New Nations Born From Old Austria-Hungary

The Austro-Hungarian Empire, also known as the Dual Monarchy, was a union between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. The two countries were ruled by a single monarch but maintained separate parliaments and prime ministers. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was formed in 1867 following the Austro-Prussian War and wars of independence by Hungary against Habsburg rule. The empire was dissolved in 1918 after World War I and the termination of the union between Austria and Hungary. The empire's collapse also resulted from rising nationalism and the growth of internal social contradictions. The territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire were divided among several newly formed or expanded states, including the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Poland.

The Republic of Austria

Austria has a rich history, with the area being inhabited since at least the Paleolithic period. In the late 1st century BC, it was annexed by the Romans, and Christianisation began in the region during the 4th and 5th centuries. In the centuries that followed, numerous Germanic tribes arrived during the Migration Period. Austria, as a unified state, emerged from the remnants of the Eastern and Hungarian March at the end of the first millennium, first as a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire. It then developed into a Duchy in 1156 and was made an Archduchy in 1453.

Being the heartland of the Habsburg monarchy since the late 13th century, Austria was a major imperial power in Central Europe for centuries. In the 16th century, Vienna also became the Holy Roman Empire's administrative capital. Before the dissolution of the empire two years later, in 1804, Austria established its own empire, which became a great power and one of the largest states in Europe. However, the empire's defeat in wars and the loss of territories in the 1860s paved the way for the establishment of Austria-Hungary in 1867.

After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, Emperor Franz Joseph declared war on Serbia, which rapidly escalated into World War I. The empire's defeat and subsequent collapse led to the proclamation of the Republic of German-Austria in 1918 and the First Austrian Republic in 1919. During the interwar period, anti-parliamentarian sentiments culminated in the formation of an Austrofascist dictatorship under Engelbert Dollfuss in 1934. A year before the outbreak of World War II, Austria was annexed into Nazi Germany by Adolf Hitler, and it became a sub-national division. After its liberation in 1945 and a decade of Allied occupation, the country regained its sovereignty and declared its perpetual neutrality in 1955.

The Kingdom of Hungary

Due to the Ottoman occupation of the central and southern territories of Hungary in the 16th century, the country was partitioned into three parts: Habsburg Royal Hungary, Ottoman Hungary, and the semi-independent Principality of Transylvania. The House of Habsburg held the Hungarian throne after the Battle of Mohács in 1526 continuously until 1918 and also played a key role in the liberation wars against the Ottoman Empire.

From 1867, territories connected to the Hungarian crown were incorporated into Austria-Hungary under the name of Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen. The monarchy ended with the deposition of the last king, Charles IV, in 1918, after which Hungary became a republic. The kingdom was nominally restored during the "Regency" of 1920–46, ending under Soviet occupation in 1946.

According to the demographers, about 80% of the population was made up of Hungarians before the Battle of Mohács, however in the mid-19th century out of a population of 14 million, less than 6 million were Hungarian due to the resettlement policies and continuous immigration from neighbouring countries. Major territorial changes made Hungary ethnically homogeneous after World War I. More than nine-tenths of the population of modern Hungary is ethnically Hungarian and speaks Hungarian as their mother tongue.

As the Central Powers faced defeat, the Hungarian parliament declared independence from Austria on 17 October 1918. An independent government was formed on 1 November. Austria-Hungary concluded an armistice with the Allies on 3 November. A separate Military Convention between the Allies and Hungary, signed on 13 November, called for the withdrawal and demobilization of Hungarian armed forces. A republic was proclaimed on 16 November. Hungary was proclaimed a kingdom on 23 March 1920, although the throne remained vacant.

The Czechoslovak Republic

Under the leadership of Masaryk, who served as president from 1918 to 1935, Czechoslovakia became a stable parliamentary democracy and the most industrially advanced country in eastern Europe. The 1920 constitution established a parliamentary democracy, held together largely by the presidencies of revered leaders T.G. Masaryk and Eduard Benes. The multiethnic republic comprised Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Slovakia, and Ruthenia, and it inherited some 80% of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's industry, making it one of the world's ten most industrialized states. Most of the industry, however, was in Czechoslovakia and Moravia in the north; Slovakia relied on agriculture and forestry.

During World War II, Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi Germany, and after the war, it fell under Soviet influence. In 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia assumed complete control, effectively establishing a one-party system and imposing a Soviet economic model. Most economic sectors were nationalized, and central planning was in place by 1952. Czechoslovakia remained under Soviet domination until 1989.

In the late 1980s, a wave of democratization swept through eastern Europe with the encouragement of the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. Czechoslovakia's Communist leadership soon found itself confronted by mass demonstrations in Prague opposed to its policies, and the party soon gave in to the demands for reform. In December 1989, the Communists formed a coalition government with non-Communist opposition groups, and a multiparty political system was written into law. The writer and former dissident Václav Havel became the country's new president, and free elections to the Federal Assembly were held in June 1990, with non-Communists winning resounding majorities.

With the end of Communist rule and the reemergence of true multiparty democracy, disagreements between the two halves of the country escalated. In particular, Slovaks resisted the Czechs' preference for rapid privatization of the country's state-run industries. Talks between Czech and Slovak leaders in 1992 resulted in the peaceful dissolution of the Czechoslovak federation. On January 1, 1993, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic were peacefully established.

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia

The kingdom was ruled by the Serbian dynasty of Karađorđević, which had ruled the Kingdom of Serbia since 1903. Peter I became the first king of Yugoslavia until his death in 1921, when he was succeeded by his son Alexander I, known as 'Alexander the Unifier'. Alexander changed the official name of the kingdom to 'Kingdom of Yugoslavia' in 1929.

The kingdom was made up of the formerly independent kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro, and a substantial amount of territory that was formerly part of Austria-Hungary. The main states which formed the new kingdom were the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs; Vojvodina; and the Kingdom of Serbia with the Kingdom of Montenegro. The creation of the state was supported by pan-Slavists, Yugoslav nationalists, and the Allies, who sought to break up the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The kingdom was short-lived, lasting from 1918 until 1941. In April 1941, the country was occupied and partitioned by the Axis powers. A royal government-in-exile was established in London, recognised by the UK and later by all the Allies. In 1944, the King recognised the government of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia as the legitimate government, and in 1945, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formally restored, though real political power was held by Tito's Communist Partisans. In November 1945, while still in exile, King Peter II was deposed by the constituent assembly, and the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was internationally recognised as Yugoslavia.

The Kingdom of Romania

The situation changed dramatically with the Russian Revolution in November 1917, which left the Romanian government in Moldavia isolated and surrounded by the armies of the Central Powers. The Romanians had little choice but to accede to German and Austrian demands to surrender, and they signed the Treaty of Bucharest on 7 May 1918. However, when the situation changed again in late 1918, Romania abrogated the Treaty of Bucharest and re-entered the war. The Romanian Army quickly broke out of its enclave in Moldavia, liberating the rest of the country and then advancing into the areas of Austria-Hungary to which Romania laid claim.

During World War II, the Kingdom of Romania initially joined the Axis powers, but King Michael's Coup against Ion Antonescu in 1944 resulted in the country switching sides to the Allies. The influence of the neighbouring Soviet Union and the policies followed by Communist-dominated coalition governments ultimately led to the abolition of the monarchy, and Romania became a Soviet satellite state as the People's Republic of Romania on 31 December 1947.

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