brilliantly fresh reading of Prague's streets and the lives of its diverse inhabitants during and after the First World War. Morelon weaves a vibrant narrative, drawing on people's sensory experiences to expose the revolutionized character of daily life. Reaching beyond nationalist tropes, she analyzes the changing dynamics of popular patriotism, neighborhood loyalties, expectations of empire, and of the daily struggle to survive.' Pieter M. Judson, author of The Habsburg Empire: A New History 'With a deft pen, a humane gaze, and a myriad of sources ranging from letters, official reports, newspapers, memoirs, novels, and photographs, Morelon has succeeded in doing what no one has so far: she has made us feel what it was like for women, children, and men to walk, sit, listen, stand, wait, oversee, protest, complain, starve, threaten, and celebrate on the streets of Prague from the times of empire to the shaky first days of republic. After reading her tale of East Central European urban war and postwar, the traumas of Prague's early twentieth century become more understandable, more pitiable, and, yes, even more foreboding.' Dominique Kirchner Reill, author of The Fiume Crisis: Life in the Wake of the Habsburg Empire 'Morelon re-narrates the birth of a new Czechoslovak Republic from the perspective of Prague's streets, where war and revolution were sensory experiences. Streetscapes of War and Revolution makes an original and brilliant contribution to the history of East Central Europe, war and revolution, and urban life in the twentieth century.' Țară Zahra, author of Against the World: Anti-Globalism and Mass Politics between the World Wars

Author Information

Claire Morelon is Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Manchester. She is the co-editor of Embers of Empire: Continuity and Rupture in the Habsburg Successor States after 1918 (2018). She has held research fellowships at the University of Oxford and the University of Padova.

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