ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: TEACHING the EMPIRE: EDUCATION and STATE LOYALTY in LATE HABSBURG AUSTRIA Scott Olen Moore, D
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ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: TEACHING THE EMPIRE: EDUCATION AND STATE LOYALTY IN LATE HABSBURG AUSTRIA Scott Olen Moore, Doctor of Philosophy, 2015 Dissertation directed by: Professor Marsha L. Rozenblit Department of History This dissertation examines how Austria utilized its system of public education to develop loyalty to the multinational Habsburg Monarchy from 1867-1918. It draws from a range of sources, including textbooks, pedagogical journals, curricula, school chronicles, school year-end-reports, school inspection reports, and other records related to school administration to show that Austria developed a strong system of civic education which attempted to build a supranational, Austrian identity among its citizens. Its first chapter provides an overview of the Austrian educational system from the eighteenth century to 1914. It also discusses the development of the history curriculum in these schools and illustrates that it possessed a unique ability to serve as a conduit for civic education. The second chapter examines how textbooks and history classes presented Habsburg rulers in a way that portrayed the dynasty as the embodiment of good governance. It shows that such presentations sought to create an interpretation of the Habsburg past that served future rulers while teaching about Austria’s history. This chapter is followed by an analysis of how these textbooks and classes used the Monarchy’s history to support a supranational, Austrian identity in which its citizens were bound by common struggle and a shared past. Most importantly, this chapter shows that officials sought to create this identity in a way that supported existing local and national identities. The fourth chapter explores how school celebrations and patriotic events reinforced civic education efforts. It proves that there was a strong collaboration between schools and other agencies to create a consistent message about the Habsburg past which strengthened the supranational identity asserted by Austrian civic education. The final chapter discusses the efforts by the Austrian educational bureaucracy to ensure that teachers remained supporters of civic education efforts. Ultimately, this study shows that Austria possessed a nuanced, assertive system of civic education within its schools. This system of civic education attempted to create a layered identity among Austrians which blended loyalty to the imperial, dynastic state while also allowing for regional, and national identities to remain strong. TEACHING THE EMPIRE: EDUCATION AND STATE LOYALTY IN LATE HABSBURG AUSTRIA by Scott Olen Moore Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2015 Advisory Committee: Professor Marsha Rozenblit, Chair Professor Gary Cohen Professor Gay Gullickson Professor John Lampe Professor Judith Torney-Purta © Copyright by Scott Olen Moore 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation represents the results of three years of research and writing. It would have been impossible without the generous assistance and support of a number of people. I would like to take this time to thank them for their contributions to this work. While each of these individuals helped me to complete this study, any errors or mistakes are mine alone. I would like to begin by thanking my dissertation director and mentor, Professor Marsha Rozenblit. For six years I have been fortunate enough to benefit from her skill and knowledge as a historian. She has taught me more than I could ever hope to express in words. She has also been my greatest supporter during the research and writing of this dissertation and I am very grateful for her constant encouragement. I would also like to thank Professor John Lampe and Professor Gay Gullickson. I have been lucky enough to work with and learn from both of them throughout my time at the University of Maryland, and I am glad to have them serve on my dissertation committee. I am also grateful to my other committee members, Professor Judith Torney-Purta and Professor Gary Cohen, and I thank them for their suggestions and constructive criticism. This project would have been impossible without the generous Fulbright-Mach research fellowship provided by the Austrian-American Educational Commission and the Österreichisches Austauschdienst. Beyond financial assistance, Dr. Lonnie Johnson of the AAEC, Dr. Lydia Skarits of the OeAD, and their respective staffs ensured that my research in Austria proceeded smoothly and successfully. My ability to successfully navigate Austria’s libraries and archives was due in large part to the help of Professor Margarete Grandner of the University of Vienna. She graciously agreed to serve as a ii faculty affiliate while I was a Fulbright-Mach fellow and this project was made stronger because of her assistance. I would also like to thank Professor Peter Hoeyng of Emory University, Dr. Kate Keane, Dr. Thomas Moore, Dr. Frederic Tate, and Dr. Jason Ciejka for their encouragement and suggestions. I am indebted to the staff of all of the archives and libraries I used and am grateful for their assistance. In particular I would like to thank the staff of the Austrian National Library, Professor Lorenz Mikoletzky of the Austrian State Archives, Dr. Stefan Spevak and Dr. Jakob Wührer of the Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna, Clemens Steinhuber of the library of the MAK, Vienna, Viktoria Etzlstorfer of the Upper Austrian Provincial Archives, Markus Altrichter of the Archive of the City of Linz, Pavel Koblasa of the Czech National Archives, and Veronika Knotková of the Prague City Archives. The History Department of the University of Maryland provided critical funding that allowed me to complete my research with a trip to Prague, spend a semester writing chapters of my dissertation, and travel to the German Studies Association to present my research. I would like to thank the donors who made the Gordon Prange History Department Dissertation Writing Fellowship, the Samuel Merrill Graduate Student Research Award, and the Arts and Humanities Travel Awards possible. I owe an equal debt of gratitude to the amazing staff of the history department at the University of Maryland. I would especially like to thank Ms. Jodi Hall, Mrs. Catalina Toala, and Ms. Paula Barriga Sanchez for their assistance and support. Finally I would like to thank my partner, Michael, my friends, and my family for their support and encouragement during this entire process. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: The Development of Education and Civic Education in Austria ....................27 Chapter 2: Conceptualizing the Monarch: Habsburg Rulers as the Personification Of Good Governance .........................................................................................................84 Chapter 3: Conceptualizing Austria and Austrians .........................................................146 Chapter 4: Celebrating and Commemorating the Monarchy: School Excursions and Celebrations .....................................................................................................................213 Chapter 5: Regulating Teachers ......................................................................................279 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................339 Selected Bibliography ......................................................................................................353 iv INTRODUCTION In the second half of the nineteenth century, Austria designed and implemented a robust system of civic education in its elementary and secondary schools. This system sought to make students become patriotic citizens and to help them develop an attachment to the multinational Habsburg state. School officials attempted to accomplish these goals in way that constructively utilized existing national and regional identities, hoping these identities could strengthen, rather than diminish, the cohesion of Austria. Instead of attempting to forge an Austrian national identity, Austrian civic education promoted a layered identity that allowed for ethnic, national, and regional identities to exist within an imperial, supranational, Austrian framework. This layered identity was unique in the Western world and represented an alternative to models of civic education that relied on language, culture, and nationality to serve as the primary source of cohesion within a state. Civic education, a state’s effort to develop the loyalty of its citizens, prepare them to operate in political and civil society, and shape the way they regard their government, became a vital component of the public school curriculum in Europe and the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. On a basic level, civic education in public school taught children how their state operated, how their government was organized, and their rights and obligations as citizens. Civic education also helped to articulate the common myths, heroes, and ideas that could bind a society together. It helped children think of themselves as members of the community of the state.1 In 1 Civic education continues to fulfill these goals in societies. For a comparative look at modern states and their systems of civic education, see Judith Torney-Purta, John