Could Austria-Hungary have survived a loss in ww1?

Title really. How could the entente be convinced that Austria-Hungary should not be dismantled post-ww1, more importantly how could AH avoid collapsing internally in a ww1 loss?

It doesn't need to have pre-war borders, but it should atleast include modern day Austria and Hungary, and preferably Czechia.
 
Nope, all his enemies wanted it dead, the whole war was the eternal conflict in the balkans and other vultures in the regions. Defeat=DEAD as victory means new life as they now can keep the magyar on line
 
Yes, if it was quick enough

A loss to Russia or a loss to Italy would not break up the empire completely, though it would sow a lot of later tensions

A loss to a general defeat led over time to gathering momentum for the Yugoslavs [sic] and Czechs
 
Yes, if it was quick enough

A loss to Russia or a loss to Italy would not break up the empire completely, though it would sow a lot of later tensions

A loss to a general defeat led over time to gathering momentum for the Yugoslavs [sic] and Czechs
Yep. There was exactly one Company of Czech volunteers in France in October 1914 and app 4 in Russia. Compare it with 80000 men in Russia. Corps in Italy and some 12000 in France (many were however Czech and Slovak volunteers from US and maybe Canada) in 1918.
 
Title really. How could the entente be convinced that Austria-Hungary should not be dismantled post-ww1, more importantly how could AH avoid collapsing internally in a ww1 loss?

It doesn't need to have pre-war borders, but it should atleast include modern day Austria and Hungary, and preferably Czechia.
Its a common misconception that the Entente wanted to dismantle the Austro-Hungarian Empire. None of the Entente proposed, let alone called for, the dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914, nor 1915, nor 1916 and it was only after the publishing of Wilson's 14 Points, and its self-determination clause, and Austria-Hungary's fate had become bound up with that of Germany in 1917 that the Entente (or rather the Allies by this time) planned the dismantling of the empire.

There are several reasons for this, firstly that before then the Entente powers only had interest in shaving off territories for themselves from the empire. For instance, Italy was promised the Italian populated territories of Austria-Hungary, Russia wished only for Galicia-Lodomeria and Romania was promised Transylvania. Secondly, Czech and Polish intellectuals who were in exile in Britain and the USA saw WWI as an opportunity to push for independent and devoted considerable effort to trying to persuade the government of the USA and UK to support independence for their nations and it was only later in the war, as opposition to the Habsburgs intensified in the later stages of the war amidst increasing starvation and war-weariness that the UK and USA governments (especially the former) were convinced that the dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the creation of independent states from its ruins was a viable possibility. Thirdly, and finally, the internal collapse was only heralded by the war dragging on with little in the way of real results (until Brest-Litovsk at least) and also starvation on the home front, if the war had ended quickly then the home front situation would not have become so disastrous and there would have been no internal collapse.

So to conclude, yes Austria-Hungary could have survived a loss in WWI. If the loss had come quickly, before internal collapse and before the Entente demanded the dissolution of the empire, then it could have survived, albeit in a reduced state (how reduced depends on how quick or otherwise the loss is).
 

BigBlueBox

Banned
Its a common misconception that the Entente wanted to dismantle the Austro-Hungarian Empire. None of the Entente proposed, let alone called for, the dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914, nor 1915, nor 1916 and it was only after the publishing of Wilson's 14 Points, and its self-determination clause, and Austria-Hungary's fate had become bound up with that of Germany in 1917 that the Entente (or rather the Allies by this time) planned the dismantling of the empire.

There are several reasons for this, firstly that before then the Entente powers only had interest in shaving off territories for themselves from the empire. For instance, Italy was promised the Italian populated territories of Austria-Hungary, Russia wished only for Galicia-Lodomeria and Romania was promised Transylvania. Secondly, Czech and Polish intellectuals who were in exile in Britain and the USA saw WWI as an opportunity to push for independent and devoted considerable effort to trying to persuade the government of the USA and UK to support independence for their nations and it was only later in the war, as opposition to the Habsburgs intensified in the later stages of the war amidst increasing starvation and war-weariness that the UK and USA governments (especially the former) were convinced that the dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the creation of independent states from its ruins was a viable possibility. Thirdly, and finally, the internal collapse was only heralded by the war dragging on with little in the way of real results (until Brest-Litovsk at least) and also starvation on the home front, if the war had ended quickly then the home front situation would not have become so disastrous and there would have been no internal collapse.

So to conclude, yes Austria-Hungary could have survived a loss in WWI. If the loss had come quickly, before internal collapse and before the Entente demanded the dissolution of the empire, then it could have survived, albeit in a reduced state (how reduced depends on how quick or otherwise the loss is).
Even if Wilson never came up with the 14 points and the Entente never made it a specific goal to dismantle the Habsburg state, it would still collapse if everything else went the same way as OTL. The Czechs and South Slavs declared independence during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the other other ethnic groups didn't take long to follow them. Austria-Hungary was dead long before the Treaties of Saint-Germain and Trianon. The latest PoD that could save Austria-Hungary would be a successful Sixtus Affair, resulting in either a general peace or a successful separate peace.
 
Title really. How could the entente be convinced that Austria-Hungary should not be dismantled post-ww1, more importantly how could AH avoid collapsing internally in a ww1 loss?

It doesn't need to have pre-war borders, but it should atleast include modern day Austria and Hungary, and preferably Czechia.
Have Austria perform well.* The military impotence and degree of German control over the Monarchy after 1916 really shook a lot of people's faith. Additionally, IIRC, a lot of the separatist legions were recruited from POW camps, and said camps would be much less full of candidates if disasters like the Battle of Galicia and the Brusilov Offensive were avoided.

Keep people more confident in the Empire's ability to protect them than in their ability to go it alone, and the Monarchy could probably survive with minimal border adjustments via referendums.

*although then you start running in "inevitable" Central powers victory
 
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Even if Wilson never came up with the 14 points and the Entente never made it a specific goal to dismantle the Habsburg state, it would still collapse if everything else went the same way as OTL. The Czechs and South Slavs declared independence during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the other other ethnic groups didn't take long to follow them. Austria-Hungary was dead long before the Treaties of Saint-Germain and Trianon. The latest PoD that could save Austria-Hungary would be a successful Sixtus Affair, resulting in either a general peace or a successful separate peace.
Note that I said an early/quick defeat. I acknowledge that if you simply removed the 14 points and everything else went as OTL then the Empire wouldn't have collapsed, but that isn't what I said.
 
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