The aim of the series – which was completed in 2021 – is the portrayal of the history of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy during the reign of Franz-Joseph I through the publication of a 13-volume handbook, with each individual volume also presenting new key research findings prepared specifically for this purpose. From the very outset, the main focus of the project was on researching the historical model of a federal multinational state. For both the research and the historiographic presentation, we involved international historians, particularly those from successor states to the Habsburg monarchy. The project thus made a significant contribution to the networking of international and intercultural collaboration for research into the history of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In the most recently published volumes, modern transnational theoretical and methodological approaches have prevailed, as a result of which the Habsburg monarchy is being perceived more in terms of its international integration. The nationalistic perspectives that have dominated until now have thus been swept aside. This has enabled us to adopt the approaches employed in international research for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, thereby avoiding a narrow view that concentrated solely on the heart of the empire.
In keeping with the concept of a handbook, each of the individual volumes is dedicated to a particular theme. The first volume in the series, which deals with economic developments, was published back in 1973. Since then, a further 12 volumes – dedicated to the themes administration, faiths, foreign policy, parliamentarianism and the constitution, the press and associations, social history, the First World War and historiography – have been published. The latest to be published was the double volume X with the title “Das kulturelle Leben” (Cultural Life), which came out in 2021. This completes the series.