Austria-Hungary facts for kids

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Austro-Hungarian Monarchy

Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie (German)
Osztrák-Magyar Monarchia (Hungarian)

1867–1918

National flags
Top: Flag of Imperial Austria
Bottom: Flag of the Kingdom of Hungary

Medium coat of arms
(1867–1915)

Motto: Indivisibiliter ac inseparabiliter
("Indivisibly and inseparably")

Anthem: Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze
("God [shall] save, God [shall] protect")

Austria-Hungary on the eve of World War I

Capital

Vienna (Cisleithania)
Budapest (Transleithania)

Official languages

German
Hungarian
Croatian (Croatia-Slavonia)

Other spoken languages:
Bosnian, Czech, Romani (Carpathian), Italian, Istro-Romanian, Romanian, Rusyn, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Yiddish

Religion

76.6% Catholic (incl. 64–66% Latin & 10–12% Eastern)
8.9% Protestant (Lutheran, Reformed, Unitarian)
8.7% Orthodox
4.4% Jewish
1.3% Muslim
(1910 census)

Demonym(s)

Austro-Hungarian

Government

Constitutional dual monarchy

Emperor-King

• 1867–1916

Franz Joseph I

• 1916–1918

Karl I & IV

Minister-President of Austria

• 1867 (first)

F. F. von Beust

• 1918 (last)

Heinrich Lammasch

Prime Minister of Hungary

• 1867–1871 (first)

Gyula Andrássy

• 1918 (last)

János Hadik

Legislature

2 national legislatures

• Imperial Council

Herrenhaus
Abgeordnetenhaus

• Diet of Hungary

House of Magnates
House of Representatives

Historical era

New Imperialism • World War I

• 1867 Compromise

30 March 1867

• Dual Alliance

7 October 1879

• Bosnian Crisis

6 October 1908

• July Crisis

28 June 1914

• Invasion of Serbia

28 July 1914

• Empire dissolved

31 October 1918

• Austrian Republic

12 November 1918

• Hungarian Republic

16 November 1918

• Treaty of Saint-Germain

10 September 1919

• Treaty of Trianon

4 June 1920

Area

1905

621,537.58 km² (239,977.00 sq mi)

Population

• 1914

52,800,000

Currency

Gulden
(1867–1892)
Krone
(1892–1918)

Preceded by

Succeeded by

	Austrian Empire
	Kingdom of Hungary

Republic of German-Austria
First Hungarian Republic
First Czechoslovak Republic
West Ukrainian People's Republic
Second Polish Republic
Kingdom of Romania
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
Kingdom of Italy
Italian Regency of Carnaro

Austria-Hungary or the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a state in Central Europe from 1867 to 1918. It was the countries of Austria and Hungary ruled by a single monarch. The full name of the empire was "The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen".

The dual monarchy replaced the Austrian Empire (1804–1867). It started with the compromise between the ruling Habsburg dynasty and the Hungarians. It was an empire made up of many different peoples and great power. It found its political life full of arguments between the eleven main national groups. It had great economic growth through the age of industrialization. It also saw social changes with many liberal and democratic reforms.

The Habsburg dynasty ruled as emperors of Austria over the western and northern half of the country and as kings of Hungary over the Kingdom of Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had some ability to govern itself. It also had a say in things that affected both it and the rest of the empire. This was mainly foreign relations and defense.

The empire's capital was Vienna. Austria-Hungary was the second largest country in Europe (after the Russian Empire). It had the third most people (after Russia and the German Empire).

Creation of Austria–Hungary
Governmental structure
World War I
End of the Empire
Images for kids
See also

Creation of Austria–Hungary

The Ausgleich or compromise of February 1867 created the Empire's dualist structure. The Austrian Empire (1804–67) had lessened in strength and in power. This was because of the Austro–Sardinian War of 1859 and the Austro–Prussian War of 1866. Also, the Hungarian people were not happy with how Vienna treated them. This had been going on for many years and it led to Hungarian separation. This included the Hungarian liberal revolution of 1848–49.

Emperor Franz Joseph tried to reach an agreement with the Hungarian nobility. He needed their support to keep the empire together. The Hungarian nobility would not accept anything less than equality between themselves and the Austrian elites.

Governmental structure

Hungary and Austria had different parliaments. Each had its own prime minister. The monarch kept the two working together. He had absolute power in theory but very little in reality. The monarch’s central government had charge of the army, navy, foreign policy, and the customs union.

World War I

The deaths of Franz Joseph's brother, Maximilian I of Mexico (1867), and his only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, made the Emperor's nephew, Franz Ferdinand, next in line to the crown. On 28 June, 1914, the heir visited the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. Bosnian Serb militants of the group Mlada Bosna attacked Franz Ferdinand's motorcade and assassinated him.

Some members of the government, such as Conrad von Hötzendorf had wanted to fight the Serbian nation for many years. The leaders of Austria-Hungary decided to attack Serbia before it could start a revolt. They used the assassination as an excuse. They gave Serbia a list of ten demands called the July Ultimatum. They expected Serbia would not accept. Serbia accepted nine of the ten demands but only partially accepted the other one. Austria-Hungary declared war.

These events brought the Empire into conflict with Serbia. Russia moved its army to help Serbia. This set off troop movements on both sides and started World War I.

End of the Empire

A humorous "obituary" of the Austrian Empire, published in Kraków in late 1918. Click on the image for a translation.

Near the end of the war, it was understood that the allied powers would win. Part of the empire started declaring independence from the monarch. They formed their own countries.

The following countries were formed from the former Habsburg lands:

Some Austro-Hungarian lands were also given to Romania and Italy.

Images for kids

Silver coin: 5 corona, 1908 - The bust of Franz Joseph I facing right surrounded by the legend "Franciscus Iosephus I, Dei gratia, imperator Austriae, rex Bohemiae, Galiciae, Illyriae et cetera et apostolicus rex Hungariae"
Traditional clothing in Hungary, late 19th century
Parade in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, 1900
Romantic style Great Synagogue in Pécs, built by Neolog community in 1869
Religions in Austria–Hungary, from the 1881 edition of Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas. Catholics (both Roman and Uniate) are blue, Protestants purple, Eastern Orthodox yellow, and Muslims green.
Funeral in Galicia by Teodor Axentowicz, 1882
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon ethnographic map of Austria–Hungary, 1885
Literacy in Austria–Hungary (census 1880)
Literacy in Hungary by counties in 1910 (excluding Croatia)
Physical map of Austria–Hungary in 1914
Orthodox Jews from Galicia in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, 1915
A 20-crown banknote of the Dual Monarchy, using all official and recognized languages (the reverse side was Hungarian)
Black Friday, 9 May 1873, Vienna Stock Exchange. The Panic of 1873 and Long Depression followed.
A stentor reading the day's news in the Telefonhírmondó of Budapest
Detailed railway map of Austrian and Hungarian railways from 1911
The start of construction of the underground in Budapest (1894–1896)
The SS Kaiser Franz Joseph I (12,567 t) of the Austro-Americana company was the largest passenger ship ever built in Austria. Because of its control over the coast of much of the Balkans, Austria–Hungary had access to several seaports.
Dubrovnik, Kingdom of Dalmatia
This picture of the arrest of a suspect in Sarajevo is usually associated with the capture of Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.
Crowds on the streets in the aftermath of the Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo, 29 June 1914
MÁVAG armoured train in 1914
Franz Josef I and Wilhelm II with military commanders during World War I
Siege of Przemyśl in 1915
Italian troops in Trento on 3 November 1918, after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. Italy's victory marked the end of the war on the Italian Front and secured the dissolution of Austria–Hungary.
War memorial in Păuleni-Ciuc, Romania
The Treaty of Trianon: Kingdom of Hungary lost 72% of its land and 3.3 million people of Hungarian ethnicity.
Czechoslovak declaration of independence rally in Prague on Wenceslas Square, 28 October 1918
New hand-drawn borders of Austria–Hungary in the Treaty of Trianon and Saint Germain. (1919–1920)
Post-WWI borders on an ethnic map