Germanisation: Difference between revisions

Emperor [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] ({{reign|1780|90}}) sought to consolidate the territories of [[Habsburg Monarchy]] within the Holy Roman Empire with those remaining outside of it, to [[Unitary state|centralise the government]], and to implement [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] principles through [[Absolutism (European history)|absolutism]].<ref name=Country>{{cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/hutoc.html |title=A Country Study: Hungary – Hungary under the Habsburgs |access-date=2009-04-14 |work=[[Federal Research Division]] |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090428231424/http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/hutoc.html |archive-date=28 April 2009 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> He decreed that [[Austrian German]] was to replace [[Ecclesiastical Latin]] as the official language of Government.<ref name=Country/> [[Hungarian people|Hungarians]], however, perceived Joseph's language reforms as an act of [[linguistic imperialism]] and [[cultural hegemony]], and they responded by insisting on using their [[heritage language]].<ref name=Country/> As a result, the lower [[Hungarian nobility]] launched a literary renaissance of the [[Hungarian language]] and culture.<ref name=Country/> These lesser nobles often questioned the loyalty of the magnates, less than half of whom were ethnic [[Hungarian people|Hungarians]], and many of these had become [[French language|French-]] and German-speaking [[courtier]]s.<ref name=Country/> The Hungarian national revival was so successful that the Government in [[Budapest]] did not learn anything from the failure of Emperor Joseph II's linguistic policies and, following the [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867]], unwisely launched a coercive [[Magyarization]] policy aimed at forcibly assimilating the many speakers of ''other'' [[minority language]]s within the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], which ultimately triggered a [[domino effect]]. Anti-Hungarian minorityand heritage language revival movements arose in [[Transleithania]] among [[Slovak people|Slovak]]s, [[Romanian people|Romanian]]s, [[Serbs|Serbian]]s, and [[Croatian people|Croatian]]s within the [[Kingdom of Hungary]],<ref name=Country/> triggering in Cisleithania the [[Czech National Revival]] and [[United Slovenia]] movements, in both parts of the [[Habsburg Monarchy]] the Croatian [[Illyrian movement]], as well as in the Bosnia and Herzegovina condominium the Bosnian movement, some of them ultimately forming [[Yugoslavism]], while the Polish and Ukrainian-speaking population of the [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria]] benefitted from the broadening of [[Galician autonomy]].

During the 18th-century, a more harsh and brutal form of [[Germanisation of Poles during Partitions|Germanisation efforts]], initially practiced in [[Farther Pomerania]] and [[East Prussia]] and extended following the [[Silesian Wars]] also to [[Silesia]] and [[County of Kladsko]] gained from the [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown]] as well as later to the terrories of [[Lauenburg and Bütow Land]] and the [[Starostwo of Draheim]] pawned by Poland, was introduced by [[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederick the Great]] as a result of the [[partitions of Poland]] to the newly gained Polish territories of [[Greater Poland]], [[Pomerelia]], [[Warmia]] and [[Malbork Land]]. The Prussian authorities settled German-speaking ethnic groupsProtestants in these areas. [[Frederick the Great]] settled around 300,000 colonists in the eastern provinces of [[Prussia]]. He aimed at a removal of the Polish nobility, which he treatedviewed with contempt, describing ethnic Poles in newly reconquered West Prussia as "slovenly Polish trash"<ref name="ReferenceB">"In fact, from Hitler to Hans Frank, we find frequent references to Slavs and Jews as 'Indians.' This, too, was a long standing trope. It can be traced back to Frederick the Great, who likened the 'slovenly Polish trash' in newly' reconquered West Prussia to Iroquois". ''Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place: German-speaking Central Europe, 1860–1930'' David Blackbourn, James N. Retallack University of Toronto 2007</ref> similarand compared Poles to the [[Iroquois]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Ritter|first=Gerhard|author-link=Gerhard Ritter|title=Frederick the Great: A Historical Profile|year=1974|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=0-520-02775-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/stayawayjoenovel00cush/page/179 179–180]|quote=It has been estimated that during his reign 300,000 individuals settled in Prussia. ... While the commission for colonization established in the Bismarck era could in the course of two decades bring no more than 11,957 families to the eastern territories, Frederick settled a total of 57,475. ... It increased the German character of the population in the monarchy's provinces to a very significant degree. ... in West Prussia where he wished to drive out the Polish nobility and bring as many of their large estates as possible into German hands.|url=https://archive.org/details/stayawayjoenovel00cush/page/179}}</ref> From the start of Prussian rule Poles were subject to a series of measures against their culture: the Polish language was replaced by German as the official language;<ref name="Chwalba">[[Andrzej Chwalba]], ''Historia Polski 1795–1918'' Wydawnictwo Literackie 2000 Kraków pages 175–184, 307–312</ref> most administrative positions were filled by Germans. Poles were portrayed as "backward Slavs" by Prussian officials who wanted to spread GermanProtestantism languagein andthe cultureGerman language.<ref name="Chwalba"/> The estates of the [[Polish nobility]] were confiscated and given to Protestant members of the [[German noblesnobility]].<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name="Chwalba"/>