Austria-Hungarian autocracy

Austria-Hungary

• the Habsburg empire

• Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, part of Italy, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine

• dual monarchy

• same emperor Franz Josef

• Ausgleich after which A-H were ruled by the same emperor, before Hungary had been subordinate to the Austrian crown)

Augleich

German for agreement or compromise. the Augleich of 1867 was the result of Hungarian attempts to win independence from the Habsburg empire in 1848

Government in A-H

• same foreign policy and army

• shared a budget

• separate parliaments and ministers

• the Hungarians were proud of their political customs

• the Ausgleich imposed some limits on the emperor’s power, but he could still declare war, dismiss both parliaments and appoint ministers to the government

Austrian government

• minister-president

• owed position to emperor rather than parliament

• emperor was conservative so the minister-president could not entertain ideas of reform

• parliament had no real power to influence policymaking

• Franz Josef was determined to take as many governmental positions as possible, often taking several months to replace ministers who left office

Austria’s legislative body

• the imperial council

• divided into 2 houses, the house of lords (hereditary peers) house of deputies (425 elected representatives)

• bills had to be approved by both houses and the emperor to become law

Austrian franchise

• reforms in 1896 had extended the franchise by 5 million but it was in favour of the aristocracy

• only 6% of the population could vote

Hungarian parliament

• the Diet also had 2 houses, unelected House of Magnates, elected House of Representatives

Hungarian franchise

• indirect and complex process for electing the house of representatives

• based on property qualifications

• 6% of the population

• working class and minorities were under-represented