What is your opinion of Austria-Hungary?

[TheForeigner]

Do you think it would have been better if Austria-Hungary survived as a state to our own time or at least for a longer period or is it a good thing it collapsed soon after the end of ww1 and if so why?
Personally I think it's a good thing that it fell apart and I don't think it would have lasted long without ww1 either. I don't think Franz Ferdinand could have reformed and save the empire, because he wanted to dismantle Hungary and destroy it's great autonomy and Hungarians would have rebelled and soon after, so would the other nationalities against Hungarians or the Monarchy.
Poll coming up!

[TheForeigner]

Funny thing is even Austrian German nationalists or Pan-Germanists and at least part of the Hungarian nationalists wanted the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. I think the biggest supporters were the Habsburgs themselves and some smaller minorities like the Jews and Gypsies who feared the rise of Gentile/Gadjo nationalism, as it often went hand in hand with antisemitism and anti-Gypsy feeling.

[Blondie]

The fall of Habsburg Empire was the biggest tragedy in Central Europe. After that the weakly successor states were just puppets of others. The great power status of Monarchy guaranteed the interests of central european peoples, Austria-Hungary was the biggest country in Europe, with one of the biggest ground forces in the continent, it was the eastern shield of Europe against the russian agression, and the ottoman expansion. The living standards were very close to western countries at this time. It was a real golden age.
But yes the Monarchy had many faults, for example the lack of modernization, wrong minority policy, there were no autonomous regions for minorities etc so i can understand that romanians, serbs, slovaks, czechs and others have negative feelings.

[TheForeigner]

bump

[Carpatz]

The fall of Habsburg Empire was the biggest tragedy in Central Europe. After that the weakly successor states were just puppets of others. The great power status of Monarchy guaranteed the interests of central european peoples, Austria-Hungary was the biggest country in Europe, with one of the biggest ground forces in the continent, it was the eastern shield of Europe against the russian agression, and the ottoman expansion. The living standards were very close to western countries at this time. It was a real golden age.
But yes the Monarchy had many faults, for example the lack of modernization, wrong minority policy, there were no autonomous regions for minorities etc so i can understand that romanians, serbs, slovaks, czechs and others have negative feelings.

It was magyar megalomania that disrupted the empire. Had it been an Austro-Romanian Empire perhaps we'd have a Pax Româna...

[TheForeigner]

It was magyar megalomanianism that disrupted the empire. Had it been an Austro-Romanian Empire perhaps we'd have a Pax Româna...

That was impossible, but maybe it should have stayed the Austrian Empire instead and federalize on ethnic basis, like Franz Ferdinand wanted, but done much earlier so the empire had a chance of not falling apart.

[StonyArabia]

It was block for central and Western Europe from the Russians and the Ottoman Turks.

[TheForeigner]

It was block for central and Western Europe from the Russians and the Ottoman Turks.

Actually Habsburg Monarchy was allied with Russia for generations since the 18th century until well into the 19th century, when Russia became too strong and Ottoman Empire too weak and that made them slowly change alliances, becoming allies of Germany, Italy and Ottoman Empire long before ww1.

[Dušan]

It was good for Austrians and Hungarians, but for Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Ruthenians, Romanians, Serbs, Slovenes, Croats (who together formed majority) not so much.

[noricum]

Funny thing is even Austrian German nationalists or Pan-Germanists and at least part of the Hungarian nationalists wanted the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

Why on earth is this a funny thing? Because it kinda contradicts the Evil Germans (Hungarians to a lesser degree) suck the blood out of the poor Slavs, Italians and what not.
Nationalists and extremists from all sides hatetd the A_H monarchy. From 1867 to 1918 Austrians and Hungarians bocked each other in important decisions, resulting in a even weaker stance in WW1.
The Austrian monarchy was that - a mostly medival style monarchiy. Nobility ruling over lower classes. Based on classes, not ethnicity. In times of upcoming nationalism it had to fail.


Tha A-H monarchy was a rotten stillbirth that should have never existed and I'm still a bit sad it vanished.