Die Protokolle des cisleithanischen Ministerrates 1867‒1918, Band IV: 1879‒1893

Volume IV/1 of the series “Die cisleithanischen Ministerratsprotokolle” covers the period from February 1879 to December 1882. In these approx. four years, 445 Ministerial council meetings took place, dealing with 2,165 agenda items. Of these, 68 protocols survived the Palace of Justice fire, albeit damaged. Therefore, this volume, containing six additional transcripts from other sources, includes 74 protocols with 385 agenda items (17.7 %). In the period covered, the German-liberal opposition tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the new Taaffe government. This made Taaffe increasingly dependent on the conservative majority of the Abgeordnetenhaus. Important topics on the government’s agenda were the renewal of the military legislation, the integration of recently occupied Bosnia-Herzegovina into the dual Monarchy, the ethnic division of the Prague University, the reform of primary school legislation, the election law of 1882, the reform of the commercial law, as well as a new railway policy shifting from a private system to a state system. In the last meetings published in this volume, the discussion of the social legislation began. Also, numerous documents related to these four events have been preserved: the so-called battle of Kuchelbad, the South Dalmatian uprising against the new military law, the Emperor’s visit to Trieste with the assassination attempt and subsequent execution of Guglielmo Oberdan, and finally the devastating floods in South Tyrole. Even though the volume bears witness to the destruction caused by the Palace of Justice fire, the surviving protocols still shed ample light on the government’s activities during its first years.