Chapter 78 The Austro-Hungarian Empire
May 29, 1867.
Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and Deak finally reached a consensus and signed the "Austria-Hungary Compromise Plan" on May 29, 1867, restoring the Hungarian Parliament.
Starting today, the Austrian Empire has completely come to an end, and the power center of the Austrian Empire has been divided into two.
Domestic citizens can only choose one of Austrian and Hungarian citizenships, and cannot have both a passport of the Austrian Empire and a passport of the Kingdom of Hungary.
The basis for maintaining the existence of this country is the emperor of Habsburg, who also serves as the king of the two countries at the same time. This shows how absurd and fragile the regime of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is.
From now on, all decisions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire must be negotiated by the governments of Austria and Hungary, which is the beginning of serious administrative internal friction.
The current Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally did not hold any ceremony, and everything was completed in a silent agreement between the nobles of the two countries.
Ernst came to the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire again. This time he was forced to open his business.
The new Hungarian government is about to part ways with the Austrian government, and Ernst's dealings have changed from the Austrian government to the Hungarian government.
Now that Hungary has autonomy, Ernst wants to test whether this new government will cause trouble for his actions.
After a few days of contact, Ernst found that the new Austro-Hungarian Empire was easier to deal with than the Austrian Empire.
As an out-and-out Prussian, the Hungarian government treated Ernst very courteously, involving immigration issues.
This group of people did not object, and even hoped to cooperate with Ernst.
It’s no wonder that the Hungarian nobles’ struggle for independence is essentially for profit. If Austria is really driven out, there will be nowhere to cry.
After all, there is no Austria, and Hungary alone is not a dish on the plate of Tsarist Russia. Although the current Tsarist Russia has experienced the failure of the Crimean War.
But for Europe, especially the countries in Central and Eastern Europe, it is still a behemoth.
And always thinking about further expansion to the West, this is the basis for Britain and France to allow the Austro-Hungarian Empire to continue to exist.
The reason why Hungary is afraid of the Russians is because of the huge Slavic group in its territory.
Among the many ethnic groups in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Yugoslavs are not only extremely numerous, but also at the bottom of society, especially the Serbs.
There are Serbian groups widely distributed in Hungary. Even if all Germans and Hungarians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire add up, they cannot constitute the main ethnic group.
So the test of the nascent Austro-Hungarian Empire was extremely severe. Austria and Hungary compromised, and the ambitions of those nations with a large population naturally rose.
This is not only directed at Austria, but also directed at Hungary, which is also the hardest hit area of national separatism.
This is the basis of cooperation between Ernst and the Hungarian nobles, to reduce the population of other ethnic groups in Hungary as much as possible.
The Hungarian nobles allowed Ernst to continue to export any population of non-Magyar people from Hungary to the East African colonies.
In Hungary, Ernst can gobble up the population of other nationalities with impunity.
This is different from Ernst’s original view that after the establishment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as the situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire stabilizes, the authorities may curb population loss.
The top leaders of the Austrian and Hungarian governments are not stupid, especially the Hungarian government, which has made a fortune by relying on nationalism. Don’t others? So it's better to take precautions.
And Ernst is now going to persuade Franz to prevent him from dragging Hungary down.
This has to be said, in order to check and balance Hungary, one of the methods Franz has adopted is to bribe the bottom people in Hungary.
Franz asked the Hungarian government to guarantee the rights of non-Hungarian nobles, that is, other ethnic groups other than the Magyars.
Now Ernst can't let Franz do what he did in history. If the Hungarians don't harm the people below, how could Ernst have the opportunity to poach the corner of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
…
Schönbrunn Palace.
"Ernst, you are really diligent. You have been running to Austria every three days. What do you want to do this time?" Franz said to Ernst.
Ernst did not show timidity, and said, "Your Majesty, Austria is like my home to me. Of course, I will come here often."
"You boy, what do you think of Austria?" Hearing Ernst's shameless words, Franz, who has always been staid and steady, felt a little funny.
This guy has always been unprofitable, and he still said this, that is, he blindly agreed to his mother to book this marriage for Karina.
Thinking so in his heart, Franz actually recognized Ernst more, just like the British are so cunning and insidious in diplomacy, but Franz had to admit that the British were always on the winning side.
Although Franz himself behaves rigidly and conservatively, it does not prevent him from appreciating those smooth and eclectic people. Otherwise, he would not have been attracted by Princess Sissi's free and romantic personality.
"There is no outsider here, tell me! What trick are you trying to play this time?" Franz said to Ernst.
Ernst was not polite, and said directly: "Your Majesty, now that Hungary has achieved equal status with Austria, I wonder how Your Majesty plans to deal with the attitude of the people of other ethnic groups in Hungary?"
As soon as Hungary was mentioned, Franz immediately became in a bad mood. He said: "All ethnic groups in Hungary are my subjects, and of course I will treat them equally."
Ernst said immediately: "I hope Your Majesty will think twice before making any substantive promises to the people at the bottom of Hungary."
"Ernst, what do you mean by that?" Franz asked.
Ernst replied: "Your Majesty, there is nothing wrong with loving your own citizens, but Austria is not the former Austrian Empire! I think you are very angry at Hungary for splitting the power of the empire, but anger often makes people lose their minds."
"For example, you are the emperor of the entire empire, but the nobles and officials who are used to maintain you and the entire empire are actually the nobles and officials under him. Now that Hungary has become independent and has established a separate government, you can't act on your will. In the past, you As long as you are in charge of Austria's affairs, you can command the entire empire, and now you have to face two governments, so you must be cautious."
"Hungary has certainly weakened the power of the central government, but now that it's done, we can't add fuel to the fire. After all, Hungary is still Habsburg. Instead of causing trouble for the Hungarians, it is better to let Hungary make trouble for itself."
"If you end up in person, the Hungarian nobles will definitely think that you are biased, and they will become more and more violent. In fact, the local nobles will always have an advantage over the central government. As long as the Hungarians cheat and lie, they will make people faint. The people who have turned their backs are pointing their finger at the decision of the central government..."
All in all, what Ernst meant was, Franz, you can’t take the initiative to protect the interests of other ethnic groups in Hungary, you just need to express your concern. If you take the initiative to sing against the Hungarian nobles, it is easy to provoke a commotion.
(end of this chapter)