My problem, historiographically speaking, is actually the lack of good revisionist history here. The narrative of the "twilight" of the Habsburg Monarchy (to use Alan Palmer's title) is badly in need of being readdressed in the popular mind, and speaks to a general need to readdress our understanding of the First World War. Again, because of positivist, present-centered history, I feel that we collectively continue to allow the Second World War to color our understanding of the First, and that's problematic. To understand the Second World War you must understand the First, but the reverse it not true and thus should have no bearing on our discussions, yet it often seems to.
25 years ago, aged 18, I walked out of my head of History's lecture at uni because he started it with "Austria-Hungary was always going to collapse" and when I tried to challenge him on this he told me to be quiet because that wasn't how lectures worked at university. I walked out and never went to another lecture (I went to classes and tutorials and did most the research myself). He later tried to throw me out and gave me the C- for the departmental rating which meant I did not quite get that First, but hey, he was being an ass, and I wasn't going to sit there and listen to it without recourse.
Best Regards
Grey Wolf