Hungary, Asset or Liability?

I’m starting to read up about the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its history since I know far too little about it and one of the things that struck me was what a complete pain in the arse Hungary could sometimes be for the Habsburgs. It was fairly underdeveloped, complicated things with the HRE by having a large part of their territories not within it and pulled their attention away from Germany.

So was the benefit they received from being King of Hungary worth all the hassle that it sometimes brought? Part of this is just general curiosity but the idea has got me considering doing a timeline where the Habsburgs gain the Kingdom of Croatia and Kingdom of Slavonia, which later becomes the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia as in our timeline, and the Kingdom of Dalmatia but not be elected Kings of Hungary so was wondering what a Hungary-less Austrian Empire might be like? Without Hungary I can't see them picking up Galicia or Bukovina, Hungary itself under another dynasty I would expect to see chomping at the bit to try and obtain a port. And depending on how relations with Russia play out the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia might decide to make a play for Transylvania if they got an excuse.
 
Huge source of soldiers and also of agricultural land. Then there's the prestige, and the strategic importance of the Hungarian Plain. I think that Hungary was a major aset throughout the Empire, even after the rise of Magyar nationalism.
 
Yeah the manpower they received from the area was the one main benefit I could think of that they got from Hungary, and up until fairly late massed conscript infantry was still fairly effective. The food and Hungarian Plain I'd completely overlooked.
 
Habsburgs did not get Croatia through getting the crown of saint Stephan.

Kingdom of Croatia & Dalmatia was in personal union with kingdom of Hungary since 1102. It remained its separate Sabor and a goverenor called Ban. In the begining Kings of Hungary-Croatia & Dalmatia had separate cowning cermonies in each half of the country. Slavonia stood as a land inbetween. Officially it was part of the Kingdom of Croatia & Dalmatia but was ruled by a Hungarian Herceg(crown prince) as well as a separate Slavonian Ban. This state of affairs continued untill 1476 when Slavonia was merged with Croatia into Croatian Banovina. In the period between 1102 and 1476 there were times when Bans of Slavonia were more powerful/influential than Bans of Croatia and held the upper hand but these period were short. Croatia lost Dalmatia when King Ladislav of Naples of Hungary-Croatia & Dalmatia sold his rights to Dalmatia for 100 000 gold ducats to Venice. When Ladislav II died at Mohacs the personal union between Hungary and Croatia was void and Croatia was free to elect a new king and on a meeting of Sabor in 1.1.1527 in Cetingrad elected Ferdinand as their new King.

The thing was that Slavonian nobles gathered in their own Sabor and elected János Szapolya who was allready elected King of Hungary by the Hungarian diet. Only a few decades later when Habsburg gained complete control over Hungary around 1570 was the Personal union between Hungary and Croatia re-established through the persona of a Habsburg king. Following the Ottoman conquest Slavonia would ciese to exist and what remained of her would be joined with Croatia. Slavonia would be resotred in 1745 as one of the land of the Crown of saint Stephan and it simuntaiously belonged to both Croatia and Hungary, while Croatia was part of the Hungarian crown(confusing yes?). More than a century later it would join Croatia properly forming the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia.

So it is quite possible to keep Hungary outside Habsburg borders while keeping Croatia inside. You just have to maintain Szapolya dinasty alive and not have them conquered by Ottomans.

edit@ without Hungary/Austria division Slavs in the eastern foothills of the Alps(todays Slovenians) would gravitate towards Croatia as their source of identification as opposition to Germany identity.
 
I'm not so sure about those parts of Slovenia, which were a part of a part of the HRE (this includes certain areas in Carinthia, Styria and Carniola). Obviously Croatian influence would be bigger, but those areas would still have some German influence too.
Besides the Habsburg became dukes of Styria in 1278/1282 and they gained Carinthia and Carniola in 1335, this is all before they succeeded in becoming king of Hungary and Croatia.

Regarding the original question, I agree with Saepe Fidelis and Simon, although nationalism did make things more complicated.
 
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