"In the Grasp of the Pan-Slavic Octopus"*: Hungarian Nation Building in the Shadow of Pan-Slavism Until the 1848 Revolution. Issue 1 (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pál, Judit
• Is Part Of: Nationalism & ethnic politics. Volume 28:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 40
• Page End: 52
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: World politics -- Periodicals; Ethnic relations -- Periodicals; Nationalism -- Periodicals; 320.54
• DOI: 10.1080/13537113.2021.2004764
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1353-7113

Abstract

Abstract: This study analyzes the impacts that fear of Pan-Slavism had on Hungarian politics and how this fear was politically instrumentalized in the 1840s and during the 1848 Revolution. Pan-Slavism was the best-known image of the enemy and is associated with the fear of the Russian Empire. The fear of Russia and Pan-Slavism permeated the thinking of the Hungarian reform generation, and together with the vision of national death, had an impact on politics. In addition to its impact on nation- and state-building, the fear of Pan-Slavism also served as an argument in favor of socio-political reforms. The Hungarian political elite aspired to create a national state on the French model, and the instrumentalized use of Pan-Slavism was in many cases used to justify measures intended to speed up the formation of a Hungarian national state.