Figure 1.-- |
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From the Austro-Hungarian Empire's creation, the central issue of the state was how to deal with the national aspirations of the many national/ethnic groups within the Empire. The different groups were of varying importance and were at different statages of national development. The Hungarians were central and had a higly develooed national concept. Thus they were given a special status within the Empire and were the other part of the dual monarchy. Other groups were not as important or did not have the same national conciousness. The Slovaks and Ruthenians did not have a a hightly developed natioinal ethos. Of all the groups within the Empire, the group most committed to the Empire, other than the Austrians, were the Jews, in part they feared what might transpire if nation states rose from the different groups making up the Empire. Imperial officials debated endlessly as to how to deal with the nationality problem which became increasingly severe with the arrival of the 20th century. Some Imperial officiald by this time had accepted the inevitability of nationalism. The question was how to deal with it. This was the problem that Archduke Franz Ferdinand in particular wrestled with. His assasination ended efforts to deal with the problem. One of the little known efforts was a dynastic one. The idea was to promote Hapburgs royals in different pats of the Empire, men who would learn the local language and culture and attract the loyalty of the local population.
From the Austro-Hungarian Empire's creation, the central issue of the state was how to deal with the national aspirations of the many national/ethnic groups within the Empire. The different groups were of varying importance and were at different statages of national development. The Hungarians were central and had a higly develooed national concept. Thus they were given a special status within the Empire and were the other part of the dual monarchy. Other groups were not as important or did not have the same national conciousness. The Slovaks and Ruthenians (Ukranians) did not have a a hightly developed natioinal ethos. Of all the groups within the Empire, the group most committed to the Empire, other than the Austrians, were the Jews, in part they feared what might transpire if nation states rose from the different groups making up the Empire.
Imperial officials debated endlessly as to how to deal with the nationality problem which became increasingly severe with the arrival of the 20th century. Some Imperial officiald by this time had accepted the inevitability of nationalism. The question was how to deal with it. This was the problem that Archduke Franz Ferdinand in particular wrestled with. His assasination ended efforts to deal with the problem.
Prince Stefan who had a sucessful naval career with Empeeror Franz Joseph's approval essentially "became Polish". Austria had participated in the Polish Partitions and had annexed amall part of Poland to The Empire. The most important part was Galicia. Prince Stefan sought to become prince of the Polish provinces of the Empire. The Poles were along with the Hungarians the most ethnically aware national group. Stefan saw this as he worked to learn Polish and emersehimself in Polish culture. His vision was a post-imperial system of ethnic states with varying degrees of autonomy, rather like the British Commonwealth. He thought that nationlistic passions could be tempered with a higher loyalty to the Hapsburg minarchy. This concept founderec on the disolution of the Empire at the end of World war I (1918). [snyder]
The Hapburgs named their notheastern province Ruthenia. The peoples were ethnic Ukranians, but the Hapsburgs wanted to discourage nationalist sentiments that might lead to the Ruthenians seeking to join with the Ukranians under Russian control. PRince Stefan's son Prince Wihelm's attempted to pursue his fathers appropach in Ruthenia. Within the Empire the Polish and Ruthenian populations were mixed. Just as his father was the Polish Hapsburg, Wilhem attempted to becomne the Ruthenian Hapsburg. He learned Ukranian and commanded Ruthenian troops in World war I. While his father's dreamed ended woth the disolution of the Empire, Wilhem's did not. Ukranians, especially in the western Ukraine, saw the Ruissian Revolution as the opportunity to claim their independence from Rusia. The Germans in the Treaty of Brest Litovsk sought to establish a Ukranian client state. Defeat on the Western Front, however, forced the Germans to rebounce the Treaty. This meant that the future of the Ukraine was open. Prince Wilhelm led a faction of Ukranian nationalists, but was defeated by the Bolsheviks and their Ukranian allies. He became a White Russiam emogre, spending some tome in Paris. World war II provided another opportunity. He made common cause with the Germans and Barbarossa permitted him to return to the Ukraine onece again. He soon saw that the Germans had no desire for an independent Ukraine and he was repulsed by NAZI brutality. He managed to switch to the Soviet side. But of course the Soviets had no more desire for Ukranian independence than the NAZIs. After the War his position was intolerable. He was killed by the NKVD although the exact circumstance are cinfuzed. [Snyder]
SnyderTimothy. The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Hapsburg Archduke.
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