The Austro-Hungarian Empire was formed in 1867 on the basis of an agreement between the ruling elites of the two countries.

The Austrian Empire included the Czech Republic, Moravia, Galicia and Bukovina, and Hungary included Slovakia, Croatia and Transylvania.

In the same year, a new constitution of the empire was adopted. According to it, the general ruler of the empire was the Emperor of Austria. The emperor was a representative of the Habsburg dynasty. This dynasty led the empire from 1867 to 1918. During the formation of the empire, Franz Joseph II was emperor.

In Austria, imperial power was officially limited by the Reichstag, and in Hungary by the Diet. Consequently, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a constitutional monarchy.

After the creation of the empire, 3 imperial ministries were formed: 1. External Affairs. 2. Naval. 3. Financial. The remaining ministries functioned independently for each of the two parts of the empire. Hungary had its own parliament, executive power, political and administrative autonomy. The majority of the empire's population consisted of conquered Slavic peoples.

Economic development of Austria-Hungary

In the last quarter of the 19th century, Austria-Hungary was one of the most backward countries in Europe. The preserved remnants of feudalism in the country led to a slowdown in the pace of industrial progress compared to the advanced countries of Europe.

In the 1990s, the urban population accounted for only one third of the total population of Austria-Hungary. Even in Austria, the most developed part of the empire, the majority of the population was rural.

The Austro-Hungarian agreement concluded in 1867 was a definite impetus for the economic development of Hungary. The metallurgical industry began to develop on the basis of Hungary's coal base. But the main industrial sector in Hungary was still the food industry. In 1898, Hungary produced half of the empire's food production.

In the industrial regions of the country - Lower Austria and the Czech Republic - the process of concentration of production and the formation of monopolies was proceeding at a rapid pace.
By the beginning of the 20th century, loan capital was concentrated mainly in several large banks in Vienna. The role of the financial oligarchy in the life of the country has increased.

Another characteristic feature of the empire’s progress was its growing dependence on foreign capital. The banks of France, Belgium, and Germany flooded Austria with their capital by investing in industry. Such industries of Austria-Hungary as metallurgy, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, etc., were financially supported by German firms. In textile and engineering enterprises, the position of German capital was very strong. German capital also broke into agriculture. 200,000 hectares of land in Austria belonged to German landowners.

Social movement

The workers of the empire fought for their rights. For example, in 1869, a massive demonstration of workers was held in the imperial capital of Vienna. The demonstrators demanded democratic freedoms.
In response, the government accused the leaders of the labor movement of treason. The court sentenced them to long imprisonment.
The Austrian government, following the example of Bismarck, introduced an “emergency law” against the labor movement in 1884. The law authorized the tightening of police terror against the labor movement. By the end of the 1980s, trade unions were dissolved and the publication of workers' newspapers was suspended. Despite this, the workers continued to fight. For example, in 1889 the Austrian Social Democratic Party (ASDP) was created. The party program included provisions such as the provision of political freedoms, the adoption of a law on the election of parliament through general, equal, direct and secret voting, the separation of church and state, schools from the church, and a reduction in the working day.
Due to the intensification of the labor movement in 1907, the government was forced to pass an election reform law. Men at the age of 24 received voting rights.

National liberation movement

Chauvinistic forces seeking to preserve the colonial position of the Slavic peoples created their own political parties. One of these parties was called the Pan-German Union, and the other was the Christian Socialist Party.

The leaders of the Christian Socialist Party, most of whom were Austrian Catholics, promoted the idea of ​​a “Greater Germany” along with the agitation of class peace, a call for the resolution of all social contradictions “in the spirit of community and love” and the propaganda of anti-Semitism. But the ruling circles could not stop the national liberation movement of the Slavic people.

The Czech opposition demanded that the Czech Republic be given political rights. The government responded by intensifying repression. In 1868, a blockade was even introduced in the Czech Republic. But this did not break the Czech opposition. The struggle continued. And finally, in 1880, bilingualism was introduced in the Czech Republic for the conduct of judicial and administrative matters. Since 1882, education in two languages ​​(German and Czech) began at the University of Prague.

The Ukrainian population in Galicia was also under national oppression. The Austrian government, having concluded an agreement with the ruling classes of Galicia, gave them leadership of the region.

In the last decades of the 19th century, national oppression increased even more. The Ukrainian population in Transcarpathia was “Hungarianized”. Croatia was constantly in a state of war or emergency, and popular discontent was suppressed.

The government responded to the Croatian national liberation movement in 1912 by dissolving the Croatian Sejm and suspending the constitution.

Economic crisis

In 1912, Austria-Hungary experienced a severe economic crisis. As a result, large industrial and commercial enterprises went bankrupt. The export potential of the empire sharply decreased. The ruling circles of the empire further intensified national oppression, as a result of which the economic and national liberation struggle intensified.
Despite the difficult situation, the ruling circles of the empire began to actively participate in Austria's aggressive policy in the Balkans. The army was transformed. This meant that the empire was preparing for war. In the capital of Hungary, Budapest, a demonstration of many thousands was held against the unification of the country, national oppression and preparations for war.

General discontent led to mass strikes by workers. Police forces were sent against the demonstrators. As a result, Budapest was filled with barricades. But the forces were not equal, and the workers were forced to suspend the strike.

The social movement and national liberation struggle of the Slavic peoples that were part of the empire marked the entry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into a deep period of crisis.

The idea of ​​trialism began to spread widely in the ruling circles of the country and in political organizations. The idea of ​​trialism meant the transformation of the empire into a federation that included Austria, Hungary and the lands of the Slavic peoples that were part of the empire, uniting all three countries on an equal basis. But the ruling circles, fearing the strengthening of the Slavic part of the federation, rejected the idea of ​​trialism.

This became the reason for the aggravation of internal contradictions of the empire on the eve of the First World War.

Federation (Latin foederatio - union, association) is a single union state consisting of state entities that have a certain political independence in territorial terms.
Loan - provision of something on the terms of a guarantor, return of what is provided and payment

AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE, the traditional name of the state created and led by the Habsburg dynasty in the XII-XX centuries on the territory of modern Austria, proclaimed an empire in 1804 and transformed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867. Collapsed in 1918 as a result of the crisis generated by the First World War, social and national movements of the early twentieth century.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire significantly surpassed all the European empires of the Middle Ages and modern times in terms of duration of existence, demonstrating exceptional stability in a number of serious crises, but could not find a new model of existence in modern and modern times. For a long time it could be considered the most ethnically diverse state in Europe, in which, moreover, not a single nation had a majority since the 16th century. There were not so many unifying forces in the empire, essentially only a dynasty and bureaucracy, there was not much in common between its subjects, but at the same time, neither a replacement for regional nationalism nor a mode of existence of the empire that would satisfy the majority of groups of its population was proposed .

Most of the lands that formed the core of the future Austrian Empire had long been part of the Holy Roman Empire and were subordinated to the Duchy of Bavaria. Over the years, many lands were laid aside, becoming bishoprics, like Salzburg and Tyrol, or becoming separate domains, like Styria (1180) and Carinthia (976). Among them was a small margrave, which existed separately since 1156, created in the territory of what is now Lower Austria, called “ostarrichi” (“eastern mark”), created by Otto I to ensure the protection of his lands from Hungarian raids from the east. It is from this designation that the modern designation “Österreich” comes from, in the Russian tradition “Austria”. The lands of the Margraviate, created initially as a buffer formation for protection from the Hungarians, first belonged to the Babenberg family, who, through a series of successful marriages, including twice becoming related to the German emperors, significantly expanded their possessions. By the time the Babenberg family died out, almost the entire territory of present-day Austria was under their control - Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Styria and Carinthia. However, although the territorial basis of the future Austro-Hungarian Empire was created precisely then, the empire itself was erected by the German Habsburgs, who, starting in the 1280s, laid claim to local lands and fought for a long time to gain them.

The Babenberg possessions passed in 1246 to the Bohemian king Ottokar Przemysl, who unsuccessfully laid claim to the imperial throne of the Holy Roman Empire. A representative of the Habsburg family was chosen as emperor, and the result of the elections was a long war that ended with the defeat and death of the Bohemian ruler, and the transfer of all his possessions into the hands of the victors, and primarily the family of the current emperor. The annexation of the territory of modern Austria to the Habsburg possessions should be called the starting point of the history of the Austrian Empire.

The Habsburg dynasty itself has been known since the 11th century, and is named after the castle “Havisberch” or “Habichtsburg” (“castle of the hawks”) in what is now the Swiss canton of Aargau, in the north of modern Switzerland, where the family settled around the end of the 11th century, according to the chronicle of a local monastery the founder of the castle was a certain Guntram the Rich, perhaps the same one who was expelled from the possessions of Otto I at approximately the same period on charges of treason. The family played a major role in the political life of the region, especially in the period from 1273, when its representative, Count Rudolf, was elected German Emperor. Although he was never crowned, he de facto carried out administrative functions, which significantly increased the prestige of the family.

A distinctive feature of the process of expansion of Austrian possessions since the Middle Ages was the strategy of margins. In accordance with the later formulated principle “Bella gerant alii; to Felix Austria Nube" (“ Happy Austria, let the rest fight, and you get married”), even when they were the owners of only Swiss possessions, the Habsburg family intermarried with the ruling families throughout the region and successfully expanded their domain, laying claim to the territory by right of kinship. Only one of many families that controlled parts of the local territory in the 10th century, by the 13th century it had significantly expanded its possessions by annexing lands with the owners of which it was related, the line of which was extinguished for one reason or another. The acquired financial capabilities and successful military campaigns allowed the Habsburgs to acquire more and more lands. As a consequence of the gradual expansion of their possessions towards the archducal title as rulers of Austria, members of the family later became margraves of Styria and Moravia, dukes of Silesia, Carinthia and Styria, counts of Tyrol, kings of Bohemia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Dalmatia, princes of Transylvania, and later emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. The crown of Poland was almost won, the Habsburg prince Ernst twice appeared as a candidate for the Polish throne, but first a representative of the house of Valois was elected, and then Istvan Batory.

Already at the early stage of building the empire, the Habsburg dynasty was faced with problems that later became its Achilles heel - the diversity of the population subordinate to its rulers and the presence of mutually exclusive interests of its groups.

Problems regularly arose in the Swiss possessions, and since the end of the 13th century the cantons had united in attempts to defend their independence, especially in the field of appointing judges, which the Habsburgs insisted on the right to appoint. The economic motives of the conflict gave additional urgency, and the Swiss cantons and the Habsburg central government considered it their natural right to extract all the profits from trade transit and the benefits of the strategic location of Switzerland. A long conflict, some events of which, such as the successful Battle of Morgarten for the cantons, the date of which is still celebrated as a national holiday, ultimately did not bring good luck to the dynasty, in 1415 the Swiss peasantry succeeded in expelling the Habsburgs even from their traditional stronghold in Aargau, and with At that time, their family took the name “House of Austria.” The struggle of the cantons with the “house” is seen as of great importance for the final creation of the Swiss Confederation - later, in the fight against Habsburg politics, powerful national movements arose in several regions of the empire in a similar way.

Despite certain setbacks in building the empire, the Habsburg position strengthened significantly over time. Traditionally, the Holy Roman Empire tried to elect weak rulers to the throne of the empire, but in 1542 the first Habsburg in this post in two hundred and fifty years, Frederick III, was elected, and was so successful in diplomacy and collecting lands that over the next three and a half centuries only one of the emperors was not from the Habsburg family. Thus, the family combined in its hands political power and vast hereditary holdings in Central and Eastern Europe, known collectively as the "Hereditary Lands", covering the territory of modern Austria and fragments of modern Italy, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia. The traditional black and yellow flag of the monarchy existed precisely as a sign of its connection with the Holy Roman Empire, and the very political scheme, in which representatives of the house led all German lands, was called the “First Reich”.

A series of marriages with the aim of creating strategic alliances gave a rather unexpected result in the European arena - thanks to the extinction of dynasties with which the Habsburgs had previously entered into marriage relations (through the marriage of a representative of the family to the daughter of the Burgundian ruler Charles the Bold, and then the marriage of the heir who emerged from this union with the heiress united Aragon and Castile), they acquired large possessions in Western Europe: Franche-Comté, the Netherlands, Spain and the latter’s possessions in the New World, and under Charles V the empire itself was formed. In 1522 he transferred the so-called. the “hereditary” possessions of the family to his brother, Archduke Ferdinand, and left Western Europe and their colonies for himself. Thus the beginning of the “Spanish Habsburgs” and the “Austrian Habsburgs” was laid. Ironically, the possessions of the western branch eventually went to the Bourbons, while the eastern dynasty retained them. Ferdinand and his heirs successfully expanded their domain, both in the traditional way through marries and by participating in the fight against the Turkish danger. It was thanks to these two instruments that Hungary was annexed to the possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs.

In 1526, Hungary, left without allies, lost the Battle of Mohács; the Hungarian King Louis (Lajos), from the Jagiellon dynasty, died during the retreat. Modern Hungarian historiography claims that the Hungarian aristocracy, even having lost Buda and suffered severely, first rejoiced at getting rid of such a king as Louis showed himself to be, and only then grieved at the ruin. Ferdinand of Habsburg had recently become related to the Jagiellons, marrying his granddaughter to Louis, and was his overlord as the leader of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and because of this, he formally claimed the rights to the possessions of the Hungarian crown - Hungary and Bohemia itself, and then Croatia. The Hungarian aristocracy considered it best for the most part to support his claims, rightly seeing in the Habsburgs the only real force in the region, capable at this stage of competing with the Ottoman Empire. In December 1526, Ferdinand was proclaimed King of Hungary in Presburg (present-day Bratislava). However, for almost a century, only the Principality of Transylvania and a fragment of present-day Slovakia were outside Turkish influence from the possessions of King Louis. These lands were known as "Royal Hungary". The part of Hungary that found itself in the hands of the Turks was formally led by the Habsburgs’ competitor in the struggle for the Hungarian throne, János Zapolyai, who was elected by a group of local feudal lords as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. The fact that Zápolyai was perceived by Vienna as a serious candidate for the title of Hungarian king is evidenced by the fact that after the victory over his troops, Ferdinand was crowned King of Hungary again, in November 1527. Most of Hungary, however, remained in the hands of the Turks, and the region was always turbulent. During the period of Turkish control, approximately 150 years, there were 99 beglerbeys in Buda, and during the same period only six representatives of the Habsburg dynasty on the imperial throne in neighboring Austria. The way things were in the Turkish-controlled part of Hungary is evidenced by the fact that the forests on the Pannonian Plain were largely destroyed in the process of fighting the local rebel movement, in the hope of depriving it of refuge.

The threat of Turkish invasions further served to expand the Habsburg possessions: the Croatian council elected Ferdinand king in 1527, as the heir to the Hungarian crown, and on the condition that he would provide protection from the Turks, then also expressed the wish that the Croatian lands be included in the “hereditary ", while the alternative Sabor elected the same Zapolyai as Croatian ruler. The question of the legality of the Habsburg rights to Croatia was subsequently raised several times, and in historiography there is a tendency to consider the decision of the council a personal union.

Ferdinand was also crowned King of Bohemia, which was formally dependent on Hungary, invoking the rights of his wife, bypassing the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty, although he failed at this stage to gain recognition of his dynastic rights. As a Bohemian king, he also became the ruler of the dependent Silesia and Moravia. Although this first attempt to leave the throne of the Czech lands in the hands of the dynasty failed, in the long historical perspective the Habsburgs nevertheless turned out to be the dynasty that ruled the Czech lands for the longest period. They came to power there more than once - first after the Przemyslids in 1306, then after the Hussite wars, and ultimately in the 16th century under Ferdinand I they finally strengthened their rights as rulers, delegating 17 kings in a row to the local throne.

In addition to the actual territorial expansion of his possessions and the acquisition of significant political prestige, Ferdinand also carried out important administrative reforms, the order he established lasted until the revolutions of the 1840s. At this stage, many of the difficulties that were inherent in this particular method of building an empire became apparent. The Habsburg Empire was called patchwork even in the early stages of its existence, it consisted of many domains, and its rulers repeatedly tried to centralize control, but reforms of this kind encountered resistance from the local nobility, and the need to comply with the conditions that they set when entering the empire, since usually she received lands not by right of conquest, but by virtue of various family ties. Tyrol, for example, went to the Habsburgs when the branch of local counts ended; the last countess in the 14th century were cousins, and in order to take over, the emperors had to make a number of concessions to the local elite, giving the inhabitants of the region a number of privileges that remained until the First World War. Signed in 1342, the document regulating the relations of the empire with its new possession is sometimes even called the first constitution in continental Europe. The Swiss conflict was caused by the Habsburgs' attempts to impose their power and will on the cantons, with the goal of undivided control of a strategically important region, and this policy came into conflict with the interests of the cantons themselves. The civil strife between Ferdinand's sons also complicated the situation of the imperial power, since its participants generously made concessions to their supporters. Under Rudolf Habsburg, in the last quarter of the 16th century, fragmentation of the empire was avoided; at the request of the subjects themselves, a refusal to divide possessions into hereditary ones was proclaimed.

The Thirty Years' War that followed in the 17th century was dictated by the privileges given to various groups of nobility - in order to ensure the dynasty of the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, it was necessary to control the throne of Bohemia, and a representative of the empire was elected as its king, but on the conditions of maintaining religious freedom, and the violation of these conditions resulted in the first quarter of the 17th century, a great war that engulfed the entire region between present-day Denmark and the Czech Republic. And even despite the determination in Bohemia to put an end to Protestantism, and the decree inviting its adherents to leave the kingdom within six months or convert to Catholicism, in “royal Hungary” they still had to refuse to implement the same policy at this historical stage. Already the administrative reform itself under Ferdinand was carried out with an eye on the diversity of customs and laws in different parts of the empire; the highest and judicial and administrative bodies had several departments, each dealing with its own separate region.

It is the diversity of the empire and the need to constantly take it into account that explains the Habsburgs’ determination to side with the Catholic Church. Many authoritative researchers believe that the house defended Catholicism for the sake of protecting the unity of the church, not wanting to complicate the already problematic situation of its empire, inhabited by very different groups from each other, and the flourishing of religious strife, in the face of the constantly pressing Turkish threat. One way or another, having supported the Catholic Church, as a result of the religious wars of the 17th century (although in this case the religious wars overlapped with political conflicts, so Catholic France could have ended up on opposite sides of the barricades with Austria), the Habsburgs retained their positions in Central Europe. Austria did not receive territorial increments, but in accordance with the terms of the Peace of Westphalia, its rulers were free to impose the Catholic faith on their subjects, and strengthened the foundation of the empire by redistributing estates, property and titles of their Protestant subjects in favor of their supporters. The counter-reformation was carried out decisively, and the church for a long time won a prominent position in the Habsburg empire. Although in the end the House of Austria had to abandon its strictness towards Protestants in 1606, under the terms of the “Peace of Vienna” freedom of religion was declared.

The army of the empire, already in the Thirty Years' War, revealed its main weaknesses, which remained with the armed forces of Austria-Hungary almost until the historical finale of the empire: it had to be created from contingents sent by the subjects of the emperors who had significant autonomy, and financed from funds allocated at their discretion by the same subjects (who often had to make concessions), it was difficult to control their behavior during campaigns and directly on the battlefield, and sometimes it was not possible at all; various kinds of abuses in the service flourished, from the sale of supplies to the sale of ranks. It was precisely because of the existence of the above factors that at the beginning of the 16th century Ferdinand I established the Military Border, a buffer zone for protection against Turkish aggression, placing garrisons there first of mercenaries, and then, due to the high cost of their maintenance, of military colonists, mainly refugees from the south , from the territory occupied by the Ottoman Empire, mainly Serbs, who were granted economic and social privileges and freedom of religion - the territory of the future Serbian Krajina and an area of ​​intense inter-ethnic conflict. Nevertheless, the Habsburgs managed to more or less successfully go through the difficult period from the Thirty Years' War to the War of the Spanish Succession, between which conflicts the war with the Turks, which was largely decisive for the whole of Europe, took place.

Charles VI, who unsuccessfully claimed the possessions of the Spanish Habsburgs, at one time signed an agreement with his Austrian relatives, according to which representatives of the dynasties had the right to inherit each other’s possessions, and an additional one, which granted the right to inherit the throne to their daughters. By that time, both branches of the family had only daughters; Karl's son did not live long. After the death of the head of the Austrian house, his brother, Charles inherited his possessions, and, bypassing his nieces, delegated his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, to the throne - the first and last woman on the throne. The document that determined precisely this order of inheritance was called the “Pragmatic Sanction”; its postulates were confirmed both by representatives of the various lands that became part of the empire, and by all the main houses of Europe, in exchange for various kinds of concessions, and to a large extent to the detriment of privileges central government. The entire approval process within the empire itself took four years. Following the death of her father, Maria Theresa ascended the throne as empress, and during her reign the name of the ruling house was changed to Habsburg-Lorraine, after her husband, the Duke of Lorraine. Despite hard work in the field of diplomacy in the last years of Charles’s reign, the empire, led by the new empress, had to endure a military conflict with opponents of her accession to the throne, known as the “War of the Austrian Succession,” primarily with the German princes, which was then interrupted long tradition of delegating the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor to the throne. It was occupied by the Bavarian prince Karl-Albert, who took possession of Bohemia, but, however, only for a few years, his son (whose wife was from the Habsburgs) refused to continue the war with the powerful neighbor - Theresa to the throne of the emperor. It was possible to resolve the remaining conflicts that arose, although at a rather high cost - the transfer of Silesia to Prussia should be considered a particularly major loss, the empire also lost Sicily and Naples, the empress's husband lost his hereditary lands in Lorraine. An unexpected result of the war was an alliance with France, the traditional enemy of the Habsburgs, secured by the marriage of the youngest daughter of Maria Theresa and the French king Louis XVI. This alliance, in which the Russian Empire was also involved for some time, became involved in an attempt to return Silesia to Austria-Hungary, which resulted in the Seven Years' War, which ended in vain for all participants.

Empress Maria Theresa, who later ruled as regent for her eldest son, Joseph, made attempts to reform the empire starting in 1749. In the economic field, some progress was achieved, especially in the period immediately after the Seven Years' War. The process of the planned centralization was very difficult and slow; uniformity in the tax system was introduced only in Bohemia and Austria, as well as the creation of a court independent from the local administration, although Maria Theresa succeeded in taxing the Hungarian nobility, becoming the first ruler to do this in previous years. five centuries. Greater success was achieved in limiting the power of the church (although the empress was always a devout Catholic); measures were taken in a wide range from transferring the regulation of the number of days off for religious reasons into the hands of the empress to the ban on reading papal encyclicals in churches without prior approval from the empress. Joseph, when he came to the throne, acted in a similar way, although during his reign certain adjustments were made to the general strategy of the empire. For example, if his mother was a zealous Catholic, then under her son, religious communities were granted equality, and monasteries were deprived of many privileges and a significant part of their property.

Joseph II tried to build on his mother's successes in the matter of centralization, starting right from the moment of his accession to the throne - since under such emperors traditionally confirmed local privileges and liberties, he refused the coronation (and for this earned the nickname “King with the Hat”). Attempts at reform under Joseph II, called “Josephism” or “Josephinism”, or also “enlightened absolutism”, included the establishment of German as the only official language for all regions of the empire except Italy and Belgium, the centralization of the government system by abolishing traditional local administrative units and replacing them with new ones, subordinate to the imperial authorities, weakening the dependence of peasants on landowners, reform of courts and legislation, measures to stimulate crafts and internal trade, further weakening of the position of the church (so decisive that the Pope himself came to visit the emperor in the hope of persuading him to abolish some decreed measures), and the “Edict of Tolerance” issued in 1781, designed to harmonize interfaith relations in the empire. Many of his reforms ended unsuccessfully, many did not go far enough, many were canceled by the emperor on his deathbed, and their final curtailment in subsequent years greatly disappointed many sections of society and laid the foundation for many future problems.

The first serious attempt to create a unified identity for the inhabitants of the empire dates back to this time, which is associated with the name of Count von Stadion, who held the post of Chancellor, with some support from members of the imperial house. As far as one can judge, the unity of the territory and loyalty to the ruling house were put at the forefront, in the hope of erasing ethnic differences over time, but this undertaking was not successful, both due to the half-hearted nature of the measures themselves and due to the lack of real and serious support from the immediate ruling emperor

The first attempts to gain a foothold outside of Europe date back to this period. Austria tried to expand trade in the West Indies in the 1720s, but the Ostend Company, formed on the basis of Belgian economic assets and businessmen, quickly became bankrupt. There were several trading posts in Hindustan in the 1770s. Under Joseph II, from 1778 to 1785, an Austrian colony existed on the Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean, but the company that created it as its own commercial enterprise went bankrupt and the colony ceased to exist.

At this stage, the territorial expansion of the empire occurred through a combination of its strategic position and diplomacy: the Austrian Empire was not interested in the division of Poland, but nevertheless agreed to participate in it, receiving Galicia, and then took possession of Bukovina, receiving it as compensation for the successes of the Russian Empire in the struggle against Turkey - in a struggle in which Austria itself did not participate. Even from three unsuccessful wars with revolutionary France, Austria still managed to benefit by receiving Salzburg, until then an independent possession of the local archbishop, at its disposal, as compensation for the lost Italian and German possessions - and moreover, when these latter were returned to it, Salzburg she still has it. Austria was able to get rid of the very unpleasant prospects of losing even more by the traditional way of increasing the strength of the Habsburgs - by marrying the daughter of Emperor Franz to Napoleon.

It was at this stage that Austria formally became an empire in its own right - ironically, just at the beginning of a century in which its imperial status was constantly being tested. The next Habsburg ruler, Francis II, abolished the Holy Roman Empire, fearing that otherwise Napoleon would be elected its emperor, and in 1804 proclaimed the Austrian Empire, with the hereditary rights of the Habsburg family to its throne. The end of the Napoleonic Wars took place in the imperial capital of Vienna, at a congress where the victorious powers carried out a de facto repartition of Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was replaced by a confederation of almost 40 independent administrative units, with Austria as the overall leader and arbiter, and the Habsburgs compensated for the lost territories in Belgium by expanding their influence in the Apennines, and in addition, in Tuscany, Modena and Parma, which were formally independent of them, relatives were installed on the thrones Emperor. The produced section was secured by the so-called. The "Holy Alliance", a bloc of conservative monarchies committed to maintaining and defending the "status quo". However, Austria gradually lost influence in Germany, and especially after the organization of a customs union in Germany in the 1830s.

The revolution in France and its echoes throughout Europe had a very negative impact on the mentality of the Austrian emperors, for whom foreign policy problems often dictated how to solve domestic problems, and the well-known tendency of the Austrian emperors towards conservatism and absolutism directly follows from this circumstance. Emperor Francis I, and then the council of regents appointed by him, replacing his mentally ill son Ferdinand, consistently pursued a conservative domestic policy. There were also supporters of reforms in the ruling house, such as Archduke Karl, who managed to inflict Napoleon’s first defeat in Europe at the Battle of Aspern-Essling, and for this was awarded a monument in the center of Vienna as a counterpart to the famous Eugene of Savoy. But over the next almost forty years, he did not receive a single major position, precisely because of the distrust of the ruling conservatives at court in his reformist aspirations. The period from the end of the Napoleonic Wars to the revolutions of 1848 was called the “era of Metternich,” an Austrian chancellor whose power seemed almost limitless, a staunch supporter of absolutism, and deeply suspicious of nationalism. Despite positive changes in the economy - in the 30 years after the Congress of Vienna, coal production increased ninefold, and the volume of textile industry production increased sixfold - the development of the empire was greatly complicated by a clumsy and inflexible bureaucracy. Her activities are most clearly illustrated by the case of a lawsuit for the amount of six florins, which ultimately had to be resolved by the emperor personally, despite the fact that this court case had gone through 48 instances before him. Conservatism, adherence to absolutism and all-out opposition to any measures that could lead to a weakening of the power of the emperor and the court, and even comprehensive monitoring of the mood in society, up to reading letters and members of the ruling house, ultimately did not allow the Austrian Empire to avoid revolutionary upheavals in 1840s.

1848, the “year of revolutions,” began for the empire with anti-government protests in Italy, and then the situation in Hungary, the traditionally privileged territory of the monarchy, sharply worsened, and the Viennese liberals took an example from the behavior of its representatives. At first, several loyal petitions were submitted to the emperor with requests to create bodies of representative power in the country, then riots broke out in Vienna, leading to casualties, and the situation in Bohemia, Croatia, Galicia and Hungary looked very unpleasant. Small concessions, such as the resignation of Metternich or the adoption of a constitution, failed to pacify society. The constitution created a bicameral parliament, the lower house of which was elected by taxpayers, but with an absolute imperial veto on its decisions, but the assembled parliament not only did not demonstrate loyalty, but also rejected the constitution itself as an insufficient measure. The situation in Vienna was so unstable and so often resulted in open disobedience to the authorities that in two years the imperial court had to move twice to other cities - first to Innsbruck, then to Olomouc, and other authorities also had to leave the imperial capital for a while. The performance in Bohemia had to be suppressed with the use of artillery. Having regained control over the western part of the empire, its administration rejected the version of the constitution developed by parliament (i.e., the “Kremzier Constitution” after the German name of the town where legislators met, now Kromeriz in the Czech Republic), which provided for the division of the territory into compact ethnically homogeneous districts with governing powers for at its own level, with a popularly elected parliament in Vienna to which regional authorities would report, and the emperor would have only a limited veto in such a system. The imperial army dispersed the meeting and a new constitution was introduced, the so-called. “March”, which still provided for the presence of an elected legislative body, but with the absolute authority of the emperor on his decisions.

The situation in Hungary developed even more unpleasantly for the empire. In Hungary, for two decades there have been attempts to follow a completely different strategy from the strategy dictated from Vienna. Although the aristocracy remained in force, and rather inert, whose worldview was largely determined by the principle “A paraszt nem ember” (“the peasant is not a man”), from the 1820s the “Era of Reform” began, marked by a considerable number of progressive changes supported part of the nobility - as, for example, Count Szechenyi donated the annual income from his estates to create an academy of sciences, but for his progressive views, because he proposed the abolition of the personal dependence of peasants, taxation of landowners and attracting foreign investment, the aristocracy hated him. But if among the magnates and high society pro-imperial sentiments prevailed, albeit not out of loyalty to the Habsburgs, but out of a desire to preserve their status and economic positions, then lower down the social ladder the situation was completely different, the growth of nationalism was significantly spurred by the introduction of the Germanic language as most important for the inhabitants of the empire. At this stage, Hungary existed as a separate state under the auspices of the Habsburgs, and only subject to the coronation of their representatives in Budapest according to Hungarian laws, all laws that applied to it had to be approved not only in Vienna, but also in Budapest, and demands for further concessions were regularly made. The Austrian emperors usually did not agree to such measures and tried to assemble a local legislative assembly rarely - for example, the assembly of 1825 was the first in 14 years. In the 1840s, relations between Austria and Hungary deteriorated significantly, a large group of Hungarian radicals led by Lajos Kossuth greatly contributed to this, with measures such as the popular “Buy Hungarian!” campaign. It is interesting that, all other things being equal, in the parliament elected in Hungary, already gripped by revolutionary sentiments in 1848, out of 415 deputies, only one is considered a radical, and about 40 people potentially sympathize with them, and, therefore, most of the elite still sympathized with the continuation of the union with the Habsburgs. Quite quickly, the situation reached the stage of an armed conflict, in which the struggle for political power, for determining the course of development of the empire and its lands, for determining the nature of the relationship between individual regions of the state was multiplied by the mutually exclusive interests of the nations inhabiting it. National minorities, primarily Slavic ones, suddenly found themselves on the side of the absolutist empire with the dominant Germanophone elite - since although most of the aristocracy recognized the right of non-Hungarian peoples to their own identity and language, during the revolutionary period radicals set the tone, like Kossuth, who insisted on the need for the Slavs to refuse and from both in the name of the Hungarian language and identity. As a consequence of his views, in the Hungarian state, within the historical borders of the territories that Hungary traditionally controlled, he expressed a desire to see only Hungarians, he rejected Serbian requests for autonomy, saying “the sword will decide our dispute,” and inattention to the interests of ethnic minorities cost the Hungarians not only the location of potential allies, but also a direct complication of the position of the revolutionary government: although the Serbian uprising in the summer of 1848 and the uprising of the Slovaks were suppressed, the fight in Transylvania with the Romanian and Saxon communities proceeded with varying success, diverting significant forces, and the Croats actively participated in the fight in side of the empire. The campaign of the Croatian ban Josip Jelačić itself ended in military failure, but the Croats then took an active part in the attack on Hungary by the imperial army under the leadership of Count Windischgrätz, who had previously distinguished himself by suppressing protests in Italy and Bohemia, significantly strengthening it. They tried to partially correct the mistake in the last days of the revolution, when the Romanians and Jews were promised broad concessions in all areas, but this did not have any significant impact on the course of the conflict, and the Hungarian elite never adopted the strategy of concessions to national minorities. Initially, the Hungarian revolutionaries, who acted immediately after the mass riots of the spring of 1848 in Vienna, assumed, as far as one can judge, to achieve extensive concessions without completely breaking ties with Austria, and the first constitution they adopted (the so-called “April Laws”) provided for personal union of the Hungarian kingdom with the Austrian monarchy, but after military successes in the spring of 1849, Kossuth declared the Habsburg dynasty overthrown, creating a republic. Such a move led to a serious complication of the situation in Hungary, since in such conditions Russia, led by an elite no less conservative than Austria, considered it possible to intervene in the conflict on the side of the empire. In August 1849, near Vilagos, the Hungarian revolutionary army signed a capitulation (and the revolutionary army surrendered to the Russian commanders), although the fortress in Komárom resisted until October. The leaders of the uprising mostly emigrated, 13 captured by the Austrians were executed, earning the nickname "Martyrs of Arad". A whole series of repressive measures, from the aforementioned executions to the ban on wearing beards in the manner of the one worn by Kossuth, were applied against Hungarian society.

Formally bearing the title of Emperor, Ferdinand in December 1948, in Olomouc, after much persuasion from his relatives, and allegedly after his late father addressed him in a dream, chose to abdicate the throne and handed it over to his nephew, 18-year-old Franz Joseph . A number of researchers believe that the young emperor was very negatively impressed by the events of the years in the empire, which explains his further internal policy; for almost two decades it was aimed at completely preserving the situation at any cost, only after great failures on the battlefield did the empire emerge I started trying to rebuild, but in the end I didn’t succeed.

As a result of the events of the late 1840s, the monarchy was shaken to its core, but still survived, and suffered, at first glance, almost no losses. In Italy, the position of the Habsburgs even strengthened, in Tuscany and Modena families that were related to the imperial house ruled, Modena and Parma were under their tutelage, and the Austrian military forces were in the Papal States, only Piedmont and the Kingdom of Naples in the Apennines remained outside the sphere of influence of the empire . It was possible to completely avoid the already close unification of Germany, where the potential rival of the Habsburgs in the struggle for influence on its territory, the Prussian king, almost triumphed, and as a result, Germany returned to its previous existence as a confederation, which suited Austria.

Quite quickly, Emperor Franz Joseph abandoned all the concessions that his predecessor had made to society during the revolution and abandoned the reforms, in December 1851 suspending even the existing “octroied constitution” in almost all points; the period that followed was called “ neo-absolutism." It is interesting that the main proponent of the new policy, Minister of the Interior Bach, began his political career as a liberal (which is why the emperor appointed him Minister of the Interior and not the head of the executive branch), and went down in history as an extreme conservative. In the Czech Republic, the decade after the suppression of the Hungarian revolution was called the “decade of those buried alive.” Until 1860, Hungary was under the direct rule of the emperor, despite the passive resistance of its inhabitants. Trying to regain control over the administrative functions of the empire in Hungary, Bach resorted to sending a mass of officials from Bohemia and Austria, also known as “Bach’s Hussars,” to various positions in the administration; the Hungarians under their command refused to understand any languages ​​other than their own, and on this basis, no instructions from the management were followed at all, and its administration was extremely difficult. In the period after the suppression of the Hungarian movement, executive power was concentrated in the hands of the emperor, the council of ministers was completely subordinate to him and responsible only to him, the Reichsrat parliament remained a purely advisory body, the entire administrative structure was placed under the control of the emperor and ministries, all previously elected officials were replaced imperial officials, self-government was allowed only at the level of villages and villages, and then under strict control by the state. The ethnic minorities of the empire were practically not represented in the Reichsrat. The empire was divided into new administrative units, which did not always coincide with the historical regions, so the historically connected Silesia and Moravia were divided, and territories with a Slovak population were included in two different regions. German is made the main language of administration and education throughout its territory. Bach extended his strict system of control, tested in Hungary, to areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, even those who remained loyal to the empire. Although the emperor himself was not a zealous Catholic, he found an important ally in his conservative policies. It was the Austrian army that recaptured the papal lands from the Italian revolutionaries, and in 1855 a concordat was signed with the church, again sealing the “union of throne and altar.” But, at the same time, no measures were taken to create any kind of unified identity for the inhabitants of the empire; no idea was developed of what exactly unites them except living in a state, assembled quite randomly, and the dynasty leading it.

Some measures taken in the first decade after the Hungarian revolution were also progressive in nature - in particular, customs borders between parts of the empire were eliminated, and the taxation system was unified, which contributed, in general, to economic progress and greater integration of the territories of the empire in economic terms . However, the economic position of the empire remained rather precarious; it was not for nothing that there was a large migration of people from its territory, both permanent and temporary. In economic terms, emperors since Franz's accession to the throne have preferred to cut government spending to the level of available revenue rather than try to expand the tax base or stimulate economic activity. The military power of the empire, as a result, suffered greatly from constant savings, which was especially clearly demonstrated by the Austro-Prussian war in the second half of the 19th century, in which the Austrian army was much worse armed and trained precisely because of constant budget problems.

The foreign policy of the empire during the reign of Franz Joseph greatly complicated the position of the Habsburgs. Austria, having repaid Russia with black ingratitude for its help in the fight against revolutionary Hungary, took the side of the Allies in the Crimean War, and in the long term suffered continuous losses from this. France, supported by her during the conflict, within a few years became an important player in the Apennines, fully contributing to the efforts of Italian nationalists to the detriment of Austria, and Franz Joseph was forced to cede Lombardy precisely under her pressure. Actually, the entire war of 1859 between Austria and Piedmont, which eventually became the core of the future Italian state that ousted the empire from the peninsula, was organized with the support of France and Great Britain, with whom Piedmontese diplomacy actively consulted and secured their support. The conflict itself, as Italian historians themselves now admit, was planned and organized by Piedmont with the help of provocations. Prussia agreed to provide support to the Austrians, but demanded that its representative exercise overall command. The emperor himself took part in leading the troops on the battlefield, and was extremely unsuccessful; at the Battle of Solferino, the Austrian army under his command suffered a severe defeat. Garibaldi's successes in southern Italy paved the way for the unification of Italy, and, consequently, the emergence of a single and ambitious state on the southern borders of the empire.

The emperor’s attempt to take a decisive part in the affairs of the German confederation also ended unsuccessfully - although Austria, as the formal leader of the confederation, together with Prussia took part in the annexation of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark, and received control over the latter as a reward, but then the question of this control became a reason for war. T.n. The “seven-week war” of 1866 between the Austrian Empire, on the one hand, and the alliance of Italy with Prussia, ended, although with a military victory for the Austrians on the Italian front, but with defeat in the clash with Prussia, and new losses of both prestige and territorial ones. Problems with the construction of the army had a full impact; the Austrian armed forces in clashes with the better trained and armed Prussians often suffered four times as many losses. The Emperor had to cede Venice to the Italians, i.e., lose his last positions in the Apennines, and practically give up influence in Germany. France, a formal ally of Austria, remained neutral when Prussia and Italy launched the "Seven Weeks War", but did not benefit from this, and in 1870 an attempt to obtain compensation from Prussia for this neutrality, along with other reasons and in the spirit of a strategy of limiting Prussian influence (morally supported by Austria) ended in disaster for French arms, and the creation of a powerful united Germany under Prussian control - that is, a result directly opposed to the interests of Austria. Austria-Hungary (as the empire was already called by that time) was forced to adapt to the created situation, which resulted in its alliance with Germany - and necessary for a country that aspired to the status of a great power in the 19th century, territorial expansion and the spread of influence now took place in the south -east direction, to the Balkans. Attempts to expand the empire in precisely this way only complicated the situation within itself, since lands inhabited by non-Germanic peoples with their own customs and demands were mostly annexed; expansion to the south increased the percentage of Slavs who were third-class citizens in the empire and came out with demands for equal rights with traditionally dominated by Hungarians and Germans.

The Emperor during this period, trying to strengthen the internal unity of the empire, was forced to move away from his traditional conservative policies, in 1859 he issued a manifesto promising reforms, dismissed Bach and replaced him, which was a clear departure from the practice of filling the highest positions with the Germanophone elite, the Pole, albeit entirely loyal to the House of Habsburg, and began negotiations with the Hungarian elite, who demanded at least their own legislative body with broad rights, relying on their historical rights and traditional privileges. During this period, Czech intellectuals came forward with their project for reforming the management system in the empire; it was proposed, on the basis of “historical law,” to introduce self-government of individual lands, guarantee the population constitutional freedoms and equality in the field of entrepreneurship, equality of languages. Germanophone liberals had their own vision of the problem. From about this time, the problems that became a characteristic and well-established feature of the image of Austria-Hungary and the reason for calling it a “patchwork monarchy” were clearly visible, namely, a multitude of groups with mutually exclusive interests, each of which pursued its own goals. Every step in attempts to change the status quo caused a serious negative reaction from many groups, both social and national, and half measures only led to general displeasure and irritation, and any changes complicated the situation of the dynasty. Projects for very limited constitutional reforms, such as the “October Diploma” and “February Patent”, were met without understanding by reform supporters due to the limitations of the proposed measures. In the end, the emperor and his entourage chose to reach an agreement with Hungary, apparently in the hope of getting a serious ally in keeping the empire in its then position.

In 1865, in general, in discussions between the imperial government and representatives of Hungary, conditions were developed that later became the basis for agreements on the creation of a “dual monarchy,” but due to the war with Prussia, the signing of the agreement itself had to be postponed. The agreement reached is known as Ausgleich in German, in Hungarian Kiegyezés, in Czech Vyrovnání, in Croatian Nagodba. Under its terms, a union of two practically equal states was created, united by a certain number of common institutions and the Habsburg monarchy. Hungary and the lands traditionally subordinate to it became one component, all other territories the second, the border between them was drawn along the Leitha River, hence the traditional name of both parts - Cisleithania, the Austrian possessions proper, Transleithania, the Hungarian ones. The Austrian Emperor became the overlord of Hungary as its king, and remained the overlord of all other lands as emperor; he had to be crowned separately in Vienna and separately in Budapest, and in each case take an oath to honor and respect rights and freedoms. In its new form, the empire was called the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

According to one expert's figurative comparison, the agreement gave Hungary greater powers than at any time since the Battle of Mohács. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense remained common, the army was common under a single command, with German as the basic language, the budget was mainly supplied for it from Cisleithania. Territorial military formations in each part of the monarchy existed outside the jurisdiction of the general Ministry of Defense. Two parliaments were created, one in each part, and Cisleithania and Transleithania had independence in internal affairs, even to the point of separate citizenship, although there was a single government, which was responsible to the general meeting of delegates from parliaments, sitting alternately in Budapest and Vienna, 60 from each each part of the empire, but they consulted and voted separately anyway. The Hungarian prime minister, together with the cabinet, was appointed by the emperor, crowned as the Hungarian king, but in agreement with the local parliament. Combining positions in the unified government and in one of the two local ones was not allowed. All international agreements were required to be approved by two parliaments and two ministers, and tariff policy was determined every ten years by a joint meeting of the two administrations.

Formally, the signed agreement stated that all nationalities in the empire had equal rights and had the inalienable right to use their language. At the insistence of the Emperor, Hungary concluded a similar agreement with Croatia on the division of powers. In the Czech Republic, the reform served to radicalize and after the treaty, demands for independence began to sound much louder; in the 1870s, the empire suffered a very serious crisis, when the issue of a new status for Bohemia was again discussed, and similar demands were put forward by many other areas of the empire.

The signing of such an agreement sets the Austro-Hungarian Empire apart; its case is unique in the history of empire building; some analogies can only be drawn with the division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western, but in that case there was no unified leadership of both parts.

And this time the issue of granting the Slavs within the empire their own administrative unit was discussed. But the matter was complicated not only by the negative attitude of the Hungarian elite to such a decision, but also by the territorial aspect of the settlement of the Slavs, since they lived in the north and south of the empire, being separated by massive Hungarian and German populations, which complicated any attempts to create a single autonomy for them.

Initially, it was assumed that concessions would be made to ethnic minorities; for example, Croatia created its own parliament; the remaining groups were formally granted only the right to study, conduct legal proceedings, and perform church rites in their native language. However, problems and tensions constantly arose in the implementation of these rights in practice, especially in the last quarter of the 19th century. The Romanians of Transylvania even in 1917, 50 years after Hungary assumed obligations in relation to them, were still forced to submit petitions demanding that they finally begin to implement them.

The Hungarians' struggle for their rights as a sovereign nation often conflicted with the aspirations of the peoples who found themselves in the empire. It is paradoxical that while struggling with Habsburg pressure in attempts to preserve its national identity, language and social structure, Hungary at the same time harshly suppressed the same attempts among its subject peoples, acting as both the oppressed and the suppressor. In the period after the conclusion of the agreement on the transformation of the monarchy, a qualitative change in the situation occurred - previously the struggle was for administrative independence and on religious issues.

The empire in its new capacity was quite difficult to manage as an organism, and, for example, if in Austria by the First World War universal suffrage was already in effect, then in Hungary it was only with great difficulty that it was possible to achieve at least some expansion of it, after which it became possible not to vote. % of the population, and 10%. The Hungarian parliament, for example, could approve the budget of the Ministry of Defense only on the condition that military orders would be placed in Hungarian factories. In economic terms, Austria-Hungary remained a power strongly inclined towards economic autarky, and since it traditionally lacked export items that were in demand on the world market, imports were constantly limited and protective tariffs were in effect; attempts to invade its market were sharply suppressed by the empire, as was clearly illustrated by the trade war with Serbia, which was trying to win the market for its pork. 87% of the exports and 85% of the imports of the Hungarian crown possessions came from areas in other parts of the empire. The development of the economy was complicated by major problems in the field of logistics: in order, say, to deliver cargo or military units from Austria to Italy, it was necessary to either transport them through the Alps, or by rail to Trieste and then by sea, and to deliver cargo from Sarajevo to Vienna, it was necessary to bring it by rail to the coast, from there by sea to Trieste, then by rail. The development of the empire was very uneven - at the same time, as in Vienna, luxurious buildings were being built on the Ringstrasse, in Prague, houses of the aristocracy and huge public buildings were being erected, and in Budapest, the main boulevard (now Andrássy Street) was being built by the elite with the involvement of the best architects in Europe, designed to show the wealth and power of the empire to the world, even one day's ride from Vienna, Prague and Budapest, where industry and capital were concentrated, the peasants barely made ends meet, suffering from epidemics and famine.

In the struggle of various groups in the political field, a variety of combinations arose - Germanophone conservatives for a long time acted in an alliance known as the “iron ring” with Czech deputies, despite the visible contradiction of their platforms, solely for the sake of fighting Germanophone liberals. And in the Hungarian part of the empire there was a “Congress of Non-Hungarian Peoples”, an association of political groups of different ethnic groups, not connected by anything more than the desire to achieve concessions from the Hungarian central administration. In 1896, this group made a public statement on the eve of the 1000th anniversary of the founding of the Hungarian state, protesting against the oppression of ethnic minorities. On the ground, there was a struggle between various groups of the political elite, both between the Old Czechs and the Young Czechs, both regarding the need to find a model of existence within the empire, and on issues of local significance. And the “Croatian-Serbian Coalition,” founded in 1905, opposed Croatian radicals and enjoyed the support of the Hungarians, who usually opposed all national groups.

Local problems were a constant source of instability in political life: one of the Austrian minister-presidents was forced to resign due to disputes over whether Slovenian or German should be the language of instruction in one of the schools in Styria, another due to a dispute that turned into riots , German or Czech should be used as official in Bohemia, and the decision to introduce bilingualism and order all officials to learn both languages, which looked quite balanced and reasonable, did not satisfy either side. It should not be surprising that in such difficult conditions from 1867 to 1918, i.e. in just half a century, the first post in the state after the emperor was replaced by 30 people (50 years before the Hungarian revolution, only five). Naturally, with a constant change of personnel at the head of the executive branch, it is difficult to talk about pursuing a consistent policy in any direction.

At this stage, attempts were made by Vienna to somehow contribute to the development of a common identity for the inhabitants of the empire, because until the very end, no significant group of the population emerged that would consider themselves primarily “Austro-Hungarians.” groups, and efforts were made to weaken nationalism by promoting economic prosperity. In general, attempts to pursue such a policy were inconsistent and, in conditions of political instability and in the absence of political will, to implement such a project did not bring results. Education, for example, was made universal and free, which increased its coverage of the population and its role in society, but all powers to organize the educational process were delegated to the localities - thus, it was not possible to use this channel to create a single identity for the population of the empire. The general policy towards the creation of a single identity boiled down to attempts to make loyalty to the dynasty a binding link, in the hope of contrasting it with the nationalism of various ethnic groups, but it was never possible to achieve visible results for a long time.

As time has shown, the empire never succeeded either in creating a common identity for its subjects or in resolving the national question.

The period after the conclusion of the 1867 agreement was also marked by a weakening of the position of the church; after the church proclaimed the concept of papal infallibility, the empire tore up the concordat. Despite the significant predominance of Catholics in the population structure, attempts to build national identity on the basis of religion were never seriously undertaken.

The position of Austria-Hungary in international politics remained quite difficult. The last quarter of the 19th century was marked by the activity of European powers in acquiring overseas colonies. Austria-Hungary never took part in colonial conquests, and did not seriously lay claim to territories outside of Europe, but derived political benefits from supporting the colonial claims of certain powers. Only a few times did its representatives find themselves prominent in affairs outside the Old World, and the most striking episodes took place in the 1870s. In the 1870s, an Austro-Hungarian expedition searching for a “northeast passage” north of Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, in accordance with prevailing theories of an ice-free polar sea, put the name of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary on the world map. The expedition's ship was buried in ice, and it drifted until it came across a chain of islands - as it turned out, this is the northernmost landmass, closest to the pole, to which the researchers gave the name Franz Josef. The expedition almost ended in disaster; its participants walked to the line of pack ice and then tried to get to the continent by boat; a Russian ship picked them up and took them to Scandinavia. The discovery of the islands brought a certain prestige to the empire, but even Austria-Hungary, which joined Germany relatively late in the colonial race, was far from achieving success. Essentially, the only episode in these years when representatives of the empire tried to secure overseas territories for it took place in Southeast Asia; in the 1880s, the Austro-Hungarian consul in Hong Kong took an active part in the political life of the island of Borne, in the northern part which bought the rights to develop part of the current Malaysian state of Sabah, but this action had no consequences, and the rights themselves were resold to a group of investors, mostly British.

To some extent, the participation of Austria-Hungary in the creation of the world colonial system can be called an alliance between a representative of the Habsburg dynasty and French colonial ambitions, which led to an adventurous expedition to Mexico. The emperor's younger brother Maximilian, formerly viceroy of Lombardy and Venice, was invited by the French to lead their intervention in Mexico, and made king there. The entire French enterprise became possible only in connection with major internal political problems in the United States, which, due to the civil war, lost the opportunity to exercise effective influence on the policies of European countries in the region. After the end of the war, France was quickly forced to leave Mexico, and Maximilian himself fell into the hands of local revolutionaries and was shot in 1867.

Rather, the interesting fact of the influence of Austria-Hungary on the lives of the inhabitants of the Middle East should be included in the field of oddities - Maria Theresa's thaler, a large silver coin, took on a life of its own, separate from its homeland, becoming the main means of payment in the region. Interestingly, regardless of the year of actual issue on it, the Arabs copied it entirely, as a result of which even on coins issued already in the 1960s in the territory of modern Yemen, the year of issue was indicated as 1780. For a long time, the currency of Ethiopia, although it had a different name, was made exactly like Maria Theresa's thalers, in weight and composition.

During the same period, a major army reform began; Austria-Hungary traditionally gave the impression of a heavily militarized state; the aristocracy, starting with the emperors, appeared very rarely in civilian clothes, but the army was not rich in talented commanders and good officers. Since 1868, conscription for military service was introduced, and this measure was supplemented by officer training, the modernization of weapons, and the development of new tactics. By the beginning of the First World War, 6% of national income was spent on weapons - in percentage terms, like giant Russia, and although the army of the empire did not look formidable during the conflict, it was still able to fight a war on two fronts, which it was not able to do during the conflicts the first half of the reign of Franz Joseph, and even three.

In the 1870s, Austrian foreign policy was especially active in the Balkans; even then, the Empire's Ministry of Foreign Affairs put forward ideas to annex Bosnia, which would strengthen its position in the Adriatic, and through it continue expansion to the south, all the way to Thessaloniki. According to a secret agreement with Russia, which got involved in a war with Turkey, Austria-Hungary was supposed to receive Bosnia for neutrality, and unlike Russia, which almost single-handedly won the war, but limited itself at the insistence of other great powers to very minor acquisitions, the dual empire received and control over Bosnia, even if it remained formally under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, and significant influence in the Sandjak. The strange state of affairs in Bosnia was perpetuated on the grounds that the Ottoman Empire was unable to effectively maintain order in the region, and without much publicity, the Great Powers promised Austria support for its desire to have more than a de facto possession of Bosnia. In 1879, Austria and Germany signed a “dual alliance”, pledging to act in defense of each other, in 1882 Italy joined their alliance, in the hope of finding a counterbalance to France, which had recently prevented the Italians from bringing the territory of modern Tunisia under their control, so the alliance became “ triple”, surviving until the First World War, although it showed itself to be not very durable; Serbia and Romania later joined the union, and the former kept its accession secret for ten years, and the latter chose to make the agreement reached secret, and the royal dynasty chose to keep information about the accession secret, the Romanian king kept the only copy of the agreement under lock and key.

By that time, Serbia was ruled by the Austrophilian Obrenovich dynasty, but the situation changed significantly after the coup d'etat of 1903, when the Karadjordjevic dynasty came to power, to which it would be difficult to attribute pro-Austrian sympathies, and in 1908, it was in the Balkans that events took place that were the immediate prologue to the future First World War, and in which Serbia later played a major role.

The year 1908 was marked by the coming to power in Istanbul of the “Young Turks,” a group of energetic supporters of reforms determined to decisively strengthen the Porte’s position in both domestic and foreign policy, and primarily in the Balkans - among other tasks, incl. carry out effective maintenance of order. Russia, having been defeated by Japan, clearly had the intention of expanding to the southeast, and the Austrian Foreign Minister verbally agreed with his Russian colleague that Russia would not object to the annexation of Bosnia, and in exchange, Austrian diplomacy would approve a project for freedom of transit of warships via the Bosphorus. Austria, with German support, neglected its obligations on the second issue, and annexed Bosnia, agreeing to pay financial compensation to the Young Turk administration. Austrian diplomacy rightfully considered the annexation of Bosnia a major success, although in the medium term this success resulted in many problems. Firstly, with the entry into the empire of Bosnia in Austria-Hungary, the percentage of the Slavic population increased, secondly, the religious issue became more complicated, since a considerable part of the inhabitants of the annexed lands were Muslims, thirdly, there was a final alienation of Russia and the union of Austria-Hungary with Germany. Finally, fourthly, the policy of the empire in Bosnia led to direct antagonism with Serbia, even to the point of preparations for war with it, and it was precisely as a reaction to Austrian policy that the organization that carried out the Sarajevo assassination, which led to the First World War, arose. The first two circumstances negatively affected the internal political stability of the empire, and the last two did not have the best effect on its foreign policy position. Relations with Serbia further deteriorated due to Austria's position on other issues of Balkan politics; invariably their points of view did not coincide; Austria's interests required achieving the weakening of states on its southern border, moving south, or at least acting as an arbiter and dominant force in local geopolitical conditions. Serbia, which was actively expanding and aggressively promoting pan-Slavist ideals, seemed extremely dangerous to Vienna, and both sides were preparing for a possible conflict. It was to inspect how this preparation was proceeding that the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, arrived in Sarajevo.

Emperor Franz Joseph turned 80 years old in 1910, and he had been on the throne for over 60 years (the heir to the throne was born 10 years after the coronation of the emperor who was supposed to inherit), so the question became acute not only about who would become the heir, but and what talents potential candidates have and what their political views are. The emperor's eldest son Rudolf, who was allegedly inclined towards the ideals of liberalism and had many conflicts with the establishment of the empire, both regarding foreign and domestic policy and on issues of the general strategy of the state's development, committed suicide. Franz Joseph's younger brother was made heir, and with his death his eldest son, Franz Ferdinand. The heir to the throne, who bore the title Archduke, was known as a man not inclined to negotiate, “preferred decrees backed by the threat of force to compromise,” and supported the transformation of the monarchy from a dualistic to a triune one, mainly, as authoritative researchers believe, in order to weaken the position of the Hungarians and ensure better control over management. He himself wrote in official correspondence that the Hungarians could not be trusted and that all the troubles of the monarchy were due to the liberties granted to them. People in Hungary did not like him very much for this, considering him a reactionary (this point of view was adopted by many specialists in the history of Austria-Hungary), and if censorship in Cisleithania it was forbidden to criticize him, and in the second part of the empire the rules were not so strict, and the press attacked his person so actively that the impression was created of complete disloyalty to Hungary, so that after the murder in Sarajevo there was even a rumor that the murder was organized by the Hungarians. It can be assumed that the reign of the next emperor would have been marked by significant internal political difficulties.

One way or another, the empire entered the 20th century as the largest state on the continent, excluding Russia; by 1914, the Austria-Hungary empire had an area of ​​676 thousand km2 (between the extreme points of 1247 kilometers from west to east and 1046 from south to north), the German Empire , for comparison, 574 thousand km2, France 536 thousand, Great Britain 317 thousand, although in terms of population, which was then approximately 51 million people, these countries were ahead of it, Italy was only slightly behind. Germanophones made up 25% of the population, Hungarians about 20%, and Slavs, which meant Czechs, Slovenes, and Croats, about 45%. Traditionally, leadership positions in Cisleithania were occupied by a traditional elite, usually Germanophone. In the empire, Bohemians, Poles, and Hungarians were allowed into the upper floors, but not often and usually from among those on good terms with the emperors - in 1895, for the first time, the post of minister-president, the ministry of finance, and the military were simultaneously in the hands of non-Germans. In the Kingdom of Hungary, all positions were filled by representatives of the titular nationality, or at least by persons considered Hungarians; there were many ethnic Germans and Jews in the economic and administrative elite who changed their nationality after the 1860s. The positions of doctors, teachers, lawyers and judges were filled mainly by Hungarians, and on the ground there was a clear picture of the economic disadvantage of small peoples, who together made up about half the population of the Hungarian kingdom - but only a fifth of the population classified as the rural poor. Justice was called upon to guard the interests of those in power and wealthy citizens - for example, for the murder of a peasant leader, deliberate and designed to disrupt the agitation for agrarian reform, a representative of the local aristocracy was not punished at all. The presence of a huge mass of Slavs deprived of political representation, positions in the economy and access to the elite created big problems in the future, and potentially expansion to the southeast promised only a worsening of the situation, both in domestic and foreign policy, but not to expand territorially, or at least not Austria-Hungary could not spread its influence without losing its status as a great power. In economic terms, the empire achieved certain successes, but in basic indicators it lagged behind all the great powers, and behind England and France by 2-3 times.

In the summer of 1914, on the traditional Serbian holiday of Vidov dan Archduke, the Archduke arrived in Sarajevo (the fact that his arrival at military maneuvers near the Serbian border was timed to coincide with such a holiday was regarded by many observers as a deliberate insult on the part of Austria) and his cavalcade was attacked by groups of conspirators of Serbian origin, supporters of Pan-Slavism and the unification of Bosnia with Serbia, some of whom had connections with the Serbian armed forces. The assassination attempt itself was organized amateurishly and ended successfully, with the murder of the heir to the throne, only as a result of a whole chain of happy accidents for the conspirators. It was never possible to confirm the version that the ruling circles of the neighboring state were involved in organizing the conspiracy, which did not stop Austro-Hungarian diplomacy from insisting on this version and making demands based on its accuracy.

In the empire, especially in the Hungarian part, there was a strong opinion that there was no need to rush to war, since, firstly, there was a threat of a large-scale conflict, with not very reliable allies besides Germany, and secondly, the military defeat of Serbia would entail joining empires of lands inhabited by the Slavs, and a new, potentially dangerous, change in the balance of power in the state, where the Germans and Hungarians together would already be seriously inferior in number to the Slavic ethnic groups. Even the General Staff expressed doubts that starting a war was in the interests of the empire.

Even Bismarck, the creator of the alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary, expressed fears that this alliance could end with Germany being drawn into a conflict due to Balkan problems provoked by its ally, and Berlin was also in no hurry to support the ally for fear of possible large-scale consequences.

Ultimately, however, the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires were drawn into a military conflict that ended in their destruction. In the first years of the war, the subjects of the empire demonstrated a satisfactory level of obedience to orders and a willingness to shed blood for the throne and dynasty; even the Serbs of Bosnia and Croatia performed well in battles against the Serbian army; openly defeatist moods were observed only among the Czechs. But already in the first four weeks it became clear that the tasks set to establish Austria-Hungary as the dominant force in the Balkans would not be fulfilled. Franz Joseph's subjects lost 250 thousand people killed and wounded, and failed on both fronts, where they had to fight in the first year. Military supplies were poorly supplied, for example, the commander of the Italian front wrote in a report that the uniforms supplied to the troops were an illustration of what poverty looks like, and indicated that in winter his soldiers had on average two greatcoats for three. The position of Austria-Hungary on the fronts became increasingly difficult, and by the fourth year of the war, every 20th conscript was listed as a deserter, and the total losses exceeded 1 million people killed. As a percentage of population, Austria-Hungary suffered even greater losses than Germany. The economic situation, undermined by military actions, worsened, to the point that bread was now sold on ration cards, requisitions were widely used in villages, and relatives of those drafted into the army, under the threat of losing benefits, were mobilized for 12-14-hour working days in factories. With the help of the Entente, the national question gradually began to worsen in the empire itself, not to mention the strengthening anti-war movement, one of whose representatives made a successful attempt on the life of the Minister-President of Austria. In Poland and Ukraine, Germany and Austria willingly made concessions to local nationalists, especially towards the end of the war, when the situation became completely desperate, but this was more difficult to do in the empire itself.

In the third year of the war, at the age of 86, Emperor Franz Joseph died, and the 27-year-old Archduke Charles I, nephew of the late Franz Ferdinand, a Habsburg not only by birth, but also by marriage, ascended the throne: married to a lady from the Parma branch of the family, whose grandmother was his aunt. Franz Joseph had high hopes for him, unlike the previous official heirs to the throne. His reign was marked by attempts at decisive reforms, although greatly hampered by the war, dictates from Berlin (for example, Charles failed to make a prominent supporter of the federalization of the empire as minister-president, since he was believed to have sympathies for France and England) and the reluctance of the Entente to agree to a separate world. During the war, various reform options were discussed - both a union of independent states united only by a single crown, and a project to convene constitutional assemblies for each national group, with the aim of then summing up their proposals and putting them into practice. Towards the end of the war, a reform of the state system was announced, the empire was now transformed into a union of four equal components, and the South Slavs and Czechs were now allocated separate administrative units, but by that time it was no longer possible to satisfy the national outskirts with such concessions.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Empire informed the Emperor back in April 1917 that the state would presumably not last longer than until the end of the year. Nevertheless, thanks to Russia’s withdrawal from the war and thanks to successes on the fronts, Austria-Hungary existed for another year and a half. Only on October 16, 1918, in conditions when there was a complete collapse on all fronts, with the manifesto “To My Faithful Subjects,” Karl formally ended the existence of the empire, inviting local national councils to come into contact with Vienna to determine further status, but in all areas disintegration processes were in full swing in the empire. On October 21, German deputies of the Imperial Reichsrat gathered in Vienna, declaring themselves a provisional legislative assembly of “German Austria”; on October 28, Czechoslovakia declared independence; on October 29, Austria was proclaimed a republic. The next day, the “Chrysanthemum Revolution” took place in Hungary, named after the custom of soldiers returning from the front, who became the main striking force for the establishment of a new order, wearing chrysanthemums in their buttonholes, and Hungary officially declared its independence in mid-November. On November 11, Charles himself officially refused to participate in government affairs, inviting the people of Austria themselves to decide the future fate of the new state.

At the same time, the emperor did not abdicate the throne, formally reserving the right to head any separated part of the empire or the throne of some reformed common state. This circumstance was used by a group of Hungarian politicians after the end of the Entente’s military operations against the Soviet Republic on the territory of Hungary and the installation there of an administration staffed by representatives of the pre-war political elite. In accordance with the prevailing political practice of the time (in 1912 Portugal became only the third republic on the continent), the new parliament formally secured the status of a monarchy for Hungary, but without a king, until his appearance the regent remained number one and head of state, who was chosen by the admiral Austro-Hungarian fleet Miklos Horthy. At the same time, a powerful lobby was formed to invite Charles to the throne; in April 1920, negotiations were held on this issue; after the intervention of the Entente countries who objected to such a decision, they were curtailed, but in October 1921, the monarch who had not abdicated again arrived in Hungary, and the garrison in the first city took the oath to him, Charles had already begun recruiting the council of ministers, but after a skirmish with the troops of the government operating in Hungary, he was arrested and exiled to Madeira. The former emperor died a few months later from pneumonia. Although a new dynasty was ultimately not installed on the throne before World War II, the Hungarian parliament officially deprived the Habsburgs of all rights to the crown. Thus ended the history of almost a thousand years of rule of the House of Habsburg in Austria.

For a long time, the dynasty collected lands using various means, but usually through the co-optation of their elite through concessions on various issues, which led to the creation of a state whose leadership was severely limited in the room for maneuver due to the wide independence of the elites, which the representatives had to accept the House of Habsburg precisely for the sake of the peaceful annexation of more and more territories. The diversity of his possessions, inhabited by different national groups, with different mentalities, customs and traditions, with a Germanophone elite and a Hungarian elite claiming broad rights, while simultaneously fighting attempts by other groups to achieve the same rights, very seriously complicated the processes of their consolidation, political and economic development. The traditionally conservative monarchs of the dynasty did not strive to create a single identity for their subjects, and until the very end there was no answer given as to how the Habsburg state was seen in the long term, all decisions were made based on the current situation, and sometimes, as in the case of the annexation of Bosnia, Even the foreign policy was planned myopically; obvious profit at a particular moment turned out to be preferable, although in the long term this decision brought nothing but problems for the monarchy. The version of the federal structure that was implemented in practice also removed the severity of the problem of relations between Hungary and Austria, but only strengthened centrifugal tendencies, since the interests of all other groups were not fully taken into account in the created system. In general, it should be summarized that the Habsburg monarchy showed exceptional vitality in the Middle Ages, but was never able to adapt to changing conditions and respond to the challenges of the time in a timely manner.

Bibliography:

Cornwall M. The Undermining of Austria-Hungary. The Battle for Hearts and Minds. New York: St. Martin Press, 2000; Crankshaw E. The Fall of the House of Habsburg. New York: Viking Press, 1963; Evans R.J.W. Austria, Hungary, and the Habsburgs: Central Europe c.. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006; Jelavich B. Modern Austria, Empire and Republic, 1815–1986. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987; Kann R. History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526–1918. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974; MacCartney, C. A. The Habsburg Empire, 1790–1918. New York: Macmillan, 1969; Roman, E. Austria-Hungary and The Successor States. New York: Facts on File, 2003; Taylor A.J.P. The Habsburg Monarchy, : A History of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1976; Williamson S. Jr. Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.

According to historical documents, the first people who appeared on the territory of Austria-Hungary were the Illyrians, and this happened in the 5th century. BC e. A century later, the Celts moved to these lands, who in the 2nd century. BC e. formed their own state of Norik here, the capital of which was in the city of Klagenfurt.

The Kingdom of Noricum had friendly relations with the Roman Empire, thanks to which Roman influence quickly increased in the country, and in 16 BC. e. it became part of the empire, although the Celts remained relatively independent from Rome for a long time, being under the authority of their princes. Only in 40 AD. e. During the reign of Emperor Claudius, the Roman province of Noricum was formed on the site of the kingdom, which is why its territory was somewhat curtailed, since all the lands located west of the Inn River went to the province of Raetia, and the territory west of modern Vienna - to province of Pannonia. During Roman rule, a whole system of fortifications and roads was built along the banks of the Danube. The number of cities increased rapidly, and their population also grew at an accelerated pace. Local residents gradually fell under the influence of Romanesque culture, and residents from the interior regions of the empire moved to the cities.

However, such rapid development of these lands soon ceased due to the outbreaks that began in 167 AD. e. destructive Marcomannic wars. In the 4th century. n. e. The Germans (Visigoths (401 and 408), Ostrogoths (406) and Rugians (ca. 410) began to raid the territory of the future Austria-Hungary from the northern bank of the Danube. When the Roman Empire finally fell to the barbarians in 476, the kingdom of the Rugians was formed on these lands, which in 488 merged with the state of Odoacer.

Local residents of the former Roman provinces continued to be the guardians of Roman culture and speakers of Latin dialects. Even today in some mountainous regions of Switzerland and Tyrol you can find people communicating in Romansh.

Odoacer's kingdom did not last long and was captured by the Ostrogoths in 493. Many lands of the former Norik and Raetia went to the Ostrogothic state. The Lombards settled north of the Danube, and in the middle of the 6th century. they annexed all of Italy and the southern lands of the future Austria to their lands. Then the Lombards left these lands, and they were occupied by the Bavarians from the west and the Slavs from the east. Raetia was included in the Duchy of Bavaria, and the Slavs, subordinate to the Avar Khaganate, whose center was in Pannonia, settled in the lands lying between the Vienna Woods and the Julian Alps. The border between the Bavarian Duchy and the Avar Khaganate ran along the Enns River.

From the end of the 6th century. On the lands of modern Austria, a confrontation began between the Bavarian Duchy and the Khazar Khaganate. The war was quite long and went on with varying degrees of success. When it was completed, the Romanized inhabitants, driven out of the eastern regions, settled near modern Salzburg.

In 623, the inhabitants of the Kaganate rebelled, which ended with the formation of the new independent state of Samo. It did not last long, only until 658, and after its collapse the Slavic principality of Carantania was created on these lands, which included the lands of Carinthia, Styria and Carniola. At the same time, the inhabitants of these lands began to be converted to the Christian faith, and the Bishopric of Salzburg was formed in the Bavarian lands.

The Bavarian duchy, meanwhile, continued to strengthen, which ultimately led to its suzerainty over Carantania in 745. However, this did not last long, since in 788 Charlemagne defeated the Bavarian army and included these lands in the Carolingian empire he formed. After this, the Frankish army attacked the Avar Khaganate, which ceased its resistance by 805 and became part of the empire of Charlemagne. As a result, all the lands of the future Austria-Hungary began to belong to the Carolingian dynasty.

In the occupied territories, the emperor created a large number of marks (regions), such as Friuli, Istria, Carinthia, Carniola, Styria. These administrative units were supposed to protect the borders and prevent uprisings by the Slavic inhabitants. In the modern lands of Lower and Upper Austria, the East Mark was formed, which was directly subordinate to Bavaria. From that time on, the active settlement of the territory of Austria-Hungary by the Germans and the displacement of the Slavs began.

Since the 870s. The marks located on the territory of Austria-Hungary were united under the leadership of Arnulf of Carinthia, who in 896 proclaimed himself emperor. The same time dates back to the resettlement of the Hungarians to Pannonia, whose army in 907 was able to defeat the Bavarian Duke Arnulf, as a result of which they captured the territory of the Eastern March.

For the war with the Hungarians, the border marks came under Bavarian control. After almost 50 years, the Hungarians were ousted. This happened after the victory of the Bavarian army, the head of which was Otto I, in the Battle of Lech in 955. Lower Austria again came under the control of the Carolingian empire, and in 960 the East March was again formed on the liberated territory.

In 976, Leopold I, the founder of the Babenberg dynasty in Austria, became Margrave of the Eastern March. In one of the historical documents dating back to 996, the name “Ostamchi” is found, from which the name Austria (German: Osterreich) was subsequently derived. Thanks to the descendants of Leopold I, the further strengthening of the statehood, independence and authority of Austria among other principalities began.

Austro-Hungarian Empire in the era of feudal fragmentation

Feudalism in Austria arose quite late - in the 11th century. By this time, a class of feudal lords had gradually formed in the state, which, in addition to counts, included a fairly large number of free ministerial knights. The movement of free peasants from other regions of the German principalities and the Catholic Church to these territories also played a major role in the settlement of the lands, since by this time a large number of Christian monasteries had been built, and in Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, large church land holdings were formed that were not located in subordination of local counts.

The main economic development of these lands was agriculture, but from the 11th century. In Styria they began to mine table salt and opened iron production. In addition, the Austrian rulers paid a lot of attention to trade, which ultimately led to the fact that during the reign of Henry II, the income of the Austrian treasury was second only to the Czech principalities.

In 1156, Austria changed its status from a principality to a duchy. This happened during the reign of Frederick Barbarossa. Gradually, Austria included more and more lands, mainly due to the territories captured from the Hungarians, and in 1192, according to the Treaty of St. Georgenberg, Styria was transferred to the duchy.

The heyday of the Duchy of Austria dates back to the reign of Leopold VI (1198–1230). At this time, Vienna became one of the largest cities in Europe, and the influence of the Babenberg dynasty in Western European lands increased greatly. However, already under the reign of his successor, Frederick II, military conflicts broke out with neighboring states, which were very ruinous for Austria.

After the Duke's death in 1246, the Babenberg male line died out, leading to an era of interregnum and internecine struggle for the throne, which broke out among several claimants. Beginning in 1251, the supreme power in Austria passed into the hands of the Czech ruler Přemysl Ottokar II, who annexed Carinthia and Carniola, as a result of which a large state was formed, the territory of which occupied lands from Silesia to the Adriatic.

In 1273, Rudolph I became Holy Roman Emperor, bearing the title of Count of Habsburg. His family domains were located in the territory of modern South-West Germany. In 1278, he attacked the Austrian ruler at Sukhy Krut, after which the Austrian state and other possessions of the Czech ruler located outside the Czech Republic went to Rudolf, and in 1282 Austria and Styria were inherited by his children - Albrecht I and Rudolf II. From then on, the Habsburg dynasty ruled in Austria for almost 600 years.

In 1359, the rulers of Austria proclaimed their state an archduchy, but this status was recognized only in 1453, when the Habsburgs took the imperial throne. It was then that this dynasty became decisive in the Holy Roman Empire. Already the first Habsburgs directed their political influence to strengthen the central government and unite the disparate lands under the rule of a single monarch.

At the same time, Austria gradually increased its possessions: in 1335 the lands of Carinthia and Carniola were annexed, in 1363 - Tyrol. It was these territories that became the core of the Austrian possessions, while the ancestral lands of the Habsburgs, located in Swabia, Alsace and Switzerland, quickly lost their importance.

Duke Rudolf IV (1358–1365) made a significant contribution to the strengthening of Austria. On his orders, the collection “Privilegium Maius” was compiled, which included fabricated decrees of the Holy Roman Emperors. According to them, the Dukes of Austria received such great rights that Austria actually became an independent state. Despite the fact that this collection was recognized only in 1453, it had a huge influence on the formation of the Austrian state and its separation from the rest of the German lands.

The children of Rudolf IV - Dukes Albrecht III and Leopold III - signed the Treaty of Neuberg among themselves in 1379, under the terms of which the possessions of the dynasty were divided between them. Duke Albrecht III received the Duchy of Austria into his hands, and Leopold III became the ruler of the remaining Habsburg possessions. Some time later, Leopold's possessions were again divided into smaller principalities, in particular Tyrol and Inner Austria became separate states. Such processes within the country contributed significantly to its weakening; in addition, its authority among other states decreased.

The loss of Swiss lands dates back to this time. This happened after the defeat that the Austrian army suffered from Swiss militias in the Battle of Sempach in 1386. In addition, social conflicts began to flare up in Tyrol, Vienna and Vorarlberg. Armed conflicts often occurred between states that were previously part of Austria.

Fragmentation was overcome only in the second half of the 15th century, when the Albertine and Tyrolean branches of the Habsburg dynasty intersected and, under the rule of the Duke of Styria, Frederick V (1424–1493), all Austrian lands were again united into one state.

In 1438, the Austrian Duke Albrecht V ascended the German throne, who also became Holy Roman Emperor. From this moment until the empire ceased to exist, representatives of the Habsburg dynasty occupied the imperial throne. From that time on, Vienna was named the capital of Germany, and the Duchy of Austria became one of the most influential German states. In 1453, the Austrian monarch nevertheless achieved for himself the title of Archduke, which, as mentioned above, was introduced into the “Privilegium Maius” in 1358. This title gave the ruler of Austria equal rights with the electors of the empire.

When Frederick III came to power (Fig. 19), the state suffered greatly due to the huge number of conflicts among the Habsburgs, class uprisings and armed confrontation with Hungary.

Rice. 19. Ruler Frederick III

In 1469, Turkish troops began to raid Austrian lands, which also led to a significant weakening of the state and the duke himself. Despite this, it was during the reign of Frederick III that the territories of the Duchy of Burgundy (1477), which then included the Netherlands and Luxembourg, were annexed to Austria. This was made possible by Frederick's dynastic marriage, which was the first step towards the formation of a great Habsburg power.

The beginning of the formation of a united nation

In the XIII–XV centuries. A class system was formed in the Austrian state. The clergy until the 15th century. was completely exempt from taxes, but gradually began to lose this privilege when Frederick III received permission from the Pope to collect taxes on church property. The magnates who managed their fiefs, granted by the duke, were allocated as a separate class. The ruling elite in the cities of the duchy were merchants, and starting from the 14th century. It was decided to include masters of craft workshops. The burgomaster and some members of the city council were appointed directly by the duke.

The peasantry gradually merged into one class of dependent peasants. Despite this, quite a lot of free peasants remained in Tyrol and Vorarlberg. In Carinthia, the Edling class was formed, who were personally free landowners who paid taxes to the state treasury.

Already in the 14th century. In the Austrian state, the first class representations began to appear - Landtags, which included priests, magnates, nobles and deputies from each provincial city. In Tyrol and Vorarlberg there are also free peasants.

The first Landtag was convened in the Duchy of Austria in 1396. The most significant among all the others was the Tyrolean Landtag. During the reign of Archduke Sigismund (1439–1490), the Tyrolean Landtag managed to take control of the Austrian government, in addition, the representation actually forced the Archduke to abdicate the throne. Since the 15th century The rulers of Austria periodically convened the united Landtags of several duchies at once, which became one of the prerequisites for the creation of a representative body of the entire Austrian Empire.

In the late Middle Ages, the mining industry began to develop at an accelerated pace in Austria. This primarily affected Styria, Carinthia and Tyrol. Iron mines were intensively developed, and a deposit of precious metals was discovered in Tyrol. The first large factories engaged in the extraction and processing of iron were formed, one of which was located in Leoben. In the 16th century The first capitalist manufactories appeared in Austria.

The silver and copper mines of Tyrol were the main source of income for the rulers of Austria. In the 16th century they were taken over by the Fuggers, a southern German banking house that was a creditor to the Habsburgs. Vienna became the largest trading center in Austria, controlling most of the foreign trade, in particular with the Czech Republic and Hungary.

In the 15th century In Austria, the beginnings of a system of universal education appeared, manifested in the opening of public schools in large cities. In 1365, the University of Vienna was created, which soon became one of the largest centers of education in Europe. The German language began to spread more and more actively, penetrating into administrative affairs and literature. Already at the end of the 14th century. The first chronicle in German appeared in Austria - “sterreichische Landesschronik”. Over the next century, the Austrian nation gradually took shape, which by the end of the 15th century. began to oppose itself to the German one.

In the 1470s. In Carinthia and Styria, one of the largest class uprisings broke out - the Peasant Union movement. It began as an attempt to repel the Turkish conquerors, and after some time grew into a major anti-feudal uprising. In 1514–1515 In the same lands, another uprising broke out - the Vendian Union - which government troops were able to suppress quickly enough.

From the middle of the 15th century. The center of the Holy Roman Empire finally moved to Vienna. In 1496, after another profitable dynastic marriage, Spain and its lands in Italy, Africa and America were annexed to the Habsburg possessions, although it was decided not to include Spanish lands in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1500, the Habsburgs introduced the regions of Hertz and Gradiška into their empire.

All Habsburg lands in 1520 were divided into two parts, the larger of which consisted of Spain, along with its colonies and the Netherlands, and the smaller of the indigenous possessions of the Habsburgs. After this, the dynasty was divided into two large branches - the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs.

The Austrian branch of the Habsburgs continued to unite their lands around the duchy. In 1526, when the king of Bohemia and Hungary died, the commission decided to elect Archduke Ferdinand I as a new ruler. Heading two new large possessions, he became one of the most influential monarchs in Europe. However, the following year he was elected king of Croatia.

The lands of Hungary remained controversial for Austria and the Ottoman Empire for quite a long time. Part of the Hungarian nobility elected Jan Zapolski as ruler of the state, supported by the Ottoman Empire. After the capture of Buda by the Ottoman army in 1541, the central and southern lands of Hungary went to the Ottoman Empire, and the northwestern part of the kingdom was annexed to Austria. Hungary completely became part of Austria only in 1699 following the Peace of Karlowitz.

In the XVI–XVII centuries. Austrian territories were again divided between several branches of the Habsburg family. In 1564, Austria, Bohemia and some lands of Hungary and Croatia went to the Austrian line, the Styrian branch received Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, and the Tyrolean branch received Tyrol and Western Austria (Vorarlberg, Alsace, which soon became part of France under the terms of the Peace of Westphalia treaty of 1648, as well as some West German possessions). The Tyrolean branch soon lost its lands, and they were all divided between the other two branches.

In 1608–1611 all of Austria was already practically united into one state, but in 1619 Tyrol and Western Austria were again separated into a separate possession. The final unification of the Austrian lands took place only in 1665.

In 1701, the Spanish Habsburg dynasty ended, after which the War of the Spanish Succession began, as a result of which the Habsburgs were unable to regain all the lands that belonged to their dynasty, but Austria took possession of the former Spanish Netherlands (from that time on they began to be called the Austrian Netherlands ), as well as some lands on the Apennine Peninsula (Duchy of Milan, Naples, Sardinia, soon exchanged for Sicily (in 1720)). Successful military operations against the Ottoman Empire led to Austria in 1716 annexing Slavonia, part of Bosnia, Serbia and Wallachia to its lands.

Mid-18th century was not very successful for the Habsburg dynasty. The War of the Polish Succession, which broke out in the middle of the century, led to the signing of the Treaty of Vienna in 1738, according to which Naples and Sicily passed into the hands of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty as the united Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. As compensation, the Austrian rulers received the Duchy of Parma, located in northern Italy.

The next war with the Ottoman Empire ended in the defeat of Austrian arms, which is why the state lost Belgrade, as well as the lands of Bosnia and Wallachia. The War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) soon followed, which ended with even more significant territorial losses: Prussia gained possession of Silesia, and Parma returned to the Bourbons.

In 1774, in exchange for military support during the Russian-Turkish War of 1768–1774. The Ottoman Empire transferred to Austria part of the territory of the Principality of Moldavia - Bukovina. In 1779, after the War of the Bavarian Succession, the Austrian state took possession of the Inviertel region. In addition, Austria received quite large areas after the division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: in 1772 it annexed Galicia, and in 1795 the southern lands of Poland along with the cities of Krakow and Lublin.

Empire during the Napoleonic Wars

During the Napoleonic Wars, Austria again lost part of its lands. According to the Treaty of Campoformia, signed in 1797, the Austrian Netherlands passed to France, and Lombardy, with its capital in Milan, became part of the Cisalpine Republic, which was formed by Napoleon. Almost all the territories of the Venetian Republic, including Istria and Dolmatia, went to Austria, but according to the next peace treaty - the Peace of Presburg in 1805 - Istria and Dolmatia passed to France, the Tyrol to Bavaria, and the entire Venetian region began to belong to the Kingdom of Italy. In return for the lost lands, Austria received the Grand Duchy of Salzburg.

During the Napoleonic wars, another peace treaty was concluded - the Treaty of Schönbrunn, under the terms of which Salzburg began to belong to Bavaria, Karantia, as well as other lands overlooking the Adriatic coast, went to France and became part of the Illyrian provinces, the Tarnopol region - to Russia, and the lands received by Austria during the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - to the Duchy of Warsaw. The Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist in 1806, when Emperor Francis II (Fig. 20) abdicated its throne.

Rice. 20. Emperor Franz II

This ruler received the title of Emperor of Austria in 1804 immediately after Napoleon assumed the title in France. For 2 years, Franz II was the bearer of two imperial titles - Austrian and Holy Roman Empire.

After the defeat of the French army, the Congress of Vienna was convened (1814–1815), as a result of which Austria was able to regain almost all of the lost lands. The Empire again gained possession of Tyrol, Salzburg, Lombardy, Venice, the Illyrian provinces, and the Tarnopol region. It was decided to make Krakow a free city, and Russia, Austria and Prussia became its patrons. This time period dates back to a significant rise in Austrian culture, especially in musical terms, which is associated with the work of such outstanding composers as V.A. Mozart and I. Haydn.

Armed clashes did not stop even after the end of the Napoleonic wars. Here, Austria's main opponents were France and the Ottoman Empire, whose troops repeatedly reached Vienna and besieged it. Thanks to victories over the Turks, Austria was able to significantly increase its territories - Hungary, Transylvania, Slovenia and Croatia were annexed to it.

Despite the fact that the Austrian Empire was governed as one state for quite a long time, in fact it never became a single entity. The empire included several kingdoms (Bohemia, or the Czech Republic, Hungary, Galicia and Lodomiria, Dalmatia, Lombardy and Venice, Croatia, Slovakia), two archduchies (Upper Austria and Lower Austria), a number of duchies (Bukovina, Carinthia, Silesia, Styria ), Grand Duchy of Transylvania, Margraviate of Moravia and several other counties. In addition, all these territories at one time had autonomy, which was expressed primarily in the presence of representative bodies (diets and landstags, which included people from the large nobility and merchants). The political power of these bodies may have changed over time. In some cases, to manage these lands, special central institutions were formed, and sometimes judicial bodies, for example, similar formations existed in Bohemia.

The emperor either independently led the state entities within his empire, or administered the territories through his governors. The local nobility could influence the politics of their territory, but it was extremely insignificant and did not last very long. In addition, the emperor reserved the right to assume the powers of the legislative body, leaving within his competence only voting on privileges, mobilizing the armed forces and introducing new monetary duties.

The representative body met only at the direction of the emperor. Quite often it happened that the Diet or Landtag did not meet for entire decades, and only certain political considerations could motivate the emperor to convene it, for example, the risk of class revolts, raising troops, receiving the support of feudal lords or city residents.

Hungary and Bohemia have always claimed a special status. The first occupied a special place in the Habsburg possessions, and also defended its independence from other states for quite a long time.

The hereditary rights of the Habsburgs to the Hungarian throne were recognized only in 1687 at the Diet assembled in the city of Presburg. By 1699, the Hungarian lands, free from Ottoman influence, were divided into several regions - Hungary, Transylvania (Semigradye), Croatia, Banat, Bačka.

Due to the fact that the Habsburg dynasty arbitrarily divided the liberated territories between the nobility of Austria and Hungary, an uprising broke out in 1703–1711, led by Ferenc II Rakoczi. It ended with the conclusion of the Satmar Peace of 1711, according to which Hungary received a number of concessions, for example, Hungarians were allowed to hold government positions in the empire. The conflict was completely settled only in 1724, when the Hungarian Diet approved the “Pragmatic Sanction,” which was submitted by the Austrian Archduke. According to this document, the Habsburg dynasty ruled the Hungarian lands not as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, but as kings of Hungary, i.e. they were forced to obey the laws of this state. However, despite this treaty, the Habsburgs still continued to treat Hungary as one of their own provinces.

In 1781, it was decided to unite Hungary, Croatia and Transylvania into one entity, which was called the Lands of the Crown of Stephen the Holy, but all this remained only on paper, since Croatia was able to gain some autonomy. The Diet of Hungary was dissolved, and German became the official language of the new state.

Ten years later, Hungary was again formally divided, but in practice this resulted in additional centralization of the management of the Hungarian lands, in addition, the Croatian Kingdom found itself almost completely subordinate to the ruler of Hungary. The Sejm was restored again, but the Hungarian language received state status only in 1825.

The territories of the Bohemian Crown before the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) had almost complete autonomy. After the Czech army was defeated in the battle of White Mountain in 1620, the Catholic Reformation began in Bohemia, that is, the conversion of all inhabitants of these lands to the Catholic faith, as a result of which the lands of the Bohemian crown were equal in rights with the rest of the provinces, owned by the Habsburg dynasty.

In 1627, a New Zemstvo Code was developed specifically for the Czech Republic, which retained the Sejm, but all legislative power was transferred to the king - the Archduke of Austria. In addition, according to this code, traditional public oral proceedings were replaced by written and secret ones, and the German language received equal rights with the Czech language.

Subsequently, Bohemia tried to regain its autonomy, for example, in 1720 the Sejm adopted the “Pragmatic Sanction”, but despite this, until the second half of the 19th century. Regarding the Czech Republic, the policy of Germanization of the population continued to be pursued. This led to the fact that in 1784 German became the official language - it was in it that teaching was to be conducted in educational institutions, including at the University of Prague.

Austria-Hungary in the 19th century

In 1848, a revolution occurred in the Austrian Empire. The rebels wanted to gain civil rights and freedoms and eliminate the remaining feudal remnants. In addition, one of the reasons for the revolution was interethnic contradictions in a state inhabited by different peoples, caused by the desire of each of them for cultural and political independence. In fact, it so happened that the revolution soon broke up into several revolutionary uprisings in different parts of the empire.

Members of the imperial family, as well as senior government officials, decided to make some concessions, and on March 15, 1848, the emperor, in his address to the Austrian people, promised to convene a constituent assembly, which was supposed to lay the foundation for the constitutional structure of the country. Already on April 25, 1848, the Austrian Minister of the Interior, Pillesdorf, made public the first Austrian constitution, which was completely borrowed from Belgium. According to it, a bicameral parliament was formed in the country, whose members were elected by indirect voting and according to a censorship system. However, this constitution was not in force in the territory of Hungary and the Lombardo-Venetian region. In addition, the Czech Republic and the Galician government did not want to ratify this document. The resistance of these areas of the empire was soon joined by the opposition-minded population of Austria itself.

The Committee of the Academic Legion and the National Guard considered the draft constitution to be insufficiently democratic. To abolish it, the committee decided to join forces, as a result of which the Central Political Committee was created. The Ministry of the Interior immediately issued a decree dissolving it, but there were not sufficient armed forces in Vienna, so the committee decided to resist. As a result, Minister Pillesdorf was forced to recognize him and make concessions to him. He promised that the constitution would be revised by a future parliament, reduced to one chamber. On May 25, 1848, the government again tried to dissolve the Central Political Committee, but barricades immediately appeared in Vienna, which were occupied by workers sympathetic to the committee. Thus, its dissolution was again thwarted. By decree of June 3, the Austrian emperor confirmed all the concessions he had made on May 15, and also expressed his desire for the speedy opening of parliament.

Returning from Frankfurt on July 22, 1848, the Archduke solemnly opened the first meeting of the Austrian parliament. In his speech delivered there, he spoke about the equality of all peoples living in the empire, the desire to quickly conclude an alliance with Germany and Hungary, and problems within the state that must be resolved in the near future.

Already at the first meeting of parliament, the project to recognize German as the state language was subjected to severe criticism. The fact is that about a quarter of the deputies of the first Austrian parliament belonged to the peasant class. Almost immediately, the peasants began to pursue a policy to overcome feudal remnants - on this issue, representatives of this class from all regions of the empire were of absolutely the same opinion.

Soon, the Austrian government again tried to dissolve the Central Political Committee, which caused unrest to begin again, but the uprising was completely suppressed by October 31, 1848 by the troops of Marshal Windischgrätz, after which the new Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I decided to dissolve the parliament responsible for development of a new constitutional project. Instead, on March 4, 1849, the emperor published his version of the future constitution, which was called the March Constitution. It proclaimed the unity of the territory of the Austrian Empire, but this time it included all lands, including Hungary. The same ones that were represented in the Imperial Council (Reichsrat) began to be called crown ones in the constitution of Emperor Franz Joseph I.

The entry of Hungary into the Austrian Empire was completely contrary to the existing “Pragmatic Sanction”. In response to such actions of the Austrian emperor, the Hungarian Diet made a decision according to which the Habsburg dynasty was deprived of the Hungarian crown, the “Pragmatic Sanction” was terminated, and a republic was proclaimed on the territory of Hungary.

Russian troops also took part in suppressing the revolution in Hungary. The uprising ended in his complete defeat. As a result, it was decided to deprive Hungary of its parliament, and the division of its lands into traditional committees was also cancelled. The former kingdom was headed by a governor who was appointed by the Austrian emperor himself. It was decided to establish a military government in Transylvania. The Kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia became crown lands, separated from Hungary, the regions of Banat and Bačka were united with some Hungarian and Slavonian lands into the Serbian Voivodeship. This happened back in 1848, and in 1849 this territorial union received the name of the Voivodeship of Serbia and Tamis-Banat, and their status was the same as that of the crown lands.

The Austrian constitution of 1849 did not last long. By imperial decree of December 31, 1851, it was declared invalid, and all Landtags were replaced by advisory committees, which included nobles and large landowners.

After Austria lost the Austro-Prussian War, there was an urgent need to find a compromise with the Hungarian aristocracy, and the memories of the unrest in the Hungarian territories were still fresh.

During negotiations with representatives of the Hungarian aristocracy, Hungary received broad autonomy, after which the Austro-Hungarian Empire was formed. All reforms carried out subsequently concerned mainly the adoption of the constitution of the new state and the formation of a bicameral parliament - the Reichsrat. The largest parties included in the Austro-Hungarian parliament were the conservatives (Christian Social Party) and the Marxist Social Democrats. However, universal male suffrage was introduced only in 1907.

Collapse of the Empire

Since the beginning of the 20th century. Austria-Hungary underwent some territorial changes. In 1908, Bosnia was annexed to the empire, and after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Sarajevo, the First World War began, which ended extremely unsuccessfully for the empire. Austria-Hungary was defeated and its Emperor Charles I was forced to abdicate, leading to the collapse of the empire.

After this, the monarchical system of Austria was eliminated and was replaced by a parliamentary form of government, in which the chancellor received the leading role in the state. Having lost access to the sea and large provinces, Austria found itself in a deep crisis, which was also aggravated by a sense of injured pride for defeat in the war.

In 1938, the state was annexed by Nazi Germany. After the end of World War II, it was decided to divide Austria into four occupation zones - American, British, Soviet and French. The troops of the victorious countries were on the territory of Austria until 1955, when its independence was finally restored.

With the fall of communist rule in Eastern European countries, the Austrian government was faced with a serious problem of illegal immigrants. In order to combat the flow of workers entering the country, restrictions were introduced on the entry of foreigners. In 1995, Austria was admitted to the European Union. That same year, the far-right Freedom Party, led by Jörg Haider, won the elections to the Austrian parliament.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had significant economic, political and military potential. As you know, the beginning of the century was characterized by a tense international situation, the central place of which belonged to Austria-Hungary, to the extent that it included the territories of the Balkan Peninsula. And as you know, the Balkans are a “powder keg” of Europe. The First World War will begin here. Its prerequisites and contradictions arose not only in Germany, Britain, but, by and large, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was destined not only to become an ally of the Triple Alliance, but also to fight against the Russian Empire.

Internal political situation in the empire

To better understand the state of affairs in Austria-Hungary at the beginning of the 20th century, let’s try to compare the countries that fought in the First World War from different military-political blocs. Perhaps the most appropriate comparison would be the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires.

The similarity of the situation is amazing. Like the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary was a large continental state, which in terms of its level of development was in no way inferior (and in some aspects superior) to the advanced countries of Europe. Austria-Hungary, like Russia, was literally torn apart by internal contradictions, primarily national ones.

National wrestling

The Austro-Hungarian monarchy included many nationalities and peoples. The struggle of these small nations (Poles, Croats, Romanians, Serbs, Slovenes, Ukrainians, Czechs, Slovaks) for self-determination, expansion of administrative and cultural rights very powerfully rocked the stability of the empire from within. It should also be taken into account that Austria-Hungary claimed a unique structure of government, which was built on the power of two monarchs. And this greatly aggravated the internal political situation.

Foreign policy of the state

The geopolitical interest of the empire was focused on the Balkan Peninsula, and Russia also laid claim to these territories. They were inhabited by Slavic peoples, who at the beginning of the century were under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire, the eternal enemy of both Austria-Hungary and Russia. But both empires did not agree with a fair division of the Balkans, so the conflict between the great powers deepened every year, and not only Austria-Hungary aggravated it. The Empire and Russia fanned this conflict equally.

Serbia became the inevitable bone of contention between states. Strengthened in two Balkan wars of 1912-1913. the Slavic kingdom created serious problems for Austria-Hungary by expressing ideas about independence. This policy of King Peter Karadjordjevic of Serbia was facilitated by Russia, a longtime brother of the Serbian people. Given this state of affairs, the Austro-Hungarian government could only count on a forceful solution to the problem.

The army and its structure

A foreign policy task of this level of complexity was entrusted to the imperial and royal army of Austria-Hungary. This is what the armed forces of the empire were called. The army, like the entire state, was heterogeneous. It consisted of Austrians, Hungarians, Croats, Bosnians and representatives of other peoples within the country. The Austro-Hungarian forces were divided into four components: the Imperial and Royal Army of the Landwehr, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian troops, the Royal Hungarian Honved and the Imperial Royal Forces. All of them, respectively, had bodies of military and territorial administration. The territorial aspect in the army gave rise to a lot of contradictions, since the governments of Austria and Hungary contributed to the development of the Honved and Landwehr and, on the contrary, tried to deprive the rest of the army.

There were many shortcomings and contradictions in the officer corps. Military academies trained officers in the spirit of old, outdated traditions. The military became bureaucratic and was only able to conduct maneuvers, and not combat operations. There was no theoretical, living military thought in the army. And in general, many officers were nationalistic and were ardent anti-monarchists.

But we can’t talk only about the negative state of the Austro-Hungarian army; of course, there were also strengths. The imperial and royal armies were particularly mobile. The small territory of the empire and a developed network of railways allowed troops to move faster than all the armies of the continent. Austria-Hungary was second only to Germany in terms of technological equipment for its army. The industry of the state, due to its development, could allow a very good supply of the army, even in war conditions. But if the war had been protracted, all advantages would have been lost. Many European states were in a similar situation, Austria-Hungary being no exception. The First World War, which is about to begin, will put everything in its place.

Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century

Thus, you can state the fact that the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century was in crisis, both external and internal. In the 19th century, Austria-Hungary gained a foothold on the map of Europe, but it failed to maintain its leading position, which led to growing contradictions in the national issue, in the armed forces and in geopolitical strategies.

"Patchwork Empire" Having lost its position as a great power after defeat in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Austria entered into an agreement on unification with Hungary in 1867.

United Austria-Hungary became one of the largest states in Europe. In terms of territory and population, it surpassed Great Britain, Italy and France. At the beginning of the 20th century. Austria-Hungary included the territories of Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia, as well as part of the territories of modern Romania, Poland, Italy and Ukraine. The capital of Austria, Vienna, was one of the most ancient, populous and rich cities in Europe. The capital of Hungary, Budapest, and the main city of the Czech lands, Prague, were also industrial, commercial and cultural centers.

Unlike most Western European states, Austria-Hungary was a multinational state and was often called a "patchwork empire." More than a dozen different nationalities lived on the territory of Austria-Hungary, and none of them accounted for even a quarter of the total population. The most numerous were Austrians (23.5% of the population) and Hungarians (19.1%). This was followed by Czechs and Slovaks (16.5%), Serbs and Croats (16.5%), Poles (10%), Ukrainians (8%), Romanians (6.5%), Slovenes, Italians, Germans and many others .

Some nationalities lived more or less compactly: for example, Austrians in Austria, Hungarians in Hungary, Croats in Croatia, Czechs in the Czech lands, Poles and Ukrainians in Galicia, Romanians and Hungarians in Transylvania. Many areas had a mixed population.

Religious differences were added to the national differences: Austrians, Italians and Poles professed Catholicism, Czechs and Germans - Protestantism, Croats - Islam, Ukrainians - Orthodoxy or Uniatism.

According to the terms of the 1867 agreement between Austria and Hungary, Austria-Hungary was considered a “dual monarchs" Hungarians and Austrians. The Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph was at the same time the Hungarian-king. He had the right to issue legislative acts, approved the composition of the government and was the commander-in-chief of the united Austro-Hungarian army. Austria and Hungary had three common ministries - military, foreign affairs and finance. Austria and Hungary had their own parliaments and governments, the composition of which was approved by the emperor.

There was no universal suffrage. Only owners of any property enjoyed the right to vote; the vote was open. In areas of compact residence of some nationalities (in Croatia, the Czech lands, Galicia) their own constitutions were in force, there were local parliaments and self-government bodies. In such areas, by law, teaching in primary schools and office work in local authorities had to be conducted in national languages, but this law was often violated.

The great complexity of the national and religious composition, the unequal position of all nationalities, except for the Austrians and Hungarians, gave rise to various national movements whose interests did not coincide. Serious contradictions existed even between the two dominant nations - the Austrians and the Hungarians. Part of the ruling circles of Hungary advocated the liquidation of the 1867 agreement, the separation of Hungary from Austria and the declaration of Hungarian independence. Relations between other nationalities were even more complex. Peoples who did not have their own statehood were at enmity with the Austrians and Hungarians, and at the same time were often in hostile relations with each other.

The Austrian-Hungarian government sought to suppress the desire of the oppressed nationalities for independence. Several times it dissolved local parliaments and governments, but could not put an end to national movements. Numerous legal and illegal nationalist organizations continued to operate in the empire.

Socio-economic development. In economics, Austria-Hungary lagged behind the great powers. The most industrially developed were Austria and the Czech lands located in the western part of Austria-Hungary. There was large industry and banks there. The six largest monopolies controlled the production of almost all iron ore and 92% of steel production. The Skoda metallurgical concern in the Czech Republic was one of the most significant enterprises in the European military industry. In other areas of Austria-Hungary, small and medium-sized industry predominated. Hungary, Croatia, Galicia, and Transylvania were agricultural regions with large landownership. About a third of all cultivated land there belonged to the largest owners, who each owned more than 1,000 hectares. The peasants were dependent on the landowners and often ran their farms using outdated traditional methods.

A special feature of the Austria-Hungarian economy was the important role of foreign capital in it. The leading branches of the Austro-Hungarian industry: metallurgical, mechanical engineering, oil, electrical engineering - were financed by German companies or were their property. French capital was in second place. He owned the Skoda factories, part of the railways, mines and iron foundries.

The working class of Austria-Hungary was small. It was concentrated mainly in large cities of Austria and the Czech Republic, as well as in the capital of Hungary - Budapest. Two thirds of the population of Austria-Hungary lived in the countryside, engaged in agriculture, crafts and trade. In many areas, the ruling and exploited classes belonged to different nationalities. Croatian, Serbian, Romanian peasants often worked for Hungarian magnates, Ukrainian peasants - for Polish landowners. This circumstance further complicated national relations and intensified national hostility.

Crisis of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was experiencing a deep political crisis caused by the rise of the workers' and national liberation movements. After the publication in Russia of the Tsar’s manifesto on October 17 (30), 1905, which promised democratic freedoms and the convening of the State Duma, the leadership of the Austrian Social Democratic Party called on workers to take mass action in support of universal suffrage. At the beginning of November 1905, in Vienna and Prague, workers took to the streets, staged demonstrations, organized strikes, built barricades, and clashed with the police. The Austrian government made concessions and on November 4, 1905 announced its agreement to introduce universal suffrage. In February 1907, a new electoral law was adopted, which for the first time in Austrian history granted the right to vote to all men over 24 years of age.

Events in Hungary developed differently. An suffrage reform law was introduced into the Hungarian parliament in 1908, but it granted the right to vote only to literate men, with property owners receiving two votes. It was only in 1910 that the Hungarian government promised to introduce universal suffrage, but did not fulfill its promise.

The main place in the political life of Austria-Hungary at this time was occupied by foreign policy issues. The ruling circles, especially the so-called “military party”, the head of which was the ardent militarist Deputy Commander-in-Chief, heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand, sought expansion in the Balkans. In October 1908, the government announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Turkish provinces populated mainly by Serbs and Croats, to Austria-Hungary.

The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina caused protests among the population of these provinces and led to a sharp escalation of contradictions between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. The “War Party” began a propaganda campaign against Serbia and began to prepare for a “preventive” (precautionary) war with it.

For their part, Serbian and Croatian nationalist organizations operating in Austria-Hungary launched a struggle for the liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the creation of a unified Yugoslav state led by Serbia. In an effort to suppress the national movements of the peoples inhabiting Austria-Hungary, the government decided to dissolve some of the local governments. In 1912, the Croatian parliament was dissolved and the constitution was suspended. In 1913, the same fate befell the Czech parliament. In 1914 the government dissolved the Austrian parliament. As a result, national and class contradictions became even more acute.