Reasearch+notes


 * //__ AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE NOTES  __//**
 * Events and leader **

- June 8, 1867 Franic Josephs crowned king of Hungary. ( The Habsburg Monarchy, Arthur J. May) - Ceremony would be the reconciliation of the ruler(Austrians) and ruled (Hungary) (The Habsburg Monarchy, Arthur J. May) - Some High class people were unhappy with reconciliation. -  The war of independence: refusal to grant equal rights to nationalities (Croats), - split between civilian and military leadership. - 1848, split between nationalities, blame upon Hungarians - 1848, Jellacic defeated by Hungarians, contribution in 1849 not decisive. - New government after split recognizes Hungarian as state language. - Irrational idea of Croats to separate from Hungary. - Under Jellacic croats wanted part of Austria (still under Metternich’s -  First joint sitting of delegations in 1869 -  Prime Minister Count Eduard Taffe (1879-1893) ruled from support of coalition of German, Poland, Czechs, Catholics and landowners, this was called “Iron Ring”. -  Dual Alliance of Austria-Hungary and Germany (1879) -  Women looked for rights of voting (1907) http://www.info-regenten.de/regent/regent-d/pictures/austria-franzjoseph.jpg

- Annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovnia (1908) - Austria-Hungary sends ultimatum to Serbia over Albania (1913) - Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and wife at Sarajevo (1914) - World War one begins (1914) - Italy declares war on Austria Hungary (1915) - Franz Josephs death, Emperor Charles takes place of Franz Josephs, also last Emperor. (1916) - Renunciation of Emperor’s executive powers. (1918) [|__http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/521432__] [|The decline and fall of the Habsburg Empire by Alan Sked]

- In 1867, Habsburg land was divided into an Austrian half and a Hungarian half. - No parliament power on Austrian half of empire, Emperor was responsible for government.. - Austria’s half controlled Czechs, Poles, Slovenes, Ruthenians, and Italians. - Major problem for Austria’s half was because of Czechs and Germans, Czechs wanted equality with Germans and Hungarians. - Czechs wanted triple Monarchy - Czechs demands were too extreme and strongly opposed by Hungarians, negotiations unexpectedly broken off in 1868. - Count Eduard Taaffe and his government helped improve Czechs equality with Germans, though soon caused outrage they felt their political supremacy was under attack.
 * Socio- political structure **

- Hungarian half of empire Magyars took more control of power then German did in Austria - Hungarian language compulsory everywhere including education, government, law, and railways. - By 20th century growth of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs called Yugoslvism, this caused concern. - Hungarians and Austrians found this growth a huge threat to unity of Empire. - Agreed that Serbian power needed to be destroyed, in 1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand was shot perfect pretext to destroy Serbia. - Main aims: Prevent Russian influence from spreading to Balkans or Mediterranean. / Gain land at Balkans at Turkey’s expense / Prevent Growth of South Slavs. - Political authority was of Emperor, cabinet ministers were his appointees. - Franz Josephs didn’t trust his appointees, refusing many reforms/measures. - Franz Josephs toyed with the idea of granting concession to Czechs on Bohemia - Bohemians demanded unity of lands of St. Wenceslas, also a treaty similar to Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich.

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 * Agriculture and the Economy **

- Since Dual Monarchy the economy dramatically changed. - Oscar Jaszi a pioneer of Austro-Hungarian studies, describes Economic unity of Habsburg provinces as “One of the most outstanding Centripetal forces”. - New technology changed the industrialization and the urbanization - By 20th century had a rapid economic growth, since 1870-1913 GNP rose roughly 1.45% every year. - Though their economy was nowhere close to counties like Britain and Germany who’s GNP was at least twice as much. http://icwip.hu/userfiles/Image/illusztracio/tajkep_eszak_balaton.jpg

- Agriculture districts of Galicia and Hungarian plain. - Coal mines of Silesia and Moravia - Heavy industries in upper and lower Austria. - Hungarian negotiators skillfully used Austrians dependence on Hungarian foodstuff to obtain generous terms of trade. - Austria-Hungary produced an average of nearly 105 million quintals of wheat and rye (1909-1913) - The 28,572,000 people of Austrian provinces consumed 41,338,605 quintals of flour per year (1909-1913) - 71 % of beef, 52 % of pork, 61 % of corn in Austria consumed between 1909-1913 originated outside of Cisleithanian provinces. - Most came from Hungary, the lands of the Crown of St. Stephen produced 92 % of flour, 97 % of cattle, 99 % of swine, and 56 % of maize imported by Austria (1909-1913) - The outbreak of World War One caused demands from all sectors of Austro-Hungarian economy. - WW1 caused a deficit between the supply of grains and demands of the population - By 1917 the deficit totaled to 137.8 million quintals, failing to provide for 40 percent of need. - Demands of Austro-Hungarian army, supplies of fertilizer, machinery, and draught animals were lacking on their farms. - In 1915 an estimate showed that they lost 1,930,000 horses to German buyers. - Loss of extensive amount of men during the war, also meant loss of men desperately needed for work on field - Until 1917 regions of Galicia and Bukovina suffered heaving fighting which subtracted the yield a lot. - Agriculture was one of Austro-Hungary’s main source of economy.

[] [|[[http://www.wien-vienna.com/austrohungary.php] EAST EUROPEAN QUARTERLY XXXIV No. 3 SEPTEMBER 2000


 * Transportation and Weaponry **

- Rail transport expanded rapidly, built a substantial core of railways from west originating from Vienna in 1841. - When realized that military might need railway, they started building more tracks,  by 1954 the Empire had almost 2000 km of track. - Hungary built 5839 km of track, by now many new areas began to gain interests in railway systems, and existing rail networks gained connections and interconnections. - In nineteenth century the Habsburg empire (also known as Austria-Hungary) were usually defeated by other Major European countries. - Emperor had supreme authority over all forces in time of war - Armed forces were lead by intimidated leaders. - Lack of weaponry in military, 1866 Prussian infantry had four to five times fire power than Austria’s. - Constant economizing lead to poor training of soldiers and especially underpaid company grade-officers. - Tactics still based on frontal attacks with fixed Bayonets. - Quartermaster corps were inefficient and corrupted - 1854 had an army of only 240,000 men. - Soon strengthened the army to 800,000 men (largest in Europe) -  Trouble mobilizing the army to battle scene, system of mobilizing much inferior of Prussian’s who took advantage of railway system. - Took nearly eight weeks to recruit men from homes, because of slow railway system. - One in five who were liable of service were called up for duty, many were sent back home after two years. - German was the language of command - Field officers were wealthy or sons of highly respected men - Austria-Hungary gave impression of being highly militaristic country.

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http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/sturm1.jpg

** Plagues and diseases ** -  Disease had played a major role in the decline of the Habsburg Empire -  The Germans were expanding all over Europe -  They were a ruling class in places such as Bohemia. -  Germans wanted to settle in towns and cities from where they can rule the country side. -  Crowded and unsanitary conditions in Cities led to serious disease problems, causing German ruling class population to decline. -  A gradual amount of Slavic migrants came to the cities to replenish the population -  Newcomers slowly became a part of the German culture, values, and been accepted into the ruling class. -  In the late 1800’s cholera epidemic (disease) severely declined German population in Habsburg cities. -  There was needed a large work force for industrialization. -  Leading to huge amount of Slavic migrants into the cities, overwhelming the German ruling class and culture -  Created conservative backlash against the Slavs -  Leading to growing resistance by Slavic nationalist groups against Germanized ruling class, almost causing more conservative reactions. -  Habsburg society became polarized between growing Slavic nationalities and ethnic groups, on the other hand mentality of the increasingly isolated and reactionary ruling classes.

http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/eme/18/FC118

** Climate and Geographic Factors ** . - Austro Hungary was 676,615 km2 - The centre of the empire was the great Hungarian plain

- Natural frontiers in the west (the Alps) - In the east was the Carpathians - The Balkan Mountains in the south. - Mountain regions on the outside protected from neighboring countries from attacking - The middle great for Agriculture. - Moist temperature, lot of rainy weather - Really cold and long winter - Summer warm but short

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