Austro-Hungarian Empire

The Austro–Hungarian Empire was a central European political state established in 1867 by the merger of the Austrian Empire and the kingdom of Hungary. The empire was also known as the Dual Monarchy because of its unique governing structure. It was ruled by a single emperor, but both Austria and Hungary maintained their individual prime ministers, parliaments, and a degree of self-governance. At its height, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the largest political state in central Europe, stretching for almost 265,000 square miles (686,350 square kilometers), and was home to 48.5 million people. It consisted of Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and parts of modern-day Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, and Italy. The empire played a significant role in the events leading up to World War I (1914-1918) and was dissolved after the conflict ended.

Background

The seeds that led to the political landscape of central Europe in the nineteenth century were planted more than a millennium earlier with the founding of the Holy Roman Empire. In the late eighth century, Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, gained control over a large swath of Europe from modern-day France to Italy and Germany. In the year 800, Charlemagne was crowned emperor of this renewed Roman Empire by Pope Leo III. The easternmost region of Charlemagne's kingdom was known as Ostarrichi, or "eastern march." This term later became Österreich which in Latin translated as Austria. In 976, the region was granted to the Babenberg family as a feudal possession.

The Babenbergs established a capital at Vienna and ruled for almost three centuries. When the last male heir of the Babenberg family died about 1250, Austria fell into a period of political instability before Rudolf I of the Habsburg family gained control of the crown in 1273. Through shrewd political alliances, the Habsburgs acquired additional territory and gained significant influence in the region. In the fifteenth century, the Habsburg monarchs were granted the title of Holy Roman emperor—although the empire's power and scope had been greatly diminished from the time of Charlemagne. The Habsburg Dynasty ruled Austria for more than six hundred years and became one of the great powers of central Europe.

In the early nineteenth century, a series of wars started by French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte left much of Europe in chaos. With Napoleon claiming land across the continent and long-standing medieval alliances crumbling, Austria's Francis I consolidated Habsburg-controlled territories into the Austrian Empire in 1804. Among these territories were sections of the kingdom of Hungary. Two years later, he officially disbanded the Holy Roman Empire and gave up his title as Holy Roman Emperor. When Napoleon was finally defeated in 1815, representatives from Europe's major nations met in Vienna in an attempt to restore order after years of war. The Congress of Vienna redrew the political boundaries of the continent, creating a confederation of thirty-eight German states led by its five largest kingdoms—Austria, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, and Wuerttemberg.

By 1848, a growing sense of nationalism and dissatisfaction with Habsburg rule prompted a revolution among ethnic Hungarians. A student-led revolt in March forced Austria's chancellor from power and prompted Emperor Ferdinand I to agree to a series of concessions to appease the Hungarians. Fearing a loss of Habsburg power, several Austrian statesmen convinced Ferdinand to abdicate his position in favor of his eighteen-year-old nephew, Franz Joseph. The new emperor claimed he was not bound by the agreements of his predecessor, and sent troops to suppress the rebellion. By 1849, the revolt was extinguished and Franz Joseph began a brutal crackdown against the Hungarians.

Overview

Since the beginning of the German Confederation in 1815, its two most powerful entities—Austria and Prussia—battled for political control of the loose alliance. By the early 1860s, Prussian leaders were trying to unify the German states under Prussian control. Austria resisted the effort and in 1866, a dispute over the German state of Schleswig-Holstein led to Prussia declaring war on Austria. The majority of German states saw Prussia as the aggressor in the conflict and sided with Austria. Despite an expectation of victory, Austria suffered a humiliating defeat, losing the war in just seven weeks. As a new Germany was consolidated under the victorious Prussians, Austria and the states that supported it were excluded from the union.

Left to fend for itself, Austria teetered on the brink of political and economic crisis. With a strong and now unified German nation to the northwest, Franz Joseph saw a need for Austria to hold its territories together and form its own governmental union. Even before the Prussian war, the emperor had come to the conclusion that he would have to cooperate with the Hungarians in their push for independence. Now, Franz Joseph realized he needed to expedite a political deal with them to keep his empire intact. Austria began negotiations with Hungary in 1867 and by February, the two sides had reached an agreement known as the Ausgleich, or "Compromise," officially creating the Austro–Hungarian Empire.

Under the agreement, known as the Dual Monarchy, Franz Joseph would maintain his status as emperor and would also acquire the title of King of Hungary and control over Hungarian territory in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. In return, Hungary was allowed to keep its own parliament, prime minister, and cabinet. The arrangement gave both Hungary and Austria control over their own domestic affairs, but deferred to an imperial central government in matters of war, foreign policy, and shared finances. This central authority was made up of the emperor, both prime ministers, three appointed ministers, and members of the aristocracy and the military. The Austro-Hungarian military consisted of the Austrian army, the Hungarian army, and a joint force called the Imperial and Royal Army.

While the majority of the population was German-Austrian, the empire contained a number of diverse ethnic and linguistic groups, including Hungarians, Slovaks, Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, Slovenes, Croatians, Serbs, Romanians, and Italians. The empire spanned an area from the mountainous Tyrol region of northern Italy; north to shared borders with Germany, Poland, and Russia; east to the Transylvania mountains; and south to the Balkan states of Serbia and Croatia. The western portion of the empire was home to a significant manufacturing and industrial sector, while the eastern section was its primary agricultural-producing region. To connect the empire's disparate areas, the government invested in and built an extensive rail network that grew to become one of the best railroad systems in Europe.

The large mix of ethnic identities in the empire made it difficult for the government to appease the various groups. Europe of the era was undergoing a rising tide of nationalism, and many peoples within the empire identified more with members of their shared ethnicity in other countries than with their home nation. The Magyars, the predominant ethnic group within Hungary, had insisted on control of the nation in the compromise of 1867. This left many non-Magyar people in Hungary feeling shut out and discriminated against. The leaders of the Austro–Hungarian Empire feared not only political unrest within its borders, but also invasion by an outside nation on the pretext of aiding the empire's ethnic minorities.

Russia in particular was viewed as a sizable threat. In 1877, the Balkan states of Bosnia and Herzegovina rebelled against the Ottoman Empire. Russia joined its ally Serbia in the fight against the Ottoman Turkish forces and emerged victorious. In the ensuing peace negotiations, Bosnia and Herzegovina were granted autonomous status and Russia acquired significant political influence in the Balkan region. The move alarmed the great powers of Europe, especially Austro-Hungarian leaders who had their own designs on Bosnia and Herzegovina. European leaders met to negotiate a new peace treaty in 1878 and the Austro–Hungarian Empire was awarded administrative control over the two Balkan provinces. A year later, Austria-Hungary entered into an alliance with Germany promising mutual military aid if either nation was attacked by Russia.

By the start of the twentieth century, Franz Joseph was still the reigning emperor of Austria-Hungary, but his hopes for a smooth succession were dashed by a series of tragic events. His only son, Rudolf, committed suicide in 1889 and both of the emperor's brothers had also died—Karl Ludwig from typhoid fever and Maximilian who was executed in a failed attempt to claim the throne of Mexico. The next male heir in line was Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the son of Karl Ludwig.

In 1908, unrest within the crumbling Ottoman Empire gave the leaders of the Austro–Hungarian Empire a chance to seize more power in the Balkan region. They officially annexed the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which up to that time were only administered by Austria-Hungary and were still technically under Ottoman rule. The move was seen as an act of aggression and angered many Serb and Slavic nationalists in the region. In a series of wars in 1912 and 1913, Serbia also took advantage of waning Ottoman power and made significant territorial gains in the Balkans. The growing power of Serbia greatly concerned the Austro–Hungarian Empire, which feared another enemy on its borders and a revolt from Serb nationalists at home.

On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo to inspect the empire's military forces in the province. After one assassination attempt failed, a Serbian nationalist fired on the archduke's car, killing him and his wife. Austria-Hungary blamed the government of Serbia for the attack and issued an ultimatum demanding Serbia bring Franz Ferdinand's killers to justice or face war. It was a war the empire wanted in a bid to extend its influence in the Balkans and end the Serbian threat once and for all. Knowing that Russia could come to the aid of its Serbian allies, Austria-Hungary sought assurances from Germany that it would honor their long-standing alliance and provide military aid if Russia intervened. Germany promised to keep its word, and on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

Within weeks, all of Europe was at war. As expected, Russia began sending troops to defend Serbia, and Germany responded by declaring war on Russia. Great Britain, France, and Russia had long been alarmed by Germany's growing power and had signed their own military alliance in 1907. Germany knew that France would support Russia and declared war on France in early August. Hours later, France declared war against Germany. The next day, Great Britain also entered the war, bringing with it its Commonwealth of Nations, including Australia, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand. Germany and Austria-Hungary were later joined by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria to form the Central Powers.

In the first year of the war, the Austro–Hungarian Empire found itself under attack on two fronts by Russia and Serbia. The imperial army suffered greatly, losing about half of its fighting forces. With the aid of German and Belgian forces, the empire was able to regroup, and by 1916 it had conquered Serbia and Montenegro and pushed the Russians from Poland and Romania. On November 21, 1916, Franz Joseph died at the age of 86. He was replaced by his great-nephew Karl I, who announced that he was not bound by the Austrian constitution. He pressured Hungary's prime minister to resign and began secret, yet unsuccessful, negotiations with Britain and France to end the war.

By 1918, Austria-Hungary had lost more than one million soldiers in the war and defeat for the Central Powers seemed imminent. In October, the Hungarian parliament declared its independence from Austria, bringing an end to the Austro–Hungarian Empire. World War I ended with an armistice signed on November 11, 1918. In negotiations following the war, Austria was stripped of much of its territory and its borders were fixed. Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia were granted status as independent nations. Hungary became an independent state in 1920, but had lost almost three-quarters of its land. Karl I was deposed and banished into exile in Switzerland. He died in Portugal in 1922.

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