06-11-2017, 04:56 AM
I glanced around at what was happening politically in that area in October 1912 and the politics are so wide and deep in the years preceding and following WWI, there could be any of a thousand reasons for secrecy and carefully worded letters, even by people with nothing to hide. It would be difficult to sort out whether secrecy were simply the way you did things or whether Voynich was involved in anything he didn't want to be public.
Some quick grabs... I haven't double-checked these sources, but it gives a general feeling of the place and time...
Emigration from Austria-Hungary in the thirty years leading up to 1912 is said to number almost four million people. Those who remained in Austria totaled about 6.5 million.
Italy had declared war on Turkey a year earlier, Montenegro was at war earlier in the month, and the Balkans were on the brink of war (with Turkish-ruled Ottoman forces). The Treaty of Lausanne calling for a cease to hostilities was signed October 18, 1912, but the situation continued to be hostile and uncertain. By the end of the month, Turkish forces were retreating, but still destroying bridges in Greece. In the Balkan wars, in that same month, the Greeks were fighting Turkish garrisons on the island of Lemnos. Six years after the letter was written, the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed. There were c. 200,000 Jews in the city in 1912. After the war, about 20,000 remained.
The Hotel Bristol, named after the English town, opened at Kärntner Ring 7, in 1892 by the Vienna State Opera. Over the centuries, it has catered to many celebrities, royalty, and high government officials. It was built a few decades after the walls to the medieval city of Vienna were taken down by Emperor Franz Joseph, allowing the city to expand, and served as headquarters for occupying American forces in WWII.
Some quick grabs... I haven't double-checked these sources, but it gives a general feeling of the place and time...
Emigration from Austria-Hungary in the thirty years leading up to 1912 is said to number almost four million people. Those who remained in Austria totaled about 6.5 million.
Italy had declared war on Turkey a year earlier, Montenegro was at war earlier in the month, and the Balkans were on the brink of war (with Turkish-ruled Ottoman forces). The Treaty of Lausanne calling for a cease to hostilities was signed October 18, 1912, but the situation continued to be hostile and uncertain. By the end of the month, Turkish forces were retreating, but still destroying bridges in Greece. In the Balkan wars, in that same month, the Greeks were fighting Turkish garrisons on the island of Lemnos. Six years after the letter was written, the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed. There were c. 200,000 Jews in the city in 1912. After the war, about 20,000 remained.
The Hotel Bristol, named after the English town, opened at Kärntner Ring 7, in 1892 by the Vienna State Opera. Over the centuries, it has catered to many celebrities, royalty, and high government officials. It was built a few decades after the walls to the medieval city of Vienna were taken down by Emperor Franz Joseph, allowing the city to expand, and served as headquarters for occupying American forces in WWII.