4Secondary » Edith's Story » Sheet Index » 1.3 Austro - Hungarian Empire
1.3 Austro - Hungarian Empire
In 1914 Austria- Hungary was a vast empire that covered most of central and Eastern Europe. It contained over 40 million people made up of 11 different nationalities. After Hungary had made demands for independence in 1867, Emperor Franz Joseph agreed to divide the empire in two, with an Austrian half and an Hungarian half. They were in fact two states, but they shared the same monarch.
Nationalities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Germans
Number: 12 million (23% of the population) German was the main language of the Empire and they saw the Austro-Hungarian empire as primarily German.
Magyars (Hungarians)
Number: 10 million (20 % of the population) They were the largest single group but they made up less than half the population.
Czechs
Number: 6.5 million (12% of the population)
Poles
Number: 5 million (10% of the population)
Ruthenians
Number: 4 million (9 % of the population)
Croats
Number: 2.5 million (5 % of the population) They enjoyed some rights of self-government. Some Croats hoped to create an independent South Slav state with the Serbs and Slovenes.
Serbs
Number: 1.25 million (3 % of the population). By 1914 many Serbs looked to Serbia as their homeland.
Slovenes
Number: 1.25 million (2.5 % of the population)
Slovaks
Number: 2 million (4 % of the population). There was little co-operation between the Czechs and the Slovaks.
Italians
Number ¾ million (1.5 % of the population)
Romanians
Number 3.25 million (6.5 % of the population)
Jews
Number: 2.25 million (5% of the population)
Muslims
Number: less than ½ million (1 % of the population)