Austria - Habsburg Dynasty II

  General Description   The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ended the Thirty Years’ War, the Habsburgs faced the task of consolidating their fragmented territories, this era was marked by a series of succession wars, reflecting the Habsburgs’ quest for territorial expansion and dynastic security. ^[1]

The beginning of the period saw the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714), a conflict over the vast inheritance of the Spanish Habsburgs. The war ended with the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt, which, while ceding the Spanish throne to the Bourbon Philip of Anjou, granted the Austrian Habsburgs significant territories in Italy and the Netherlands, reshaping the European balance of power. ^[2]




In mid-18th century the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) challenged Maria Theresa’s right to her father’s throne. Despite initial setbacks, including the loss of Silesia to Prussia, Maria Theresa confirmed her rule and laid the foundation for the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty. ^[3]




The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) further tested the Habsburg power, as Maria Theresa sought to reclaim Silesia and counter Prussia’s rise. This global conflict, stretching from the heart of Europe to distant colonies, ended without altering the Silesian status quo but significantly realigned international alliances, setting the stage for future confrontations. ^[4]




At the end of the 18th century, the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778-1779) once again pitted the Habsburgs against Prussia, this time over the strategic region of Bavaria on the question of succession to the Electorate of Bavaria after the extinction of the Bavarian branch of the House of Wittelsbach. The conflict ended with the Treaty of Teschen with only minor gains for the Habsburg monarchy.
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In the 19th century, the Habsburg Empire faced the challenge of Napoleonic France which resulted in the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the establishment of the Austrian Empire in 1804, Francis II became Francis I, Emperor of Austria. ^[6]




The Congress of Vienna in 1815 which laid the foundation of the post Napoleonic order in central Europe. further redefined the Habsburg realm, securing its status as a great power. ^[7]



The revolutionary period of 1848, with its calls for liberalization and nationalism, profoundly challenged the imperial status quo, revealing the deep-seated tensions within its multi-ethnic composition. ^[8]



In response to these internal upheavals and the growing nationalist movements, “the Ausgleich” of 1867 with Hungary marked a pivotal compromise. This agreement gave rise to the Dual Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (“k. u. k.-Monarchie).



“The Ausgleich (“compromise”) reached with Hungary in 1867 was a major concession for Franz Joseph, and it created the so-called dualist Austria-Hungary that existed until 1918… The arrangement was dualist because it was not federalist. Rather than parceling out the monarchy into a structure in which the Austro-German lands, the Czech lands, Galicia, and Hungary-Croatia would all have roughly equal weight, it was divided simply into two, the Hungarian half and the Austrian half. This latter was not really called “Austria” but rather “Cisleithania,” meaning “beyond the Leitha River,” which was the border between Austria and Hungary. The formal name of the Cisleithanian half was “the countries and realms represented in the Reichsrat,” which gives some indication of the insubstantial basis for common identity of those territories. The governmental link between these two halves was also minimal. Foreign and military policy belonged almost exclusively to Franz Joseph. He retained the power to appoint and dismiss ministers, who thus had only a partial responsibility to parliament, and he could reject laws passed by the Reichsrat. There was a joint financial ministry and tariff regime. But details such as Hungary’s share of the budget could be renegotiated every decade, which led to repeated political conflicts in the years ahead, so dualism’s division of powers was by no means entirely clear. Nearly everything else was separate. There were distinct parliaments for the Cisleithanian and Hungarian halves, and each half had its own administrative, legal, and school systems. The realm was designated as kaiserlich (“imperial”) for the Austrian Empire of Cisleithania and königlich (“royal”) for the Kingdom of Hungary. In practice, dualism meant that the Austro-Germans dominated the other peoples in their half, and the Hungarians the other peoples in theirs. In many ways, Hungary’s weight within the Dual Monarchy only grew after 1867, thanks to economic advances that in turn fed into greater assertiveness on the part of the Magyar elite… Ultimately, even the Austro-Germans and the Hungarians disliked dualism. The former resented Hungarians’ disproportionate weight in the monarchy, while the latter constantly pushed for more autonomy and resisted any changes that would reduce their weight. And virtually all the other national groups detested the arrangement because it unfairly excluded them.” ^[9]


“By the summer of 1918 the Habsburg dynasty’s death knell was ringing… Karl presided impotently over the progressive hollowing out of the whole monarchical state until there was almost nothing left that he actually governed. At the end of October the nearly 400-year-old monarchy dissolved in a matter of weeks. Karl issued a proposal for federalization on 16 October, but he and his idea were already irrelevant by that point. Gyula Andrássy, the last foreign minister of Austria-Hungary, said that the implicit logic behind the final, futile moves taken by the leadership was that “so that no one can kill us, we’ll commit suicide.” The initiative was instead firmly in the hands of the various national groups. On 18 October Romanians in Hungary called for union with the Kingdom of Romania. On the 21st the Germans of the monarchy declared their right to self-determination. On the 28th the Czech National Council declared independence, and on the 30th the new Czechoslovakia was officially formed. On the 29th the Croatian parliament formally dissolved its connections to Austria and Hungary and pledged to join the new Yugoslav kingdom. On the 31st the Ruthenians in Galicia announced their secession. On 1 November the Hungarians proclaimed their ties to the monarchy ended, followed ten days later by Galicia joining the new Polish republic. As all this was happening, Karl was still working at his desk in Schönbrunn, but the palace was mostly empty. Only a few loyal servants remained, since even his bodyguards had left. Finally on 11 November Karl signed papers that he was “temporarily” giving up his powers. He never formally abdicated but went into exile, first in Switzerland. Karl twice tried to retake the throne in Hungary in 1921, but after these unsuccessful attempts he was removed by the British to Madeira, where he died in 1922.” ^[10]

[1]: Arndt, Der Dreißigjährige Krieg. Zotero link: PULFEDKX

[2]: Schnettger, Der Spanische Erbfolgekrieg. Zotero link: HK6DTTSH

[3]: (Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Kriegsarchiv) Zotero link: WC966X6J

[4]: Danley and Speelman, The Seven Years’ War. Zotero link: AE3M256H

[5]: Michael Kotulla, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte: vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495 - 1934). Zotero link: U84B9DNB

[6]: “Germany - Prussia, Napoleon, Reunification | Britannica.” Zotero link: F52JWVA3

[7]: Heinz Duchhardt, Der Wiener Kongress: die Neugestaltung Europas 1814/15. Zotero link: KQ7ZZYPE

[8]: Dowe, Haupt, and Langewiesche, Europa 1848. Zotero link: ZDEFI38W

[9]: Berger, Der Österreichisch-ungarische Ausgleich von 1867. Zotero link: 7SEQIFJ2

[10]: “Das Ende der Monarchie,” Die Welt der Habsburger, accessed February 4, 2024, https://www.habsburger.net/de/kapitel/das-ende-der-monarchie. Zotero link: G9K39WS5