The Cult of Bismarck among Czech Germans before 1914

In the last two decades before the First World War, reverence for Prince Otto von Bismarck reached its peak, not just in Germany, but also in the late years of the Habsburg Monarchy. This cult was not only prevalent in Carinthia and Styria, but was also quite strong in peripheral Czech-German regions in the Czech lands. This study looks at the beliefs and some selected phenomena associated with the Bismarck cult in Czech-German territory in the twilight years of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. It also examines how it was possible that a statesman as conservative as Otto von Bismarck could become a key figure in chauvinistic-extremist German nationalism, and to what extent the Bismarck cult was compatible, if at all, with loyalty to the Habsburg family.