| A Gazetteer of the Pax Britannica | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 10 2015, 07:54 PM (145 Views) | |
| Matthew | Jun 10 2015, 07:54 PM Post #1 |
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I was digging around in my old files the other day, and began rereading through the PDFs I have of old 19th century geographical and statistical gazetteers that have proven so handy in the past. The format and presentation always fascinated me, and it struck me that I could try and put together one for the entire 19th century, pulling together statistics and everything, and that it might be a useful contribution. Anyway, I thought I'd start and see how it went, and as the Austrian empire has interested me for some time, I decided to start with it. I intend to add a lot more, as you will be able to see from the headings, but this is what I have so far (I'm going to attach it in the next post.) Anyway, without further ado: A Gazetteer, of the Pax Britannica A statistical and geographical introduction to the long peace of 1815-1914. |
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| Matthew | Jun 10 2015, 07:59 PM Post #2 |
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......AUSTRIA, (EMPIRE OF), also known as AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, (EMPIRE OF), one of the great powers through the period, located in south-central Europe. ......Introduction.– The Austrian Empire was the primary power in Germany and Central Europe from its establishment in 1804 until her defeat by Prussia and the North German Coalition in 1866. The Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor Francis II proclaimed the new empire of his royal possessions in response to the creation of the First French Empire by Napoleon Bonaparte. The empire consisted of broadly two regions: Austria, in the west, and Hungary, in the east. All the other smaller regions and nationalities were members of one or the other of these divisions. As part of the settlement of 1815, Austria became the dominant member of the new German Confederation which was set up to take over the role of the Holy Roman Empire which had been dissolved by Bonaparte in 1805. Austria, under the firm guidance of Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Austria would become the foremost reactionary opponent of revolution, secularism, and republican sentiment in Europe, combining with Prussia and Russia in the Holy Alliance which sought to secure the victory of 1815. ......Over the next decades, Austria opposed and largely kept in check the growing German nationalism being promoted across the region, partly due to the difficulty that German unification presented to her multi-ethnic empire. The Revolutions of 1848 were a significant challenge to the structure of the Austrian Empire. Metternich's long rule finally came to an end, and Hungary, the second most important area of the empire after Austria herself, threw off Austrian overlordship declaring independence. Hungary was only restored to order with significant Russian help, which Austria later reciprocated by not siding against Russia during the war in Crimea. Non ethnically Hungarian elements of the Hungarian half of the empire, such as the Croats, also supported the Hapsburgs due to the Hungarian intolerance of their own cultures. Elsewhere Austrian armies successfully campaigned in Italy under the brilliant Joseph Radetzky to ensure her continued position in Venice and Milan, and were able to counteract the ongoing talks of German unification. Austria was defeated in 1859 in the Second War of Italian Independence by Piedmont-Sardinia and their ally Napoleon III of France, who forced Austria to cede the province of Lombardy, half of Austria's Italian possessions. Austria's position in Germany also continued to deteriorate over the next decade and a half, and they were faced by Otto von Bismarck who had taken on the task of unifying Germany under the leadership of his rising Prussia. War broke out in 1866 between southern Germany, lead by Austria, and northern Germany, who coalesced under Prussia. After a brief seven week campaign, Austria was defeated at the Battle of Koinggratz, forcing them to accept Prussian dominance in Germany. Austria was also forced to cede the remainder of their Italian possessions to the nascent Kingdom of Italy, who sided with Prussia in the conflict, despite the fact that she had significant military success against the Italians, notably the naval battle of Lissa, where the Austrian fleet under Wilhelm von Tegetthoff soundly defeated a numerically superior Italian force. ......After these defeats the Austrian leadership turned their attention to the inward state of their empire, compromising with Hungary in 1867 to form the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, the name by which the empire would be known from here until its dissolution at the end of the Great War. Unfortunately this left many of the smaller people groups dissatisfied. Some, such as the Czechs, believed, with some legitimacy due to their number and productivity, that they also deserved a say in the operation of the empire. Others, such as the Croats and Serbs, were alarmed by the Hungarian dominance of their region and intolerance of their own Slavic cultures. In any event, this arrangement was to last for the remainder of the empire's existence. Reconciliation with the new German empire was quick, in part due to Bismarck's foresight, and the Double Alliance was formed in 1879, largely due to the shared concern with the rapidly growing Russia. Italy was added to the arrangement in 1882. Austria-Hungary's primary external focus now shifted to the Balkans, and the rapidly crumbling Ottoman Empire. Russian efforts to become involved in the Balkans, due to their shared Slavic roots, began an intense rivalry between the powers for political dominance in the area. Austria-Hungary gained special rights vis a vis Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, but the accession of an anti-Vienna dynasty in Serbia saw relations between the two capitals begin to deteriorate rapidly. This turmoil eventually led to the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, setting off the dominoes that resulted in the outbreak of the Great War, which would ultimately result in the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. ......Geography.– ......Political Division.– As noted earlier, the Hapsburg possessions that were brought in to the empire in 1804 included a wide variety of ethnicities, kingdoms, duchies, and other royal possessions, and the additions made at the Congress of Vienna added further unique territories to the empire. It is somewhat anachronistic to use the terms Cisleithania and Transleithania before 1867, but the empire was still somewhat divided along those lines, between the Austrian and Hungarian dominated halves. It is furthermore useful as a descriptive tool, and as such I will use this division, loosely, in the ensuing work, even if it is not technically appropriate. ......The political divisions of empire, as it stood in 1815 after the Congress of Vienna, can be thus described as follows. Beginning with the Austrian half that would become Cisleithania the first province of the empire was naturally the Archduchy of Austria, divided into Upper and Lower Austria, with their capitals respectively at Linz and Vienna. The other predominantly Germanic possessions were the Duchies of Salzburg and Styria, with capitals at Salzburg and Graz, and the Princely County of Tyrol with its capital Innsbruck. This latter region included a certain Italian population, and the southern half of Styria was largely inhabited by Slovenians. North of Austria proper there was a significant Slavic population of Czechs, concentrated in the Lands of the Bohemain Crown which included the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Margravate of Moravia, and the Duchy of Silesia, who's capitals were Prague, Brno, and Troppau, respectively. Due to its proximity to other predominantly German areas, and its old status as part of the Holy Roman Empire, there was also a significant Germanic population in this territory, in addition to the Czechs. In the north-east the Hapsburgs held the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria which was inhabited by Poles and Ruthenians (Ukrainians), and had a capital at Lemberg. Directly south of Austria proper there were two Slavic kingdoms, the first being the Kingdom of Illyria, who's capital was Ljubljana. The northern portion of this territory was largely populated by Slovenians, while the southern half was dominated by Serbs and Croats. The second kingdom, along the south-eastern coast of the Adriatic, was that of Dalmatia which consisted mostly of Croats, with a significant minority of Serbs and Italians, and had its capital at Zadar. In the south-west was the new Austrian possession of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, newly added at the Congress, which was populated to the greatest extent by Italians, but which gave Austria access to the sea which she did not effectively have beforehand. This kingdom's capital was divided between Milan and Venice. As to the south-eastern half of the empire, The Kingdom of Hungary, who's capital in 1815 was at Pressburg, was dominated by the Maygar people, although there was a significant population of Slovaks in its northern province of Upper Hungary, and Croats and Serbs in its constitute kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia. The capitals of the latter two kingdoms were Zagreb and Osijek. Finally there was the Grand Principality of Transylvania, populated by Roumanians, with a capital at Cluj, and the Free Port of Fiume on the Adriatic, Hungary's main access to the sea. In addition to these areas there was the military frontier which included sections of the provinces bordering the Ottoman Empire, areas where the local population was not taxed, but instead had to provide military service to the empire. ......The 1848 revolutions caused a significant number of adjustments. First, the Kingdom of Illyria was subdivided in to its historical constituents of the Duchies of Carinthia and of Carniola, and the Austrian Littoral which included Trieste, Istria, and Gorizia and Gradisca. In the north-east the Duchy of Bukovina was separated from Galicia as its own crown land. The Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar was established in the south, although this was merged back in to Hungary and Slavonia in 1860. At this point the capital of Hungary moved to Pest, and of Transylvania returned to Sibiu until 1861 when it reverted again to Cluj. Lombardy was lost to the Sardinians in 1859. Venice was lost to the newly unified Kingdom of Italy in 1866. The settlement of 1867 caused significant changes, the greatest being the direct way in which the status of Hungarian half of the empire changed from Crown Land of the Austrian empire, but instead the “Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen,” or Transleithania. The remaining territories became known as the “Kingdoms and Lands represented in the Imperial Council,” or Cisleithania. Croatia and Slavonia were also joined together in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia with its capital at Zagreb, and was given a degree of self-governing privileges as a part of Transleithania. It laid claim on the Kingdom of Dalmatia as the third member of its “Triune Kingdom,” yet because the latter was still crown land of the Austrian empire, nothing came of this during this period. The last major adjustment of Austro-Hungarian territory was the addition of Bosnia-Herzegovina. This was initially undertaken, in 1878, as a mere military occupation as set out by the Berlin treaty of the same year, to counteract Russian influence in Serbia, although Austria-Hungary was to be responsible for its military and civil administration. Eventually, however, this lead to formal annexation in 1908. ......Population.– Due to the multi-ethnic nature of the empire, and its division after the Great War, it is difficult to determine exact figures for the population. The following figures are thus to be taken with a grain of salt, and are most likely a combination of different figures from different sources, harmonized as best as possible. The main ethnic groups were the Germans, Maygars and Slavs, although these, especially the latter, were often further divided with significant regional and local differences. ![]() ......Government.– The government of the Austrian Empire underwent significant change during the period, much as the rest of the continent, but generally remained much less reformed than any of the other Great Powers, even up until the outbreak of the Great War. The Hapbsurg family ruled for the entire period, transitioning from the leadership of the Holy Roman Empire. Austria's first emperor, Francis I, was a strong monarch, involved in every aspect of government, allowing his greatest servant, Metternich, little room to operate domestically, or bring in certain moderate reforms and efficiencies that the latter thought important. Francis' successor, Ferdinand I, was a much less involved emperor, due to his illness, but by this stage Metternich was more heavily involved in international matters, dealing with the threat of revolution across the continent. ......The revolutions of 1848 forced a number of significant changes in the empire. Ferdinand abdicated his throne to his nephew Francis Joseph who would reign until the middle of the Great War, dominating this period of Austrian history, and becoming dearly loved by his people. As a symbol of the empire, he became the object of deep affection and loyalty for his multi-ethnic peoples, which, on some accounts, was a significant reason why they remained generally devoted to the crown and to the empire, despite significant nationalist agitation in the later decades of this period. The revolutions also saw Metternich's long influence come to an end, but after fighting in Vienna itself, the revolution was marginalized, and a largely conservative settlement established. There had been a number of proposed and temporary constitutions and parliaments, but in the end the emperor, aided by Prince Felix zu Schwarzenberg his new minister-president, ruled as an absolute monarch. Hungary was placed under a more restrictive policy after her defeat by Francis Joseph and the Croatian general Josip Jelacic. ......After the setbacks in Italy in 1859, Francis Joseph established the Imperial Council (Reichsrat) which was made up of two houses: the House of Lords (Herrenhaus), and House of Deputies (Abgeordnetenhaus). This arrangement was to last until the Hungarian compromise of 1867. The Lords was a fairly straightforward establishment, including the Princes, archbishops and bishops, and both hereditary and life peers. The Deputies were elected indirectly through the “curiae” method. In short, members of each social class, in a certain region, would come together and elect representatives to regional diets for the various crown lands. The four groups that elected members to the regional diets were the rural towns, chambers of commerce, larger towns and cities, and finally the landowning class. Under the arrangement of 1861, these diets would then elect a number of deputies to send to the Imperial council. A total of 343 deputies were sent to the Imperial Council in this period. ......The 1867 settlement changed this by separating the governance of the empire between Vienna and Budapest, granting Hungary her own parliament so that she no longer sent deputies to Vienna. The Imperial Council became the parliament for Cisleithania, the Austrian half of the empire. The number of deputies was dropped to 203, although in 1873 this would be raised to 353, and deputies were elected directly by the curias, and have a six year term. The number was raised again in 1896 to 425 deputies, adding 72 deputies which were to be elected by a new fifth curia based on a universal suffrage to all men over 24. In 1906 the curia system was abolished completely, and the universal franchise applied directly across the board, with the number of deputies rising to 516. This had the unfortunate effect of creating a considerable degree of division between the nationalities and ethnicities of the empire, in addition to the question of ideology, hampering the effectiveness of the house by making it difficult for any minister-president to gain an effective majority. The Diet of Hungary (Országgyűlés) was an ancient body that met intermittently until the 1867 settlement. It also consisted of two houses, the House of Magnates (Főrendiház), which corresponded to the House of Lords, and the House of Representatives (Képviselőház). The Magnates, interestingly, included deputies from the autonomous areas in Transleithania. The Representatives had 453 deputies, 43 of which came from the parliament of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, and they sat for a five year term. ......Under Francis I the executive role of his ministers was limited, as the king himself was interested in the day to day management of the country. Under his successors, however, this began to shift and would remain in the hands of his ministers even after the establishment of the Imperial Council. Before the settlement of 1867 all the great matters of state were handled in Vienna, but this changed as a number of powers were granted to Budapest. Foreign affairs, defence, and monetary matters were left to Vienna, while almost everything else was devolved to the two national assemblies. The economic and monetary terms were to be renegotiated every ten years, something that was to cause a great degree of instability later on. ......Politics.– ......Revenue/Taxation.– ......Expenditure.– ......Military.– ......Military Infrastructure.– ......Economy/Agriculture/Industry.– ......Railways.– ......Currency.– ......Finance.– ......National Characteristics.– Edited by Matthew, Jun 12 2015, 07:25 PM.
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2:39 PM Jul 11