1905- 1914 „Preserve for us, o Lord, the Emperor and our land.” Anthem of Austria-Hungary It has been quite a few decades since the time when one of revolutionary storms swept through Europe. In the years 1848-1849, it also impacted the Czech lands, then part of the Habsburg Monarchy, a multi-nationality state which did not even have its own name. For the empire, it was a crisis of the system and the end of an entire historical epoch. We are simply talking about the fall of feudalism and the associated end of an absolutist state, elimination of the privileges of the nobility and the liberation of the popular classes from servile obligations. The old was replaced by the new: a civil society emerged, the manifestation of which was a state, in which the rights and obligations of the population were defined by a constitution. Through elections and activities of the parliament, the masses of the population were supposed to participate in the governance of public affairs, the management of the state and the shaping of its policy. The historical trends of the newly emerging society, which was producing them at the same time, were liberalism, industrialisation, bureaucratization, politicisation and nationalisation. In the background, however, the idea of Emperor Franz Joseph I was still present, who dreamt of a unified, centralised and germanised monarchy since coming to the throne, without giving any more thought to the growing political and national problems in different areas of his empire. The key milestones in the development of the society until the outbreak of World War I were the period of Bach’s neo-absolutism (around 1851-1859), a lost war in Italy (1859), February Constitution of 1861, including the restoration of the provincial systems and electoral regulations, the Prussian-Austrian War in 1866 and the subsequent settlement with the Hungarians (1867), when a new state called Austria- Hungary was established. During the first part, also called Cisleithania, Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia were developing. The following nearly half a century was a period of relative peace and prosperity of the monarchy. A modern civil society was shaping with an unprecedented degree of democracy, where the decisive factors were supposed to be citizens fully exercising but also fulfilling their rights, as defined within the constitutional and political system, when the state, provincial and communal policy and the associated and related legislative, executive and judicial powers and their institutions were shaping. Everything was supposed to have its place; everything was supposed to be subject to law and order. An ordinary citizen was both subject to this policy and experiencing and cocreating it based on guaranteed civil rights, including freedom of press, assembly and association which was of mass extent and forms. Space opened up for the emergence and development of political parties and political and non-political press, having an increasing impact on the emergence and development of public opinion. There was an unprecedented development of education, and the conditions for religious life and the realisation of freedom of religion were changing. With partial fluctuations, the development of economy, transport systems (railways, automotive industry) and communications or modern means of transmission, such as the telegraph and telephone, continued hand in hand with the development of civil society. Electricity continued to be increasingly widely used, whether for household lighting or powering machines. First aircraft emerged. Cinema brought an unprecedented fascination of all strata of society. Culture was also undergoing some developments and eventually resulted in the creation of a unique artistic style - Art Noveau. The Czech nation, which was seemingly forgotten at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries and even condemned to extinction by some, turned, during the so-called long century, into a modern nation with a developed culture and education, a nation heading towards massive industrialisation of the Czech lands, a nation that had its own National Theatre and Academy of Sciences and Arts, a nation politically and nationally demanding the same rights and positions that were the privilege of the ruling Germans or Hungarians until then. The early years of the 20th century were just a continuation of the previous decades. As if the seemingly endless period of prosperity, peace and quiet was never going to end. A symbol of the continuity was mainly Emperor Franz Joseph I, whose long reign and dynastic cult were paradoxically the greatest links between the increasingly fractious nations of the monarchy. Pot lid of Parliament member Heimrich used in protest by banging against a table on the night of June 8th to June 9th, 1900 in the Viennese Parliament against violence. Commemorative cards and brochure of L. Jandásek Memorial for Fr. Pavlík, victim of the fighting for Czech Brno Besední dům, Czech social and cultural centre in Brno from 1873 Historical postcards of the German House - a symbol of German nationalism in Brno Historical postcards of the German House 1916 Josef Hybeš's bust by Miloš Axman Old Theater in Veveří - National Theater in Brno (oil painting, early 20th century) Porcelain cup with a picture of Josef Hybeš Postcard commemorating the demonstration in Brno on 1 October 1905 The first edition of Leos Janacek's piano sonatas 1st X. 1905 from 1924 Leoš Janáček: Její pastor (Her pastor): the facsimile of the autograph fragment, and theater program of the premiere of 21 January 1904 End of Old Times: Under the Rule of the Two-Headed Eagle Premiere poster of the German Theater for the opera from Richard Wagner entitles Valkyrie from October 1891 Bronze plaque depicting Josef Hybeš