Losers of Modernization: The Decline of Burgher Shooting Societies in Hungary, 1867–1914

Abstract:Shooting societies organized by town citizens (burghers) were considered the traditional guardians of many autonomous settlements in Central Europe from the Middle Ages up to the late nineteenth century. In seeking to identify the causes of their decline in late Habsburg Hungary, this article draws attention to a variety of modernizing drives that undermined the stability of burgher marksmanship. One was the emerging Hungarian nation-state, which hindered the development of paramilitary citizen groups by limiting local self-governance and freedom of association. Another was the modern appeal to ethnic homogenization in the form of Magyarization. It aroused hostility towards the burgher riflemen because of their frequent use of the German language and loyalty to the Habsburgs, and not to the Magyar nation. Although the surviving burgher shooting societies had espoused Magyar nationalism by the early 1900s, they nonetheless maintained their elitism, excluding the growing urban populations from membership. At the same time, the burgher riflemen failed to engage sufficiently actively in rifle training to secure the support of the Defence Ministry and the radical Magyar nationalists. Instead, they remained traditional venues for socializing and networking for the increasingly isolated ennobled petty bourgeoisie. This created a situation where the burgher marksmen became marginal players not only in urban political life but also in Hungary's rapidly developing paramilitary culture. The story of the decline of the burgher shooting societies sheds new light on the ambiguities of modernization, but also demonstrates the weakness of societal militarization in pre-1914 Central Europe.