Austria-Hungary is a powerful empire in Europe before world war I, its land area, population, industrial output and other indicators are in the forefront of Europe, this powerful empire in Central Europe, was established in 1867 according to the agreement between Austria and Hungary, in fact, from 1526, the Austrian Habsburg dynasty has jurisdiction over Hungary and Bohemia and other principalities, the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the perspective of centralization, is the regression of the empire.
This powerful empire was an important member of the Allies in World War I, and after the defeat of the Allies in World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also disintegrated, why was such a powerful empire so fragile that even a failure in a war caused the entire empire to fall apart?
The reasons for the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were complex, and the most direct cause of the disintegration was undoubtedly the defeat of the Allies in the First World War, and in the middle and late stages of the First World War, after the war entered a stalemate, the peoples of all European countries were also suffering greatly because of the blockade and the high-intensity battles that had hardly stopped, the war entered a state of depletion of national strength, and nationalism and liberalism made the defeated Austro-Hungarian Empire no longer able to sustain itself.
From a deeper point of view, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the national unity of France, Germany and other powerful countries are different, the empire of the nation is numerous, lack of subject people, lack of cohesion under suffering, Austria-Hungary due to war, the emperor's ruling power was greatly reduced, this congenitally insufficient empire, forced to accept Wilson's fourteen-point proposal, signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain, the empire eventually split into a large number of hostile nation-states, Austria-Hungary completely declined.
One. An empire without a subject nation
1． Unique composition of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Unlike other European powers, Germany and France, England, etc., austria-Hungary was never a nation-state, it was an empire under the concept of feudal caiyi, according to statistics, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had as many as eleven nationalities and seven religions, the population of any ethnic group in this country did not exceed thirty percent of the total population, no nation had a dominant position, it was an empire maintained by force and a series of medieval legal documents, and it was inherently lacking cohesion.
The emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the emperor of Austria and the king of Hungary, the dualistic political structure was an important feature of the empire, the decree of the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the implementation of the decree of the Emperor of Hungary required the approval of the Hungarian local council, in fact, Austria lost its position as the ruler of the German confederation after the defeat of the Battle of Sadova, Hungary agreed to join the Austro-Hungarian Empire, itself to weaken the empire, such a complex ruling structure, so that the Austro-Hungarian Empire is like a broken house, shaken violently and there is a danger of collapse.
2． The dynamism of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
We can clearly see that the major European powers before the First World War were competing for colonies around the world, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as an old power, was doing nothing in this regard, and all the energy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was invested in the integration of internal political forces, and the whole country lacked an upward sharpness.
Historically, after the defeat of the Napoleonic Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the staunchest supporter of the spirit of the Holy Alliance, and in the period of liberalism and nationalism, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was keenly aware of the damage of these two currents of thought to the Empire, and Mennet's whole life was struggling with such ideas, however, in the end, at the height of the nationalist movement, the veteran politician even needed to dress as a man to escape Vienna.
The empire was weak within itself, all the peoples expressed their loyalty to the empire by allegiance to the emperor, the foundation of the empire was fragile, and a large number of contradictions between the mixed multi-ethnic groups, under the influence of the wave of liberalism, hit the imperial palace in Vienna in wave after wave, and by the time of the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had in fact relied only on the coercion of the army and the personal authority of the emperor to maintain it, and the First World War completely destroyed both.
3． The backlash caused by national oppression
The dualistic system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire allowed him to take care mainly of the national sentiments of the Germanic and Hungarians, the inhabitants of the Empire were divided into classes according to the differences of the nation, and the theory of historical nationalities was originally the basis of the national policy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his content was to recognize only the peoples who had made brilliant achievements in history to enjoy full political rights.
Within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria and Hungary were first-class peoples, the Czechs, Croats and Poles were second-class peoples, and the remaining nations, considered by the Empire to be unreachable in history, were all third-class peoples, and this system artificially tore apart the basis of Austro-Hungarian rule, for example, the Kingdom of Bohemia, which had a strong influence in the German Confederation, that is, the Czechs, contributed the most to the Empire's finances, but in terms of political power, it was inferior to the poor Hungarians, and the Croats, in the Budapest Uprising, The Hungarians were the hardest at all.
Such a complex national structure, such a large contradiction between the various nationalities, once the upper echelons of the empire lose their strength, once the flame of national autonomy is ignited, it means the disintegration of the empire.
Two. The catastrophe of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I
1． The army of austria-Hungary
The Austro-Hungarian army, before the First World War, was already a weak presence in the main participating countries, and the generals of the Empire, although aware of the importance of firepower, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which did not catch up with the wave of colonization, in fact, could not afford to equip a large number of fire-throwing weapons. In terms of military logistics, the length of the Empire's territorial railways was too short, even inferior to that of Russia, which was known for its barbarism, and in general, the Austro-Hungarian army was an old army, far behind the times in terms of equipment and ideas.
The national problem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire made them incapable of mobilizing, and the early elite, ethnically divided companies were quickly lost under the attrition of the war, and the later companies, which were a mixture of soldiers of different nationalities, did not even have a unified language, and the soldiers suddenly learned the simplest eighty German words to understand the orders of their commanders, and such an army could hardly complete complex military operations.
2． Boroshilov's breakthrough - Austria-Hungary's nightmare
In world war I, the Russian army had the advantage of combat effectiveness over the Austro-Hungarian army, while the Austrian army crushed the Italian army for most of the time, and in general, the performance of the Austro-Hungarian army was unsatisfactory.
The Boroshilov Offensive of 1916 was an important battle of World War I, in which russian troops on the Eastern Front broke through the Austro-Hungarian defenses in Ukraine, wiped out 1.2 million Austro-Hungarian soldiers, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire almost collapsed without German support on the Eastern Front. The battle greatly weakened the Empire, and the Emperor's abilities were also seen by the parliamentarians of the second- and third-class peoples of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who had lost a major pillar of internal stability, the army, at this time.
3． The First World War gave suffering to the people
Austria-Hungary, like Germany, suffered from a lack of agricultural products. The British blockade, the instability of Hungary, the main granary of the Empire, the indignation of the people in the Empire, wave after wave, the suffering of the First World War, caused the disintegration of Russia, and the mono-ethnic, fanatical enthusiasm for the war, all lost the strength to persevere in the later stages of the war.
In January 1918, the Austro-Hungarian workers' strike, the empire's domestic economy collapsed, in August, Karl told the German Emperor that the Austro-Hungarian Empire could no longer hold out and was about to withdraw from the war, and from October, all the peoples in the Empire began a movement of independence and autonomy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire began to collapse in general
Three. In every respect, the great powers were looking forward to dismembering the empire
1． France: Eliminate old enemies once and for all
In the geopolitics of Europe, the Franco-Austrian contradiction was for a long time the main contradiction in Europe, and the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in world war I allowed France to completely dismember the empire in the legal situation at Saint-Germain on the outskirts of Paris.
Hungary and Austria had to be separated, and Austria-Hungary recognized the independence of Poland and other countries, and even the name of the empire was changed to the Republic of Austria, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and completely disintegrated.
2． Wilson's Fourteen --- the hostility of the emerging liberal state to empire
The foundations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the policy of oppressing multiple nationalities and improving the major nationalities, made him disliked by the United States and other emerging countries, and in the late World War I, U.S. President Wilson's fourteen articles to end the war clearly stated that he wanted the Austro-Hungarian Empire to disintegrate.
The anglo forces that could have balanced France also tended to disintegrate the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the emerging United States, which was essentially a proponent of the idea of a liberal business empire, which could not be sympathized with by any country, and whose disintegration was already a historical necessity.
epilogue:
The immediate trigger of World War I was the Austro-Hungarian hard-line policy in the Balkans, and Great Slavism would not tolerate Austro-Hungarian continued enslavement of the Slavs. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was in an awkward position, on the one hand he had to be tough on all the peoples who rebelled against the Empire in order to maintain the Emperor's authority, and on the other hand, the energy invested heavily in the Empire also made him lack vitality, and the Empire slowly began to decline among the European powers.
After World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not just decline, but disintegrated. Its roots were torn by the constant onslaught of liberal and nationalist movements in Europe, the Empire of World War I lost its last support within itself, the disintegration of the army was inevitable, the Austro-Hungarian Empire lacked cohesion, and it was long behind the times.
In addition, the great powers were inclined to dismember this empire with great influence in Central Europe, and with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the disintegration of the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary was no longer a buffer zone between Europe and the aggressive region, and his dismemberment was inevitable from a geopolitical point of view.
Resources:
History of world war I
History of International Relations
A Brief History of Austria