Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1979 (7. évfolyam, 19-22. szám)
1979 / 19-20. szám
DISSERTATIONS* Kapp, Richard Ward (U. of Toronto, 1978) The Failure of the Diplomatic Negotiations between Germany and Austria- Hungary for a Customs Union, 1915-1916. Microfilm and xerox order no. (not available). The study examines the background to and the course of Germany’s attempt to establish an economic union with the Habsburg Empire during World War I. During its initial deliberations over a Central European union in the first months of the war, the German government was preoccupied with Belgium and France. But the emergence of popular support for Mitteleuropa, especially among the Austro- Germans, and changed war-time conditions in 1915, induced Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg to give priority to relations with Austria-Hungary. Despite fierce oppostion from the other German ministers, by the fall of 1915 the Chancellor had drafted a plan and was ready to start negotiations. Vienna’s response was hostile. It viewed German efforts as an attempt to restore Austro-German domination over other peoples of the Monarchy. Austria-Hungary saw the formal proposal a threat to its sovereignty, and pursued stalling tactics. Germany mistook the clamour of some Austro- German political forces for the views of the entire population of the Monarchy, and they failed to see that their espousal of Mitteleuropa could only intensify the tensions between the peoples of the Monarchy. Consequently, German efforts merely strengthened official rsistance to the project in Vienna and Budapest. By late 1916 the German initiative had produced a marked deterioration in relations between the two empires. Shanafelt, Gary William. (U. of California, Berkeley, 1977) “The Secret Enemy: Austria-Hungary and the German Alliance, 1914-1918.” Microfilm and xerox order no. 7731534. In July 1914, the Habsburg Monarchy decided on a war to “preserve” the integrity of the state from what they perceived to be external and internal threats to its existence. Ironically, the war ended by destroying the empire. And even more ironically, a major share of that final outcome resulted from the Monarchy’s alliance with Germany. Vienna could hardly have withstood the conflict as long as it did without the aid it received from Berlin; but at the same time, the annexationist war aims of Germany squeezed it into an increasingly subordinate position in the alliance and threatened to prolong the war beyond any objective interest of its own. It was thus not without reason that the Emperor Karl declared that a smashing German victory would be Austria’s ruin, or that Conrad von Hotzendorf labelled his German comradesin-arms “our secret enemies.” The Monarchy was in a peculiar situation. Any step which threatened the alliance called into question the loyalties of the Monarchy’s chief domestic supporters the Austrian Germans and the Magyars - and therefore the very integrity of the state. Forthe alliance was tied to the domestic order of the Monarchy, as the unrolling of the question of constitutional reform during the war was to show. It was the intimate connection of foreign with domestic policy that made the implications of the German alliance so complex, and gave them so critical a role in the history of the last years of the Monarchy. The literature indicates the importance of this problem. Vet, Austria- Hungary has usually been dismissed as little more than a passive second to Berlin; and the role of the alliance in the Monarchy’s final dissolution has rarely been systematically analyzed. This dissertation, which employes both new and secondary literature, seeks to correct these shortcomings. Zimmer, Elinor Jean Christman. (U. of Washington, 1977) “Part I: Peer Grouping as a Factor in the Teaching of Sight Singing to Seventh Grade Vocal Music Students Using Hungarian Music Methods and Materials. Part II: Lecture Demonstration: Achieving Sight Singing Literacy in Junior High School Choral Groups. 85 pages. Microfilm and xerox order no. 7800986. Part I. The problem concerned theteaching of sight singing to seventh grade vocal music students who had experienced no previous music reading instruction. Hungarian music methods were used in two pilot studies during the two years before this study. The author compared two different groupings and their effect on student learning. Two control groups were taught in the traditional teacher-led fashion, while two experimental groups spent a portion of their practice time working in heterogeneous quartets. One hundred fourteen subjects, divided into four groups approximately equal in size, participated. The results suggest that seventh grade students can learn tosightsing regardless of grouping. Peer grouping offers social opportunities that the teacher-led class does not. Part II. A lecture demonstration was presented to the Washington Music Educators in Wenatchee in 1976. Its purpose was twofold: (a) to show a process developed using Hungarian music education methods and materials, and (b) to suggest how such program can be sustained for the required length of time. The lecture was followed by a demonstration with the audience participating as students. (*) Most of the abstracts are based on those published in Dissertation Abstracts International. Microfilm and Xerox copies of the original full dissertations may be obtained from Xerox University Microfilm, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106, when not indicated otherwise. When ordering, use order number given after each entry. AHF FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS For 1978-79 the American Hungarian Foundation awarded four exchange fellowships and eight research grants and scholarships. The exchange fellowship program for students, scholars and scientists supported two American participants, one Canadian and one Hungarian participant. The following grants were awarded. EXCHANGE AND FELLOWSHIPS PROGRAM Indiana University: grant for András Boros-Kazai, Ph.D. candidate and lecturer in Uralic and Altaic studies, Indiana U, research study on ‘Populists and Urbanists;' Critical Trends in Hungarian Literature around the Turn of the Century. McMaster University: grant for basic doctoral research by Geraldine E.E. Voros related to the Hungarian community in Welland, Ontario. Dr. Páter G. Mozsary of the National Traumatological Inst, of Budapest: a study grant to support training in plastic and micro-surgery in the United States; awarded in cooperation with Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and other institutions. Dr. Michael Sozan of Slippery Rock State College, publication grant to support his book on Hungarian ethnography. (Continued on page 16) NO. 19-20, 1979, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER 15
