This study deals with the view of Václav Červinka, son-in-low of František Ladislav Rieger, administrator of Rieger's estate Maleč and a man of many intellectual interests, on radical changes of the Central Europe at the turn of the 20th century, especially destruction of traditional political, economic, social and cultural structures, outbreak of the First World War, collapse of the Austria-Hungary and estabilishment of the independent Czechoslovakia. It is shown, how Červinka, as a man who was closely tied to the traditional conservative policy and politicians of the end of the 19th century, evaluated all these changes and what was his reaction, e. g. in his literary work.