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The Germans of Austria and Bohemia were excluded from the movement towards German unification. Under the Habsburgs, they were the masters of the Austrian Empire: a vast array of nationalities with only one thing in common – subservience to the Habsburg crown. In the Revolution of 1848 the Magyars of Hungary, Poles of Galicia, Italians of the Tyrol and Istria, Romanians of Transylvania, Slovaks, and southern Slavs (Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs) had all experienced a national awakening. Their nationalist aspirations suppressed under Habsburg rule, they continued to strive for recognition of their identity.
Having come to power as a young man in 1848, Emperor Franz-Joseph I was conservative and suspicious of anything liberal. He isolated himself within the luxuriant world of the imperial court at the magnificent Schoennbrun Palace amid swirling couples waltzing in glorious gowns and dazzling uniforms. He allied himself with the Catholic hierarchy, which at the time was taking its direction from the reactionary Pope Pius IX. His government in the 1850s and 1860s continued to function on the “Bach System,” pursuing centralization of the empire through the German language and state efficiency, the building of railroads and industrialization.* Franz-Joseph would rule until his death in 1916. He would be succeeded by his grand-nephew Charles, who, on Austria's 1918 defeat in World War One, would abdicate, ending the Habsburg dynasty altogether.
The “Bach System,” with its German emphasis, was resented by the non-German nationalities, especially the Magyars. The Magyars proved reluctant to support Austria’s war with Italy in 1859 and were less than enthusiastic participants in the 1866 war with Prussia. The Slavic nationalities sought reforms based on Austroslavism, the idea that Slavic nationalist expression and identity could be developed and expressed within the political framework of the Austrian Empire. They called for local political autonomy, demanded schools, law courts, and administration in their own language.
In 1867 the imperial government, in response to these nationalist pressures and the need to strengthen its position in response to a unifying Germany, instituted the Ausgleich. The Ausgleich created the Dual Monarchy: The Empire of Austria and The Kingdom of Hungary (what would commonly be called Austria-Hungary or the Austrian-Hungarian Empire). Austria (German in language) and Hungary (Magyar in language) would be “equally” separate kingdoms – each with its own constitution and its own parliament. Franz-Joseph would be the monarch of both as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. There would be an Imperial Government in Vienna with common ministries for finance, foreign affairs, and war, to which both Austrians and Hungarians would be appointed. Representatives of the two parliaments would meet alternately in Vienna and Budapest. Voting would be restricted to those males meeting wealth-based qualifications. There would be no universal suffrage (until 1907 in Austria). Austria’s territories included the empire’s German, Slovene, Czech, Polish, and Italian populations. Hungary’s lands included the Magyars, Slovaks, Croats, Serbs, and Romanians. Ironically, the Ausgleich, which occurred in response to nationalist discontent with minority rule, created two “states” in which the leading nationalities (German and Magyar) were still minorities of the population.
The Austrian-Hungarian Empire, 1910
The Ausgleich was to the disadvantage of the Slavs, who were regarded by both Germans and Magyars as inferior cultures, incapable of self-government. Austroslavic aspirations, especially among the Slovene, Serb, and Croat populations, were henceforth frustrated. Their desire for autonomy or even independence would intensify as the neighboring Ottoman Empire began to lose its grip on the Balkans in the 1870s. By 1878 there existed an independent Romania and Serbia on the Austria-Hungarian boundaries. Bosnia, an Ottoman region inhabited by Croats and Serbs, was placed under Austrian occupation. With Russian encouragement, Serbia proclaimed its intention to unify all Yugoslavs (Southern Slavs) in a single state. Pan-Slavic nationalism would be rekindled within the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. (Anti-Austrian Slavic nationalism would lead to dramatic and devastating consequences in the summer of 1914.)
Beyond the potential for nationalist unrest, social conditions did not promise a comfortable future. Neither Austria nor Hungary pursued reforms based on improving the quality of life for millions of peasants, who found themselves still bound to, or dispossessed of, the land by debt and taxes. Despite the earlier abolition of serfdom, landlordism prevailed. In Hungary especially, the owners of great landed estates remained dominant in economic and social life. As the landlords controlled the parliament, land legislation continued to protect their interests. There developed an “agrarian proletariat” (Palmer et al, 527) of whole peasant peoples without wealthy or educated classes of their own with whom they could identify and through whom they could seek accommodation with the Dual Monarchy.
* Baron Alexander von Bach, for whom the Bach System was named, served as Austria's Minister of the Interior, 1851-1859.
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The listing of sources for The Great Powers of the 19th Century: Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia follows the section on Russia (16.6).
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