Habsburg Resurgence: The Federal Empire Rises.

[Grammar Kaiser]

Hello everyone! I've decided to start my TL! The POD is in 1903, The May overthrow fails to kill King Alexander I of Serbia. Stuff ensues. Here goes nothing!

Excerpt from London times, 1st June 1903:

SERBIA EMBROILED IN CIVIL WAR!
Austria-Hungary Prepares Intervention!
​

Ladies and Gentlemen; as you all know, a coup attempt in Serbia to remove Serbian King Alexander two days ago on the night of 29-30 May failed when the King escaped. He eventually found himself among people who don't think he should die and that the coup attempt has taught him a 'valuable lesson'.

The conspirators, not willing to just give up and inevitably be arrested for their crimes (they killed Queen Draga during the coup attempt), began to shoot at King Alexander's 'Supporters' late on the 30th. Quite literally overnight, Serbia has erupted into chaos and violence. It is already being refered to as a 'civil war'.

On one side are the Royalists, on the other is the so-called 'Black hand' movement. Meanwhile, it appears that Austria-Hungary is preparing to intervene (it is unknown who they will support, although they have had some issues with Alexander in the past), having started to move troops into position along the borders of Serbia. Time will tell if they intervene, and if they do, if they succeed.

-<>-​

Excerpt from a Decades of Tragedy, The Balkan Crisis: 1903-1933

The Serbian War.
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Many people today agree that the Balkan Crisis of the early 20th Century started with the Serbian Civil war of 1903. Had the Royal couple simply stayed inside like the previous night, they both would've died at the Conspiracy's hands. Had Nuamovic not been delayed by one day(for unknown reasons), it would have occurred the previous night.

As it was, the royal couple had randomly decided that that night was a good one for a late night stroll. Three of the Conspirators saw them walking with two guards and fired upon the group, hitting a guard, and killing Queen Draga.

According to the surviving guard the King, distraught over his wife's death, immediately charged the Conspirators. Despite being wounded, he managed to tackle one and wrestle his gun away. With the help of his guards the three conspirators were all killed. The second guard died of his wounds a few hours later.

Eventually Alexander and his guard found a part of the Military that hadn't betrayed him and they approached the National Assembly with weapons drawn. After a brief round of shouting, members of the Assembly were revealed to have been in on The Conspiracy. This resulted in King Alexander dissolving it, and calling for new a election once the Conspiracy was dealt with. It was believed mostly Loyalists would win, for obvious (autocratic) reasons.

The Members of the Conspiracy, now called the Black Hand, chose to fight. In the evening hours of May 30th they fired upon the Loyalists outside the National Assembly. Within hours the Serbian Civil war was in full swing, Loyalist and Black Hand aligned soldiers fighting each other across all of Serbia. Eight days later, Austria-Hungary would attempt to intervene, shoot a Black Hand member, and wind up on King Alexander's side. On June 19th 1903, the last Black Hand soldiers surrendered in southern Serbia, ending the war.

However, this was not the end of the tragedy that befell Serbia. On June 28th, a dissatisfied supporter of the Black Hand shot and Fatally wounded King Alexander I of Serbia. Before this, he had agreed to let Austria-Hungary pick his successor, as he did not wish to remarry. This resulted in Theodore Nikolic von Rudna being crowned King of Serbia. Unknown to anyone at the time, this was the start of the formation of the Federal Habsburg Empire.

 

[Grammar Kaiser]

Because I feel like it.

_______________________________________​

Excerpt from Boston Globe, July 4th 1903

Serbia has Civil War! Austria Ends it!
Von Rudna installed as King!
​

As I'm sure you know, Serbia has recently endured a brief civil war. A group of officers tried to kill the King of Serbia. They failed, but refused to give up and a brutal civil war ensued.

Austria, hungry as ever, seized the opportunity to increase her power in the region. Intervening for their own good, they blundered their way into supporting King Alexander. They then set about destroying all opposition forces. Within three weeks they had done their work.

After the war, the victors held a funeral for Draga. It was at this time disaster struck again. The Serbian King had stepped out to be alone for a minute, presumably to weep over Draga. Suddenly a young man appeared out of the shadows and shot him six times. Alexander reportedly grabbed ahold of his assassin by the forearms and thanked him before dying. The assassin disappeared after this, and still remains at large.

Immediately afterwards, the Austrians put Theodore Nikolic von Rudna on the throne. This was supposedly in keeping with the late King's wishes. In either case, the Austrians concluded a treaty of friendship with Serbia a few days later in an almost unnecessarily hasty manner.

The treaty insures that the two countries will come to each other's aid and that they will never war again. This is rather obviously an attempt by Austria to increase her influence in the region. Time will tell if this works out in their favor.

 

[Grammar Kaiser]

Well. Here's some international reaction that semi-promised.

Excerpt from The Inevitable: Politics in the lead up to WWI

Serbian War: Reaction
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While the Austrian and Serbian reaction to the war was relatively mixed, the reactions of the other great powers varied greatly:

Russia was absolutely livid. They had last two potential allies, Serbia had gone firmly into Austria-Hungary's camp. Bulgaria would stay neutral, and would probably wait to declare independence until the Great Powers were distracted.

This completely set the Russians back in the Balkan Peninsula. All the countries there were one of three things; Neutral, Allied to Austria-Hungary, or Austria-Hungary itself! Russia set about building a covert team to infiltrate the Balkan countries and do whatever was necessary to curb Austro-Hungarian expansion.


Nippon took advantage of Russia's distraction to plan something big...

Italy was less than impressed with the Austrian actions, but believed (to an extent) their claims that it was all just a 'happy accident'. They made plans for war on Austria-Hungary though, just in case.

France was somewhat annoyed. They made a few attempts at allying with Greece and Bulgaria, only to find that Austria-Hungary had begun beating them to the punch in the latter, having guaranteed it's support should Bulgaria declare independence. Greece opted to remain neutral.

Deutschland expressed positivity to the idea that an ally was asserting itself.

Britain was glad Russia had been effectively kicked out of the Balkans, but was mildly worried about Austria-Hungary's mild revitalization.

America was neutral on the matter. On one hand Austria-Hungary had effectively expanded into the Balkan Peninsula. On the other hand, they had stopped Russian expansion and secured an ally, possibly reducing the powderkeg potential of Balkan countries. But perhaps not...

 

[Grammar Kaiser]

I'll just edit in a bold message declaring this non-canon if this doesn't go over well (e.g. if I can't just edit it).

Excerpt from Le Petit Parisien, February 11, 1908. This translation, 2004 National Archives from material on loan from Habsburg Federal Archives.

EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEPH AND ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND ASSASSINATED!
FIELD MARSHAL HOETZENDORF SAYS ITALIANS ARE TO BLAME!
​

Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and his Nephew Archduke Franz Ferdinand were assassinated at a gathering of Balkan Leaders near Cetinje, Montenegro yesterday. Prince Nikola had called for the gathering to promote cooperation of the Balkan countries against Turkey. The center of attention up until then had been a heated discussion between King Theodore of Serbia and Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria over the Captains' War. The Emperor was standing and watching the two men talking at each other; The Archduke was discussing the prospects of a planned division of Bosnia-Herzegovina with Prince Nikola when suddenly a shot rang through the air and a bullet entered into his skull. Moments later, a second shot hit Franz Joseph. The old emperor died later in the evening after succumbing to his injury.

The reaction from Vienna has been quite astonishing. It seems that Field Marshal Franz Conrad von Hoetzendorf has convinced the government and military of Austria-Hungary that The Italians are to blame. While Italian officials denied this, it seems that the Austrians are already mobilizing near the Italian border. Incidents have been reported but there has been no declaration of war by either side. This morning, the Austrians issued an ultimatum to Italy demanding the government turn over those responsible and denounce their criminal actions. German Kaiser Wilhelm II is desperately trying to ease tensions between the two, but has stated that they will remain neutral in any conflict between their two allies.

Meanwhile it seems that the coronation of Archduke Karl is being rushed, with it being scheduled to occur on the 13th. He has announced his intention for a peaceful resolution and is confident that even if the assassins are found to be Italian that they are merely rogue actors. He stated that he trusts the Italian Government had no part in the crimes committed. Let us all hope von Hoetzendorf does nothing foolish in the meantime.

 

[Grammar Kaiser]

Sorry about the Short update. I have to go to work. If I need to edit something I'll have to do it later. I just want to kill this bout of writer's block once and for all.

Excerpt from Decades of Tragedy, 2011 Anniversary Special Edition

Improving relations​

After the Serbian War things in Europe were mostly quiet. The Russian government found itself having to rebuild its diplomatic influence in the region the hard way. In Austria-Hungary, Franz Joseph had ordered attempts to foster stable relations with all the Balkan states. To this end, starting in August of 1903, the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Agenor Maria Goluchowski visited the heads of each Balkan state. Italian and Russian officials took notice, and sent their own equivalents (Tommaso Tottoni and Vladimir Lamsdorf, respectively) for the same purpose (except in Serbia).

It was during Agenor’s travels that he met with the Kynaz of Bulgaria and discussed ways for Austria-Hungary to increase its involvement in the region without alarming Italy, Russia, and Turkey. Kynaz Ferdinand suggested an annual meeting of the Christian heads of state of the Balkan Peninsula (including Franz Joseph as Austria-Hungary had Croatia and controlled Bosnia-Herzegovina). If the meeting was set up by one of lesser Balkan powers, it might not set off any red flags (he was wrong in that regard). Over the rest of Agenor’s travels (Montenegro, Greece, and for good measure Romania), he set about inviting other heads of states while Ferdinand organized the meeting.

The First Annual Balkan Cooperation Meeting was set for October 18th 1903. The King of Italy and Czar of Russia were invited so as to avoid problems from them. Invitations were also extended to important members of these countries’ governments (such as Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti of Italy). The meeting allowed members of each country's government to communicate and perhaps solve issues they had with each other. Not everyone showed up to the first meeting however, and Kaiser Franz Joseph, King Theodore, Kynaz Ferdinand were the only heads of state there. Foreign Minister Tommaso Tittoni of Italy did show up, however, and each of the other countries sent at least a representative to the meeting. Except Russia, who were dealing with their own problems further east...

This first meeting would mark the beginning of a gradual shift in the Balkan balance of power toward Austria-Hungary, though no one knew it at the time. Also unknown were plans by a madman that would come to fruition four years later...