THE DECLINE OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
Problems with the Empire
 Austria-Hungary faced problems similar to
Russia in 1800s
 Numerous languages, cultures, no modern
government
 Feudal system still in place, censorship used,
arrests of critics
 Ruled by a royal family for centuries and did
not embrace modernization
Revolution
 Revolution of 1848 – showed weakness of
government …
 National assembly and constitution
created
 Did not last because groups were not
united
 Minister of Foreign Affairs von
Metternich worked to put down ethnic
groups, radicals
Francis Joseph
Francis Joseph comes to the throne
for 68 year reign
He works to restore the old order
– conservative, dissolves
revolutionary assembly and
rejected the constitution
Austria loses land
in 1850s and 1860s in war
Dual Monarchy
 1867 – Franz Joseph grants Hungary some
freedoms
 Dual Monarchy created – he is king of
Austrian Empire and Kingdom of Hungary
 Two nations share foreign affairs, money but
not internal affairs … each with own
constitution, parliament and prime minister
 Reliant on each other economically (Austria
had manufacturing and Hungary had food
products)
Minorities in the Empire
 System worked for a while, but problems
erupted
 3/5 of people in A-H were Slavs with no
rights (Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Serbs,
Montenegrins, Bosnians all wanted a
Slav kingdom)
The Balkan Peninsula
 The Balkan Region of Europe known as “powder keg of
Europe”
 Region of ethnic/religious hatred for 100s of years
(even war in 1990s)
 Where Muslim world meets Christian world … where
differing forms of Christianity (Catholic and
Orthodox) meet …
centuries of war,
bloodshed, and
massacres.
Revolt
 Ottoman Empire (Muslim) had
dominated for centuries, but in decline
in mid-1800s
 Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria rise up …
Turks brutally putting down revolts
 Russia comes to aid of fellow Slavs
against Turks in Serbia
 Great Britain wants to contain Russia
so joins in on side of Turks (France and
others join and beat Russia in Crimean
War in 1854)
 A-H Empire tries to take advantage of this and
take land
 Various ethnic groups in this region want
independence
 Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia
(today independent
states)
 1877 Russia goes to war with Turkey “on
behalf of Slavic people” and wins large
piece of Bulgaria … Treaty of San Stefano
angers many in Europe … particularly
Britain who fears Russian expansion
 Jingoism (extreme patriotism, usually
provoked by perceived foreign threat,
comes from British song) became the
mood of Europe by late 1800s
Congress of Berlin
 Congress of Berlin tries to establish
stability, but pleases nobody
 By early 1900s … Balkan League of
Nations defeats Turkey in 1912 war
 Its own members turn on each other by
1913
 France, Britain, Germany all try to
contain these conflicts
 Fear Russia or A-H getting too powerful
Powder Keg
 By the beginning of the 20th century,
it is clear that this region of Europe
would be the likely place that a huge
war would erupt.