The End of the Habsburg Monarchy

Revolutions of 1848

February 23, 1848 - 1849

Revolutions of 1848

• In March of 1848, a month after the abolition of the Monarchy of France, revolutions swept the cities of Europe.

• In Habsburg Budapest, revolutionaries initially sought equality under the law and a degree of autonomy, but their quest for equality would transform into a war for full independence of Hungary from the Austrian Empire.

• However, this resistance was crushed by Austrian forces and Hungary was placed under martial law until 1867.

Austro-Prussian War

June 14, 1866 – July 22, 1866

• Seeing the Habsburg Empire as the prime competition for influence over the German states, Prussian leader Otto von Bismarck forced a war with Austria in 1866.

Austro-Prussian War

• In a little over a month, the Habsburgs suffered a crushing defeat, forcing them to lift martial law over Hungary and create the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in order to stabilize their Empire.

Assassination of Empress Elisabeth

September 10, 1898

Assassination

• In 1898, while Empress Sisi was visiting Geneva, Switzerland, Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni fatally stabbed her as she was walking from her hotel to board a ship with her lady-in-waiting.
• Lucheni, who was hoping to demonstrate his anarchist principles and become a martyr, was furious when he found out that the death penalty was abolished in Geneva.
• He was sentenced to life in prison and was found hanged in his cell on October 19, 1910.

The Mayerling Incident

January 30, 1889

The Mayerling Incident

• Unhappy with his marriage to Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, Prince Rudolf enacted a suicide pact with Mary Freiin von Vetsera, a 17-year-old baroness, at the Imperial hunting lodge of Mayerling.
• In a letter to her mother, Vetsara said she will be "happier in death than life." The death of Rudolf was not only a personal tragedy for his family, but also left an opening for the Habsburg throne.

Annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina

October 6, 1908

Annexation

• When the Ottoman Empire's hold on the Balkans began to weaken in the 19th century, the Austro-Hungarian Empire saw its chance to expand.
• In 1878, the Empire began an occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and formally annexed the region 30 years later.
• Largely seen as an overstep of power, this permanently damaged Austro-Serbian and Austro-Russian relations and led to the formation of a number of secret anti-Austrian revolutionary groups in the Balkans, both of which would directly contribute to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the start of the First World War.

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

June 28, 1914

Assassination

• Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, carried out the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
• he did it on behalf of the revolutionary youth group "Young Bosnia" with the goal of uniting the South Slavs into a single nation of Yugoslavia.
• A crisis ensued thereafter and ultimately the Kaiser declared war on Serbia, starting the domino reaction of alliances that would lead to World War I.

Early Life

• Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was a Czech politician and statesman who started the Czechoslovak independence movement and became the co-founder and first democratic president of the state of Czechoslovakia.

Early Life

• Born in 1850 in Moravia, Austro-Hungarian Empire, he received his Ph.D. from Vienna's University in 1876.
• Masaryk continued his education at Leipzig University, where he got to know his future wife, the American Charlotte Garrigue.
• He married her in the United States and took on her maiden name.
• In 1881, they settled in Prague, where he obtained a professorship at the city's University.

World War I

World War I

• At the outbreak of WWI, Masaryk went into exile and began campaigning abroad to establish Czechoslovakia's foundation.
• He would travel to many nations to win over politicians and journalists for the Czech cause and help the Allies' war effort.
• Together with other Czech and Slovak émigrés, he formed the Czechoslovak National Council and supported the Czechoslovak Legion - armed forces fighting for the Allies.

• By fall of 1918, the United States and other Allies recognized the National Council as a provisional government.
• Masaryk drafted the Czechoslovak declaration of independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which included freedom of religion, speech, the press, separation of church from the state, universal suffrage, and equal rights for women.

Birth of Czechoslovakia

• On October 28, 1918, as the fall of Austria-Hungary became imminent, people could no longer contain their enthusiasm - they gathered in the streets of Prague and hoisted red and white Bohemian flags in the air.
• Together with the Slovaks’ own Martin Declaration just two days later, this marked the creation of a free Czechoslovakia.

Birth of a Country

• By the end of the war, Masaryk was recognized by the Allies as the interim leader of the country and would go on to be elected as president three times.
• He would pass away in 1937 - the father of a nation.