The Emperor and the Peasant: Two Men at the Start of the Great War and the End of the Habsburg Empire

by Kenneth Janda

There was more to World War I than the Western Front. This history juxtaposes the experiences of a monarch and a peasant on the Eastern Front. Franz Josef I, emperor of Austria-Hungary, was the first European leader to declare war in 1914 and was the first to commence firing. Samuel Mozolak was a Slovak laborer who sailed to New York--and fathered twins, taken as babies (and U.S. citizens) to his home village--before being drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army and killed in combat.

The author interprets the views of the war of Franz Josef and his contemporaries Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II. Mozolak's story depicts the life of a peasant in an army staffed by aristocrats, and also illustrates the pattern of East European immigration to America.

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2020

Reviews

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This masterful book combines the story of Samuel Mozolak, a Slovakian peasant, and that of Franz Josef, Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in alternating chapters as Europe goes through what was then called the Great War. But, it is much more than that. Kenneth Janda is professor emeritus at Northwestern University. So, the book is a comprehensive, scholarly approach to understanding what led to the war, the economic and political aspects of the major players and the aftermath which reconfigured the map of all Europe. The citations are numerous! Still, it is readable for the non-historian such as myself. The addition of examples from books, movies and songs relevant to the times add much to understanding many aspects of history. The other thing that makes this very real is that Samuel Mozolak is Janda's wife's grandfather. The personal part of this is complex because Samuel emigrated to the U.S. for a few years, met his wife (also Slovakian) here, had twins and then went back for a short time. The twins were left with a grandmother and the Mozolaks came back to the U.S. to earn more money. In 1914, just before the assassination of Franz Ferdinand (heir to Franz Josef) resulted in a chain of events leading to war, the couple returned to Slovakia. I didn't realize the number of immigrants who traveled "back." In the 1900s, only 67% stayed here permanently. There are so many things I learned or simply had not thought about: the disregard and lack of knowledge of politics on the part of villagers and common folks, Germany's ulterior motives in the war and their influence over their Austro-Hungarian "ally" and how historic events from the 1800s played a part in leading to unrest in the empire. Janda explains so many facets of what we don't hear a lot about: how outdated the empire was in their approach to war, how the Central Powers miscalculated the strength of France and Serbia, the early attempts to call for an armistice, critiques of what happened afterward with President Wilson's 14 points and the many treaties negotiated largely by France, England, Italy and the U.S. The 14 points were brilliantly conceived but unevenly applied and had repercussions which allowed for only two decades of peace. I knew about the economic sanctions placed against Germany at the close of the war but didn't realize that most of the official "blame" was placed on the Germans. Germany's rise to the next war was in part fed by the German's people not understanding why they were not victorious in the Great War. The average German citizen could not have articulated what happened or why. There's also a surprising view, at least surprising to me, that the fall of the 600 year Habsburg rule led to the fall of any effort to establish a multinational country in Europe - that is a country with many nationalities all with equal rights. Instead, there was an attempt to draw the lines according to nationalities which was an impossible task. Ironically, the Slovaks had fought for equal rights under Hungary in 1848 but still saw themselves as continuing to be Franz Josef's subjects within the monarchy. I also better understand the relationship between the Czechs and Slovaks, how and why Czechoslovakia came into being and why they split in 1993.

Samuel Mozolek was wounded twice, fought in three major fronts of the war and died in Italy. He did the bidding of the emperor and didn't always know why he was fighting. His body was never found and for years, he was simply listed as missing. He had no reason to desert as did some soldiers and would have returned to his family and home village. Eventually, a grandson who had documented the Mozolak genealogy, persuaded the local village to include Samuel's name on a war memorial. Again, a masterful book!

[Georgene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well-written and goes into detail about the often forgotten Eastern Front during the Great War. It gives the perspective from a Slovak peasant, who was the grandfather of the author's wife, as well as what was happening in Vienna with an Emperor who was old and out of touch with his subjects. There is a lot of genealogy involved, but the book also provides social context for life in Central and Eastern Europe during the time when many of our ancestors were immigrating to America. It also provides facts about the conditions in that area of Europe before, during, and after the Great War.

Prof. Janda, Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University has a political science background that helps him to analyze the complex issues surrounding the Great War and increased emigration from Central and Eastern Europe during this time period. Some of the chapters can be dense with facts that the author presents in the form of maps, charts, and tables to back up his points, and this tends to slow down the reader. But there is much to be learned about the time and place by reading this book. This book deserves a wider audience!