CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS IN THE
GERMAN-SPEAKING COUNTRIES- IRE214
 Fall 2018 Session 8: Austrian History
Maya Hadar
 Keeping up with the Habsburgs
 The Austrian Empire
 The Austro-Hungarian Empire
 Nationalism
 Army
 Economy
Austrian History
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The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
 One of the most important royal houses of Europe
 Best known for being the origin of all Holy Roman Emperors
between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian
Empire, Spanish Empire and several other countries.
 The Habsburgs controlled many regions in Europe starting from
the 10th Century
 Owned territories in Alsace, Switzerland up until the early 20th
century
 The House takes its name from
Habsburg Castle, a fortress built
around 1020–1030 in present day
Switzerland by Count Radbot of
Klettgau
 His grandson, Otto II, was the first to
take the fortress name as his own,
adding "von Habsburg" to his title
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
 The origins of the castle's name are uncertain
 It is assumed to be derived from the High
German Habichtsburg (Hawk Castle), but
some historians + linguists are convinced that
the name comes from the Middle High German
word "hab/hap" meaning ford (brod), as there
is a river with a ford nearby
 The Habsburg Castle was the family seat in
the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
 The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum through the 11th,
12th and 13th centuries
 By 1276, Count Radbot's seventh generation descendant, Rudolph of
Habsburg, had moved the family's power base from Habsburg Castle to
the Archduchy of Austria.
 1273 => Rudolph became King of Germany/Holy Roman Emperor
 1276=> House of Habsburg was truly entrenched when Rudolph became
sovereign ruler of Austria (ruled by the Habsburgs for the next six
centuries)
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
 A powerful family, they often made land
alliances through marriage
 Such marriages enabled the family to vastly
expand its domains (Burgundy, Spain,
Bohemia, Hungary etc.)
 Resulted in much in-breeding => descendants
of the Habsburgs typically had unique facial
features including a protruding lower lip and
chin
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
 1453 => a Habsburg descendent, Friedrich III
was crowned Holy Roman Emperor
 With the title and influence, he began to raise
cultural pride in Austria, claiming that Austria
was a superior nation to others
 In pursuit of his belief, he waged war against
King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
 Friedrich defeated the Hungarian king and
conquered Vienna
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
 1477 => Friedrich III was also able to promote the marriage
of his son, Maximilian, to Maria of Burgundy in order to acquire
additional land for the Habsburg Empire
 Friedrich III was influential in establishing the marriage of his
other son, Philip, to Joan, daughter of King Ferdinand II of
Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, thus ensuring his
families interests in the regions held by Spain (but also Italy,
the Netherlands, and North America)
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
 Philip and Joan had two sons =>
Charles I and Ferdinand I
 1516 => Charles I became
Spain's ruler
 1519 => Charles I was crowned
Charles V, Emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
 As he controlled a vast amount of land, he delegated control over
Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary to his brother, Ferdinand I
 Wars began to occur between the (Christian) Habsburgs and the
(Moslem) Ottoman Empire (Turks)
 1532 => Turks wanted to take control of Vienna => economically
viable + strategically located
 Ferdinand I, who moved his court to Vienna, battled the Turks to defend
it => Turks withdrew from the city
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
 Unity between Charles and Ferdinand I lasted until Charles
abdicated his position as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
 Charles gave control of Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands to
his son, Philip II
 Charles´ brother, Ferdinand I was given reign over Central
European territories => caused a split within the family =>
Ferdinand I, not Philip II, was designated by Charles to become
the new Holy Roman Emperor
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
 During the remaining 1500’s and into the 1600’s => Habsburgs were
involved in internal political intrigues, external wars with the Turks,
and diseases (black death in Vienna in the 1680s)
 1600’s => the family separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and
junior Habsburg Monarchy branches
 1600’s => The thirty year’s war between Catholics and Protestants
 Fenestration of Prague protestant => Protestant states (Sweden, the
Netherlands) sent troops were sent to fight the Catholics
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
The Thirty Years’ War
 Both Catholic and Protestant rulers shifted sides according to politics
Catholic France joined Lutheran Sweden against the Catholic Hapsburgs
 Hapsburgs controlled Spain as well as Austria
 Murder and torture were followed by famine and disease =>
depopulation in much of central Europe
 1648 => the Treaty of Westphalia was signed ending the war
 France gained land on both the Spanish and German fronts
 Early 1700s’ => the Hapsburg empire included Germans, Slavs etc.
 Allowed each ethnicity to practice and live as they did before
 16th century => the family separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and
junior Habsburg Monarchy branches
 During the remaining 1500’s and into the 1600’s => Habsburgs were
involved in internal political intrigues, external wars with the Turks, and
diseases (black death in Vienna in the 1680s)
 Only in the 1700’s Charles VI, current Austrian emperor, tried to unify
Habsburg control and guarantee the empire's continuance
 Charles had no male heirs, arranged for his daughter, Maria Theresa to
marry Francis I of Lorraine => alliance meant to extend the Habsburg
lineage into France
The Habsburgs aka House of Austria
Charles VI => Maria Theresa
 Until then no women had ever
controlled Hapsburg land by herself
 Charles convinced many European
families to recognize Maria Theresa’s
right to the throne
 Many ignored that promise after his
death
Rise of Prussia
 Austria => strong Catholic State
 Prussia => equally strong Protestant State
 Under the leadership of the Hohenzollern family, Prussia:
 Built a large and very strong army
 Set up a system of bureaucracy to reduce the power of local nobles
 By 1740 Prussia was strong enough to challenge Austria
Austrian Succession
 1740–1748 => a conglomeration of related wars, two of which
developed directly from the death of Charles VI, Holy Roman
emperor and head of the Austrian branch of the house of Habsburg,
on Oct. 20, 1740
 Many European nations challenged Maria Theresa's rule but she was
successful in retaining control over her lands
 1740-1780 => During Maria Theresa's reign, a "Golden Age" existed
for Austria, and the Habsburg Empire: art, other cultural developments
were encouraged
 New civil policies were instituted =>
formal system of public education
 As Maria Theresa aged, her son,
Joseph II, became her successor
 Agreed with his mother's established
policies and tried to issue even more
reforms => tolerance towards
people of different religious beliefs
The Habsburgs Civic Policies
Balance of Power
 As Austria and Prussia became more powerful, wars broke out
across Europe
 The largest was the 7 Years’ War (1756-1763)
 Was fought on 4 different continents
Prussia, Austria, Russia, France and Britain fought in Europe
Britain and France fought in India, Africa and North America
Treaty of Paris ends the war and gives England a huge
Empire
 18th century => House of Habsburg became extinct in the male line
 1700 => Spanish branch ended upon the death of Charles II, replaced
by the Anjou branch of the House of Bourbon
 1740 => The Austrian branch went extinct in the male person with the
death of Charles VI and in the female person in 1780 with the death of
his daughter Maria Theresa => succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of
the House of Lorraine
 The new successor house styled itself formally as House of Habsburg-Lorraine
(German: Habsburg-Lothringen), though was often referred to as House of
Habsburg
The Habsburgs
 Late 18th early 19th centuries => Napoleon
Bonaparte came to power in France, the Habsburgs
faced a new enemy
 1806 => Franz II, grandson of Maria Theresa, king
of Germany and Austria, Holy Roman Emperor, forced
to relinquish his titles to Napoleon
 Habsburgs tried to appease Napoleon (arranging
the marriage of Franz II´s daughter, Marie Louise)
 1815=> Defeat over Napoleon at the battle of
Waterloo
The Habsburgs
The Hapsburg Empire
 Beginning of the 1800s’ => the Hapsburg family
controlled much of the region for nearly four centuries
EMPEROR FRANCIS JOSEPH (1848-1916)
 Centralized administration, dominated by Germanspeaking
Austrians
 All internal tariffs were abolished
 Hungary was divided into military districts
 The Catholic Church controlled education
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 Austrian emperor,
Foreign Minister
Metternich tried to
maintain power of
monarchy
 Accused universities of
creating
revolutionaries
Resistance to Change
 Metternich called
meeting of
Confederation, passed
Carlsbad Decrees
 Prohibited any
reforms that conflicted
with absolute
monarchy
Carlsbad Decrees
 Censorship of
newspapers
 Created secret police to
spy on students
suspected of
revolutionary activities
Other Prohibitions
The Austrian Empire
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The Austrian Empire
Metternich not only created restrictive laws for the empire:
 Formed alliances with other European powers trying to prevent
nationalist revolutions
 1820 => Congress of Troppau
 Called by Metternich, leaders of other powers
 Aimed at uniting European powers in an attempt to prevent nationalist
revolutions
 Leaders agreed to provide military intervention to support governments
against internal revolution
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 Metternich was able to sustain the Austrian Empire for a few years
 However, events in Europe eventually caught up with it:
 Revolutions in France and Italy
 German states set off revolts in Austrian Empire; people with
different nationalities wanted independence
 Clashes between demonstrators and the army in the streets of Vienna
 Frightened emperor Ferdinand ordered Metternich to resign
 Metternich fled Austria
Revolution
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 1848 => Ferdinand abdicated the throne
went to nephew Franz Josef I
 Deeply seated in his own anachronism
 Disliked everything liberal, progressive,
modern
 Incapable of ambitious projects, bold
decisions, persevering actions
Franz Josef I
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The Hapsburg Empire
 1853 => Franz Josef survived an assassination attempt
 As worries about succession increased, Franz Joseph
looked for a wife
 Fell for his 16 year old cousin, Elisabeth (Sissi) of
Bavaria
 Was often away from court (traveled Europe extensively,
fashion icon)
 Encouraged her husband to support the Hungarian cause
 1898 => stabbed to death by an anarchist in Geneva
1848 => Hungarian Magyars rebelled against Austrian rule (almost
successful)
 Czar Nicholas I of Russia sent troops to help Austria crush revolt
 Franz Josef I stopped the liberal reforms of 1848 but could not
eradicate nationalism => ruled over over unstable empire
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The Habsburgs vs. Nationalism
The Habsburgs vs. Nationalism
 Post 1848 =>
 Germanic centralization of language: was condemned by
non-German nationalities, especially the Magyars (made up
less than half the mixed Hungarian population)
 Bureaucratic efficiency and modernization
 Maintained the abolition of serfdom (from 1848)
Serfdom is the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism
(name for the organization of the economy in the Middle Ages). The economy relied mainly on agriculture.
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 Nationalist movement continued in Europe
 1859 => Austria lost Lombardy to Italy
 1860 => Austrian federation with local diets and
a single imperial government (rejected by the
Magyars)
 1867 => Agreement between Franz Josef I and
Hungarian nationalist movement leaders to form
2 separate countries with a common ruler
Forming a New Government
The Dual Monarchy
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Franz Josef I could not stop
the nationalist movement =>
Change came in the form of
the ’Ausgleich’
• Dual monarchy
• Austria and Hungary became two separate,
equal states under Franz Josef I => emperor
of Austria, king of Hungary
• Each state had its own constitution and
parliament
• Monarch’s common government shared
responsibility for the army, navy, foreign policy
and the customs union
Compromise of 1867
The Dual Monarchy
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 No common laws in Austria-Hungary: All laws,
even identical ones had to pass in both
parliaments (Vienna and Budapest)
 Linking/co-ordinating the two fell to a
government under a monarch, wielding power
absolute in theory but limited in practice
 The Austro-Hungarian government became a
cosmopolitan bureaucracy => multicultural
organization of non-elected officials
The Dual Monarchy
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• The Hungarians pursued Magyarization in their
part of the empire, suppressing Slavic languages
and culture
• To manage the situation in Austria, Prime Minister
Edward von Taaffe expanded voting rights and
tried to win over the Czechs, Slovaks, and Poles by
including them in the Imperial Parliament
• German nationalists resented these policies
The Dual Monarchy
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 Dual Monarchy lasted until
1918 (about 50 years)
 Eased pressure of nationalism
had economic advantages:
 Rural, agricultural Hungary
provided raw materials,
food
 Industrialized Austria
provided industrial products
Rural and Industrial
The Dual Monarchy36
 Anti-Semitism emerged as a political force in
Austrian politics with the rise of the Christian Social
Party
 1897- 1910 => Karl Lueger served as mayor of
Vienna and pursued policy of restriction and
exclusion against Jews
The Dual Monarchy
 Political difficulties in Austria mounted
continuously through the late 1800s and
into the 20th century
 Franz Joseph remained immensely
respected
 His patriarchal authority held the Empire
together while the politicians squabbled
The Dual Monarchy
 After Rudolf, heir to the throne, died in 1889,
Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Franz Joseph’s
nephew) became heir
 Simmering nationalism among ethnic groups
under Austrian domination caused disruption in
the Reichsrat and resulted in rule by imperial
decree in the late 1890’s
 Continued tension in the Balkans would
eventually result in the chaos of World War I
1914
The Dual Monarchy
 The "Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867" created
semi-independent states linked by personal union
 Neither nation-state was democratic
 Nationalism was a big issue facing the new AustriaHungary
due to the huge ethnic separation of the two
major groups
 Ongoing push for political and cultural equality
National and Social Multiculturalism
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National and Social Multiculturalism
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 Neither Germans not Hungarians constituted a
majority
German 24%
Hungarian 20%
Czech 13%
Polish 10%
Ruthenian 8%
Romanian 6%
Croat 5%
Slovak 4%
Serb 4%
Slovene 3%
Italian 3%
National and Social Multiculturalism
 Language was one of
the most contentious
issues in AustroHungarian
politics =>
Both governments faced
difficulties in deciding
on the languages of
government +
instruction
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Foreign Policy
 1873 => Germany (Chancellor Otto von
Bismarck) forged the ‘Three Emperors’
League’ with Austria-Hungary and Russia
 The three empires pledged:
 To consult one another on mutual
interests in Europe
 To remain neutral when a member state
take military action against a nonmember
state, particularly against
France or the Balkan nations
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Foreign Policy
 The Austro-Hungarian government feared attack from Russia
 1879 => Austro-Hungary and Germany agreed to form a Dual
Alliance, expended to include Italy in 1882
 Agreed to support each other if attacked by either France or Russia
 The Triple Alliance was renewed at five-yearly intervals
 1907 => The Triple Entente between Britain, France, and Russia,
reinforced the belief that the former countries needed a military
alliance
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Alliances Summary
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 During the Empire’s existence, the capitalist mode
of production spread and replaced medieval
institutions
 1879-1900 => more than 25k km of railways
were built
 The railway reduced transportation costs
throughout the Empire, opening new markets
for products from Austro-Hungarian lands.
Austro-Hungarian Economy
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 Austro-Hungary’s most important trading partner was
Germany, followed by Great Britain, while trade with
geographically neighbouring Russia had a relatively low
weight
 1871-1913 => The GNP per capita grew roughly 1.76%
per year from 1871-1913. That was a higher level of
growth than Britain, France, and Germany
 Yet, in a comparison with Germany and Britain, the
Austrian-Hungarian economy still lagged considerably, as
sustained modernization had begun much later
Austro-Hungarian Economy
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 1873 => old capital Buda and Obuda
merged with a third city, Pest, creating
the metropolis of Budapest
 Grew into Austro-Hungary’s
administrative, political, economic,
trade and cultural hub
 Budapest became the empire’s center of
agriculture and food industry
 Large proportion of export to the rest of
Europe
Austro-Hungarian Economy
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 Wide disparities of economic development existed within the Empire:
 Western areas became more developed than eastern areas
 Economic growth centered on Vienna + Budapest,
the Austrian lands (areas of modern Austria), the
Alpine region and the Bohemian lands
 Late 19th century => rapid economic growth
spread to the central Hungarian plain and to the
Carpathian lands
Austro-Hungarian Economy
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 End of 19th century => economic differences
gradually even out
 Economic growth in the eastern parts of the
Empire consistently surpassed that in the
western
 By the early 20th century => Division of labour
between east and west + existing economic and
monetary union, led to an even more rapid
economic growth throughout Austria-Hungary
Austro-Hungarian Economy
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Army
 The Austro-Hungarian Imperial Army was officially under
the control of the Commander-in-Chief, Emperor Franz
Josef + small navy
 By 1914 Josef was 84 years old and the chief of staff,
Count Franz Conrad, had more power over the armed
forces
 Conrad favoured an aggressive foreign policy and
advocated the use of military action to solve AustroHungary's
territorial disputes with Italy and Serbia
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The Black Hand
 A secret military society formed by members of
the Serbian army in the Kingdom of Serbia
 Founded on September 6, 1901
 Aimed at uniting all territories containing
significant Serb populations annexed by Austria-
Hungary
 1914 => Dragutin Dimitrijević known as Apis
decided that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir of
Austria, should be assassinated. Three young
Bosnian-Serbs were recruited and trained
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The Black Hand
 Those involved probably realized that their plot would invite war between
Austria and Serbia
 Knew that Russia would side with Serbia.
 Unlikely that they anticipated a world war
 After a first unsuccessful attack, the Archduke was assassinated
 The guilt for the crime settled on Serbia in general
 Tensions between Serbia and Austria eventually drew in the other European
powers and escalated into a world war
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The major factors that kept the Empire together were:
 Loyalty to the Emperor => very popular and multilingual
(spoke nearly all languages of the Empire)
 The Catholic religion => 90% of Austrians and 60%
of Hungarians
 The civil service and the army => dominated by
Germans
The Dual Monarchy
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1800s => The Fall of the Habsburgs
 1859 => Habsburg control no longer existed in
Italy, 1866 in Germany
 Habsburgs still controlled Austria and Hungary
as a Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary
 Faced problems of self determination during
that time => heir to the Austrian throne, Franz
Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo in
1914, the Hapsburgs declared war on Serbia
=> propelled Europe into World War I
 1918=> The Habsburg Empire was finally dismantled with the defeat
of Austria and Hungary at the end of World War I and the founding
of the Republic of Austria
 The Habsburg descendants were able to retain their traditional titles
but not to rule
The Fall of the Habsburgs
The Habsburgs- Conclusion
 Had to work out their future with a dozen other nationalities
around the Danube
 Amazing resilience is shown by the Habsburg presence
 Survived until 1918:
 Attacked by Revolutionary France (1789-1799)
 Attacked by Napoleon (1799-1809)
 Broken up in 1848 and restored by Russian intervention
 Attacked by Napoleon III in 1859
 Attacked by Bismarck in 1866 => left 1/6th of Germans outside the empire
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Next Session...
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 Switzerland!
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Thank You For Your Attention!
Questions???