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OK, I think you've all heard of the Ausgleich aka the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, if not: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ausgleich. It was a result of the necessity for drastic reform and was a stopgap solution, but it remained in place until the end of Austria-Hungary and did not solve the problems of the multiethnic empire, not in the least because of favouritism towards the Hungarians, Magyarization and them blocking further reforms.
Now, this led to widespread discontent and a collapse looks inevitable in retrospect with the Austrian Germans and the Hungarians composing a mere 44% of A-H's population. Is it possible that if the Empire is weaker that other minorities will be granted co-ruler status in the Ausgleich, perhaps leading to a (con)federal structure for the Empire in the long run? Perhaps the Czechs could do, making it a Triple Monarchy. IIRC, they were the third largest ethnicity behind the Austrians and Hungarians. Perhaps the PoD could be a worse revolution in 1848 or a worse defeat at the hands of Prussia in 1866.