Ivan Pfaff: Francie a Čechy v Evropě národních států. Francouzská politika F. L. Riegra 1867–1878. [France and Bohemia in the Europe of National States: F. L. Rieger’s French Policy 1867–1878.] Praha: Euroslavica, 2013. 260 S., Abb. ISBN: 978-80-87825-01-3

Ivan Pfaff: Francie a Čechy v Evropě národních států. Francouzská politika F. L. Riegra 1867–1878. [France and Bohemia in the Europe of National States: F. L. Rieger’s French Policy 1867–1878.] Praha: Euroslavica, 2013. 260 S., Abb. ISBN: 978-80-87825-01-3.

East European francophilia and the ‘French card’ in the politics of Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th century is a highly important subject of contemporary historiography. It offers a different perspective on European and East European politics especially if we take into account the strong influence of German and Austrian historiography and their interpretations of key factors challenging the nation-building process.

Small non-state nations have been attempting to define and implement an independent foreign policy since 1848. Given the specific situation of Eastern Europe, their main aim was to counteract the German and Austrian dominance of the region. The attempts of the small nations were usually based on the simple assumption that ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’. Their dream of a French Central and Eastern Europe, however, came true only after 1918, when it took the form of the ‘Petite-Entente’.

The author of the reviewed book has been researching this and related topics for a long time. In this publication, Ivan Pfaff returns to his ‘old’ research and seventeen years after he published “Česká přináležitost k západu v letech 1815–1878: Francouzská politika F. L. Riegra 1867–1878” [Czech Sense of Belonging to the West in 1815–1878: F. L. Rieger’s French Policy 1867–1878], he produces another book on the same topic. A closer look reveals that he had reworked and expanded two chapters of the original book, namely Česká pouť do Moskvy r. 1867 [Czech Pilgrimage to Moscow, 1867] and Riegrova francouzská politika, 1867–1877 [Rieger’s French Policy, 1867–1877].

The aim of Pfaff’s more recent publication seems to be to rethink old problems from a new perspective. Unfortunately, he is only sporadically successful. The intention is clearly demonstrated in his treatment of German history (e.g., pp. 124–126, 140) but elsewhere, especially in the Czech or French context, this has little impact and hardly any change is in evidence.

The key question, however, remains. It is the issue of the start, the point zero of an independent Czech foreign policy, which is traditionally identified with F. L. Rieger’s 1867 travel to France, where this politician sought to gain political support from the West. Ivan Pfaff accepts that this indeed was a turning point and clearly formulates this in his final essay (pp. 210–224). The history of Czech-French relations in the 19th century and Czech francophilia are then interpreted as a proof of the political emancipation of the Czech nation.

Since 1989, this subject has been studied by numerous historians but Ivan Pfaff is right in emphasising the importance of Rieger’s journey to France in 1875, which remains somewhat underestimated in contemporary historiography. Rieger’s second ‘political’ trip to France was important because it demonstrated that the Czech elite learned how to set up the agenda of foreign policy and Rieger was able to reach a consensus about it with his colleagues (this contrasts with his 1867 journey which he undertook more or less on his own, without any real support of Czech politicians). It was a crucial milestone in learning how to develop a foreign policy at all.

Unfortunately, Pfaff’s book in many ways remains outside the mainstream of current discussions about the nature of Czech-French relations and many recently published works are not reflected in either the text or the bibliography. That is the weakest point of the publication. Recent books and journal articles published after 1990 are reflected only rarely and publications of the last ten years are barely taken into account at all. This is a significant shortcoming since during this period, a whole generation of historians dealing with this subject had appeared in Paris and in Prague and they produced numerous works that deserve our attention. For example, Stephane Reznikow in his articles and his highly important book Francophilie et identité tchèque 1848–1914 (Paris 2002) analyses in detail various questions and issues which Ivan Pfaff claims to be still untreated in the Czech and French historiography. Antoine Marès has also been publishing new materials and, in general, there is a growing number of Czech historians who focus on Czech-French relations.

Ivan Pfaff in his book analyses the international policy and possibilities as well as limitations of an independent foreign policy of a small Central European non-state nation. Unfortunately, his recent publication is based on two chapters of his older book which are expanded but not really updated, as the failure to include recent publications and authors reveals. The final essay is a rare exception: it brings an interesting insight into his way of rethinking European policy of the nineteenth century and shows that it is possible and challenging to rethink old problems in a new way. The chapter itself, however, is not fully in line with previous parts of the book and its impact thus necessarily remains limited.

Doubravka Olšáková, Prague