Austria Under the Iron Ring, 1879-1893

Scholars have scrutinized the diplomatic history of the great European states between 1871 and 1914 intensively and productively, but the review of internal developments within these states has not attracted as much attention. This is particularly true of Austria-Hungary if one excepts the large number of volumes, some of them first-rate, on the general subject of the "nationalities question." The full story of ministerial and legislative activity after 1867 awaits its delineators. At the University of Vienna some superior dissertations have illuminated certain aspects of Eduard von Taffe's personality and achievement as Austria's Minister-President between 1879 and 1893, but a full-scale appraisal has not appeared in any language. -- Preface.