At the end of 1867 the first parliamentary ministry was formed. The Concordat was set aside. Education was freed from the control of the Church. Marriage was placed under the jurisdiction of the civil power. The press laws were relaxed. Finally, the Prussian system of military organization was introduced.
In the foreign affairs of Austria the chief aim was to arrive at a satisfactory understanding with Germany and Russia. After 1871 Bismarck arranged as between Germany, Austria and Russia a “Three Emperors’ Alliance,” which after the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 was superseded by an alliance between Germany and Austria. This, by the inclusion of Italy, in 1882, became the Triple Alliance, which remained in full force down to the great European war of 1914.
During the Turkish revolution of 1908 Austria-Hungary annexed the Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which the Treaty of Berlin had placed under Austro-Hungarian administration and military occupation in 1878.
Racial Difficulties Bearing Upon the European War, 1914-1917.—The multiplicity of races and their mutual jealousies rendered the task of the central government in Austria-Hungary both delicate and difficult. (See [Peoples and Races].) Russia, as a Slav nation and a great power, had long exercised a predominant influence in the Balkans. Acting under this influence, Servia secretly fostered aspirations in the direction of a Pan-Slavic [537] propaganda with the apparent object of not only lessening Austrian influence in the Balkans but of breaking up, through internal defections, the Austrian Empire; from the accomplishment of this Servia hoped to profit.
The Slavs are closely allied with Russia. The spread of Pan-Slavism constituted a menace to the very existence of the Dual Monarchy. The growth of German and Russian aspirations directed at expansion through the Balkan States had, therefore, a direct connection with the racial element of which Pan-Slavism was but one manifestation. As an evidence of the spread of the doctrine of “Pan-Slavic Unity” and of the bitterness of the racial antipathy which it engendered, the Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated on June 28, 1914, at Sarajevo, the capital of the Austrian province of Bosnia. This act led directly to a declaration of war against Servia on July 28th, followed by an Austrian invasion on July 30th. (Further causes and details of the war will be found under the [European War].)
SOVEREIGNS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.
The following is a list of the Hapsburg rulers of Austria (Dukes and, from 1453, Archdukes of Austria, from 1526, also Kings of Hungary and Bohemia, from 1804 Emperors of Austria).
| HOUSE OF HAPSBURG | ||
| Albert I. | 1282 | |
| * | Rudolf II. | 1282 |
| * | Rudolf III. | 1293 |
| Frederick (III. as rival Imperial claimant) | 1307 | |
| * | Leopold I. | 1314 |
| * | Albert II. | 1314 |
| * | Rudolf IV. | 1358 |
| * | Albert III. | 1365 |
| * | Albert IV. | 1395 |
| Albert V. (II. as Emperor, King of Hungary and Bohemia) | 1404 | |
| * | Ladislaus (King of Hungary and Bohemia) | 1439 |
| Fredrick V. (III. as Emperor) | 1457 | |
| Maximilian I. | 1493 | |
| Charles I. (V. as Emperor) | 1519 | |
| Ferdinand I. | 1520 | |
| Maximilian II. | 1564 | |
| Rudolf V. (II. as Emperor) | 1576 | |
| Matthias | 1611 | |
| Ferdinand II. | 1619 | |
| Ferdinand III. | 1637 | |
| Leopold I. | 1658 | |
| Joseph I. | 1705 | |
| Charles II. (VI. as Emperor, III. of Hungary) | 1711 | |
| * | Maria Theresa. | 1740 |
| HOUSE OF HAPSBURG-LORRAINE | ||
| Joseph II. | 1780 | |
| Leopold II. | 1790 | |
| Francis I. (II. as Emperor) | 1792 | |
| * | Ferdinand I. (V. of Hungary) | 1835 |
| * | Francis Joseph I. | 1848 |
| Charles Francis Joseph | 1916 | |
| * All except those marked with an asterisk likewise filled the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. | ||
THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
Russia extends over eastern Europe, the whole of northern Asia, and a part of central Asia. This area, which is more than twice as large as Europe, and embraces one-sixth of the land-surface of the globe, has a population estimated at near one hundred and seventy-four millions. The Russian Empire consists of two well-defined parts: European Russia less than one-fourth of the whole but including nearly three-fourths of its population; and Asiatic Russia. The inhabitants of European Russia mostly belong to the Slavic branch of the human race.