This book describes the efforts and experiences of trained foresters driven by competing priorities, as well as their impact on the society, landscape and politics of Hungary between about 1860 and 1975.
How can historical studies help us understand today’s environmental crises? What events led humanity into the Anthropocene epoch? The history of forestry offers a particularly revealing lens through which to explore these questions. Since at least the mid-eighteenth century, environmental concerns and the commodification of forests—often driven by state interests—have gone hand in hand. The rise of forestry’s standardized methodologies is not only a scientific development but also a global story of power, knowledge, and resource management. This book presents a Central European history of the Anthropocene, weaving together themes of nationalism, state socialism, war, and reconstruction to illuminate their deep entanglement with environmental change.
Chapter 1 Introducing the Changes
Chapter 2 A History of Value: Forests
and Timber as Commodities
Chapter 3 Foresters Building Nation: Nationalism in
Hungarian Forestry, 1862-1913
Chapter 4 The Advance of the State in the
Forest in and out of War, 19141944
Chapter 5 Forestry Programmes between
Stalinism and de-Stalinisation, 19451956
Chapter 6 Human Lives and Tree
Species in Experiments: the Case of István Bánós Work with Pine Species
Conclusions Bibliography Index
Róbert Balogh is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Ostrava. His work concerns the historical dimensions of the ongoing climatic and ecological crises, including the impact of professional forest management practices, energy production, food shortages, and dairy production. Taking the Anthropocene as the framework for research questions, Balogh studies these issues in the Middle Danube Valley and colonial South Asia.
Péter Homor is the head of archives at Széchenyi István University in Gyr. His main interests include the history of higher agricultural education in Hungary, the professionalization of forestry, and the application of information technology in archival science.
