Europe's Last Peasant War: Violence and Revolution in Austria-Hungary and its Successors, 1917-1945

Lead Research Organisation: University College London
Department Name: School of Slavonic & East European Studi

Abstract

'Europe's last peasant war' aims to reinterpret the most violent decades of European history from the perspective of the countryside. Peasants were not just passive victims of the calamities in the era of World Wars that killed around 30 million people; they helped shape the 'age of catastrophe' with violence and anti-urban political initiatives. East Central Europe, the most volatile region of the continent in the last century, was the most important battleground in this struggle. The project focuses on the area of the Habsburg Empire and its successors since the peasants of these lands shared a common experience of the First World War and found themselves in new and beleaguered interwar states. This makes the peasant histories of this region both connected and consequential; placing them at the centre of Europe's twentieth-century history through transnational research is the project's main goal.

The PI Dr Jakub Benes and Co-I Professor Petra Svoljsak will pursue archival research in four countries formerly in the Habsburg Empire in order to illuminate decisive episodes and paradigmatic fighters in this 'peasant war'. In Croatia, we will investigate the peasant revolt of autumn 1918 that was initiated by deserters from the Austro-Hungarian army and which led to the establishment of local peasant republics and made rural populism into a major force in interwar Yugoslavia. In Slovenia, the team will reconstruct the career of Alfonz Sarh, a peasant leader of paramilitary deserters in the First World War who then oscillated between extreme nationalism and communism and died as a partisan hero in 1943. In Czech Moravia and Slovakia, we will examine the fate of local national guard units and the Slovacko Brigade, a volunteer regiment formed in 1918 of thousands of peasant deserters, in order to understand how peasants could rally to the Czechoslovak cause immediately at the war's end and then embrace anti-state rural radicalism in the 1920s.

These largely forgotten stories will be contextualised in a larger narrative of the countryside in 1917-1945 through extensive literature review and with the help of a Research Assistant (RA) working on Hungarian-language sources. The RA will focus his/her efforts on investigating rural unrest in Hungary in 1918 and on the peasantry's response to the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919. An advisory board chosen from prominent historians and cultural heritage experts will help steer the project's research and dissemination strategies.

The team will establish partnerships with museums in Varazdin, Croatia; Maribor, Slovenia; and Skalica, Slovakia in order to organise a traveling exhibition that will highlight how episodes of local history, especially those relating to peasant deserters of the First World War, were actually part of an interconnected and important transnational story. This will allow the project's findings to reach a non-academic audience and help regional museum curators forge international networks. Such partnerships will likely lead to further valuable findings. The project's results will be published in a major single-authored monograph and three refereed journal articles: one co-authored by the PI and Co-I, another co-authored by the PI and RA, and a third single-authored by the Co-I.

After two years of funding, 'Europe's last peasant war' will have: 1. Offered a new peasant perspective on Europe in the era of World Wars; 2. Demonstrated the importance of studying the 'age of catastrophe' from the perspective of peasant villagers; 3. Provided crucial historical perspective on urban-rural divides at a time when they appear to be defining European politics; 4. Shown to east central European audiences that their rural regional histories belong on a broad international canvas.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description In terms of archival research:
- in summer 2021, the PI conducted archival research in Slovakia and Czech Republic, finding much relevant material on peasant army deserters during and after the First World War (this appears to have been more widespread in Slovakia than was previously thought) and on peasant volunteers in the Czechoslovak army
- in spring 2022, the PI conducted archival research in Croatia, discovering untapped sources on a famous Slavonian bandit who featured in the summer 2022 museum exhibition and is the subject of chapter 6 of the PI's monograph
- the Co-I discovered important sources on the Slovene peasant deserter and later partisan leader Alfonz Šarh, who was depicted in the summer 2022 museum exhibition (an entire panel was devoted to him at the Maribor museum) and is an important protagonist in the article that the Co-I and PI are beginning to write together
- the postdoctoral RA found extensive materials on peasant attitudes toward and involvement in the revolutionary upheavals in Hungary 1918-19 as well as on short-lived peasant republics on the territory of the former Hungarian Kingdom in 1919
- collaborations with museum partners have led to the discovery of important sources for regional history, especially in Slovakia and Slovenia

In terms of written outputs:
- the Postdoctoral RA and PI together wrote a draft article entitled 'Parallel Revolution: Hungarian peasants during the upheavals of 1918-1920' (13,000 words), which they submitted to the Journal of Modern History in November 2022. The readers' reports received in spring 2023 were very favourable and only minor revisions were required for resubmission, which was completed in summer 2023 and the article has been accepted for publication (likely in 2025).
- the PI completed a first draft of the monograph, which he submitted to Princeton University Press in June 2023. The readers' reports received over the following months were very positive and the PI resubmitted the final version (ca. 150,000 words including notes) to Princeton UP in January 2024 with an expected publication date sometime in autumn 2024
- The Co-I and PI have an outline completed for their co-authored article which will focused on continuities of armed guerrilla warfare in Slovenia between the two world wars. Writing will proceed over the course of this year.

In terms of dissemination:
- The PI and Co-I organised a museum exhibition in summer 2022 called 'The Green Cadre: Peasant Revolts and Movements in Austria-Hungary and its Successor States', which was held in Skalica, Slovakia; Varaždin, Croatia; and Maribor, Slovenia. Each opening was well-attended and the PI gave a short lecture in the local language on each occasion. The PI was interviewed for Croatian TV in Varaždin and a Slovenian national news outlet published a short article about the exhibition. The University of Maribor then requested for the exhibition to be displayed and presented on its premises; this was organised by the Co-I in spring 2023. Here are relevant URLs:
https://www.zahorskemuzeum.sk/zelene-kadre-vystava/
https://www.gmv.hr/hr/dogadjanja/zeleni-kadar-seljacke-bune-i-pokreti-u-austro-ugarskoj-i-njezinim-drzavama-nasljednicama-1914-1950,20371.html?t=i
https://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/dediscina/mariborska-razstava-usmerja-pozornost-v-kmecko-upornistvo-20-stoletja/639154
http://www.vtv.hr/vijesti/item/11910-gradski-muzej-varazdin-sudjeluje-u-medunarodnoj-izlozbi-o-povijesti-djelovanja-zelenog-kadra

- The PI and Co-I organised an international symposium called 'Peasant Class Struggle?: Rural resistance to states and elites in the era of world wars in Europe' that took place 20-21 April 2023 in Ljubljana. Eleven participants from nine countries presented papers on Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Spain. The event very successful in terms of intellectual exchange, insights gained for project publications, and networking. It also inspired a panel on peasant republics featuring three participants (including the PI) at a conference in Cres, Croatia in late summer 2023.
- In autumn 2021, the PI, co-I, and RA presented their initial findings at the annual conference of the Association of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES)
- In summer 2022, the PI discussed his findings in an episode of the podcast 'Eastern Europe's Minorities in a Century of Change' sponsored by the British Association of Slavonic and East European Studies
- The PI has agreed that he will give a public lecture at the Czech Centre in London once his book is published
Exploitation Route The museum exhibitions and press articles may lead to increased public interest in the project's topic and may foster further collaborations in the cultural heritage sector, for example between the Croatian and Slovenian museum partners, or between the Croatian museum partner and the PI (the director of the museum in Croatia was extremely keen on this). Scholarly outputs will likely lead to increased academic interest in peasant history.
Sectors Education

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

 
Description The museum exhibition in 2022 and associated public engagement generated public interest in transnational peasant studies. The symposium and the two principal project publications are leading to the nucleation of a new significant research area within academia on international/transnational peasant revolution, violence, and politics in the twentieth century.
First Year Of Impact 2021
Sector Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural

Societal

 
Description Article on project 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The PI authored the following article 'Upor kmetov: Zadnja kmecka vojna v Evropi' [Peasant resistance: Europe's last peasant war] in the Slovene national newspaper Vecer (Maribor), 31 July 2021. The translation was coordinated by the Co-I.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://vecer.com/v-soboto/odpor-kmetov-zadnja-kmecka-vojna-v-evropi-10249007
 
Description Exhibition opening 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The PI authored, coordinated, and opened an international exhibition entitled 'The Green Cadre: Peasant Revolts and Movements in Austria-Hungary and its Successor States' in three locations: the Museum of the Záhorie Region in Skalica, Slovakia on 1 July; Varaždin City Museum in Varaždin, Croatia on 24 August; and the Museum of National Liberation in Maribor, Slovenia on 2 September. At each exhibition opening, Jakub delivered a short lecture in the local language. The Croatian exhibition was featured on Croatian national television ('Good morning Croatia') and on local programs in Varaždin, Cakovec, Osijek, and Dalmatia. Here are relevant URLs:
https://www.zahorskemuzeum.sk/zelene-kadre-vystava/
https://www.gmv.hr/hr/dogadjanja/zeleni-kadar-seljacke-bune-i-pokreti-u-austro-ugarskoj-i-njezinim-drzavama-nasljednicama-1914-1950,20371.html?t=i
https://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/dediscina/mariborska-razstava-usmerja-pozornost-v-kmecko-upornistvo-20-stoletja/639154
http://www.vtv.hr/vijesti/item/11910-gradski-muzej-varazdin-sudjeluje-u-medunarodnoj-izlozbi-o-povijesti-djelovanja-zelenog-kadra
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Interview with Croatian TV 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact On the occasion of my museum exhibition opening in Varaždin, Croatia in August 2022, I was interviewed by regional Croatian TV for a segment that was aired the following day
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL http://www.vtv.hr/vijesti/item/11910-gradski-muzej-varazdin-sudjeluje-u-medunarodnoj-izlozbi-o-povij...
 
Description Podcast called 'The Urban-Rural Divide in East Central Europe' 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact I was invited by Samuel Foster, host of the podcast 'Eastern Europe's Minorities in a Century of Change' (sponsored by the British Association of Slavonic and East European Studies) to discuss my research with him in August 2022 under the title 'The Urban-Rural Divide in East Central Europe'
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://studygroupforminorityhistory.com/eastern-europes-minorities-in-a-century-of-change/#:~:text=...