“United and strong, German to the marrow”, German national propaganda postcard, 1897

From the unification of 1871 onwards, more and more German-Austrians came to see Germany as their ‘true homeland’. A widespread veneration for Bismarck developed, which was only partially tolerated by the Austrian authorities, being regarded as an expression of German irredentism and of a longing to be ‘nationally redeemed’ through unification with the German Reich.

The 1890s saw an increasing surge of the nationalities struggle and hence also of German nationalism. The national camp was boosted by the school dispute in Celje in 1895 and the language regulation for Bohemia and Moravia issued by Minister Presisdent Badeni in 1897.