Extended edition: Aftermath of a 1914 Victory for the German Empire (Part 1)

When Franz Joseph I died on 21 November 1916, his great-nephew, Charles I, became the ruler of the Dual Monarchy. Compared to Franz Joseph I, Charles I was a very different person and ruler. His great-uncle was very concerned about the rise of nationalism within the empire and took action to keep the Habsburg holdings together. 

One of the most significant changes to keep the empire together during Joseph’s reign was the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which effectively created what we would know as the Dual Monarchy. This preserved the Empire, although it granted greater autonomy to the Kingdom of Hungary. 

It included the following: 

• Austria and Hungary became two distinct and equal entities under the rule of Emperor Franz Joseph I, who would be both the Emperor of Austria and the King of Hungary. 

• Each entity would maintain its own parliament, government, and administration for internal affairs. 

• Foreign affairs, defense, and finance would be jointly managed by a common ministry overseen by representatives of both entities. 

• The economies would function separately but share a customs union and a common currency. Economic policy would be renegotiated every ten years. 

Charles I, who became the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary from 1916 to 1918.

Despite this compromise, national tensions continued, especially among other ethnic groups, including Czechs, Serbs, Croats, and Slovaks. Charles I recognized this and envisioned an alternative solution during his brief tenure as Emperor. Rather than keeping the empire together, he thought the Cisleithania, or the “Austrian” portion of the Dual Monarchy, would become a federated republic, with each ethnic group having equal representation in this new nation. 

While it was too little too late in our timeline if Germany had won the war early in 1914-1915, it’s possible this could’ve come to fruition with the passing of Franz Joseph in 1916. This plan is detailed in Charles I's famous People’s Manifesto, released on 16 October 1918. 

Here’s the manifesto in full.

The People's Manifesto

The Austrian Federation

My flag concept for a potential Austrian Federation nation.

So, what would an Austrian Federal State look like? Archduke Franz Ferdinand had also proposed a plan as well for the United States of Austria, but it’s unclear if Charles I would use some of those plans. Let’s assume he means only the Cislithenia portion of the empire. 

Here’s a potential map of this concept:

My map concept for a potential Austrian Federation with borders and labeled territories.

Given that Charles I did not detail what would happen to the territories of Transleithania, which included the territories of the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, the Kingdom of Croatia, the Kingdom of Slavonia, and the Free City of Fiume, those have been left out of this alternate scenario. But if I had to speculate, perhaps those territories would gain their independence unless some other nation or nations viewed this as an opportunity to take land. That could spark yet another regional war. 

Emperor Charles I in conversation with the leader of a German Totenkopf Hussars detachment in Tarnopol.

There are other permutations of this concept, such as this one on Reddit, which helped to formulate this version.  It would’ve been interesting to see if such a political entity could survive or if it would just be another compromise like the one of 1867, delaying another crisis in a region already rife with it as the age of empires started to slip out of the world and into the history books. 

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Sources

1. Austrian Philately. (n.d.). Appendix I: Manifesto. https://austrianphilately.com/rep-one/appendix1/manifesto.htm

2. Reddit user. (2023, September 11). Detailed linguistic map of Cisleithania within Austria-Hungary [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/16fct3d/detailed_linguistic_map_of_cisleithania_within/

3. Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Cisleithania. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisleithania

4. Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Austria-Hungary map [SVG image]. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisleithania#/media/File:Austria-Hungary_map.svg

Images

1. Emperor Charles I of Austria. (n.d.). File: Emperor Charles I of Austria [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emperor_Charles_I_of_Austria.jpg 

2. Emperor Charles I in conversation with the leader of a German Totenkopf Hussars detachment in Tarnopol. (n.d.). File: Emperor Charles I in conversation with the leader of a German Totenkopf Hussars detachment in Tarnopol [Image]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emperor_Charles_I_in_conversation_with_the_leader_of_a_German_Totenkopf_Hussars_detachment_in_Tarnopol.png 

3. Visit of Emperor Karl I to Czernowitz, 6 August 1917 (d). (n.d.). File: Visit of Emperor Karl I to Czernowitz, 6 August 1917 (d) [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Visit_of_Emperor_Karl_I_to_Czernowitz,_6._August_1917_(d).jpg