'The Magyars: A Ruling Race': The Idea of National Superiority in Fin-de-Sie ¤ cle Hungary

Abstract

This article focuses on the ways in which racial and Social Darwinist discourses affected and shaped nationalism in fin-de-sie ¤ cle Hungary. Many debates on assimilation and Magyarisation have used racial ingredients not only to strengthen their argumentation, but also as a reflection of the changing nature of national identification. When one thinks about the tense relationship between Hungarian assimilationist rhetoric and Romanian nationalism, the interplay between 'racial consciousness' and 'national superiority' becomes a major theme. Focusing on various forms of racial identification helps us to ask in what sense the idea of national superiority was a premise of the enduring process of political antagonisms that finally led to the dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy.