With Their Backs to the Mountains: A History of Carpathian Rus' and Carpatho-Rusyns

Paul Robert Magocsi

Published by Central European University Press 2015

With Their Backs to the Mountains

A History of Carpathian Rus' and Carpatho-Rusyns

Paul Robert Magocsi

https://doi.org/10.1515/9789633861073

Overview
Contents

About this book

This is a history of a stateless people, the Carpatho-Rusyns, and their historic homeland, Carpathian Rus’, located in the heart of central Europe. A little over 100,000 Carpatho-Rusyns are registered in official censuses but their population is estimated at around 1,000,000, the greater part in Ukraine and Slovakia. The majority of the diaspora—nearly 600,000—lives in the US.

At the present, when it is fashionable to speak of nationalities as “imagined communities” created by intellectuals or elites who may live in the historic homeland, Carpatho-Rusyns provide an ideal example of a people made—or some would say still being made—before our very eyes. The book traces the evolution of Carpathian Rus’ from earliest prehistoric times to the present, and the complex manner in which a distinct Carpatho-Rusyn people, since the mid-nineteenth century, came into being, disappeared, and then re-appeared in the wake of the revolutions of 1989 and the collapse of communist rule in central and eastern Europe.

To help guide the reader further there are 34 detailed maps plus an annotated discussion of relevant books, chapters, and journal articles.

Author / Editor information

Magocsi Paul Robert :

Paul Robert Magocsi is professor of history and political science at the University of Toronto, where since 1980 he also holds the John Yaremko Chair of Ukrainian Studies.

Reviews

Christophe von Werdt:

"Die Monographie folgt einem klassischen chronologischen Aufbau und setzt nach einer Beschreibung des geographischen Raumes mit der Darstellung der vorgeschichtlichen Zeit und der ersten menschlichen Ansiedlungen in der Karpato-Rus’ ein. Indem dieser Aufbau an die klassische Geschichtsschreibung moderner Nationalstaaten erinnert, meldet er einen Anspruch an. Wie bei den Handbüchern von Magocsi üblich, wird der Text illustriert durch sorgfältig gestaltete, informative (und suggestive) Karten sowie Kästen, die Kontexte zur Geschichte der Karpato-Rus’ erörtern. Als einführende Gesamtdarstellung konzipiert, die Monographie umfasst über 40 Seiten eines chronologisch strukturierten, kommentierten bibliographischen Anhangs sowie ein gut verwendbares Register."

Agnieszka Halemba:

"This book is undoubtedly the work of a renowned scholar with impressive knowledge concerning the history and culture of the region. At the same time, this is also the work of an ardent advocate of a national cause (of the people inhabiting this region or having ancestral links to it). It is clear from the text that the author is well aware of the possibility of being accused of partisanship as potentially compromising the academic impartiality of his narrative. Still, Magocsi attempts to balance a critical scholarly approach (as embodied by constructivist methodology) with the primordialism of a national activist."

Ernest Gyidel:

"Paul Robert Magocsi, Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto, has been writing about Carpatho-Rusyns for almost half a century now and this book represents a condensation, if not culmination, of his scholarship on the subject. For historians of the so-called stateless nations, Magocsi’s main narrative will strike a familiar chord. He tells a story of people who have existed from the ancient times under foreign powers (Hungarian for the most part) but have been inhibited from developing fully due to the lack of self-rule and governmental policies against them. With Their Backs to the Mountains will certainly prove to be a valuable book for those interested in the Carpatho-Rusyn perspective on the history of these lands by the Carpathians and the question of ethnic/national identity of their indigenous Eastern Slavs."

Valerii Padiak:

"The real value of With Their Backs to the Mountains is that it is a history of Carpatho-Rusyns that is not written from any state perspective, whether that of Budapest, Moscow, Kyiv, Prague, Warsaw, or Bratislava. It is not inappropriate to say that Magocsi’s history is written from the perspective of Carpatho-Rusyns, while at the time emphasizing that the book systematically analyzes historical events in an objective manner, a not unimportant characteristic of his research. Although a scholarly publication, the book has relevance in the context of present-day changes in Europe. The relevance factor applies to those states to whom the doors became open for membership in the European Union. Although not the sole reason (but nevertheless a reason) was the fact that all of those states recognized their Carpatho-Rusyn citizens to comprise a distinct ethnos. The book’s relevance factor also applies to other countries, first and foremost Ukraine, which is seeking a path to the European Union and which inevitably will be required to recognize that the 1945 annexation of historic Subcarpathian Rus’ and the abolition of the Carpatho-Rusyn nationality throughout central Europe were simply part of the expansionist ideology of the Soviet Union. Magocsi’s monograph, which outlines the above historical scenario, may therefore become a kind of road map for Ukraine’s future political elite."

Sergei I. Zhuk:

"Magocsi's book is an invaluable source of detailed information for those who are interested in a history of the Rusyns and their diaspora, for those who teach the history of East Central Europe it is also a useful textbook with helpful inserts that explain certain terms, events, and historiographical problems, and includes documents or illustrative explanations of other authors, finishing with a great bibliographic essay in the section 'for further reading'."

Curtis Murphy:

"Paul Robert Magocsi, a well-known author on Ukrainian History and a self-identified Rusyn, authored With Their Backs to the Mountains not only to fill a lacuna in knowledge among specialists and genealogical researchers, but also to advocate for the distinctiveness (and, indeed, existence) of an ethno-national group still struggling for recognition at home and abroad. The comprehensive book includes a wealth of illustrations, maps, and text capsules, which address thematic issues outside the immediate chronological narrative, and Magocsi’s text is certain to become the definitive reference guide to the Carpatho-Rusyns."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Maps Publicly Available Download PDF	xiv
List of Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	xvi
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
1. Carpatho-Rusyns and the land of Carpathian Rus' Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Carpathian Rus’ in prehistoric times Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
3. The Slavs and their arrival in the Carpathians Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
4. State formation in central Europe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
5. Carpathian Rus’ until the early 16th century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
6. The Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, and Carpathian Rus’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
7. The Habsburg restoration in Carpathian Rus’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
8. Habsburg reforms and their impact on Carpatho-Rusyns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
9. The Revolution of 1848 and the Carpatho-Rusyn national awakening Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
10. Carpathian Rus’ in Austria-Hungary, 1868–1914 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
11. Carpatho-Rusyn diasporas before World War I Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
12. Carpathian Rus’ during World War I, 1914–1918 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
13. The end of the old and the birth of a new order, 1918–1919 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
14. Subcarpathian Rus’ in interwar Czechoslovakia, 1919–1938 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
15. The Prešov Region in interwar Slovakia, 1919–1938 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
16. The Lemko Region in interwar Poland, 1919–1938 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
17. Carpatho-Rusyn diasporas during the interwar years, 1919–1938 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
18. Other peoples in Subcarpathian Rus’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
19. Autonomous Subcarpathian Rus’ and Carpatho-Ukraine, 1938–1939 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
20. Carpathian Rus’ during World War II, 1939–1944 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
21. Carpathian Rus’ in transition, 1944–1945 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291
22. Subcarpathian Rus’/Transcarpathia in the Soviet Union, 1945–1991 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305
23. The Prešov Region in postwar and Communist Czechoslovakia, 1945–1989 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321
24. The Lemko Region and Lemko Rusyns in Communist Poland, 1945–1989 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	335
25. Carpatho-Rusyn diasporas old and new, 1945–1989 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
26. The revolutions of 1989 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	355
27. Post-Communist Transcarpathia—Ukraine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	363
28. The post-Communist Prešov Region and the Lemko Region— Slovakia and Poland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	379
29. Other Carpatho-Rusyn communities in the wake of the revolutions of 1989 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	393
30. Carpathian Rus’—real or imagined? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	407
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	413
For further reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	433
Illustration Sources and Credits Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	477
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	479

Language: English
Publisher: Central European University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 564
Keywords: Carpathia; Carpathian Rus; Central Europe; Eastern Europe; Ethnic relations; History; Hungary; Poland; Russia; Rusyns; Slovakia; Ukraine

eBook

Published: December 1, 2015
ISBN: 9789633861073