Victims' State: War and Welfare in Austria, 1868-1925

The Habsburg Empire suffered significant casualties during the First World War, with an estimated 1.2 million soldiers perishing in service. Victims State provides an integrated account of how the Austrian half of the empire and the successor Austrian Republic responded to the needs of citizen-soldiers and their families, tracing the policies, ideas, and administrative practices developed to deal with the losses. The expansion of the Austrian welfare state was undertaken to generate support and create legitimacy in times of crisis, with assertive war victims helping to create a participatory welfare system and contribute to the democratic transition of 1918-1920.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 21 December 2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

The Habsburg Empire, the belligerent nation that initiated the First World War, faced immense suffering during the global conflict. At the war's conclusion, estimates suggested that approximately 1.2 million soldiers, out of a mobilized force of 8 million men and 100,000 women from an empire of 52 million, perished in service. Among the survivors, a significant number faced threats to their survival, including wounded individuals, disabled veterans, and their dependents. This essay explores how the Habsburg Empire confronted the scale of casualties brought about by the First World War. It also examines the care and support offered to disabled soldiers and deceased soldiers' surviving dependents.

Victims' State provides the first comprehensive account of how the Austrian half of the empire and the successor Austrian Republic responded to the needs of citizen-soldiers and their families from the nineteenth century to the interwar years. Ke-Chin Hsia traces the policies, ideas, and administrative practices developed by various government, semi-public, and societal actors to address the massive losses of lives, health, and livelihoods. The provision of care and welfare to disabled veterans, war widows, and war orphans demonstrates that compulsory military service and war mobilization profoundly altered the relations between citizens and the Austrian state. The expansion of the Austrian welfare state was consciously undertaken by both the Habsburg authorities and the successor Austrian Republic to generate support and create legitimacy in times of crisis.

Assertive war victims played a crucial role in shaping the participatory welfare system and contributing to the democratic transition of 1918-1920. Victims' State underscores the centrality of totalizing war in shaping the political, social, and economic landscape of the Habsburg Empire and its successor states.

In conclusion, the Habsburg Empire's response to the First World War highlighted the profound impact of war on individuals, families, and the state. The empire's efforts to provide care and support to its citizen-soldiers and their dependents demonstrated the changing dynamics between citizens and the state in times of crisis. The expansion of the Austrian welfare state was a conscious attempt to generate support and create legitimacy, and the participation of war victims in shaping the welfare system contributed to the democratic transition of 1918-1920. The study of Victims' State provides valuable insights into the complexities of war, its aftermath, and the role of citizens and the state in responding to the needs of those affected by conflict.

Weight: 658g
Dimension: 244 x 160 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780197582374