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Review: Roland Clark, Holy Legionary Youth Fascist Activism in Interwar

Romania, Cornell University Press Ithaca, NY, 2015; 288 pp., 9 halftones, 2
tables; 9780801453687, $39.95 (h...

Article  in  European History Quarterly · January 2017

DOI: 10.1177/0265691416674402e

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Book Reviews 115

discussion of the ‘presumed’ decline into irrelevance of Spain is informative, intri-

guing and entertaining.
That said, there are several minor problems with this book. The first of them is
the writing style. While the work as a whole has a coherent structure, the individual
chapters do not – although, to be fair, the reader is warned about this in the
preface. The author appears to follow more of a stream of consciousness than a
logical argument in jumping back and forth between campaigns, nations, exped-
itions and battles. Any reader not familiar with the basic events will quickly lose the
plot. War in Europe is certainly not a textbook on military history, and readers
need to have prior knowledge to understand Black’s reasoning fully. The second
problem is that there are no maps. For readers who are not familiar with geog-
raphy, this is a significant and disappointing omission.
Finally, there are some factual errors and dubious claims which mar this other-
wise excellent book. Some of these are minor, such as claiming that Prussian infan-
try was not used for pursuit because officers would have lost control (they had
hussars and dragoons to pursue the enemy), or that Mussolini was overthrown
after the landing in mainland Italy (he was removed during the fight for Sicily), or
that Hitler moved the 5th and 6th Panzer Armies from East to West in 1944 (the
5th was already fighting in the West and the 6th was a new creation, which was
moved East after the end of the Ardennes offensive). Others are more serious. The
description of battles in the Napoleonic period is incorrect. Black’s view of
Waterloo seems too reliant on British sources, offhandedly dismisses the entire
struggle for Plancenoit, and does not acknowledge the debate on the role of the
German troops.
Of course, given the scale and scope of this work, errors like these are unavoid-
able. It is also noteworthy that most of them relate to the period after the second
half of the eighteenth century. They do not, however, detract from the overall value
of the book. War in Europe is not a manual or a textbook, but nor does it pretend
to be such a work. It is a thought-provoking analysis of five centuries of warfare
and of some of our assumptions, namely those of European exceptionalism and the
idea of technological determinism. It gives the reader a new perspective on the
evolution of both the methods and the reasoning of warfare. For these two elem-
ents alone War in Europe is an important addition to every military history collec-
tion, and worth reading by any serious student of military history.

Roland Clark, Holy Legionary Youth: Fascist Activism in Interwar Romania, Cornell University Press:
Ithaca, NY, 2015; 288 pp., 9 halftones, 2 tables; 9780801453687, $39.95 (hbk)

Reviewed by: Cosmin Koszor Codrea, Oxford Brookes University, UK

The highly problematic debate on interwar fascist activism is reflected in Roland
Clark’s study of the Romanian organization the Legion of the Archangel Michael,
which he describes as ‘one of the largest and most enduring fascist movements in
interwar Europe’ (4). The book provides a much needed in-depth analysis derived
116 European History Quarterly 47(1)

from numerous sources, from oral history to periodicals and the unexplored arch-
ival materials of Securitate. Although the specialized historiography concerned
with the nature and ideology of the Legionary Movement has been covered by
various scholars, Clark does not choose to go with the flow; instead the author
embraces the framework of Alltagsgeschichte or the ‘history of everyday life’ (6),
analyzing in eight chapters the way in which the practice of fascist activism changed
the life of its supporters.
Reflecting on the anti-Semitic ideas that were flourishing with the aid of
Orthodox clergy, printed propaganda and Romanian intellectuals, the volume
identifies the roots of ultranationalism in nineteenth-century nationalism, which
‘later entered in the institutional discourse through schools and universities’ (19).
After World War I, national and transnational organizations such as the Blood
Brotherhood (Frăt¸ia de Cruce), the Antisemitic League (Liga Antisemită), the
Guard of the National Conscience (Garda Cons¸tiint¸ei Nat¸ionale), and the Italian
Romanian National Fascist Movement (Movimento nazionale fascista italo-
rumeno) promoted their anti-Semitic ideas in the violent form of the National
Christian Defence League founded in 1923 (Liga Apărării Nat¸ional Cres¸tine;
LANC). LANC was then the ‘organizational face of ultranationalism’ (63) until
the schism of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, who founded the Legion of the Archangel
Michael in 1927.
In tracing the organizational structure of the Legionary Movement, Clark
argues that support for the cause was received from different social groups: from
students to peasants, from workers and tradesman to members of the clergy. All
were recruited to join in ‘nests’ (cuiburi) with a specific dress code, fascist symbols
and sacrificial rituals. The book reveals that, besides self-discipline, oath taking and
building work camps, the ones who flew from the Legion’s nest or abandoned the
movement were sanctioned by the ‘Legionary Court’ (119). In order to secure
justice within the political system, the Iron Guard (Garda de Fier) paramilitary
faction was born in 1930. Soon after its birth, several political assassinations,
trials and street violence became part of its agenda. Understanding the power
of the printed word, the movement managed to earn respect from leading intellec-
tuals who contributed and promoted their ideas through lectures and cultural
evenings (131).
Despite the fact that, at the beginning, the legionaries did not proclaim them-
selves to be a political party, the author argues that ‘together with the help of
public sympathy’ gained in work camps and the human sacrifice of the Spanish
Civil War (210), the legionaries managed to score a political success in the 1937
elections. In addition, Clark’s work acknowledges that in the long run of the
movement, the legionaries ‘frequently portrayed themselves as victims of Jewish
violence’ (246), and in the same way, ‘violence was important for legionaries
because it established them as enemies of an illegitimate government’ (247).
Subsequently, becoming a member of the Legion did ‘not involve taking a new
self, just a new life’, which suggests that ‘the archetypal legionary was apparently
born, not made’ (252).
Book Reviews 117

Although the work highlights some interesting ideas for future research within
the field of fascist activism in Romania, Clark’s book mentions only some of the
aspects concerned with the contact between the Legionaries and the supporters of
communism and antifascism. Also, in focusing on the ‘practical activity’ of the
organization, the book has the effect of eclipsing their ideology and their convic-
tions, which gives the false impression that the members of the Iron Guard were
peaceful and pragmatic. Indeed, state violence against the Legionaries did change
the self- and popular perception of the movement; however, only some aspects are
mentioned when it comes to violent acts against the Jewish community (220) before
and after the birth of the National Legionary State in 1940 (223) and the major
pogrom in Iasi (234). Another issue that could have been given more attention is
the role of the charismatic leader, which can be traced in the legionary hymns,
propaganda and sacrifice rituals.
Nevertheless, Clark’s work on Holy Legionary Youth is a major contribution to
the understanding of the history of fascist activism in interwar Romania. It pays
great attention to the primary sources, especially archival material, and brings a
new dimension to reading the legionary movement through the lenses of their
‘ordinary life’.

Anne J. Cruz and Maria Galli Stampino, eds, Early Modern Habsburg Women: Transnational Contexts,
Cultural Conflicts, Dynastic Continuities, Ashgate: Farnham, 2013; 312 pp., 30 illus.; 9781472411648,
£95.00 (hbk)

Reviewed by: Alejandra Giménez-Berger, Wittenberg University, USA

Scholarship on court culture, particularly that of the Habsburgs, has flourished
steadily in the last two decades. The women of the Habsburg dynasty, however,
have not received as much attention as their male counterparts, perhaps due to
long-standing, simplified and often negative views of these women. Taking a decid-
edly revisionist approach, the authors reconstruct both the challenges Habsburg
women faced and the means they deployed to enforce their authority, rendering a
vivid portrayal of their experiences and influence.
This first comprehensive, interdisciplinary study dedicated to Habsburg women
is organized into three thematic parts: ‘Transnational and Transcultural Ties’,
‘Birthing Habsburgs’ and ‘Visual and Sartorial Politics’. Although these are helpful
categorizations, other shared themes emerge. Being Habsburg could simultan-
eously empower and efface these women. Confronted with familial, cultural and
political expectations, with resistance and impediments, they cultivated ingenuous
yet culturally-accepted means of agency.
Joseph F. Patrouch’s longitudinal study of 66 Habsburg daughters opens the
collection, tracing a network of female agents that ensured the family’s political
ascendancy and expanded its territorial authority from the 13th to the 17th cen-
turies. An immediate consequence of this was that Habsburg consorts were often
perceived as foreigners, which provided a ready mark for those who would oppose

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