Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary. A dual monarchy, formed in 1867 as the result of an agreement between the Austrian government and Hungarian politicians. The Austrian Empire was reorganized in the form of two equal states on the basis of the so-called Realunion. Although the sovereign possessed two distinct titles (emperor of Austria and king of Hungary), the two states conducted a common foreign policy and maintained a joint army and economy (with a single currency and customs union). Each state had its own bicameral parliament. Austria-Hungary comprised the lands of the Austrian Empire (including the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and the crown land of Bukovyna, both partially settled by Ukrainians), the lands of the Kingdom of Hungary (there was a Ukrainian population in Transcarpathia), and the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina, annexed in 1908. Austria-Hungary had a joint territory of 676,100 sq km and a population of 51,390,000, including 4,180,000 Ukrainians and more than 400,000 Ukrainians of Roman Catholic faith and Ukrainians assimilated to the Slovak nationality.

Like the other minorities, the Ukrainians were dissatisfied with the Austro-Hungarian compromise and pressed for the reorganization of Austria-Hungary as a federation of nationalities. The defeat of Austria-Hungary in the First World War brought about its collapse. It was succeeded by the independent states of Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, while other territories of Austria-Hungary were annexed by Yugoslavia (the kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes), Italy, Romania, and Poland. In 1918–19 the Ukrainian territories of Austria-Hungary were consolidated to form the Western Ukrainian National Republic. After a brief period of independence it was occupied by Poland (Galicia), Romania (Bukovyna), and Czechoslovakia (Transcarpathia).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]