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Habsburg Monarchy
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The Habsburg Monarchy (or Habsburg Empire) covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg (1278-1780), and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine (since 1780), between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague. The monarchy from 1804 to 1867 is usually referred to as the "Austrian Empire" and from 1867 to 1918 as "Austria-Hungary".
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The Habsburg Monarchy (or Habsburg Empire) covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg (1278-1780), and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine (since 1780), between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague. The monarchy from 1804 to 1867 is usually referred to as the "Austrian Empire" and from 1867 to 1918 as "Austria-Hungary". In some contexts, the term "Habsburg Empire" might also refer to extended Habsburg family possessions once ruled solely by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, or to the Spanish Empire ruled by the senior Spanish branch of the house.
The Habsburg family originated with the Habsburg Castle in modern Switzerland and after 1278 came to rule in Austria (the Habsburg Hereditary Lands). The Habsburg family grew to European prominence with the marriage and adoption treaty by Emperor Maximilian I at the First Congress of Vienna in 1515 and the subsequent death of adopted Louis II (King of Bohemia and Hungary and Croatia) in 1526.
Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, the younger brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, was elected the next King of Bohemia, Croatia and Hungary following the death of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia, in a battle against the Turks at Mohács. From this point the Monarchy grew to a size where at times, it ruled more than half of Europe.
Terminology
Names of the territory that (with some exceptions) finally became Austria-Hungary:
- Habsburg monarchy or Austrian monarchy (1526–1867): This was an unofficial, but very frequent name – even at that time. The entity had no official name. Note that technically the term "Habsburg monarchy" can also refer to the period 1276–1918 when the Habsburgs ruled in the monarchy (archduchy) centered in present-day Austria and "Austrian monarchy" can refer to the monarchy centered in present-day Austria 1156–1867, but both terms are usually not used this way.
- Austrian Empire (1804–1867): This was the official name. Note that the German version is Kaisertum Österreich, i.e. the English translation empire refers to a territory ruled by an emperor, not just to a "widespreading dominion", more accurately the "Emperordom of Austria".
- Austria-Hungary or Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918): This was the official name. An unofficial popular name was the Danubian Monarchy also often used was the term Doppel-Monarchie ("Double Monarchy") meaning two states under one crowned ruler.
- Crownlands or crown-lands (Kronländer) (1849–1918): This is the name of all the individual parts of the Austrian Empire (since 1849) and then of Austria-Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary (more exactly the Lands of the Hungarian Crown) was not considered a "crownland" anymore after the establishment of Austria-Hungary 1867, so that the "crownlands" became identical with what was called the Kingdoms and Lands represented in the Imperial Council (Die im Reichsrate vertretenen Königreiche und Länder).
The Hungarian parts of the Empire were called "Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen" or "Lands of Holy (St.) Stephen's Crown" (Länder der Heiligen Stephans Krone).
The Bohemian (Czech) Lands were called "Lands of the St. Wenceslaus' Crown" (Länder der Wenzels-Krone).
Names of some smaller territories:
- Austrian lands (Österreichische Länder) or "Archduchies of Austria" (Erzherzogtümer von Österreich) - Lands up and below the Enns (ober und unter der Enns) (996–1918): This is the historical name of the parts of the Archduchy of Austria that became the present-day "Republic of Austria" (Republik Österreich) on November 12, 1918 (after Emperor Charles I had abdicated the throne). Modern day Austria is a semi-federal republic of nine states (Bundesländer) that are: Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Tyrol, Styria, Salzburg, Carinthia, Voralrlberg and Burgenland and the Capital of Vienna that is a state of its own. Burgenland, came to Austria in 1921 by a referendum from Hungary. Salzburg finally became Austrian in 1816 after Napoleonic wars (before it was ruled by prince-archbishops of Salzburg as an sovereign territory).
- Vienna, Austria's capital became a state January 1, 1922, after being residence and capital of the Austrian Empire (Reichshaupt und Residenzstadt Wien) for the Habsburg monarchs for centuries. Upper and Lower Austria, historically, were split into "Austria above the Enns" and "Austria below the Enns" (the Enns river is the state-border between Upper- and Lower Austria). Upper Austria was enlarged after the Treaty of Teschen (1779) following the "War of the Bavarian Succession" by the so-called Innviertel ("Inn Quarter"), formerly part of Bavaria.
- Hereditary Lands (Erblande or Erbländer; mostly used Österreichische Erblande) or German Hereditary Lands (in the Austrian monarchy) or Austrian Hereditary Lands (Middle Ages – 1849/1918): In a narrower sense these were the "original" Habsburg Austrian territories, i.e. basically the Austrian lands and Carniola (not Galicia, Italian territories or the Austrian Netherlands).
In a wider sense the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were also included in (from 1526; definitely from 1620/27) the Hereditary lands. The term was replaced by the term "Crownlands" (see above) in the 1849 March Constitution, but it was also used afterwards.
The Erblande also included lots of small and smallest territories that were principalities, duchies or counties etc. some of them can namely be found in the reigning titles of the Habsburg monarchs like Graf (Earl/Count of) von Tyrol etc.
Territories
The territories ruled by the branch changed over the centuries, but the core always consisted of four blocs:
- The Hereditary Lands, which covered most of the modern states of Austria, as well as territories in northeastern Italy and (before 1797) southwestern Germany. To these were added in 1779 the Inn Quarter of Bavaria; and in 1803 the Bishoprics of Trent and Brixen. The Napoleonic Wars caused disruptions where many parts of the Hereditary lands were lost, but all these, along with the former Archbishopric of Salzburg, which had previously been temporarily annexed between 1805 and 1809, were recovered at the peace in 1815, with the exception of the Vorlande. The Hereditary provinces included:
- The Lands of the Bohemian Crown – initially consisting of the five lands: Kingdom of Bohemia, March of Moravia, Silesia, and Upper and Lower Lusatia. Bohemian Diet elected Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor as king in 1526.
- Lusatia was ceded to Saxony in 1635.
- Most of Silesia was conquered by Prussia in 1740–1742 and the remnants which stayed under Habsburg sovereignity were ruled as Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia (Austrian Silesia).
- The Kingdom of Hungary – Hungary had lost some two thirds of its territory to the Ottoman Empire and the Princes of Transylvania, while the Habsburgs were restricted to the western and northern fringes of the former kingdom, called Royal Hungary at that time. In 1699, at the end of the Ottoman-Habsburg wars, almost the whole former kingdom came under Austrian rule, with the rest being picked up in 1718. The Kingdom of Hungary, at its fullest extent, included modern Hungary and Slovakia, most of Croatia, the Vojvodina in what is now Serbia, Transylvania in what is now Romania, and Carpathian Ruthenia, a small trans-Carpathian region now in Ukraine. Between 1718 and 1739, various other Balkan territories, including the area around Belgrade and parts of western Wallachia, were also attached, but were lost following an unsuccessful war with Turkey in 1739. Much of the area bordering the Ottoman Empire was separated out from Hungarian administration and formed into the Military Frontier, which was ruled directly from Vienna.
- The Croatian Kingdom initially consisted of three regions: Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia. The Croatian Sabor elected Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, as King of Croatia on 1 January 1527 . The Croatian Kingdom remained within the Habsburg Monarchy until the Sabor declared its independence on 29 October 1918. After the Croatian–Hungarian Compromise in 1868, the official name for Croatia was The Triunine Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia.
- Central Croatia: In the 16th century, after Slavonia and Bosnia fell under Ottoman and Dalmatia under Venetian rule, Central Croatia was referred to as the Remnants of the remnants of the once great Croatian Kingdom .
- Slavonia: In 16th century fell under Ottoman Empire; liberated and returned under the civil administration of Croatia in 1718.
- Dalmatia: Between 1409 and 1420, the Republic of Venice took most of Dalmatia, which remained under Republic of Venice until its fall in 1797. Although Dalmatia was taken by Austrian Empire in 1815, Austria was refusing to return Dalmatia under the civil administration of Croatia, despite continuous urges by Sabor.
- Croatian and Slavonian Military Frontier (Vojna Krajina, Croatian Krajina, Slavonian Krajina), which was a temporary zone along the border with Ottoman Empire formed in 16th century and administered directly by the military authorities of Habsburg Monarchy, not by Croatian Sabor and Ban. It returned under the civil administration of Croatia in 1881.
Over the course of its history, other lands were, at times, under Austrian Habsburg rule (some of these territories were secundo-genitures, i.e. ruled by other lines of Habsburg dynasty):
- Duchy of Serbia (1688–1691; 1718–1739; 1788–1791);
- The Austrian Netherlands, consisting of most of modern Belgium and Luxembourg (1713–1792);
- The Duchy of Milan (1713–1797);
- The Kingdom of Naples (1713–1735);
- The Kingdom of Sardinia (1713–1720);
- The Banat of Temeswar (1718–1918) (including Banat Krajina) (ceased to exist as a separate province in 1778);
- Oltenia (1718–1739 (de facto, 1737), as Grand-Voivodate (sometimes designated as Valachia Caesarea));
- The Kingdom of Sicily (1720–1735);
- The Duchy of Parma (1735–1748);
- The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, in modern Poland and Ukraine (1772–1918)
- Duchy of Bukovina (1774–1918);
- New Galicia, the Polish lands, including Kraków, taken in the Third Partition (1795–1809);
- Venetia (1797–1805);
- Kingdom of Dalmatia (1797–1805, 1814–1918);
- Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia (1814–1859);
- Kraków, which was incorporated into Galicia (1846–1918);
- Vojvodina of Serbia and Tamiš Banat (1849–1860) (dates are for existence of province only, see Banat of Temeswar);
- Raška region occupation (1878-1913)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (1878–1918).
The boundaries of some of these territories varied over the time period indicated, and others were ruled by a subordinate (secundo-geniture) Habsburg line. The Habsburgs also held the title of Holy Roman Emperor between 1438 and 1740, and again from 1745 to 1806.
Characteristics
The various Habsburg possessions never really formed a single country - each province was governed according to its own particular customs. Until the mid 17th century, all of the provinces were not even necessarily ruled by the same person - junior members of the family often ruled portions of the Hereditary Lands as private apanages. Serious attempts at centralization began under Maria Theresa and especially her son Joseph II in the mid to late 18th century, but many of these were abandoned following large scale resistance to Joseph's more radical reform attempts, although a more cautious policy of centralization continued during the revolutionary period and the long Metternichian period which followed.
An even greater attempt at centralization began in 1849 following the suppression of the various revolutions of 1848. For the first time, ministers tried to transform the monarchy into a centralized bureaucratic state ruled from Vienna. The Kingdom of Hungary, in particular, ceased to exist as a separate entity, being divided into a series of districts. Following the Habsburg defeats in the Wars of 1859 and 1866, this policy was abandoned, and after several years of experimentation in the early 1860s, the famous Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 was arrived at, by which the so-called Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary was set up. In this system, the Kingdom of Hungary was given sovereignty and a parliament, with only a personal union and a joint foreign and military policy connecting it to the other Habsburg lands. Although the non-Hungarian Habsburg lands, often, but erroneously, referred to as "Austria," received their own central parliament (the Reichsrat, or Imperial Council) and ministries, as their official name - the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council - shows that they remained something less than a genuine unitary state. When Bosnia and Herzegovina were annexed (after a long period of occupation and administration), they were not incorporated into either half of the monarchy. Instead, they were governed by the joint ministry of finance.
Austria-Hungary collapsed under the weight of the various unsolved ethnic problems that came to a head with its defeat in World War I. In the peace settlement that followed, significant territories were ceded to Romania and Italy, new republics of Austria (the German-Austrian territories of the Hereditary lands) and Hungary (the Magyar core of the old kingdom) were created, and the remainder of the monarchy's territory was shared out among the new states of Poland, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), and Czechoslovakia.
Habsburg territories outside the Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy should not be confused with various other territories ruled at different times by members of the Habsburg dynasty. The senior Spanish line of the Habsburgs ruled over Spain and various other territories from 1516 until it became extinct in 1700. A junior line ruled over Tuscany between 1765 and 1801, and again from 1814 to 1859. While exiled from Tuscany, this line ruled at Salzburg from 1803 to 1805, and in Würzburg from 1805 to 1814. Another line ruled the Vorlande from 1803 to 1805, and Modena from 1814 to 1859, while Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon's second wife and the daughter of Austrian Emperor Francis, ruled over the Duchy of Parma between 1814 and 1847. Also, the Second Mexican Empire, from 1863-1867, was headed by Maximilian I of Mexico, the brother of Franz Josef II.
History
For a historical account, see:
Rulers of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1526-1918
Habsburg
Habsburg-Lorraine
- Joseph II 1780-1790 known as "the great Reformer"
- Leopold II 1790-1792 from 1765-1790 "Grandduke of Tuscany"
- Francis II 1792-1835 correctly written "Franz"(became Emperor Francis I of Austria in 1804, at which point numbering starts anew)
- Ferdinand I 1835-1848 known as "Ferdinand the Good" german: "Ferdinand der Gütige"
- Francis Joseph I 1848-1916 Brother of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico (ruled 1864-1867)
- Charles I 1916-1918 last reigning Monarch of Austria
- Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen or sometimes called Otto von Österreich Crown Prince of Austria to be found as Otto von Habsburg
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