Research Paper On Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

It was no surprise when the abomination of an Empire that was Austria-Hungary caused itself to implode, but many people do not know why this happened or how to prevent a similar event from occurring in the future. However, in its demise, we have discovered new ways to govern large and multicultural countries akin to Austria-Hungary. But, no other country at the time could compare to Austria-Hungary in areas such as governmental conflicts and ethnic agitation. Within this economic powerhouse were deep scars coursing throughout the whole rotten structure, making it only a matter of time until this ticking time bomb exploded.

Austria-Hungary was very ethnically diverse, and this conglomerate of nationalities had been fighting each

These few years are considered the prelude to World War 1, and at the time everyone knew something big was coming. A revolution in the Ottoman Empire worried the Austro-Hungarians, prompting them to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina to secure their interests in the Balkans. Though the annexation was initially approved by the Russians, pressure from France and Great Britain forced them to retract their approval, almost starting a war between the many great powers of Europe (Wagnleitner and Fellner). War was narrowly avoided, but that was not the end of the Balkan Crisis. During the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), Austria-Hungary sent two ultimatums to Serbia, demanding them to return all the land they took from the Ottomans, which they subsequently refused after Austria-Hungary’s allies refused to support their aggressive policies any longer (Wagnleitner and Fellner). At this point, war was inevitable, it was just a matter of time before something really big happened, and this big thing turned out to happen sooner rather than later. On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne, was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb extremist, prompting Austro-Hungarian officials to send an absurd ultimatum to Serbia and finally declare war after their refusal (Wagnleitner and Fellner). What should have been a simple agreement somehow turned into one of

The inability of the government to satisfy the demands of the different nationalities caused permanent divides within the population. Constant bickering among government officials hindered efforts to stabilize the Empire. They had to rely on foreign leaders to solve their problems, and when they couldn’t have someone else do it for them they did everything wrong. These problems all came to surface during one last event, resulting in their demise. Sadly, in the end, the cycle will repeat itself over and over, even though we have had the ability to put an end to it for far too long. Maybe some day the world will finally learn its lesson and take a note from