ABSTRACT
The force fields of separatist nationalism were not entirely congruent with, or contained within, the borders of imperial states, nor was the wartime evolution of ethno-national identities shaped exclusively by the internal political dynamics of the multinational monarchies. Successful challenges to political authority in one empire could set powerful precedents for discontented elements in other monarchies; we have already seen how strong an impression the revolutionary turmoil in Russia made on a broad array of ethnic groups and social strata in Austria-Hungary. But the war did not merely intensify the power of example; it brought into being new geopolitical frames of reference and arenas of action within which nationalist experiments could be undertaken and hitherto marginalized programs propagated and developed to an unprecedented degree.
