CHAT: Austro-Hungarians and Imperialism

Roland Hoensch wrote:

> The Austrian-Hungarian empire did not fell apart by any means.
> It was savagely cut up into various pieces which were used to
> apease allies, I believe.  In the process Hungary lost 2/3 of its
> land, and most of its mines, railways, farms, all connection to the
> sea/ocean, etc.  Not to mention millions of Hungarians be thus
> tossed into foreign, and at times rather hostile governments.
>
> Austria, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Romania
>  received portions of Austrian-Hungarian Empire, I believe.
> Thank the West.
Pshaw.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had been on the verge of
collapse or civil war ever since the popular uprisings of
1848. True, it was carved apart by Wilson and company at
the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, but only because
the thought of maintaining that multinational hegmony was
unthinkable after the war, even if it had been only paradoxical
before.  Even well before the war, in the 19th century,
Hungary had been several times on the verge of secession,
which is why the dual monarchy was created (Franz Joseph
was king in both Austria and Hungary, but Emperor everywhere
else).  Then, look elsewhere -- almost all of the Balkan
territories were just brimming over with nationalist sentiment,
culminating in Gavrilo Princip's assassination of the Archduke,
triggering the wider war.

No, the Austro-Hungarian Empire didn't just fall apart at all
after the war -- it had practically already done so by 1918.
The Treaty of Versailles was just the icing on the cake, just
the confirmation of what was already de facto the case.

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

Non cuicumque datum est habere nasum.
It is not given to just anyone to have a nose.
        -- Martial
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