Because Fiume was not part of Croatia in 1848.
I assume Rijeka as part of Croatia is logical - will the Croats give it the importance the Hungarians gave it asmain harbor for the Hungarian half of A-H - now that there is NO Hungarian half, will Tirest be that larger - or will Rijeka take Polas place as main naval base?
As you joined Dalmatia and Croatia I assume Croatia will be the dominating "South-Slav" entity and if the History progresses like OTL it even might absorb Bosnia and Hercegovina when the OE loses it.
To make a different TL a 1878 analouge war might see the Habsburgs side with Russia and get more Balkan territory - with Russia and Habsburg "allied" against the OE even Prussia + England + France might not prevent the OE being pushed from Europe earlier.
IIRC both Trieste (around 4,5 Mill ton per year) and Rijeka (around 2,1 million ton) were among the 10 biggest trade harbours in Europe in the 19th century. A rail line between both cities should be priority. IIRC Trieste was the dominating harbour for the Mediterranean. Thanks to Suez- for Comparison Hamburgs harbor had 6,5 Mill. tons
Trieste was connected to Vienna by rail in 1857 (Südbahn) - the extension to Rijeka is only a comparable minor project.
Teh question is - OTL Rijeka was expanded because Huingary wanted its OWN harbour,, with no Hungary it could be that Trieste takes over as sole Austrian Harbour and Rijeka stays a quiet town. - Or the Croats jump in for the Hungarians and Rijeka grows as OTL (it could go either wway, but strategically two harbours can handle more trade than one)
THe main navy base - Pola/Pula is situated just between both narbors and can cover both - and in addition the trade harbors might also service the Imperial navyAnd a rail line should link Pola to Trieste too.
I did check a bit -
THe railline from Vienna to trieste split at Piva and had a 56 km sideline to Rijeka. (1873)
From Zidani most there was a line to Zagreb since 1862
From 1865 a line ran from Zagreb to Karlovac. This latter line was (by Hungary) extended to Rijeka in 1873.
About Rijeka- certainly.
Principality of Upper Hungary, I had that idea myself, but someone noted that if the goal is to punish Hungary, than better not to give Slovakia such name...
And yes, Hungarians will be thoroughly pissed and wrecked...
Austrians: I got it! We'll call it the principality of Good Hungary!
Hungarians: But wouldn't that imply that we're "Bad" Hungary?
Austrians: Shut up, Bad Hungary!
Wouldn`t simple logic dictate that Croatia would get Rijeka?
Look here:
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These were the lands Jelačić ruled, and they were basically everything (except for IIRC Opatija) that was considered as "minimal Croatian borders" at the time. Not counting the guys that wanted the whole of Bosnia, ofc.
Post corrected.
Normal borders would be that plus Turska Hrvatska, and maximal plus whole Bosnia-Herzegovina and Istra.
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Turska Hrvatska (and the rest of BiH) was in the Ottoman Empire at the time, as I am certain you know, so that`s a non-starter.
And Istra? This is the max I ever found was "the goal".
I was talking about long term goals, and considering that the sick-man of Europe had serious problems with holding Bosnia-Hercegovina, definitly not non-starter...
About Istra, try to read any official Croat national program from the time period ( like Zahtjevanja naroda in 1848 or Disertatia in 1830 ) and you will see that Istra is nothing special, Carniola and Gorizia are there too...
And the "guys who wanted whole Bosnia" were basicly all Croats and Croatian Parliaments since 16-th Century on including Croatian Parliament in 1878, Stjepan Radić ( you can't say that he was radical nationalist... ), Vlatko Maček etc.