Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867-1919)

The political map Europe in the last 100 years has altered substantially. A clear example of this was the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1919 as one of the consequences of the First World War.

Origin of the alliance between Austrians and Hungarians

In the years prior to the creation of the Empire the Austrians had suffered major military defeats against the Prussians and, on the other hand, in 1866 the Germans expelled Austria from the Confederacy Germanic.

In parallel, the Hungarians had two strategic motivations: to promote marginalization in the Kingdom of Hungary to weaken ethnic and cultural minorities and increase their force military in order to preserve its sovereignty.

Both states decided to ally create a dual Empire. They shared the same emperor but continued to maintain their respective parliaments and cultural traditions.

The end of the Empire

The l World War not only generated death and destruction but also had political consequences. The instability of the Austro-Hungarian Empire controlled by the Habsburga dynasty worsened during the last phase of the Great War. In this sense, in 1916 Emperor Franz Joseph l died and in 1918 the Austro-Hungarian army suffered important defeats against Romanian, Italian and Serbian troops.

Unable to continue the war, the leaders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire decided to surrender in November 1918. This circumstance accelerated the declarations of independence of Slovakia and Serbia and in a few months Emperor Charles l took the decision to definitively dissolve the alliance between Austria and Hungary.

Data of interest

- The territories integrated into the Empire were in the southeastern part of Europe. They were made up of Austria and Hungary and, on the other hand, different territories of other nations (Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Montenegro, the Czech Republic and Romania). In total it had an area of ​​675,000 square km, a surface slightly larger than that of France.

- From the linguistic point of view, there were two official languages ​​(German and Hungarian) and languages ​​such as Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Romanian or Italian were spoken on its borders.

- From an ethnic point of view, cultural and religious there was also a great diversity and this circumstance was a constant threat for the stability of the Empire.

- Throughout its 52-year history there were two monarchs on the throne: Francisco José l and Carlos l (the latter se He remained on the throne for the last three years and after the dissolution of the Empire he was forced into exile in Swiss).

Photo: Fotolia - Piotr