Monday 3 December 2012

History in Focus: The Austro-Hungarian Empire

Well, it's been a while since we had a maps/photo-only post so here it goes!

In case you don't know, the Austro-Hungarian empire was a constitutional monarchist union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe. The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, under which the House of Habsburg agreed to share power with the separate Hungarian government, dividing the territory of the former Austrian Empire between them.

The Austrian and the Hungarian lands became independent entities enjoying equal status. Austria-Hungary was a multinational realm and one of the world's great powers at the time. The dual monarchy existed for 51 years until it dissolved on 31 October 1918 at end of World War I. Three decades after its dissolution, most of former Austria-Hungary became part of the Soviet Union or the East Bloc countries.

Extremely detailed Ethnic, Transport, and Physical map of the Austrian Empire from 1855
The realm comprised modern-day Austria, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, large parts of Serbia and Romania and smaller parts of Italy, Montenegro, Poland and Ukraine.

Austrian troops marching up Mt. Zion, Jerusalem, 1916
Austro-Hungarian WW1 POW's in Russia, 1915
Pavilion of the Austro-hungarian Llyod at the world's fair, Vienna, 1873
1892 protests in Bucharest for equal rights for Romanians in Austria-Hungary-ruled Transylvania
Emperor Franz Joseph and Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 1908.
 Austrian officers and a dog
Autro-Hungarian dragoons
Abbazia in 1911
Thousands more photos are present on Flickr. I highly recommend it.

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