Abstract
In 1866 the Prussians defeated Franz Joseph’s forces at Sadowa. The competition between Berlin and Vienna for the domination of the German states had ended with Bismarck’s victory. But there were other ramifications for Franz Joseph. Not only did he lose any chance of leadership in Germany, he also lost his effort of two decades to create an unitary Danubian state. In the wake of defeat, Franz Joseph could no longer resist Hungarian demands for political authority. The Habsburg monarch, negotiating for the dynasty with its hereditary Austrian holdings and in his capacity as king of Hungary, had no choice but to settle with the Magyar leadership. The resulting constitutional arrangements of the 1867 Compromise (Ausgleich) lasted until the monarchy’s collapse in November 1918.1
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Notes and References
There is no comprehensive study of Austrian domestic politics for the last years before the war; but see William A. Jenks, The Austrian Electoral Reform of 1907 (New York, 1950), and the sarcastic assessment in Mayr-Harting, Der Untergang, pp. 616-95. Alexander Fussek has written frequently about Stürgkh; e.g., ‘Graf Stürgkh und Graf Tisza’, Österreich in Geschichte und Literatur, VIII (1964) 427–31.
On Burián’s role, see part of his diary edited by István Diószegi, ‘Aussenminister Stephan Graf Burián: Biographie und Tagebuchstelle’, Annales Universitatis Scientiarum Budapestinensis de Kolando Eötvös Nominate: Sectio Historica, VIII (Budapest, 1966) pp. 161–208
The quote is from Maurice Muret, L’archiduc François-Ferdinand (Paris, 1932) p. 172. The literature on Franz Ferdinand is copious and helpful. A chatty, recent study that matches the sources well, despite its grasping title, is Gordon Brook-Shepherd, Archduke of Sarajevo: The Romance and Tragedy of Franz Ferdinand of Austria (Boston, 1984); also see Gerd Holler, Franz Ferdinand von Österreich-Este (Vienna, 1982); Lavender Cassels, The Archduke and the Assassin: Sarajevo, June 28th 1914 (New York, 1984); Rudolf Kiszling, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand (Graz, 1953); Leopold von Chlumecky, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinands Wirken und Wollen (Berlin, 1929); Robert A. Kann, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand Studien (Vienna, 1976). Karl Renner told the Austrian Reichsrat on March 16, 1910: ‘We no longer have a monarchy, a single authority; we have a dyarchy, a state of competition between SchÖnbrunn and Belvedere ‘, quoted in Vladimir Dedijer, The Road to Sarajevo, (New York, 1966) p. 116. On this see S. R. Williamson, ‘Influence, Power, and the Policy Process: The Case of Franz Ferdinand, 1906–1914’, The Historical Journal, XVII (1974) 417–34.
On the nationality issue, see Robert A. Kann, The Multinational Empire: Nationalism and National Reform in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1848–1918, 2 vols (New York, 1950); Adam Wandruszka and Peter Urbanitsch (eds), Die Habsburgermonarchie, 1848–1918, vol. III (2pts): Die Völker des Reiches (Vienna, 1980); Solomon Wank, ‘Foreign Policy and the Nationality Problem in Austria-Hungary, 1867–1914’, Austrian History Yearbook, III (1967) 37–56
Keith Hitchins, ‘The Nationality Problem in Hungary: István Tisza and the Rumanian National Party, 1906–1914’, JMH, LIII (Dec. 1981) 619–51
F. Pölöskei, ‘István Tisza’s Policy toward the Romanian Nationalities on the Eve of World War I’, Acta Historica: Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, XVIII (1972) 267–90
For a polemical view, yet not always amiss, see R. W. Seton-Watson’s contemporary indictment, Racial Problems in Hungary (London, 1908); Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans, 2 vols (Cambridge, 1983), II, pp. 63–76
On this see John W. Boyer, ‘The End of the Old Regime: Visions of Political Reform in Late Imperial Austria’, JMH, LVIII (March 1986) 159–93
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© 1991 Samuel R. Williamson, Jr
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Williamson, S.R. (1991). The Domestic Context of Habsburg Foreign Policy. In: Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War. The Making of the 20th Century. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21163-0_3
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