Chapter 78 Austro-Hungarian Empire

May 29, 1867.

Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and Dyack finally reached a consensus and signed the "Austro-Hungarian Compromise" on May 29, 1867, restoring the Hungarian Parliament.

Starting today, the Austrian Empire has completely come to an end, and the center of power of the Austrian Empire has been divided into two.

Domestic citizens can only choose between Austrian and Hungarian nationalities, and cannot have a passport from the Austrian Empire and a passport from the Kingdom of Hungary at the same time.

The basis for maintaining the existence of this country is the Habsburg emperor, who serves as the king of both countries at the same time. This shows how absurd and fragile the Austro-Hungarian Empire's political system was.

From now on, all decisions in the Austro-Hungarian Empire must be negotiated by the Austrian and Hungarian governments. This is the beginning of serious administrative internal friction.

Naturally, no ceremony was held in the current Austro-Hungarian Empire, and everything was completed in a quiet agreement between the nobles of the two countries.

Ernst came to the Austro-Hungarian Empire again, and this time he was forced to start business. After all, it was a matter of emigration from Europe, and nothing could be done carelessly.

The new Hungarian government was about to part ways with the Austrian government, and Ernst's dealings changed from the Austrian government to the Hungarian government.

Now that Hungary has autonomy, Ernst wants to test whether the new government will cause trouble for his actions.

After several days of contact, Ernst found that the new Austro-Hungarian Empire was easier to deal with than the Austrian Empire.

As an authentic Prussian, the Hungarian government treated Ernst with great courtesy when it came to immigration issues.

This group of people had no objections and even hoped to cooperate with Ernst.

It's no wonder that the Hungarian nobles' independence is essentially for profit. If Austria is really driven out, there will be no place to cry.

After all, without Austria, Hungary alone is not a dish on the plate of Tsarist Russia. Although the current Tsarist Russia has experienced a failure in the Crimean War.

But for Europe, especially countries in Central and Eastern Europe, it is still a behemoth.

And they were always thinking about further expansion to the west. This was the basis for Britain and France to allow the Austro-Hungarian Empire to continue to exist.

The reason why Hungary is afraid of the Russians is because of the large Slavic population in its territory.

Among the many ethnic groups in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Yugoslavs were not only extremely numerous, but also at the bottom of society, especially the Serbs.

Serbs are widely distributed in Hungary. Even if all the Germans and Hungarians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire are added together, they do not constitute the main ethnic group.

Therefore, the test of the new Austro-Hungarian Empire was extremely severe. Austria and Hungary compromised, and the ambitions of those nations with large populations naturally increased.

This is not only directed at Austria, but also at Hungary, which is also an area hardest hit by national separatism.

This was the basis of cooperation between Ernst and the Hungarian nobility, to reduce the population of other ethnic groups in Hungary as much as possible.

The Hungarian nobility allowed Ernst to continue exporting any non-Magyar population from Hungary to the East African colonies.

This made Ernst's immigration work in the Austro-Hungarian Empire smoother. From the Austrian side, Ernst could emigrate on a large scale to Slovenia, Croatia, Galicia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other places.

In Hungary, Ernst could devour other ethnic groups unscrupulously.

This is different from Ernst's original belief that after the establishment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as the situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire stabilized, the authorities might curb population loss.

The top leaders of the Austrian and Hungarian governments are not fools, especially the Hungarian government. They themselves made their fortunes by relying on nationalism. Wouldn’t others do the same? So it’s better to take precautions before they happen.

But now Ernst has to convince Franz to prevent him from holding Hungary back.

This has to be said. In order to check and balance Hungary, one of the methods Franz adopted was to bribe the bottom people in Hungary.

Franz asked the Hungarian government to guarantee the rights of non-Hungarian nobles, that is, other nationalities except the Magyars.

Now Ernst can't let Franz do what he did in history. If the Hungarians don't harm the people below, how can Ernst have the opportunity to poach the Austro-Hungarian Empire?

…

Schönbrunn Palace.

"Ernst, you are so diligent. You run to Austria every two days. What do you want to do this time?" Franz said to Ernst.

Ernst did not show any timidity and said, "Your Majesty, to me Austria is like my own home. Of course I will come here often."

"You kid, what do you think of Austria?" Franz, who had always been rigid and steady, felt a little funny when he heard Ernst's shameless words.

This guy has always been unwilling to give up early, and he said this, which means that he was blind and agreed to his mother's marriage to Karina.

Thinking this way, Franz actually recognized Ernst. Just as the British were so cunning and insidious in diplomacy, Franz had to admit that the British could always be on the winning side.

Although Franz himself is rigid and conservative in his behavior, it does not prevent him from admiring those who are smooth and eclectic. Otherwise, he would not have been attracted by Princess Sissi's free and romantic character.

"There are no outsiders here, tell me! What tricks do you want to play this time?" Franz said to Ernst.

Ernst was not polite and said directly: "Your Majesty, now that Hungary has achieved equal status to Austria, I wonder how your Majesty plans to deal with other ethnic groups in Hungary?"

When he mentioned Hungary, Franz immediately felt bad. He said: "All ethnic groups in Hungary are my subjects, and of course I must treat them equally."

Ernst immediately spoke: "I hope your Majesty will think twice before making any substantive promises to the Hungarian people at the bottom."

"Ernst, what do you mean?" Franz asked.

Ernst replied: "Your Majesty, it is understandable that you love your own people, but the Austria now is not the Austrian Empire it once was! I think you are angry that Hungary split up the power of the empire, but anger often makes people lose their minds."

"For example, you are the emperor of the entire empire, but the people who maintain you and the entire empire are actually the nobles and officials under you. Now that Hungary has become independent and has established a separate government, you can't act according to your will. In the past, you As long as you are in charge of Austria's affairs, you can command the entire empire. Now you have to face two governments, so you must be cautious."

"Hungary has certainly weakened the power of the central government, but now that the deal is done, it cannot add fuel to the fire. After all, Hungary still belongs to the Habsburgs. Instead of causing trouble for the Hungarians, it is better to let Hungary cause trouble for itself."

"If you end up in person, the Hungarian nobles will definitely think that you are biased, and they will make more trouble. In fact, the local nobles will always have an advantage over the central government in public opinion. As long as the Hungarians cheat and lie, they will make people faint. The frustrated people are pointing their fingers at the central government’s decision-making..."

All in all, what Ernst means is, Franz, you can't take the initiative to safeguard the interests of other ethnic groups in Hungary. You just need to express your concern. Taking the initiative to speak against the Hungarian nobles can easily cause trouble.