Damon Mcknight
Between 1870 and 1920, an estimated 1,078,974 Hungarians immigrated to the United States. This figure does not include the ethnic minorities who came as citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By 1978, it was estimated that since 1820, over 4,315,000 people had emigrated to the United States from Austria-Hungary, amounting to 8.9% of the total foreign immigration. There were many reasons for this mass migration, including the search for economic opportunities, the desire to avoid military service, and the suppression of non-Roman Catholic faiths by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
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What You'll Learn
Economic opportunities in the US
Between 1876 and 1910, some 3.5 million people migrated to the US from the Habsburg Monarchy (1.8 million from the Austrian provinces and 1.7 million from the Hungarian ones). This amounted to 8.9% of the total foreign immigration to the US. The majority of these immigrants were poor and sought economic opportunities in the industrial centres on the East Coast and the Midwest.
In Hungary, a semi-feudal land ownership system meant that half of all arable land belonged to large and medium-sized estate owners. The other half of the agricultural population consisted of small landholders, dwarf-landholding farmers, and landless agricultural peasants. The latter group, along with the landless agricultural workers, were the ones who typically immigrated to America. Working and living conditions for these peasants were inhumane. They worked from sunrise to sunset for less than 25 cents a day, and due to the lack of industry development in Hungary, they could not find work in nearby cities or towns.
In contrast, the United States offered better working conditions and higher pay. Many Austrian-Hungarian immigrants found work in demanding American industries, and some companies, such as Johnson & Johnson, actively recruited these immigrants as a source of cheap labour. The money sent back to families in Hungary by those who had already immigrated to America provided concrete testimony of the economic opportunities in the US, promoting further immigration.
The Austrian government recognised the 'freedom of movement' promised in the 1867 constitution, but officials feared population loss. Despite this, many young, military-aged men from Austria-Hungary travelled to the US, often evading military service and hoping to make money and potentially return home.
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Poor working conditions in Austria-Hungary
Between 1870 and 1920, an estimated 1,078,974 Hungarians immigrated to the United States. This figure does not include the ethnic minorities who came as citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The primary pull factors were the prospect of economic opportunities and the lure of better working conditions and higher pay in the United States.
During the same period, Hungary experienced a semi-feudal land ownership system, where half of the arable land was owned by large and medium-sized estates. The other half of the agricultural population consisted of small landholders, dwarf-landholding farmers, and landless agricultural peasants. The dwarf-landholding farmers and landless agricultural workers were the ones who immigrated to America. Working and living conditions for these groups were inhumane. Landless agricultural workers worked from sunrise to sunset for less than 25 cents a day. Industry was also underdeveloped in Hungary, and the poverty-stricken peasants could not find work in nearby cities or towns.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was a military and diplomatic alliance consisting of two sovereign states with a single monarch, titled the Emperor of Austria and the King of Hungary. The empire was geographically the second-largest country in Europe and the third most populous. However, it had a semi-feudal land ownership system, and certain groups, such as the Istro-Romanians, lived in poverty due to the decline of pastoralism and unproductive agriculture.
By the end of the 19th century, economic differences began to even out, and the strong agriculture and food industry of the Kingdom of Hungary became predominant within the empire, driving rapid economic growth. However, the western areas, concentrated around Prague and Vienna, excelled in various manufacturing industries, creating a division of labour between the east and west.
In addition to poor working conditions, other factors that contributed to immigration included religious persecution, military service evasion, and economic factors such as primitive agricultural methods and population growth.
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Escape from military service
Between 1820 and 1920, over 3,700,000 people emigrated from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire to the United States. The majority of these immigrants were young and male, and a large number of them were seeking to escape military service.
During this period, Austria-Hungary had a semi-feudal land ownership system that left many peasants in poverty. These peasants were often landless agricultural workers who worked from sunrise to sunset for less than 25 cents a day. With the industry barely developed in Hungary, these workers could not find work in nearby cities or towns. As a result, many chose to immigrate to the United States, where they could find economic opportunities and escape the harsh working conditions of home.
However, emigration was not without its challenges. Military-aged men could not leave without permission, and those who tried to evade military service had to sneak past Austrian gendarmes at the German border. Those who were caught, like 21-year-old Bernhard Toth in 1908, had their money and travel documents confiscated and were jailed. Despite this, officials at the German border often turned a blind eye as long as the emigrants were healthy and had tickets for approved steamship lines.
The vast majority of these emigrants were from rural, agricultural areas, and they typically travelled to the United States via northern port cities such as Hamburg and Bremen, as well as Fiume, Trieste, and Trieste. These cities already had the shipping lines and infrastructure in place to move large numbers of people at a reasonable price. Once in the United States, most Austrian-Hungarian immigrants settled in industrial cities, where they found work in demanding American industries.
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Religious freedom in the US
The United States has long been a destination for immigrants seeking religious freedom. This was especially true for those leaving Austria-Hungary, where sects that were not members of the Roman Catholic faith were often suppressed.
The first Austrian immigrants to the US arrived in 1734 in what is now the state of Georgia. They were from the Salzburg area, where Roman Catholicism was the dominant religion, and they established a community called Ebenezer near Savannah. This group, known as the "Forty-eighters", tended to settle in large American cities in the North and Midwest and became active in the abolitionist movement.
Another major wave of Austrian immigration to the US occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with an estimated 4.3 million people emigrating to the US from Austria-Hungary between 1820 and 1910. During this period, entire villages in Galicia and Bukovina were emptied as people left for the US. Many of these immigrants were poor Jews fleeing persecution and seeking religious freedom in the New World. They often faced dangerous working conditions once they arrived, with thousands dying in work accidents in coal mines and steel plants.
At the height of immigration, Hungarians in America sent home between 100 and 200 million kronen annually, and families who received significant amounts of money built new homes, bought land, and paid off mortgages. This success promoted further immigration, as letters and money sent back to Hungary provided testimony of the favourable working conditions and high pay in the United States.
While the Austrian government recognized the 'freedom of movement' promised in the 1867 constitution, officials feared population loss and took steps to discourage emigration. However, this did not stop the flow of emigrants, who often travelled through Germany on their way to the US.
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Population growth and primitive agriculture
The Austrian-Hungarian Empire was a diverse place, with 15 different languages spoken across the land. However, the two largest ethnic groups were Germans (10 million) and Hungarians (9 million). The empire also included Poles, Croats, Bosnians, Serbians, Italians, Czechs, Ruthenes, Slovenes, Slovaks, and Romanians.
The empire united in 1867 under the leadership of Emperor Franz Josef, and this led to the suppression of non-Roman Catholic faiths. As a result, large numbers of Czechs from Bohemia left the Austrian-Hungarian Empire for the United States. By the end of the century, there were significant-sized colonies of Czechs in Chicago, New York, St. Louis, and Cleveland.
The primary driver of Austrian-Hungarian immigration to the United States was economic. A semi-feudal land ownership system meant that half of all arable land belonged to large and medium-sized estates. The other half of the agricultural population consisted of small landholders, dwarf-landholding farmers, and landless agricultural peasants. The latter two groups, who could barely subsist on their own land, made up a large portion of those who immigrated to America.
In addition, the rapidly expanding industry in the United States created a demand for manpower that could not be met domestically. Recruiting agents hired by American companies offered cheap labour opportunities to peasants in Austria-Hungary, who were facing harsh economic conditions, crop failure, unemployment, and widespread hunger. The money and letters sent by immigrants to their families back home served as further encouragement.
Between 1876 and 1910, some 3.5 million people migrated to the US from the Habsburg Monarchy (1.8 million from Austrian provinces and 1.7 million from Hungarian ones). By 1910, over nine million immigrants had arrived in the United States from Central and Southern Europe, including Austria, Hungary, and Poland. An investigation in 1978 revealed that since 1820, over 4.3 million people had emigrated to the United States from Austria-Hungary, with the majority being Roman Catholics.
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Frequently asked questions
Between 1870 and 1920, an estimated 1,078,974 Hungarians immigrated to the US, with 3.5 million people migrating from the Habsburg Monarchy between 1876 and 1910. There were many reasons for this, including economic factors, the semi-feudal land ownership system in Hungary, the policy of Magyarization imposed by the Hungarian government, and the pull of economic opportunities in the US.
The semi-feudal land ownership system in Hungary meant that half of all arable land belonged to large and medium-sized estate owners. The other half of the agricultural population consisted of small landholders, dwarf-landholding farmers, and landless agricultural peasants. For the latter two groups, working and living conditions were inhumane, with long hours and extremely low pay. As industry in Hungary was barely developed, poverty-stricken peasants could not find work in towns or cities.
The US offered economic opportunities, with favorable working conditions and higher pay. Money and letters sent home by immigrants to their families in Austria-Hungary provided powerful evidence of the benefits of moving to the US.
