Essay


 * __ ESSAY By: Malick Ahmed __**

The Austro-Hungarian Empire came into power in 1867; when Hungary demanded for its independence, Emperor Francis Josephs agreed to divide the empire into two, a Austrian half and an Hungarian half. The empire was once believed to become one of the elite and most powerful countries in Europe. With a sound political structure and a well balanced agriculture there was no sign of decline. Though, the same reasons for the rise soon backfired, when different ethnicities began to demand for their rights. With ten different nationalities, there were soon to be problems. World War One caused a huge loss of agriculture resulting in failure of providing food for 40 percent of the population. A weak and unstructured military just added to the decline of the Empire__. An important lesson that we can learn from the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is that, there strongly needs to be unity and equality within a country for it to prosper.__ Firstly, Austria-Hungary’s (Habsburg) militaristic structure was very poor, even though they had 800,000 men in their army (largest in Europe), it took them nearly eight weeks to recruit their men and reach battlefield(1). Their small railway system was impossible to move the force in an efficient speed. Old and outdated technology only added to the problem, the Prussian army had four to five times the firepower then of the Habsburg Empire. There was constant economizing going on which led to poorly trained and armed soldiers (1). The armed forces were lead on the battlefield by intimidated leaders, much of whom were products of really rich elites. Right now Canada could really benefit if they understood the fact that a strong military force is always needed. In February of 1959, Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker decided to cancel the production of Avro CF-105 Arrow, a highly technologic plane; he also stopped Canada from becoming a nuclear power country. Being such a non-militaristic country, Canada could be in a huge disadvantage if a neighboring country, for example U.S.A decided to invade it. For a country to remain dominant they must have a strong military. World War One played a huge role in the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the war did a lot of damage to the agriculture part of the empire. Austria-Hungary’s agriculture was very efficient in their beginning years, producing over 105 million quintals of flour every year, more than enough to feed the entire nation. Most of the agriculture came from  Hungary, producing     97 % of cattle, 99 % of swine, and 56 % of maize. (2) By the time World War One began, the demand for food rose to a point that was unbearable for the farms. Unable to meet the demands in 1917 of 137.8 million quintals of flour and grain, led to 40 % of the population starving (2). Demands of the Austro-Hungarian army for fertilizers and draught animals were also lacking in farms, an estimate in 1915 shows that they lost 1,930,000 horses to German buyers, when they could have used those horses for their own army as oppose to selling them (2). With the war desperately needing men meant very few were left to work on the field, mostly women and children had to do what the men did, meaning slow and inefficient work. Galicia was also one of the main agricultural districts of Austro-Hungary, but until 1917 Galicia suffered heavy fighting which subtracted a lot of yield (2). Before the war even started Austro-Hungary should have tried to expand their agriculture all around their empire, rather then being dependant on a couple of provinces. The inequality in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was perhaps the biggest reason for the decline of the empire. Many ethnic groups wanted rights for themselves; the Czechs for example wanted the same rights as of Germans and the Hungarians, also presenting an obscured idea of a triple Monarchy. The demands from Czechs were too extreme and were strongly opposed by the Hungarians, in 1868 the negotiations were unexpectedly broken off(3). Though, Count Eduard Taaffe and his government helped Czechs with gaining equal rights, but soon it caused an outrage from Germans who felt that their political supremacy was under attack. The Germans were expanding all over  Europe; they wanted to settle in places towns and cities from where they can rule the country side. A disease called cholera epidemic spread in Habsburg cities in the late 1800’s causing a huge decline in the German population (4). There was a great need of people for industrialization, a huge number of Slavs came into the cities, overwhelming the German population. Habsburg society became polarized between growing Slavic nationalities and ethnic groups, on the other hand mentality of the increasingly isolated and reactionary ruling classes. Hungary having most of the agriculture in the empire, took full advantage of the fact that almost every province including Austria were dependant on them for food. The Hungarian negotiators skillfully traded with other provinces, and mostly benefited themselves. This ethnic diversity and inequality led to the assassination of the Archduke, which in turn was the result of World War One. This is a big lesson for the world since Africa is treading on the same path as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As the world can see different ethnicity in Africa is leading to civil war, as well as interstate wars. If continued, the continent of Africa can have a major war. Every country should really focus on trying to build a well structured economy and Military force as well as a well balanced political sphere. Though most important lesson we can learn is that equality is a must in a country with diversity of ethnicity. All of the factors leading to the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, can be a huge lesson for the World, if they wish to continue to prosper, and especially to prevent for a third World War to start, which could quite likely end mankind. The history may repeat itself, so it is important to learn from it. Habsburg Empire might have still existed and there might have not been a World War, if they had kept their population diversity problem in check.

(1) "Austria The Habsburg Military ." DEC 1993. 1 May 2009 <[]>. (2) Wargelin, Clifford F.. "Agriculture and Economy." // East European Quarterly //   3(2000): Print. (3) "Habsburg Empire Line." // World History at KMLA //. 27 NOV 2008. 27 APR 2009 < []  >. (4) "Disease and the Decline of the Hapsburg Empire in the Late 1800's ." 2007. 1 May 2009 <[]    >.