With Their Backs to the Mountains

"Paul Robert Magocsi, a well-known author on Ukrainian History and a self-identified Rusyn, authored With Their Backs to the Mountains not only to fill a lacuna in knowledge among specialists and genealogical researchers, but also to advocate for the distinctiveness (and, indeed, existence) of an ethno-national group still struggling for recognition at home and abroad. The comprehensive book includes a wealth of illustrations, maps, and text capsules, which address thematic issues outside the immediate chronological narrative, and Magocsis text is certain to become the definitive reference guide to the Carpatho-Rusyns." -- Curtis Murphy * Slavic and East European Journal * "Magocsi's book is an invaluable source of detailed information for those who are interested in a history of the Rusyns and their diaspora, for those who teach the history of East Central Europe it is also a useful textbook with helpful inserts that explain certain terms, events, and historiographical problems, and includes documents or illustrative explanations of other authors, finishing with a great bibliographic essay in the section 'for further reading'." -- Sergei I. Zhuk * Russian Review * "The real value of With Their Backs to the Mountains is that it is a history of Carpatho-Rusyns that is not written from any state perspective, whether that of Budapest, Moscow, Kyiv, Prague, Warsaw, or Bratislava. It is not inappropriate to say that Magocsis history is written from the perspective of Carpatho-Rusyns, while at the time emphasizing that the book systematically analyzes historical events in an objective manner, a not unimportant characteristic of his research. Although a scholarly publication, the book has relevance in the context of present-day changes in Europe. The relevance factor applies to those states to whom the doors became open for membership in the European Union. Although not the sole reason (but nevertheless a reason) was the fact that all of those states recognized their Carpatho-Rusyn citizens to comprise a distinct ethnos. The books relevance factor also applies to other countries, first and foremost Ukraine, which is seeking a path to the European Union and which inevitably will be required to recognize that the 1945 annexation of historic Subcarpathian Rus and the abolition of the Carpatho-Rusyn nationality throughout central Europe were simply part of the expansionist ideology of the Soviet Union. Magocsis monograph, which outlines the above historical scenario, may therefore become a kind of road map for Ukraines future political elite." -- Valerii Padiak * Nationalities Papers * "Paul Robert Magocsi, Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto, has been writing about Carpatho-Rusyns for almost half a century now and this book represents a condensation, if not culmination, of his scholarship on the subject. For historians of the so-called stateless nations, Magocsis main narrative will strike a familiar chord. He tells a story of people who have existed from the ancient times under foreign powers (Hungarian for the most part) but have been inhibited from developing fully due to the lack of self-rule and governmental policies against them. With Their Backs to the Mountains will certainly prove to be a valuable book for those interested in the Carpatho-Rusyn perspective on the history of these lands by the Carpathians and the question of ethnic/national identity of their indigenous Eastern Slavs." -- Ernest Gyidel * Austrian History Yearbook * "This book is undoubtedly the work of a renowned scholar with impressive knowledge concerning the history and culture of the region. At the same time, this is also the work of an ardent advocate of a national cause (of the people inhabiting this region or having ancestral links to it). It is clear from the text that the author is well aware of the possibility of being accused of partisanship as potentia

Paul Robert Magocsi is Professor of History and Political Science, Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto

List of Maps List of Tables Introduction Chapter 1. Carpatho-Rusyns and the land of Carpathian Rus' Human geography No shortage of names Physical geography A borderland of borders 2. Carpathian Rus' in prehistoric times Earliest human settlements The Iron Age and the Celts Early peoples in Carpathian Rus' The Roman Empire and the Dacians 3. The Slavs and their arrival in the Carpathians The Huns and the displacement of peoples The origin-of-peoples fetish Is DNA the reliable way? The Slavs and Carpathian Rus' Dwellings of the early Slavs The White Croats and the Avars 4. State formation in central Europe The Pax Romana and the Byzantine Empire Greater Moravia Saints Constantine/Cyril and Methodius Christianity becomes "our" religion Who among the East Slavs first received Christianity? The Magyars and Hungary Historical memory and political reality The rise of Poland Kievan Rus' The Great Debate: the origin of Rus' 5. Carpathian Rus' until the early 16th century Formation of the Hungarian Kingdom A medieval Carpatho-Rusyn state: fact or fiction? The Mongol invasion and the restructuring of Hungary The Vlach colonization Kings, nobles, and the implementation of serfdom Poland: administrative and socioeconomic structure The fall of Constantinople and the decline of Orthodoxy 6. The Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, and Carpathian Rus' The Ottoman Empire in central Europe The Protestant Reformation The Catholic Counter-Reformation Poland and church union Uniates/Greek Catholics: A new church or a return to the old? Transylvania and church union in Hungary 7. The Habsburg restoration in Carpathian Rus' Rakoczi's "War of Liberation" Habsburg Austria's transformation of Carpathian Rus' The Bachka-Srem Vojvodinian Rusyns Poland and Galicia's Lemko Region 8. Habsburg reforms and their impact on Carpatho-Rusyns The reforms of Maria Theresa and Joseph II Uniate/Greek Catholics and the Enlightenment in Carpathian Rus' Carpatho-Rusyns become an historical people 9. The Revolution of 1848 and the Carpatho-Rusyn national awakening The multicultural Austrian Empire Kakania's emperors and kings What is nationalism and what are national movements? Nationalism in Hungary From inferiority to superiority: the transformation of a dangerous complex Revolution in the Austrian lands and Hungary The Carpatho-Rusyn national awakening: politics The first Carpatho-Rusyn political program The Carpatho-Rusyn national awakening: culture Did Carpatho-Rusyns really love the Russians? 10. Carpathian Rus' in Austria-Hungary, 1868-1914 The Dual Monarchy and Austrian parliamentarism In search of a Rus' national identity The national awakening in the Lemko Region Hungary and its magyarization policies Magyarization despite the letter of the law Carpatho-Rusyns in Hungarian politics Carpatho-Rusyns and national survival Socioeconomic developments Was life in pre-World War I Carpathian Rus' so destitute? 11. Carpatho-Rusyn diasporas before World War I Migration to the Srem, Banat, and Bachka Emigration abroad to the United States Rusyn-American religious and secular organizations Rejected Greek Catholics and the "return" to Orthodoxy "You are not a proper priest" "Ruthenians" become Uhro (Hungarian)-Rusyns, or Russians, or Ukrainians Rusyn Americans and international politics 12. Carpathian Rus' during World War I, 1914-1918 The end of civilized Europe World War I in Carpathian Rus' The war against Carpatho-Rusyn civilians Magyarization reaches its peak 13. The end of the old and the birth of a new order, 1918-1919 National self-determination and socialist revolution Rusyn Americans mobilize politically Political mobilization in the Carpatho-Rusyn homeland Hungary's autonomous Rus' Land The Ukrainian option The meaning of Ukraine Carpatho-Rusyns