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I. Austria-Hungary: The Problem of the Nationalities
- a. At the beginning of the 1890s, Austria-Hungary stilled troubled by nationalities
- i. Granting of universal male suffrage in 1907 served only to exacerbate the problem when nationalities that played no role in the government now agitated in the parliament for autonomy
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Prime ministers
- 1. Led prime ministers after 1900 to ignore the parliament and rely increasingly on imperial emergency decrees to govern
- a. Parliament= bizarre forum with people at desks
- b. Threats nationalities posed to the position of the dominant German minority in Austria also produced a backlash in the form of virulent German nationalism
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Austria industrialized
- a. As Austria industrialized in the 1870s and 1880s, two working class parties came into existence, both influenced by nationalism
- i. Social Democrats (Marxist) supported the Austrian government and feared autonomy of nationalities saying they’d hinder industrial development and prevent improvements for workers
- ii. Christina Socilaists combined agitation for workers with virlent anti-Semitism
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Ruling Magyars
- a. While subjugating their nationalities, the ruling Maygars in Hungary developed movement for complete separation from Austria
- i. 1903: demanded that Hungarian army be separated from the imperial army, Emperor Francis Joseph responded quickly, threatening to impose universal male suffrage on Hungary, a move that would challenge Magyar domination of the minorities
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Hungarian leaders
- 1. Hungarian leaders fell into line, and the new Hungarian parliamentary leader, Count Istvan Tisza cooperated in maintain the Dual Monarchy
- a. Magyar rule in Hungary, he realized, was inextricably bound up with the Dual Monarchy; its death would only harm the rule of the Magyar landowning class
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