The Disputed Austro-Hungarian Border: Agendas, Actors, and Practices in Western Hungary/Burgenland After World War I

The collapse of the Habsburg monarchy in the aftermath of World War I marked a foundational shift in the histories of Austria and Hungary. Previously part of the Habsburg’s Austro-Hungarian Empire, this event stripped the two new states of a long-established territorial order, triggering a controversial redrawing of their borders. Whilst scholarship often focuses on the role played by state actors in Vienna and Budapest, The Disputed Austro-Hungarian Border refreshingly re-examines this event through investigating how processes of state and nation-building manifested within the contested region of Western Hungary and Burgenland. In doing so, this book innovatively resituates this border region within the larger context of post-Habsburg historical development taking place across Central Europe.

Katharina Tyran is an Associate Professor of Slavic Philology at the University of Helsinki. Her research considers sociolinguistic topics with a focus on minoritized languages, linguistic landscape research, and writing. Her recent publications include the co-edited volume South Slavic Vienna: On the visibility and presence of South Slavic language and cultures in contemporary Vienna (Böhlau, 2022).