One Hundred Years of The Czech Question: A Historian's Account

Abstract

By focusing on the nation's internal life as well as its position within the Hapsburg monarchy specifically & Central Europe more generally, the actual state of Czech society at the time Tomas G. Masaryk's Ceska otazka (The Czech Question [1895]) was written is described. Masaryk's basic thesis about the relationship between the Czech question & humanity was derived from historical reality, but also represented an attempt to link Czech nationalism with a set of metaphysically conceived values & thus to bestow a new quality on the Czech national consciousness. Since Masaryk's interpretations of the Czech past are now outdated, however, the Czech question itself should be rephrased.