Historical Facts: Collapse of Austria-Hungary
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 ...