From Habsburg Agent to Victorian Scholar: G.G. Zerffi, 1820-1892A celebrated art historian and scholar of Japan, G. G. Zerffi also had a secret life as a well-paid Austrian secret agent. More than a biography of Zerffi, this book offers a rare glimpse into the secret service of the nineteenth-century Habsburg monarchy -- the precursor of all modern secret services in Europe and beyond -- while also serving as a guide to the history of the Hungarian revolution, the war of independence of 1848-49, and the international exile of European revolutionaries. Through the example of Zerffi's life, Tibor Frank examines how the secret police were used by the state to repress individual rights through intimidation and coercion, and by way of tracing Zerffi's rise as a scholar, also provides a survey of the possible ways and traps of nineteenth-century intelligentsia. |
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agent Ágnes Archives Austrian Bach Bach's Bangya Batthyány Belgrade Bertalan Szemere Britain British Budapest Carossini Constantinople consul contacts contemporary copy correspondence CPA IML December Dénes Jánossy diary diplomatic documents Edited Egressy émigrés emperor Engels English exile Faust February foreign French G. G. Zerffi Gábor Gábor Egressy Georg Lukács German Gusztáv Zerffi György HHStA historian historiography Honderű Hungarian Hungarian émigrés Hungary Ibid influence intellectual István János January Japanese Johanna Kinkel journalist József Kiss June Karl Marx Kempen Kinkel Klapka Kossuth Kütahya Lajos Lajos Hatvany Lajos Kossuth László later lecture letter liberal London MÄ IB Magyar Mandl Marx's Mecséry Mednyánszky Miklós minister Mór Perczel National Nationalverein NSL-MS Collection Pál Paris Perczel Pest Petőfi philosopher political published Radosavliević revolution revolutionary role Rónay Russian Sándor Schwarzenberg Science of History secret sent September social Society Szemere Szemere's tion Turkey Várkonyi Victorian Vienna Waagner wrote