Knowing very little of Hungarian history I'm looking for when is the latest reasonable time (I'm trying to introduce as few butterflies as possible) that you can split off Hungary from the Austrian Empire to become an independent country, possibly taking the provinces of Galicia and Bukovina as well. The best I can see so far is the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, either Austria does something that really annoys Russia so that they don't send their troops to help or round two flairs up again during the Crimean War when they're occupied elsewhere. That or Hungary with some kind of elected monarchy still in place decides on someone other than Franz Joseph I although that's a little early for my tastes.
The general aim is for thing to go pretty much as in our timeline except that Hungary goes its own way, the extant Austrian Empire crushes Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War - possibly getting chucked out of Hungary forces through some military reforms, Prussia gets cut down to size, and Austria enters into the Grossdeutschland (minus its Balkan lands) leading the German Confederation. Basically you're looking at a slower more pacific formation of Germany with a much less militaristic character and how that will affect things.
But for this to happen I need rid of those annoying Hungarians.
Ideally I need to dispose of them a couple of years before the Austro-Prussian War so say 1864 or before at the latest but preferably not decades in advance either if it can be helped. Anyone got any advice?
The general aim is for thing to go pretty much as in our timeline except that Hungary goes its own way, the extant Austrian Empire crushes Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War - possibly getting chucked out of Hungary forces through some military reforms, Prussia gets cut down to size, and Austria enters into the Grossdeutschland (minus its Balkan lands) leading the German Confederation. Basically you're looking at a slower more pacific formation of Germany with a much less militaristic character and how that will affect things.
But for this to happen I need rid of those annoying Hungarians.