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A Historian in the Service of the Foreign Office: C. A. Macartney (1895-1978) and his writings on Hungary
163-184Views:311This study is focusing on the life of C.A. Macartney as a diplomat and a historian especially on his writings on Hungary and the Hungarian history. The importance of this point goes back to the fact that he published a good number of books and articles on Hungary between the period of 1926 and 1978. It has been proved that this very rich publication activity of him basically influenced the attitudes of the English-speaking intellectual world towards Hungary and the Hungarians. In the life of Macartney the career as a diplomat and his so-called graphomaniac historian activity were closely connected. Although he was an expert of modern Hungarian history and worked for the British Foreign Office as a member of the Foreign Office Research Department (FORD) during WWII years, he also had a very well-grounded knowledge on the history of Austria and the Habsburg Empire. With his diplomatic activity and historical skill Macartney inspired generations of English-speaking historians, intellectuals and decision-makers in the subject of Hungary and the Hungarians. This fact well indicates the long-term importance and influence of C. A. Macartney as a pro-Hungarian historian and diplomat.
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Nicholas Roosevelt in A Front Row Seat: Hungary in the 1930s As Reflected in the Memoirs of an American Diplomat
149-162Views:475As Nicholas Roosevelt put it in the foreword of his memoirs a “combination of circumstances gave [him] the front row seat at numerous important […] events in Europe during the interwar period,” which made it possible for him to “study history in the making” both as a journalist working for acknowledged dailies of the time, such as The New York Times and The New York Herald Tribune, and as a diplomat who served at various European posts in Europe including Hungary between 1930 and 1933. Due to both of these positions Hungarians considered Roosevelt a highly influential person, who could possibly air and expose Hungary’s situation in the international community after World War I, and help further the revision of the Treaty of Trianon. Drawing on his memoirs, diplomatic exchanges, as well as a selection of his newspaper and magazine articles, the essay proposes to reflect on how Roosevelt viewed Hungary, and whether his various forms of written narratives could have any effect and exert any influence in this regard.
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“Netherlandicas” – Calvinist Relics from the 17th Century Holland
121-150Views:170In my paper I analysed what kind of images of Holland might have occurred in the heads of the Hungarian Calvinist visitors in 17th century. I established seven types of visitors to demonstrate the choices of Hungarian Calvinists as for what objects i.e. relics they brought home or what objects they recalled in their memoirs when they called back their experiences in Holland. It contains 8 types of “netherlandicas”, 8 several images of Holland which can also be demonstrated the image the Hungarian travellers had of Holland when they started out. In their memoirs also figured an experience of Holland, and these objects (i. e. a statue, a book) recalled how Holland had been seen by these Hungarian Students, Pastors and Diplomats. At the beginning of the examined period the Hungarian students usually stayed one or two weeks or months in Holland in the course of their journey through Europe. Later on they spent some terms there and in the second third of the century some students spent long years in Holland. And in that period many evidences were left behind (travel diaries, album amicorum, editions, possessor-entries, letters, memoirs on the life and sights in Holland).