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The Historians' History of the World (15); Germanic Empires (concluded)
The Historians' History of the World Germanic Empires - 15 - concluded Author:Henry Smith Williams Volume: 15 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1908 Original Publisher: The Times Subjects: World history History / Reference History / World Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition ... more »of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER VII THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF HUNGARY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Written Specially Foe The Present Work By H. MARCZALI Professor in the University of Budapest "THE greatest of the Hungarians," Count Stephen Széchényi, wrote in 1822 as a motto for the diary which he kept in German : La Hongrie n'est presque pas comptée parmi les nations ! (Hungary is hardly reckoned among the nations. ) Shortly before, his father had descended to the tomb, despairing ol the future of his native country. Herder believed that he foresaw the extinction of the Hungarian language. And now Hungary is an important element in the political life of Europe, and her people have also demonstrated their ability and determination to progress both economically and intellectually. This change, at a period which nevertheless was not favourable to the development of the smaller nations, I will now briefly describe in its causes and progress. Down to the end of the seventeenth century Hungary was in constant and active contact with the political and intellectual movements of the West. But when the house of Austria and Catholicism acquired the ascendant, they did their utmost to prevent this contact from which Protestantism, then very powerful iii Hungary, derived its force. Under Maria Theresa and Joseph II the government did indeed endeavour to do a good deal for the improvement of the country, which, owing to the Turkish wars and internal anarchy, had remained in a very backward state; but their best intentions wer...« less