During the XIX century, Europe was distributed differently to the current one, for example, Italy did not exist (it was unified in 1861 and constituted as a Kingdom) and countries like Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and others did not appear on the map either; We mentioned the last three countries and Italy because the north of the Italian peninsula and the countries mentioned were part of the great European nation that we will talk about on this occasion, the 19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire.
When was the Austro-Hungarian Empire born? Why?
In the month of February of the year 1867, the maximum exponents of Austria and Hungary at that time, that is to say, Francisco José I (emperor of Austria) and Francisco Deák (leader of the Hungarian delegation), decide to unite in a large state under a revised and amended constitution; in order to strengthen a collapsing Austrian empire.
The 19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire would be a rather particular nation, since it would consist of practically “two governments” (remember the monarchical figure was one), one based in Budapest (Hungary) and another based in Vienna (Austria), plus an autonomous parliament for Croatia; Thus, there was no common parliament.
As to the situation in hungaryit must be said that the agreement was carried out by the so-called Magyar nationalists, who thought of form a greater Hungary through this alliance; but, this fact caused those not Magyarized, to be marginalized, which he later played against the 19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire.
What was the extent of the Austro-Hungarian empire and what would it be like now? basics
By 1914 (the year World War I began) the Austro-Hungarian Empire had an extension of almost 676,000 km2, and included the current nations of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and Slovakia), part of the Ukraine, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, part of Poland, northern Italy and Romania.
As expected, the official languages of the empire were Austrian and Hungarian, but, as we mentioned before, many Balkan peoples do not identify with the Magyar cultureso there were Slovak, Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, and also Ukrainian, Romanian, and Italian languages.
The 19th century Austro-Hungarian EmpireIn addition, in 1914, it had almost 53 million inhabitants, which suggests how big it was; likewise, the current currency was the florin until 1892, the year in which it was exchanged for the crown.
The government system of 19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire It was of a constitutional monarchy, but with the characteristic of being dual in personal union, that is, the position of Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary was held simultaneously, this position was held only by two people, first by Francisco José I (until 1916) and later by Carlos I (from 1916 to 1919, end of the empire).
Important dates for the Austro-Hungarian Empire
In this section we will tell you the most important dates throughout the history of the austro hungarian empireignoring that of its creation that you should have read in the first section.
In 1878 the empire manages to take over the Turkish occupation zones of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Novi Pazar in Serbia; a year later a fundamental alliance with the German empire is established.
in 1882already constituted Italy, joins the German empire and the Austro-Hungarian empire forming what would be baptized as the Triple Alliance or the Triple Entente.
Already in the 20th century (1907) the first elections in the empire with direct and universal suffrage are held, at the same time the agreements between Austria and Hungary are reviewed. A year after this, annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina in its entirety to the 19th-century Austro-Hungarian empire.
In 1912, a Serbo-Bulgarian alliance against the empire; Later, in 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by a Bosnian Serb terrorist, which would lead to World War I.
Later, in the middle of the war, Francisco José I would die, who was replaced by Carlos I that sought to make peace with France, plan that did not go well. A year before the end of the war, Carlos I sends a telegram to Guillermo II in which he tells him that the alliance of the Austro-Hungarian empire with Germany it was over.
In 1919 the empire was dissolved in its entirety.thanks to the treaties of Trianon and Saint Germain.
How was the process of the dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian empire?
Despite Italy was a country created during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 19th centuryshe was not a rival, since, as we mentioned before, she joined him and Germany.
Likewise, we also told you that the first alliance vs the empire was that of Bulgaria and Serbia in 1912, but the first official dissolution was in the middle of the war by Czechoslovakia, on October 28, 1918.
Three days after this, Hungary separates from Austria and is therefore left alone, but the proclamation of Hungary as a republic It would be November 16 (always in 1918); on November 7 the Polish republic was proclaimed; on December 1, several Balkan states come together to form the provisional Kingdom of Serbs, Slovenians and Croats; On December 24, Romania takes over Transylvania, thus completely breaking up the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The last stretch of the empire would remain in the hands of Ottowho at that time was a boy of just about 7 years old, who was the last emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the 19th century and who lived until a few years ago, died in 2011.
To close, we thank you for reading this article in which we try to explain in the simplest but most precise way possible from the beginning, through the legacy, the time of “glory” until the fall of perhaps the most important nation in Europe in the last 25 years of the 19th century, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire; We also hope that you liked it and that it has been useful to enrich your cultural baggage. Until next time!
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