 |
The
Austro-Hungarian Empire
 |
| From 1848 to 1916, Franz Josef
controlled the destiny of not only Austria, but most of central
and eastern Europe, as well.
|
Marriages of convenience are often built on shaky
foundations.
The union of Austria and Hungary in 1867 is a good
example of such a marriage. The Italian and German campaigns for
national unification altered the balance of power in continental Europe.
These campaigns challenged the dominance of Austria's Habsburg Monarchy.
While Italy and Germany were each coming together,
the Austrian Empire was coming apart. Within its boundaries lived
Austrian Germans, the Magyars of Hungary, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs,
Slovaks, Ruthenians, Romanians, Serbs, and Croats. Its people practiced
the Roman Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslim religions.
Little other than geography held these groups together.
 |
| Vienna was a city of
extraordinary activity and culture during the latter half of the
19th century. This city of music introduced the world to the
Strauss family of musicians and the famous Viennese waltz.
|
Austria's defeat at the hands of French and Piedmont
forces in 1859 and its crushing loss to Prussia in the Seven Weeks' War
crippled Austria's influence in Europe and encouraged resistance within
the borders of its empire. Faced with the dual threat of a rapidly
industrializing German state and a unified Italy, Austria courted a new
political partner to prevent the further erosion of its power.
During the revolutions of 1848, Magyar leaders of
Hungary and Czech leaders from Bohemia had asserted their independence
from Austrian rule. The Magyar leader Lajos Kossuth helped establish a
parliamentary democracy with the passage of the March Laws of 1848.
Austrian military forces crushed the Czech revolt, but Kossuth's Home
Defense Army held firm. Soon afterwards Kossuth was elected president of
the new Hungarian republic. But Austrian forces, with the help of
100,000 Russian troops, reasserted control over the defiant Magyars.
Kossuth fled to exile in Turkey.
 |
| In an effort to remain a world
power and consolidate its crumbling empire in central and
eastern Europe, Austria joined with Hungary to form the unusual
alliance called the Dual Monarchy.
|
Hungary Heart
Although the revolution was crushed, Hungarian
nationalist sentiment remained a persistent problem for the ruling
Austrians. In 1867, after ruling Hungary for 150 years, Austrians
offered the Maygars the promise of equal power.
 |
| Lajos Kossuth was not just a
beloved hero of Hungary. He was widely worshipped in the United
States as well. While on tour in the U.S., he was received by
cheering crowds everywhere he went. This is an image of his
parade down Broadway in New York City.
|
With the passage of the Settlement of 1867, known in
Germany as the Ausgleich, the Austrian Empire became the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, a dual monarchy. In a dramatic ceremony in
Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, the Austrian Habsburg ruler Franz
Josef received the crown of St. Stephen, Hungary's first king. Franz
Josef was desperately trying to keep the crumbling empire intact.
The Habsburg Empire was now divided into two main
territories: the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. Both were
ruled by the Habsburg monarch, who was centered in Vienna. Austria
remained governed by the February Patent of 1861, which established a
parliament known as the Reichsrat. The March Laws of 1848 governed
Hungary.
 |
| Leader of the Hungarian
Revolution of 1848, Lajos Kossuth was the first president of the
new Hungarian Republic.
|
Although Austria and Hungary each had a parliament to
manage their domestic affairs and those of their respective provinces, a
joint cabinet controlled mostly by Austrian and Hungarian aristocrats
handled foreign affairs, military affairs, and finances. And though in
principle the new empire was a constitutional monarchy, the emperor
retained considerable powers, especially that of dissolving the
parliaments by fiat.
The Settlement of 1867
The Settlement of 1867 (also known as the Compromise
of 1867) provided Habsburg rulers with a more stable empire in the short
run by securing strength through numbers. The empire retained its place
as a great power in Europe. Vienna later became a center for the
modernist thrust in art, music, and psychology. But the heterogeneous
nature of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, increasingly anachronistic in an
age of nationalism, guaranteed its failure.
Other nationalist groups of the empire resented
German and Magyar hegemony. The Magyar aristocracy aggressively pursued
a policy of Magyarization, or forcing minority groups such as Croats and
Serbs to assimilate into Hungarian society by adopting its language and
customs. This pressure to conform backfired, as minority groups became
even more conscious of their national identities than before. As
minority nationalities stepped up their campaigns for independence, the
response from Austrian and Hungarian rulers was repression — in
particular, the end of press freedoms and trial by jury.
Hungary also sought to further its independence
from Austria, provoking Emperor Franz Josef I to suspend the Hungarian
constitution in 1903. This repression fueled the growth of pan-Slavic
terrorist groups such as the Black Hand, which was responsible for the
assassination of Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand in 1914, an event
that helped trigger World War I.
Review: Fill in the missing words.
1. With the passage of the ____________, known in
Germany as the ________, the Austrian Empire became the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, a dual monarchy.
2. The Habsburg Empire was now divided into two main
territories: the ________ and the ________. Both were
ruled by the Habsburg monarch, who was centered in Vienna.
3. Although Austria and Hungary each had a parliament to
manage their domestic affairs and those of their respective provinces, a
joint cabinet controlled mostly by Austrian and Hungarian aristocrats
handled ________, ________, and ________.
4. ... the ________ nature of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, increasingly anachronistic in an
age of ________, guaranteed its failure.
5. The Magyar aristocracy aggressively pursued
a policy of ________, or forcing minority groups such as Croats and
Serbs to assimilate into Hungarian society by adopting its language and
customs. This pressure to conform ________, as minority groups became
even more conscious of their national identities than before. |
