Streetscapes of War and Revolution : Prague, 1914–1920

How did it feel to experience the Habsburg Empire's fall into war and revolution? Morelon reconstructs the sights, sounds and material culture of a city in turmoil. From imperial city to nation-state capital, she traces Prague's emerging place within the post-Versailles world order, and what this meant for its citizens.

Prague entered the First World War as the third city of the Habsburg empire, but emerged in 1918 as the capital of a brand new nation-state, Czechoslovakia. Claire Morelon explores what this transition looked, sounded and felt like at street level. Through deep archival research, she has carefully reconstructed the sensorial texture of the city, from the posters plastered on walls, to the shop windows' displays, the badges worn by passers-by, and the crowds gathering for protest or celebration. The result is both an atmospheric account of life amid war and regime change, and a fresh interpretation of imperial collapse from below, in which the experience of life on the Habsburg home-front is essential to understanding the post-Versailles world order that followed. Prague is the perfect case study for examining the transition from empire to nation-statehood, hinging on revolutionary dreams of fairer distribution and new forms of political participation.