United States of Enotita

     Okay. I think I gave you the end before the beginning, because this is about the rise of Austria-Hungary. If you didn't read the last article , that's on the fall of Austria-Hungary. But, I didn't know I would post on this. So, let's go!     Let's look at Austria in 1867. The previous year, they lost a war to Prussia and Italy. After Prussia defeated Austria, the other German states dependent on Austria had an uncertain future. (This would be resolved after the Franco-Prussian War.) But Austria also had an uncertain future. After losing wars, you would generally have a bad economy. Austria was no exception. And Austria already had many ethnicities in their empire. As I said in the last article, Austria had many minorities. In fact, I'll list just some of the most significant minorities in the Austrian Empire: Czechs Slovaks Poles Ukrainians Romanians Hungarians Serbs Croats Slovenes Italians     If this doesn't sound too complicated to you, think ...

     Look at Austria. It's a small, landlocked country not in any major alliance. That's because Austria, like Switzerland, is a neutral country. But it wasn't always like this. Austria used to be a great power. At one time, Austria had an empire so big that it was hard to contain the many ethnicities. (Several peoples, including Hungarians, Romanians, and Serbs lived in the Austrian Empire.) So in 1867, they gave some autonomy to the Hungarians. This created Austria-Hungary. However, in World War I, the Empire joined the Central Powers. As we know, they lost. This ended Austria-Hungary. Both lost significant territory, even majority German and Hungarian lands. Let's check it today on Historical Facts.  Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye (Austria/Cisleithania)     This first treaty was for the Austrian (Cisleithanian) part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. (Cisleithania refers to the Austrian part of the empire.) After the war, Austria needed to rebuild. So the ...

     Alright. I know I said that my next post will be on my Visita Iglesia. But don't worry. It's coming soon! Just a few more days.      Anyway, Poland has such a history of being partitioned and annexed. Yet it kept fighting back. Still, they have such a tough history. They only truly gained independence in 1990, a mere 34 years ago. But why is it like this? Why did Poland have to suffer so much? Find out today on Historical Facts.  The First Partition (1772)      From the beginning of the 18th century to the end of World War I, the Russians and Austrians were big rivals. In 1772, it seemed almost inevitable that Russia and Austria would go to war. But to prevent this, Prussia had an idea. They decided to partition Poland among themselves. This marked the beginning of Poland's partitions. Poland was still a large empire in union with Lithuania, known as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but this was the beginning of the end for the e...