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Austria-Hungary was a key player in the complex web of alliances and treaties that characterised pre-World War I Europe. Notable treaties involving Austria-Hungary include the Treaty of San Stefano, the Treaty of Berlin, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and the Treaty of Trianon. The Treaty of San Stefano, seen as highly favourable to Russia, caused an international uproar that almost led to a general European war. The subsequent Treaty of Berlin partitioned Bulgaria and denied it full independence, addressing Austrian and British fears of Russian dominance in the Balkans. The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, signed in 1919, officially ended World War I and recognised the independence of several new states, including Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia. It imposed significant territorial losses on Austria, reparations, and limitations on its military forces. The Treaty of Trianon, signed in 1920, formally ended the state of war between Hungary and the Allies, recognising its new international borders and granting rights to Hungarian citizens abroad. It also guaranteed free trade between Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.
Treaties involving Austria-Hungary
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye | Signed on 10 September 1919, concluding World War I |
| Recognised the independence of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) | |
| Ceded eastern Galicia, Trento, southern Tirol, Trieste, and Istria | |
| Included war reparations | |
| Broke up the Austro-Hungarian navy | |
| Austria could not enter into political or economic union with the Weimar Republic without the agreement of the council of the League | |
| Treaty of Trianon | Signed on 4 June 1920 |
| Recognised new international borders after World War I | |
| Included the doctrine of "self-determination of peoples" | |
| Guaranteed free trade between Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia for 5 years | |
| Obliged Czechoslovakia and Poland to supply coal to Hungary in "reasonable quantity" | |
| Treaty of Rapallo | Recognised Austrian Littoral |
| Treaty of San Stefano | Seen in Austria as too favourable for Russia and its goals |
| Treaty of Passarowitz | Ceded all former territories of the Hungarian kingdom from the Ottomans to the Habsburgs |
| Mediterranean Entente | Alliance formed by Austria-Hungary, Britain, and Italy in 1887 |
| Mutual Defence Pacts | Signed with Germany in 1879 and Romania in 1883 |
| Triple Alliance | Signed with Germany and Italy in 1882 |
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What You'll Learn
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, signed on 10 September 1919, officially ended World War I for the successor states of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The treaty was signed at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, between the victorious Allies of World War I and the Republic of German-Austria. Notably, the United States did not ratify the treaty due to its inclusion of the Covenant of the League of Nations, but this was followed by the US-Austrian Peace Treaty of 1921.
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye formally confirmed the dissolution of the Austrian state (unofficially called "Cisleithania"), which had been a political reality since November 1918. The new Republic of Austria, consisting of most of the German-speaking Danubian and Alpine provinces in former Cisleithania, recognised the independence of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia). This recognition of Yugoslavia was contrary to what was stipulated by the 1915 London Pact. The treaty also included the transfer of eastern Galicia, Trento, southern Tirol, Trieste, and Istria to Italy, and the Austrian Littoral (Gorizia and Gradisca, the Imperial Free City of Trieste, and Istria) was recognised by the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920. Austria-Hungary's only overseas possession, its concession in Tianjin, was turned over to China.
The treaty included "war reparations" of large sums of money directed towards the Allies, although the exact amount was never defined or collected from Austria. Additionally, there were provisions for the liquidation of the Austro-Hungarian Bank. Cisleithanian Austria faced significant territorial losses, amounting to over 60% of the prewar Austrian Empire's territory. The Lands of the Bohemian Crown, including Bohemia and Moravia (modern-day Czechia), formed the core of the newly created state of Czechoslovakia. The Austrian Silesia province, which was the subject of the Polish-Czechoslovak War of January 1919, was split between Czech Silesia and Polish Cieszyn Silesia, impacting a large German-speaking population in German Bohemia and Sudetenland.
Article 88 of the treaty required Austria to refrain from compromising its independence, meaning it could not enter into political or economic union with the Weimar Republic without the agreement of the council of the League of Nations. This led to the new republic changing its self-chosen name from German-Austria ("Deutschösterreich") to Austria. Conscription was abolished, and the Austrian Army was limited to a force of 30,000 volunteers.
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Treaty of Trianon (1920)
The Treaty of Trianon, signed on June 4, 1920, was one of the many peace treaties that concluded World War I. The treaty was signed by representatives of Hungary on one side and the Allied Powers on the other. The treaty formally terminated the state of war between the Allies of World War I and the Kingdom of Hungary, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had entered the war in August 1914.
The Treaty of Trianon is mostly famous due to the territorial changes it imposed on Hungary and the recognition of its new international borders. The treaty reduced Hungary's territory to 93,073 square kilometres (35,936 sq mi), constituting only 28% of the pre-war kingdom's territory. This meant that Hungary lost nearly two-thirds of its former territory and two-thirds of its inhabitants. The treaty also limited Hungary's army to 35,000 officers and men, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy ceased to exist. These territorial changes caused deep resentment in Hungary, as millions of Hungarians suddenly found themselves living in foreign countries.
The main beneficiaries of the territorial changes were the Kingdom of Romania, the Czechoslovak Republic, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), and the First Austrian Republic. Czechoslovakia was given Slovakia, Subcarpathian Ruthenia, the region of Pressburg (Bratislava), and other minor sites. The treaty also granted free trade between Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia for five years and obliged Czechoslovakia and Poland to supply coal to Hungary in "reasonable quantities".
The Treaty of Trianon also included the doctrine of "self-determination of peoples", which attempted to give non-Hungarians their own national states. This resulted in a significant population of Hungarians becoming minorities in neighbouring countries. The treaty caused resentment and ethnic conflict, with Hungarians agitating for its revision immediately after it was signed.
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Austrian Army abolished
The Austrian Armed Forces, or Bundesheer, are the combined military forces of Austria. The Austrian Army was not abolished, but it did undergo significant changes in structure and purpose over the years.
The Austrian Army was one of the most formidable forces during the Napoleonic Wars from 1804 to 1815. However, after a series of defeats and the capture of 20,000 Austrian soldiers by Napoleon's army, the French victories encouraged rulers of certain imperial territories to ally themselves with the French and assert their independence from the Austrian Empire. This led to a period of neo-absolutism, or Bach's absolutism, which was characterised by a strong standing army, among other internal changes.
In 1918, the Republic of German-Austria established a military known as the Volkswehr ("People's Defence"). The Volkswehr fought against Yugoslavian troops occupying parts of Carinthia, which Austria claimed as its own. In 1920, after the Republic of German-Austria transitioned into the First Austrian Republic, the military's name was changed to the Bundesheer ("Federal Army"), which it has been known by since.
In 1934, the Austrian Army was involved in the Austrian Civil War in Vienna. In 1938, Bundesheer officers developed a military operation plan to defend against a potential invasion by Nazi Germany, but it ultimately went unused due to a lack of political willpower. During this period, from 1938 to 1945, when Austria was a part of Nazi Germany, the Austrian Army was abolished and integrated into the German military.
After World War II, in 1955, Austria issued its Declaration of Neutrality, stating that it would never join a military alliance. The Austrian Armed Forces' main purpose since then has been the protection of Austria's neutrality. Its relationship with NATO is limited to the Partnership for Peace programme.
In 1978, the "Wehrgesetz 1978" law was enacted, with the goal of growing the Austrian Armed Forces to 384,000 by the early 1990s. However, in 1987, the Austrian government instructed the armed forces to stop the growth of the militia at 200,000. In 1990, the "Wehrgesetz 1978" was cancelled, and the army began to shrink. In 2006, conscription was reduced to a total of six months, and mandatory reserve training was abolished. The current Austrian Armed Forces consist of 16,000 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists, with a mobilisation strength of 120,000 under the New Army Structure plan.
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Austria-Hungary's overseas possessions
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was not a traditional colonial empire, and its overseas colonial attempts were few and short-lived. However, there were some notable attempts to establish overseas territories, some of which had moderate success.
One of the earliest attempts at overseas expansion by the Austro-Hungarian Empire was in the 18th century when Hungarian aristocrat Móric Benyovszky tried to become the king of Madagascar. Although this attempt failed, it demonstrated the empire's interest in colonial expansion.
In 1868, the Austro-Hungarian Empire sent an expedition to the North Pole, led by Julius von Payer, which aimed to find the Northeast Passage. Instead, the expedition ended up near the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the easternmost point of Europe. In 1873, another expedition, this time led by Karl Weyprecht, set out for the North Pole but was forced to abandon their ship, Tegetthoff, due to ice. They eventually reached Novaya Zemlya, where they were rescued by a Russian fishing vessel. These polar expeditions can be considered attempts at overseas expansion, and the land discovered during the 1887 journey was named Franz Joseph Land.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire also attempted to acquire Socotra, an island in the Gulf of Eden between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. However, the British established a protectorate over the island, preventing its expansion.
The empire also sought to expand into the Nicobar Islands, but these plans were thwarted when the British purchased the islands from the Danish in 1868 and established a penal colony.
Austria-Hungary also held some settlements in India and tried to reach the Solomon Islands in the Pacific due to their rich nickel deposits. However, the inhabitants of the islands acted with hostility, repelling the expedition and killing some of its members.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire's only overseas possession was a concession in Tianjin, which was turned over to China as part of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1919. This treaty, along with the Treaty of Trianon with Hungary and the Treaty of Versailles with the Weimar Republic, marked the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I.
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Austria-Hungary's armistice
The armistice between the Allies and Austria-Hungary, known as the Armistice of Villa Giusti or Padua Armistice, was signed on 3 November 1918, bringing an end to World War I hostilities between the two sides. The armistice was signed at the Villa Giusti, near Padua, Italy, and came into effect on 4 November. By late October 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Army was exhausted, and its commanders sought a ceasefire. The terms of the armistice were harsh: Austria-Hungary had to evacuate all occupied territories, including South Tirol, Tarvisio, the Isonzo Valley, Gorizia, Trieste, Istria, western Carniola, and Dalmatia. They also had to surrender their navy and allow the Allies free use of their internal communications. All German forces were to be expelled from Austria-Hungary within 15 days or interned.
The armistice was a result of the collapse of the Austria-Hungary empire following the defeat of its armies in World War I. The Dual Monarchy of the Habsburgs had been under strain since the beginning of the war, with the Hungarian government proving less amenable to military dictation than Austria. The ethnic tensions within the empire also came to the fore, with various regions declaring their independence in October 1918, including Czechoslovaks in Prague, Poles in Kraków, and Croats in Zagreb. The last Habsburg emperor, Charles I, renounced his right to participate in government affairs, and Austria became a republic.
The armistice conditions were first communicated to the Austro-Hungarian Armistice Commission by General Badoglio, the Assistant Chief of the Italian General Staff. The terms demanded that Austria-Hungary reduce its army to twenty divisions, hand over half its artillery, release all prisoners of war, expel all German forces, and provide assurances that it would cease hostilities. The Entente powers also reserved the right to occupy any portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire if strategic or political reasons required it.
The Italian Army, consisting of 20,000 to 22,000 soldiers, began to occupy Innsbruck and all of North Tyrol in November 1918. Italy also annexed South Tyrol, Trieste, Austrian Littoral, and parts of Dalmatia after the war, as per the secret Treaty of London. The armistice with Austria-Hungary was a separate agreement from the one signed with Germany on 11 November 1918, which ended World War I.
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Frequently asked questions
The Treaty of Trianon was signed on June 4, 1920, between Hungary and the Allied and Associated Powers, formally ending World War I between the Allies and the Kingdom of Hungary. The treaty also led to territorial changes for Hungary and recognized its new international borders.
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was signed on September 10, 1919, between representatives of Austria and the Allied Powers. The treaty concluded World War I and officially registered the breakup of the Habsburg Empire, recognizing the independence of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia).
The terms of the Armistice with Austria-Hungary included the evacuation of all territories invaded by Austria-Hungary since the beginning of World War I, the protection and safety of allied commissions in Austria-Hungary, and the use of Austria-Hungary's rolling stock and shipping for military purposes by the Allies.
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye had several consequences for Austria, including significant territorial losses, the limitation of its army to 30,000 men, and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian navy. Additionally, Austria was made liable for war reparations, and the union of Austria with Germany was forbidden without the consent of the League of Nations.
