This is going to be my last guest entry in the monarchy chapter, and possibly the last entry in said chapter.
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United Kingdoms of Austria-Hungary-Slavonia
What is the United Kingdoms of Austria, Hungary, and Slavonia? Is it the modern incarnation of the Holy Roman Empire? Is it a military and political alliance between three independent states? Is it a free trade zone between the same? Is it a federation? Is it democratic or autocratic? Is it any combination of these things?
To answer this question, I visit the Imperial capital of Vienna. This ancient city is beautiful; the Habsburgs are famous for their patronage of the arts, and the architecture of Vienna is testament to this. The beauty of the city does not befit the stereotype of Viennese being grouchy and cynical, but as I find out more about the political situation in the United Kingdoms, I come to understand this stereotype and sympathize with it.
I meet Ms. Abigail Kohler at the Café Landtmann. Vienna is famous for its traditional cafes, so I asked that Ms. Kohler meet me here, where Sigmund Freud once drank. Ms. Kohler is now retired, but she had an impressive political career. She was a Member of the Austrian Parliament, and afterward elected to the Imperial Parliament as one of Vienna’s representatives, for the Austrian Unity Party.
To begin, I ask her what the United Kingdoms are. This was a mistake. She laughs at my question.
“I don’t think I can answer that.”
I ask her how it is possible to become such an accomplished politician without understanding the mechanics of the United Kingdoms. I immediately apologized for the slight, but Ms. Kohler chuckled some more, saying that no offense was taken.
“You don’t understand yet, but when you asked me what the United Kingdoms is, you asked me a dozen different questions.”
Ms. Kohler gives me the basics, by the numbers. The United Kingdoms has one monarch, three prime ministers, four official languages, ten additional unofficial languages, one Imperial Council appointed by the monarch, one Imperial Parliament elected by the people, three national governments, each with their own parliaments, and three separate armies under one Imperial command structure.
Ms. Kohler gives me a brief primer on the history of the United Kingdoms. The United Kingdoms of Austria, Hungary and Slavonia, sometimes known as the Empire of Austria-Hungary-Slavonia, was formed from the Habsburg Empire. The Habsburg family originated in Switzerland, and took control of modern Austria in 1279. The Habsburgs quickly grew to prominence in Central Europe, often through intermarriage with other European houses. During its zenith, the Habsburg family under Charles V ruled both the Holy Roman Empire and the Spanish Empire, which at the time had control over much of the New World. By the 19th century, the Habsburg Empire was greatly reduced in power, particularly after the loss of several wars against Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1867, the
Ausgleich established the dual monarchy, dividing the Habsburg Empire into two semi-sovereign states: the Empire of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Habsburg Emperor, Franz Joseph I, was both the Emperor of Austria and the King of Hungary.
Franz II was the emperor who formed the modern United Kingdoms. In November of 1916, Emperor Franz Joseph died, and Franz II inherited the Habsburg throne. Franz II was a reformer, and believed that his empire could not survive in its current state. To reform the Empire, Franz II made two extremely controversial moves: he split off the Croatian territories as a separate monarchy, the Kingdom of Slavonia, and he granted universal male suffrage to the Hungarian Diet. Both acts weakened the Hungarian nobility considerably, sparking a civil war. The Austrian Civil War (1916-1920) would almost provoke a Europe-wide war, as both the German and Italian empires intervened on behalf of Franz II, and the Russians almost supported the Hungarians and the Slavic independence movements. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and when the Great War began in 1924, the Austrians did not participate.
After the war, Franz II was free to enact more reforms by virtue of victory. Rather than solidifying Imperial rule, he instead adopted a more decentralized model. The Habsburg Empire’s lands were divided into three independent kingdoms: Austria, Hungary and Slavonia. The Imperial monarchy was retained by all three nations, as was united defense and foreign policy, but almost all affairs were devolved to national governments. Each independent kingdom was divided into several states, which all send representatives to both an Imperial Parliament and a national parliament.
I ask Ms. Kohler how she could be the representative of Vienna, if representatives to parliament are designated by state. She tells me that Vienna is separate from the rest of Austria. Every language of the Habsburg realm is spoken here. It is its own state within the Kingdom of Austria, and politically one of the few regions in Austria who support the continuation of the United Kingdoms. In the last election, many of the rural areas voted for the Pan-German Front, a collection of political parties with the ultimate goal of uniting with the German Empire. The Unionist parties only get votes from the urban areas, which are more multicultural and benefit from the increased revenue from the rest of the United Kingdoms.
“The Pan-Germans have gobbled up almost the entire pro-independence movement,” Ms. Kohler tells me. “The old Independence Front has been sidelined completely. I suspect that the German government is directly involved, somehow.”
I tell Ms. Kohler that this is all very confusing, and she tells me it gets worse.
“And then there are the Czechs, who want to form their own state, and take the Sudetenland from Austria. Naturally, the Pan-Germans oppose them. Some of the Slovaks want independence from Hungary, and union with an independent Czech state, while others want an independent Slovakia. The Galician Poles want to unite with Poland, but the Galician Communist Party wants to join the Soviet Union. At least, the pro-Moscow faction does.” This goes on for a while.
With all of these competing political parties, I ask how anything gets done on the Imperial level.
“The Emperor decides everything. He is the ultimate winner in all of this.”
Ms. Kohler explains further. The Emperor of the United Kingdoms, King of Austria, Hungary, and Slavonia, has little official power. His only powers are the power to appoint members of the Imperial Council – which only have powers delegated to them by the Imperial Parliament – and the power to break deadlocks in the Imperial Parliament. Theoretically, this gave the Emperor little actual power. However, the Imperial Parliament has not agreed on anything since its foundation.
I ask Ms. Kohler if this was Franz II’s plan all along. She smiles.
“That is exactly how Franz II envisioned the Imperial Parliament. He knew that his subjects could never agree on anything. By establishing himself as a neutral arbiter, he gives up none of his actual power.”
I ask about the role the Emperor plays in the three kingdoms.
“The national governments decide almost everything,” she explains. “Healthcare, criminal law, everything. The Imperial government only decides issues of defense, international and interstate trade, foreign policy and border policy. As king, the Emperor has little power here. Everything is decided by the Austrian Parliament, or the Hungarian Diet, or the Slavonian National Assembly.”
The degree of power the national governments have surprised me, so I asked Ms. Kohler if her move from the Austrian Parliament to the Imperial Parliament was a “promotion.”
“Both the national and imperial governments are important,” she tells me. “Even though the United Kingdoms is a government of limited powers, those powers shape our lives as much as the national governments. I moved to the Imperial Parliament because I became more interested in foreign policy.” She chuckles. “And the pay was much better.”
I ask if Ms. Kohler managed to accomplish anything in the Imperial Parliament, given the deadlock. She shakes her head.
“One time, we managed to pass funding for the eightieth anniversary of the civil war. That was it. The rest of the time was just bickering. It took the Emperor’s intervention just to get the Hungarians to install Romanian-language signs on their portions of the Autobahn.”
I ask Ms. Kohler about the Hungarians, which I could tell from her tone she had no love for. She explains to me that the Hungarians want to rid themselves of the United Kingdoms and the Habsburgs entirely. Its political parties are all united in their desire for total independence, and their disagreement is in the method. The ruling Christian Democrats and the opposition Social Democrats both want to negotiate gradual separation with the Habsburg throne, while the radical left and right both want an immediate abolition of the monarchy. The other fear is that instability will cause the non-Hungarian portions of the Kingdom of Hungary to break off.
Given the divisions, I ask what keeps the United Kingdoms together.
“The independence movements are too fractured and always fight each other,” Ms. Kohler told me. “And everyone is afraid of our neighbors The United Kingdoms has no friends, and many enemies.”
The United Kingdoms is officially neutral, separate from the major power blocs in Europe. However, it has poor relations with both the Soviet Union and the Nationalist-governed German Empire. Both states have expressed an interest in territory currently held by the United Kingdoms. Fortunately, Ms. Kohler tells me that the Poles and French will certainly go to war on behalf of the United Kingdoms.
I ask her if she believes that the independence movements will ever succeed. She shakes her head.
“The nationalists have been in control of the Hungarian Diet for decades, and they can do nothing,” she tells me with a smile.
I finally ask Ms. Kohler what she thinks of the future of the United Kingdoms.
“I love the United Kingdoms. I believe, from the bottom of my heart, that it is the best model for Austria and the other kingdoms. But it is a very complex system. After nearly a decade in politics, I can see why the independence movements have traction. It depends on the Emperor. Franz IV is not interested in entertaining any of them. Who knows about his son?”
I shake Ms. Kohler’s hand and thank her for her time. Before leaving, I admit to her that I am no closer to answering my question. In fact, I am more confused.
“Don’t worry, that’s only natural,” she reassures me. “There are only two kinds of people who say they understand the United Kingdoms: fools, and liars.”
