The overwhelming majority of historical work on the late Habsburg
Monarchy has focused primarily on national movements and ethnic
conflicts, with the result that too little attention has been devoted to
the state and ruling dynasty. This volume is the first of its kind to
concentrate on attempts by the imperial government to generate a
dynastic-oriented state patriotism in the multinational Habsburg
Monarchy. It examines those forces in state and society which tended
toward the promotion of state unity and loyalty towards the ruling
house. These essays, all original contributions and written by an
international group of historians, provide a critical examination of the
phenomenon of "dynastic patriotism" and offer a richly nuanced treatment
of the multinational empire in its final phase.