Fin-de-Siècle Paris and Vienna

We will examine two great imperial capitals facing similar set of challenges at the end of a century dominated by Europe. Austria-Hungary and France were forced to reckon with declining status as great powers, made manifest by their defeat at the hands of Prussia in 1867/1870 respectively. Both struggled with place of ethnic and religious minorities in modern states, and both responded with outbursts of political anti-Semitism that emerged. We will not only gain a basic factual knowledge of fin-de-siècle urban life but also explore some of the works and problems animating the intellectual life of the twentieth century.