Cisleithania was a name of the
AustrianAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
part of
Austria-HungaryAustria–Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the k.u.k. Monarchy, or Dual State, was a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe...
, the Dual Monarchy created in 1867 and dissolved in 1918. The name was used by politicians and bureaucrats, but it had no official status. The Cisleithanian lands continued to constitute the
Empire of AustriaThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867...
, but the latter term was rarely used after 1867, to avoid confusion with the era before 1867, when Hungary had been part of that empire). The somewhat cumbersome official name was "
Die im ReichsratThe Reichsrat was the Austrian Parliament from 1861 to 1918. It consisted of the Herrenhaus and the Abgeordnetenhaus .-Early History:...
vertretenen Königreiche und Länder" ("The Kingdoms and States represented in the Imperial Council").
Cisleithania was a name of the
AustrianAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
part of
Austria-HungaryAustria–Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the k.u.k. Monarchy, or Dual State, was a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe...
, the Dual Monarchy created in 1867 and dissolved in 1918. The name was used by politicians and bureaucrats, but it had no official status. The Cisleithanian lands continued to constitute the
Empire of AustriaThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867...
, but the latter term was rarely used after 1867, to avoid confusion with the era before 1867, when Hungary had been part of that empire). The somewhat cumbersome official name was "
Die im ReichsratThe Reichsrat was the Austrian Parliament from 1861 to 1918. It consisted of the Herrenhaus and the Abgeordnetenhaus .-Early History:...
vertretenen Königreiche und Länder" ("The Kingdoms and States represented in the Imperial Council"). In general the country was just called Austria, this term only replacing the former official name in 1915.
The Cisleithanian capital was
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
. The territory had a population of 28,571,900 in 1910 and reached from the Duchy of Bukowina (today parts of Ukraine and Romania) to the Kingdom of Dalmatia (today part of Croatia).
The
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
name
Cisleithania derives from the
Leitha----The Leitha is a river in Central Europe with a length of approximately 180 km. It is formed in eastern Austria at the confluence of two headstreams...
river - most of its territory lay west (or on "this" side, from an Austrian perspective) of it.
TransleithaniaTransleithania was an unofficial term for the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, the Dual monarchy created in 1867 and dissolved in 1918. The Transleithanian lands were also known as the Lands of the Crown of St...
, the lands of the
Kingdom of HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary , emerged in 1000, when the Principality of Hungary, founded in 896, was recognized as a Kingdom. The form of government was changed from Monarchy to Republic briefly in 1918 and again in 1946, ending the Kingdom and creating the Republic of Hungary...
in the Dual Monarchy, lay to the east across the Leitha river.
Provinces
Cisleithania consisted of 15 crownlands which had representatives in the
ReichsratThe Reichsrat was the Austrian Parliament from 1861 to 1918. It consisted of the Herrenhaus and the Abgeordnetenhaus .-Early History:...
(Cisleithanian parliament):
Crownlands of Cisleithania with capitals in alphabetical order in German
| State | Capital |
|---|
| Böhmen The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country in Central Europe, a de-facto independent member of the Holy Roman Empire and thereafter a part of the Austrian Empire.-History:...
(Bohemia) |
PragPrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
(Prague) |
| Bukowina (Bukovyna) |
Czernowitz (Chernivtsi) |
DalmatienThe Kingdom of Dalmatia was an administrative division of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1815 to 1918. Its capital was Zadar.-History:...
(Dalmatia) |
ZaraZadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Zadar faces the islands of Ugljan and Pašman, from which it is separated by the narrow Zadar Strait. The promontory on which the old city stands used to be separated from the...
(Zadar) |
Galizien und LodomerienThe Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria official ) was a kingdom dependent to the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire and Austria–Hungary from 1772 to 1917; independent from July 26, 1917 to November 14, 1918. This historical region in eastern Central Europe is currently divided between Poland and...
(Galicia and Lodomeria) |
LembergLviv is a major city in western Ukraine.It is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically also for Ukraine’s neighbour Poland. The historic centre of Lviv with its old buildings and cobblestone roads has survived the Second World War and the Soviet presence...
(Lviv) |
KärntenThe Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire from 976 until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806, and a crownland of Austria-Hungary until its dissolution in 1918...
(Carinthia) |
Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am Wörthersee is the capital of the federal state of Carinthia in Austria. With a population of over 90,000 it is the sixth-largest city in the country. The city is the bishop's seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt and home to the Alpen-Adria...
|
| Krain Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is nowadays Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918...
(Carniola) |
LaibachLjubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is located in the centre of the country, historically part of the Inner Carniola, and is a mid-sized city of some 280,000 inhabitants. Ljubljana is regarded as the cultural, scientific, economic, political and administrative centre of...
(Ljubljana) |
| Küstenland The Austrian Littoral or Küstenland was a crown land within the Austrian Empire from 1813 till 1876 and of Austria-Hungary) from 1876 to 1918....
(Austrian Littoral) |
Triest Trieste is a city and seaport in north eastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south, east and north of the city...
(Trieste) |
| Mähren The March or Margraviate of Moravia, sometimes called the Bohemian march within the Holy Roman Empire, was a marcher state, sometimes de facto independent and varyingly within the power of the Duchy and later Kingdom of Bohemia...
(Moravia) |
Brünn Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, located in the southeast of the country. It was founded in 1243, although the area had been settled since the 5th century. As of August 2009 the population is 404,887...
(Brno) |
ÖsterreichThe Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the center of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire. Over nearly 700 years, it evolved from a margravate to the center of an empire...
, Nieder- (Austria, Lower) |
WienVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
(Vienna) |
ÖsterreichThe Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the center of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire. Over nearly 700 years, it evolved from a margravate to the center of an empire...
, Ober- (Austria, Upper) |
LinzLinz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately 30 km south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube...
|
SalzburgThe Duchy of Salzburg was a Cisleithanian Kronland of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary from 1849–1918. Its capital was Salzburg, while other towns in the duchy included Zell am See and Gastein....
|
Salzburg' is the fourth-largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg. Salzburg's "Old Town" with its world famous baroque architecture is one of the best-preserved city centres north of the Alps, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The city is noted for its...
|
| Schlesien The Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia was an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Empire. It is also known as Austrian Silesia , and despite the official name it only included parts of Upper Silesia, while none of Lower Silesia was within its borders...
(Silesia) |
TroppauOpava is a city in the northern Czech Republic on the river Opava, located to the north-west of Ostrava. The historical capital of Czech Silesia, Opava is now in the Moravian-Silesian Region and has a population of 59,843 as of January 1 2005.-History:Opava was first documented in 1195...
(Opava) |
SteiermarkThe history of Styria concerns the region roughly corresponding to the modern state of Styria from its settlement by Slavs in the Dark Ages until the present...
(Styria) |
GrazGraz , with a population of 291,574 as of 2009 , is the second-largest city in Austria after Vienna and the capital of the federal state of Styria....
|
TirolThe Princely County of Tyrol was an independent county within the Holy Roman Empire, and later a Kronland of Cisleithanian Austria. Today its territory is divided between the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and the Austrian state of Tyrol...
(Tyrol) |
Innsbruck Innsbruck is the capital city of the federal state of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn Valley at the junction with the Wipptal , which provides access to the Brenner Pass, some south of Innsbruck...
|
VorarlbergVorarlberg is the westernmost and wealthiest state of Austria. Though it is the second smallest in terms of area it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The only Austrian federal state that shares a border with Vorarlberg is Tyrol to the east...
|
BregenzBregenz is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost federal state of Austria. The city is located on the eastern shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the west and Germany in the northwest....
|
Politics
Each crownland had a regional assembly, the
LandtagA Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.The German word "Landtag" is composed of the words Land which names a political entity comparable to a federal state and the word Tag...
, which sent representatives to the
ReichsratThe Reichsrat was the Austrian Parliament from 1861 to 1918. It consisted of the Herrenhaus and the Abgeordnetenhaus .-Early History:...
until 1873, when direct election of the Reichsrat was introduced with suffrage for male bourgeois. Equal, direct, secret and universal
suffrageSuffrage is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. It is also called political franchise or simply the franchise. Suffrage may apply to elections, but also extends to initiatives and referendums...
for men was introduced in 1907. The Landtag enacted provincial laws (
Landesgesetze) on matters of regional and mostly minor importance.
In the Reichsrat (with 353 members in 1873 and 516 in 1907) was played out a nationalist struggle between Germans and the Slavs of the Empire, especially the Czechs. At first Germans dominated, but the Slavs gained a majority after an 1907 electoral reform which abolished class-based suffrage.
For representation in matters relevant to the whole of Austria-Hungary (foreign affairs, defence and the financing thereof) the Reichsrat appointed a delegation of 60 members to discuss these matters jointly with an Hungarian delegation of the same size and to come to a common conclusion on the recommendation of the responsible common minister.
Politics were frequently paralysed because of the tensions between different nationalities.
When Czech obstruction at the Reichsrat prevented the parliament from working, Emperor
Franz JosephFranz Joseph I , reigned as Emperor of Austria and King of Bohemia from 1848 until 1916 and as King of Hungary and Crotia from 1848 until 1916 .-Early life:Franz Joseph was born in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the oldest son of...
had to rule autocratically through imperial decrees.
The Reichsrat was prorogued in March 1914 and did not meet again until May 1917, after the accession of
Karl ICharles I was the last ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
in 1916.
Ethnic composition of the population (1910)
| Ethnicity | % of total Cisleithanian population |
|---|
| Germans |
33% |
Czechs and SlovaksThe Slovaks are a western Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language....
|
22% |
| Poles The Polish people, or Poles , are a Western Slavic ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent. Their religion is predominantly Roman Catholic...
|
15% |
RutheniansUkrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly—citizens of Ukraine...
(Ukrainians) |
12% |
| Slovenes |
5% |
| Italians |
3% |
| Croats Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 5 million Croats living in the southern Central Europe region, along the east bank of the Adriatic Sea and an estimated 9 million throughout the world...
|
3% |
| Other |
7% |
Source
- Allgemeines Verzeichnis der Ortsgemeinden und Ortschaften Österreichs nach den Ergebnissen der Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1910 (ed. by K.K. Statistische Zentralkommission, Vienna, 1915) (the latest Austrian gazetteer
A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or directory, an important reference for information about places and place names , used in conjunction with a map or a full atlas. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup of a country, region, or continent as well as the social...
, register of political communities, giving the results of the 1910 census)