Abstract
In 1774 the British ambassador in Vienna complained that "every idle fellow talks of America." By analyzing the quantifiable lev-els of knowledge about and reception of the American Revolution within Central Europe, this article examines the reasons behind this observa-tion, not just in Vienna but across the Habsburg monarchy. Books, news-papers, diaries, personal correspondence, and theater works are used to demonstrate the fact that subjects in the Habsburg monarchy were not at all ignorant about events in late eighteenth-century North America. Moreover, this article reveals how this knowledge found a sympathetic audience in one of the most autocratic states in Europe.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 128-158 |
| Journal | Journal of Austrian-American History |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The author would like to thank the generosity of the Dietrich W. Botstiber Foundation for the grant awards which have made much possible much of the primary archival research for this article and the larger doctoral project, “Empires on the Edge – The Habsburg Monarchy and the American Revolution 1763–1800,” at the University of Edinburgh. He also acknowledges the helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript from Professor Emeritus Jonathan R. Dull (Yale), Professor Francis D. Cogliano (Edinburgh), and Dr. William D. Godsey (Austrian
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Dietrich W. Botstiber Foundation | |
| University of Edinburgh |