Austria-Hungary
(and English translation thereof)
en: The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen de: Die im Reichsrat vertretenen Konigreiche und Lander und die Lander der heiligen ungarischen Stephanskrone hu: A birodalmi tanacsban kepviselt kiralysagok es orszagok es a magyar Szent Korona orszagai
The union of Austria and Hungary, also known as the Dual (that of Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary) Monarchy. was a dualistic state (1867 –1918 C.E. ) in which Austria and Hungary each had a parliament to manage their domestic affairs. A joint cabinet then handled foreign affairs, military affairs, and finances.
The newly created Austro-Hungarian Empire was a good example of a marriage of convenience. 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. 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. Austrian military forces crushed the Czech revolt but the Hungarian Republic held out, until the arrival of 100,000 Russian troops helped the Austrian forces to prevail. 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 Austro-Hungarian Empire. This lasted 51 years before it was dissolved after World War I .
It was the rise of local mono-cultural nationalisms that led to the break-up of the Empire, when Slav nationalism resulted in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. heir to the Austrian throne on June 28, 1914 and Austria-Hungary was catapulted into the armed conflict that became World War I. The post-World War II European space of a European Union of states with free movement of people and of goods and pan-European human rights legislation at its center could be seen as resurrecting the Austro-Hungarian model. Many of the states that emerged, or re-emerged, as separate entities after the Empire’s collapse are now members of the European Union.