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cpm4001

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Introduction

It could not have been that the Austro-Prussian War of 1862 was truly unexpected; for years Prussia had been the rising power in the Northern Germanic states, and surely it was have been only a matter of time before they made a bid for hegemony over all the Germanic nations. Italy, too, was on the rise; ever since their unification the previous year, and subsequent forcible annexation of the remnants of the Papal States, it was inevitable they would attempt to complete their Risorgimento by acquiring Venice. Likewise, it is not truly surprising that the wars should be lost, for fighting on two fronts with a poorly-equipped and badly-led force is hardly a recipe for success. Nonetheless, what is surprising is that the war should have been lost so quickly and humiliatingly, as Austrian forces proved unable to stop either the Prussian alliance from occupying parts of Bohemia and Lower Silesia or Italian troops from running almost unhindered around Venetia – and, in the case of the II. Kavalleriekorps, to stop themselves from being utterly destroyed in the crushing rout of Tesin. More surprising, perhaps, is that Austria should have managed to rise from these defeats and the ensuing months of confusion and, under the new Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, succeeded in remaining relevant in a rapidly-changing world.

--- Introduction to the 3rd edition of Indivisibiliter ac Inseparabiliter: A History of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 19th and 20th Centuries by Dr. Howard A. Coppenger, Professor of European History at the University of Minnesota.


Hello, and welcome to my first (Paradox) AAR, “Indivisibiliter ac Inseparabiliter: The Emergence of Austria-Hungary(any similarities between its title and that of that fictional book introduced above are purely coincidental, I assure you). The goal of this is to take you, the reader, through the alt-history of Austria-Hungary from 1862 through to whenever I get bored and stop (though hopefully 1936). I am playing in the 3.04 beta patch, using the appropriate version of the POPs of Darkness mod. I have, however, made some notable alterations to that mod, changing some events and decisions and adding several new ones (mostly focused on imperialism), incorporating aspects of a few PDM mod-mods, slightly adjusting the map, and patching several of the bugs present in the 1861 start.

However, this is not a generic Austro-Hungarian AAR. As a human player, it’s completely possible to keep control of northern Italy and to whack Prussia to ensure your control over the Germanic states, but I felt that that wouldn’t make for a very interesting AAR. So instead I opted to play as badly as possible until a situation could arise for me to lose control over Venetia and the South German states [1]. This was done both to give me a poorer starting position and because I like clean borders (not only does Germany need to form, Italy looks wrong without Venice.) I won’t be too willing to give up any more land, though.

Before we begin, a few additional notes:

First, I’d like to thank Jape, whose “A House United: America in the Civil War and Beyond” I confess to being heavily inspired by, and nerdymidgetkid, whose “From the Ashes: A History of Germany Following the Great Defeat of 1852” demonstrated that a ‘post-loss’ AAR could actually work. Though I had previously considered writing an AAR along these lines last September (and so can’t be entirely accused of ripping off the idea…), having it demonstrated that an AAR starting from a ‘failed’ position can translate to a fun read pretty much gave me the confirmation I needed to finally launch this thing.

Administratively, I should mention that the vast majority of these updates will follow a history-book style (on the off-chance that wasn’t obvious), though I may detour into narrative style if I feel like it. Semi-regularly, I will include an “intermission” examining the world in its entirety, or at least those areas where interesting things have happened. I make no promises as to a standardized update schedule for this AAR, but I’ll do my best to keep it moving along.

I furthermore want to mention that I will be largely roleplaying in this AAR, and thus sub-optimal gameplay will regularly occur. In addition to keeping things plausible in-universe in this manner, I also have set myself a few house rules that I will obey while playing: I will not annex any non-colonial land I don’t have cores on (the exception being Bosnia, which may be annexed by decision); the defeats against Prussia and Italy are final and will not be ’undone’ (Austria has lost the south German states and Venice for good); and any further wars will be fought to the bitter end – no more of this ‘concede the wargoal and get out of the war’ stuff!


[1] I was actually planning on waiting until the “Schleswig-Holstein Question” event fired and then, following a relatively historical route, declaring on Prussia and getting creamed. However, Prussia declared on me in May of 1862, and figuring it was as good a time as any to start losing I tag-switched to Italy and had them declare war, too. I may as well note here that I have no qualms about utilizing the console from time to time, though with very limited exceptions it will be solely for narrative purposes.


Table of Contents

 
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Prologue: The End, 1862



The justification for the war was tenuous in the extreme: the Prussians claimed that political operatives from Austria were plotting to convince the Bavarian government to ban the Prussian embassy, thus bringing the Kingdom of Bavaria completely under Austrian control and ending Bavarian neutrality in the German Confederation. Recent scholarship suggests such a plan may well have been in the making [1], but to use such a circumstance as the justification for a war of this scale demonstrates a shocking degree of hypocriticalness. Prussia had no qualms about convincing the states in its sphere of influence to expel Austrian ambassadors at the merest pretext, it must be noted. But such complaints are pointless: May 2nd, 1862, was the day Prussia declared war and, to be needlessly melodramatic, the Austrian Empire fell.


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Having a Declaration of War served to you at the breakfast table is not generally regarded as a good way to start your day

Practically speaking, Prussia at the time was under the leadership not of King Wilhelm I, but of Minister-President Otto von Bismarck [2]. Undoubtedly, it was he who largely engineered the Austro-Prussian War, alongside his friends and cohorts in the Prussian cabinet, Helmuth von Moltke and Albrecht von Roon. But despite this, to vilify Bismarck to the extent some have done is unfair. There is little to say Bismarck’s predecessor Albrecht von Bernstorff would not have capitalized on a similar opportunity to attempt to enforce Prussian hegemony, for example.

This is not by any means an effort to say that Bismarck’s influence was not why the war occurred as it did, nor perhaps even why Prussia ended up victorious – for this was not solely a conflict versus Prussia. As would come as an unpleasant surprise to Austria, Bismarck and Victor Emmanuel II of Italy had struck a secret bargain, to the extent that Italy would join a Prussian war with Austria provided they received control over Venice in the subsequent peace. Though it is not now and probably never will be confirmed, there also appears to have been a secondary sort of under-the-table deal in which France agreed to stay out of the war. My personal theory is that this was precisely because Prussia had promised Venice to Italy; Emperor Napoleon III was a very strong supporter of Italian unification, and indeed had withdrawn French troops from the Papal States during Italy’s annexation of that rump state even despite the fierce objections of French Catholics and the Pope himself [3]. No matter: Austria quickly found itself without major allies and ensconced in a two-front war.


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Left to right, leaders of the primary belligerent nations:
Wilhelm I of Prussia, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, and Franz Joseph I of Austria

The general Austrian army plan for the conduct of the war called for the majority of the Austrian army to be moved to Bohemia. Once amassed, an invasion would be launched into Silesia with the larger part of this northern army, while a secondary army would attack through Saxony. Both armies would set their sights on Berlin, aiming to lay siege to it and enforce a humiliating peace deal on Prussia. The Italian campaign would follow a similar line: a smaller army would amass in Padua and Verona before sweeping down to at least Milan. A brigade of troops from Austria’s Transylvanian provinces would be brought to the middle of the country, and from there sent to either front to reinforce as necessary. Meanwhile, the main Austrian fleet would enforce a blockade in the northern Adriatic.


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Approximate Austrian Battle Plans

Naturally, things didn’t work out this simply. To try to explain the intricacies of the war would take far too long, and would occupy (indeed, has occupied) a study on its own, but the general points can be summed up thusly:

1) Simple differences in technology. Prussian troops were equipped with modern bolt-action rifles, unlike the Austrians, who were still using breech-loaders (or, in many cases, muzzle-loaders). Tactical differences also played a role, as Austrian armies were trained to counteract armies wielding older weaponry (i.e., the type the Austrians themselves were using).

2) Prussia’s army was mobilized almost at a shocking rate, and their more advanced rail network made it possible to ship troops to the border with Austria before the Austrians could get their own armies moved up. This permitted Prussian troops to cross into Bohemia long before Austrians could launch their own attack, and indeed to catch smaller Austrian armies completely out of position.

3) Austria lacked any sort of unified command. Indeed – and this point cannot be overstated enough, both for its impact in the Austro-Prussian War and for later events – in no major battle did an Austria have a single general leading the respective army.

4) Army composition. There was no standardization in the Austrian army; various corps, again following outdated military theories, consisted solely of infantry or solely of cavalry. Against modern weaponry and in the absence of unified command, disasters such as Tesin were nearly guaranteed when fighting against more balanced Prussian armies. The fact that only three regiments of artillery were fielded in the entire war no doubt played a role also.

These points were not solely recognized in hindsight; indeed, they were observed at the time, with important later effects. However, their direct and immediate ramifications are known to anyone with a passing knowledge of Austrian history and need hardly be recited here: Troppau on the 1st of June, the rout of Tesin on the 8th; Brno on the 11th and Aussig the next day, and the coup de grâce of Karlsbad on the 25th. Even at the June 27th Battle of Treviso, in the Italian theater of the war, Austria lost almost twice as many soldiers to the Italian army under di Robilant, despite being more evenly matched in terms of weaponry.


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Map showing the battles of the war

The sole Austrian “victory” was the inane Battle of the Gulf of Venice, where the main Italian fleet – the Regia Marina – hoping to help spark a pro-Italian revolt in Venice itself, quite literally accidentally bumped into the Austrian navy on blockade duty. A confusing and bloody battle ensued, during which time (amongst other events) the Italian ship Ancona attempted to sink the Austrian Ferdinand Max, which likely would have worked had the gunners remembered to load their cannons with more than just powder [4]. Despite the heavy casualties on both sides, no ships were lost, and ultimately the numerically-superior Italian fleet disengaged and retreated. Austrians at the time were quick to proclaim this a glorious victory and a demonstration of Austrian might; more neutral scholarship suggests the Italians were really simply in need of resupply (and anyway had given up the idea of promoting a Venetian revolt, what with Italian troops marching towards the city). As an incidental aside, this battle is intriguing for another reason. While Austrians have always been relatively serious about the naval battle – perhaps because, however small and however irrelevant, it was the only battle they didn’t lose in the war – Italians (despite having suffered heavier numerical losses) have a tendency to view it in a much more comical light. By way of example, the engagement was spoofed by the Italian slapstick comedy team “I Tre Idioti” in their 1936 short Nave Su!, in which the trio of Mo, Lorenzo, and Riccio are seen failing to fire cannons properly, dropping large quantities of beans onto Austrian sailors, and accidentally ramming fellow Italian ships.

The digression aside, by the turn of the new month, it was, for all intents and purposes, conclusive that the war was lost. Though Austria’s ally Bavaria had made minor gains against some of the smaller North German states (indeed, even convincing Saxe-Meiningen to make an offer of white peace, which Austria graciously accepted), Prussia and her allies were occupying regions of Bavaria and Bohemia, and a large Prussian army was within striking distance of Vienna. Meanwhile, the failure of the Austrian armies in the south to halt the Italian advance had essentially ensured that Italy could run rampant through at least the rest of Venetia, and conceivably into the Trentino or Istria. With Italy still considering those territories Irredenta, the Austrian government was perhaps rightfully concerned that Prussia might decide to hand those regions to their ally too. Thus, swallowing the pride of himself, his nation, and Emperor Franz Joseph I, the Austrian foreign minister, Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust, requested that French Emperor Napoleon III act as a neutral party to bring about peace.

Part of the reason it is necessary to not completely condemn Bismarck is that, arguably, Austria owes its present-day existence to him. Wilhelm I, with the Austrian troops routed, was interested in taking the opportunity to annex Austria completely, and though it is virtually unthinkable that the other Great Powers of Europe would have ever accepted such a move, the threat was nonetheless present. However, Bismarck, recognizing the circumstances, convinced Wilhelm I to seek a lighter peace, and accept the offered French mediation [5]. Of course, Napoleon III was almost certainly planning on breaking his agreement with Prussia and intervening on Austria’s side as a pretense for forcing territorial concessions along the Rhine, which may well have also encouraged a rapid peace deal.


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Terms of the 1862 peace treaty
Peace was signed exactly two months after the war commenced (hence the alternate name of the “Eight Weeks’ War” for this conflict), with the Peace of Prague. The terms of this peace treaty were nowhere near as harsh as they easily could have been; indeed, von Breust’s surprise when he heard of the demands is well-recorded. In simplified terms, the treaty (to which Austria acquiesced quickly) did two things: hand Venezia, and only Venezia, to Italy, and prohibit the house of von Habsburg from any further involvement in the workings of the German Confederation. This theoretically established Prussia as the leader of all the other German states, and almost immediately Bismarck began negotiations to reform at the least the northern states into a more centralized nation, under the ‘leadership’ (i.e., control) of Prussia.


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See earlier reference to Prussian hypocriticalness

As a final humiliation, one week later, Prussia banned the Austrian embassies from the states of Wurttemberg, Baden, and Bavaria, claiming that the states needed to be ‘removed from the undesirable influence of the Habsburgs’. This action fueled already-heated anti-Prussian public sentiment, but Austria could do nothing except protest weakly. Naturally, this led to public sentiment turning against both the Austrian government in a greater sense and the Habsburg dynasty specifically, two institutions increasingly viewed as too antiquated to be functional in the modern world.

The next five months tend to be glossed over in histories of Austria, and regretfully this particular one is no different, despite the growing unrest punctuated with acts of violence. With new archives being declassified, alongside increasing accessibility to personal records, someday I hope a complete work can be written examining the complex dealing that went on between the revenge-seeking von Beust in Austria, the nationalistic Hungarian Ferenc Deák, and of course Emperor Franz Joseph, which ultimately resulted in the Compromise. For the purposes of this narrative, however, suffice it to say that December 14th, 1862, was the day the Austrian Empire reemerged.


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It's not over yet...


[1] I really was going to ban the Prussian embassy in Bavaria, but the AI declared before I could even do that.

[2] Extremely lazy and fairly implausible alt-history justification for why we have Bismarck sparking the Austro-Prussian war four rather important years early: ITTL, the Prussian budget crisis over military funding happens as historically, just a year or two early. von Bernstorff likewise quits, Bismarck likewise replaces him, and via some more plot convenience Bismarck is able to persuade Wilhelm I to use the Austrian ‘embassy banning threat’ as an excuse for war. However, this means that Bismarck didn’t get shunted around as an ambassador in 1861-2, and so probably doesn’t know as much about the personalities of various European leaders ITTL as in our own.

[3] Pseudo-historical; Napoleon III really was in strongly favor in Italian unification, and Bismarck and he probably did strike an unknown bargain to keep France out of the war. In real life, Napoleon III maintained his support for the Papal States right up until the Franco-Prussian War, but here he’s willing to take the risk of upsetting a large section of the populace in an attempt to win a strong ally. If that's too implausible, repeat to yourself: It's just an AAR, I should really just relax.

[4] Ripped off from the real-life Battle of Lissa.

[5] This is basically OTL.
 
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Interesting start. I like it.
 
Intermission: The World 1862


There will now be a short intermission.

North America


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The United States had been, in 1862, engaged in their brutal Civil War for the last year and half. Efforts by the Union to secure the Mississippi River failed completely, and the Confederates actually successfully counterattacked along that waterway a short distance north. However, though other earlier victories by the Confederate side garnered their government semiofficial recognition by several Great Powers (though not Austria), by December the Union appeared to have the upper hand. A deliberately massively destructive march by General W.T. Sherman across Georgia demoralized the Confederacy, and an overwhelming push through Virginia and the Carolinas permitted the Union to put the vast majority of the eastern states of the CSA under military occupation. President Abraham Lincoln’s subsequent “Emancipation Proclamation” shifted the focus of the war from a simple struggle over secession to a moral issue over slavery, and thus put an end to serious consideration of European intervention on the Confederate side, but though the question going forward was no longer whether the Union would win, it still remained to be seen how – and if – the United States would recover.


South America


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South America was as volatile as one would expect. Argentina and Chile both embarked on campaigns to settle and civilize the inhospitable lands of Patagonia, but it was then uncertain whether there would be any real return on investment for these actions. Meanwhile, Paraguay lost two consecutive wars: first to Argentina, who, in an effort to increase their international prestige and regional power, ‘liberated’ a small territory in the region of Chaco, and then a much more disastrous war to Bolivia (resulting in the cessation of over half the nation). These campaigns led Peru to launch a successful war with Ecuador, ostensibly over what Peru felt was its core territory (arcilla que le corresponde), but more practically in an effort to ‘throw their weight about’ and demonstrate that, like Bolivia and Argentina, they too were a force to be reckoned with on their home continent. However, though the map had changed through these wars, no South American nation – with the possible exception of the Empire of Brazil – had yet to be recognized as anything more than a minor power.


Asia


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In Indochina, the French campaign into the Cochinchina region succeeded, as the southern areas, including the port of Saigon, were annexed. The organization of the region into "Indochine" suggested that the French had, at the very least, their eyes on the rest of the territory controlled by the Dai Nam emperor.

In Japan, the Emperor, usually nothing more than a figurehead, issued an order to expel all foreign nationals from his lands. To those paying attention, this foreshadowed a civil war between forces loyal to the Tokugawa Shogun and the daimyo supportive of the Emperor, though when such a war would break out and what the results would be no one could say.

The Near East too was eventful, as the ruling family of Ha’il made a bid to unite the Arabian Peninsula under their control. This was a disastrous move; far from conquering Nejd, that nation’s forces turned the tables and put the interior of the region under the control of the house of bin Saud. Though in 1862 this was viewed as just another conflict in another far-off region of the world, the ambition of Nejd seemed to be leading it to covet the Holy City of Mecca, then under the control of the Ottoman puppet of Hedjaz…



Africa


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In Africa, the leaders of the West African nation of Massina launched a jihad against their enemies in Bambara. Massina was victorious, in large part because of the assistance of their allies in Fuuta Jallon. This latter nation was rewarded handsomely by receiving control over large stretches of former Bambara territory, possibly (though yet uncertainly) affecting the long-term balance of power in the region.

Meanwhile, the efforts of the French in Madagascar to establish some dim sort of influence over the island met with a potentially fatal setback. In a concerted effort, several of the loosely-defined nations expelled or simply killed the few French nationals operating in their territories. As a result, the French interests (largely government-sponsored) decided to abandon the island, and it was still unknown whether African colonies would ever become an object of desire for the Great Powers of the world, or if the way France and most other powers seemed to view them – unprofitable wastes of time – would remain the norm.
 
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Nice work so far. Subbed.
 
subbed
 
Chapter 1: Compromises and the Military, 1862-1865



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The Architects of the Compromise: Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust and Ferenc Deák

Some historians are inclined to demean Austrian Foreign Minister Fredrich Ferdinand von Beust as an inept diplomat. These people point primarily to his failure to maintain positive relations between his home country of Saxony and Prussia, leading to the near-entry of Saxony into the Austro-Prussian War against Prussia (an eventuality which could well have led to Saxony’s outright annexation) [1]. More contemporarily, Prussians attacked him for opposing Bismarck’s plans for a Prussian-dominated Germany, liberals condemned him for opposing their favored political reforms, and many Austrians doubted his loyalty to Emperor Franz Joseph I, due to von Beust’s Protestant faith. None of these assessments are truly valid; in actuality, von Beust was an intelligent man well-suited to managing both foreign and domestic policy, as evidenced by his actions in the fall and winter of 1862.

Austria and Hungary had both proposed reconciling into some form of Dual Monarchy since 1860, but though Franz Joseph was not necessarily opposed to the idea it took the efforts of Hungarian politician Ferenc Deák (who was willing to go against the more radical, pro-complete-independence elements in his nation) and those of von Beust (who was able to pressure Emperor Franz Joseph into agreeing to such a settlement) to bring about the Compromise. The result was in essence two nations, Austria and Hungary, each with their own parliament and thus each able to govern their own internal affairs, joined in a personal union under Franz Joseph. Foreign policy, external war matters, and certain financial policies were to be handled by joint ministries (these are only the major points of the Compromise - there is not enough space to list the complete and precise details, nor would the majority of readers find them interesting.) For their efforts in bringing about this eventuality, Deák would be rewarded as the first Hungarian Prime Minister, while von Beust would, while remaining Foreign Minister, also become the Minister-President of the new Austro-Hungarian Empire, a post he held until 1864 [2].


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The results of tolerance…of a sort

The ultimate effect of the Compromise upon the populace of the Empire, as social historians have often observed, was what is often termed ‘biased multiculturalism’. The Germans and Magyars within the Empire were both considered more or less equal (though bias was naturally shown, depending on the region of the Empire), but other groups were still treated as undesirable, a circumstance for which the Hungarian-governed sections of the Empire were particularly notorious. The Südtirol was a local exception; despite the fact that Italy and Austria had just fought a war, the German and Italian populations of the region settled into a temporary (and somewhat bizarre) mutual peace immediately following the Compromise. It should not, however, be thought that the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1862 was flawless or painless. Far from it, in fact; widespread disapproval amongst Hungarians almost immediately emerged, as arguably most of the Hungarian populace felt that the best opportunity for full independence in a decade and a half had been squandered. There was, as a result, a large increase in disorder in most of Hungary, though in no case did an actual revolt break out (in part because of quick efforts to subdue the agitators by one means or another.)


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Agitation for independence in Bohemia

This unrest, in sharp contrast to the situation of the Südtirol, was felt in other regions of the Empire also. A collective effort amongst Bohemians, for example, led to the beginning of the construction of the so-called ‘Czech National Theater’. Though seemingly innocuous, and indeed culturally enlightened, the theater was essentially an attempt to bring about the ultimate independence, or at least full autonomy, of Bohemia by instilling national pride amongst the population. The Sokol movement, itself another vehicle for nationalistic efforts, emerged in Moravia and Slovakia immediately after the Compromise as well. However, it was far easier for the central government to suppress this movement as unwelcomely radical, simply because of the relative absence of the well-connected and wealthy amongst its ranks. An intriguing aside for political historians is the emergence of Karlsbad as a stronghold of liberal thought, beginning roughly around 1864. Despite the fact that Karlsbad was predominately inhabited by Germans, the increasing numbers of tourists visiting the famed hot springs apparently led to the development of a large community of…Bohemians [3].


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Temesvar proved surprisingly accepting of Austro-Hungarian rule

Partially to reduce the risk of the spread of these sorts of dangerous ideas, policies were enacted to attempt to assimilate more rapidly the population of the Banat region into the greater Austro-Hungarian state, thus stifling nascent nationalistic movements in the region. Other regions may have been more logical to target, but Banat was chosen because of the population of both Germans and Hungarians, and the fact that both the Austrian and Hungarian parliaments could agree that working to undermine existing Romanian and Serbian claims on the province would be highly desirable. Contrary to many expectations, however, these efforts met with a surprising amount of success, exemplified by the famous Temesvar Parade in which Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, and even Serbs all greeted arriving government officials with a large celebratory march while flying a homemade, somewhat crude, but nonetheless recognizable Austro-Hungarian flag.


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Strossmayer and the beginnings of his importance

Perhaps more directly important for the Empire was the emergence of Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer. A somewhat radical native Croatian, in 1863 he began the propagation of a concept revolving around the unification of the Slavic people of the Balkans [4]. He was not, however, outrightly opposed to the basic concept of an Austro-Hungarian Empire, unlike later supporters of a Yugoslavic state; rather, he was interested in developing a framework for autonomy for Croatia and other Balkan territories within the overarching Empire – essentially, bringing them to an equal footing with the Austrians and the Hungarians. It is noteworthy also that he shared close ties with several of the major figures, including František Palacký, in the developing liberal nationalistic ideology of the Bohemian regions, and was heavily influenced by them. Arguably, the early steps taken independently by these figures was the beginning of the movement towards a more federated Empire, though this was unsurprisingly not recognized at the time.

Strossmayer was far from alone in his efforts to bring about a degree of Balkan autonomy. Croatia had essentially been placed under the control of Hungary in the terms of the Compromise, but its populace (thanks to the movement of Strossmayer and his various Croatian colleagues) was strongly interested in some form of independence. An attempt was made in 1863 to turn Croatia into a state within Hungary, but despite Strossmayer being at the head of the Croatian delegation nothing came of this. It would take another year before a secondary Compromise would be struck. In this Croatian-Hungarian Compromise of 1864, Croatia was granted some autonomy within Hungary, becoming essentially the junior partner in a personal union, but because Hungary maintained control over the majority of Croatia’s government the autonomy was much less than was initially hoped for. However, Croatia was granted independence in several areas, notably in regards its military (they were permitted to recruit their own home-guard army, the Kraljevsko Hrvatsko Domobranstvo, from Croatian and Dalmatian territories.)


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Composite illustration showing the initial Army Reform policies, and some of their effects

This brings us to one of the more important ramifications of the original Compromise. The new military of Austria-Hungary was formed by three distinct armies: the Royal Hungarian Honvéd (an independent Hungarian), the Imperial-Royal Landwehr (an independent army for Austria), and the joint Common Army. The Honvéd would recruit from Hungary, Transylvania, Galicia, and the various South Slavic territories, while the Landwehr was recruited from Austria and Bohemia. The Common Army, logically, drew from all regions of the Empire. Though this arrangement served to keep both parts of the Dual Monarchy relatively happy, it was also plagued by the unwillingness of the Austrian and Hungarian parliaments to share the joint costs of maintaining the Common Army, preferring to strengthen their own respective armies instead [5].

Despite these inherent problems, the recognition that the complete lack of military preparedness had been the root cause of the defeats drove a massive program of reorganization and reform. These changes were facilitated with one of the first laws to be implemented in the new Empire. This saw a 50% increase in military funding approved, the disbanding of undermanned regiments (even those with historical significance), and the commencement of large-scale recruitment not merely of soldiers but of officers in the population centers of the Empire. Perhaps to counter the somewhat aggressive implications of this move, the Emperor at long last signed the 1862 Geneva Convention. Both parliaments approved this, and thus even as Austria-Hungary became war-ready again it also joined the ranks of the civilized nations committed to reducing as much as possible the cruelty of armed conflict.

The pay-off was immediate; whereas Austrian imperial armies had been incredibly disorganized, now the armies of the Empire were being staffed by proper officers, administered by a general staff at the central Austro-Hungarian War Ministry. The Emperor still had a great deal of influence in the military theater (he remained the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, could declare war, and still had the right to control the organization of the military), but this detachment of military command ensured that the army would be better able to operate in times of war [6]. Similarly, while the troops remained somewhat poorly equipped, proper breech-loading rifles were becoming standardized, and tactics were modernizing. And while by no means were Austro-Hungarian officers truly world-class, compared to the armies of the Empire’s predecessor states (and those of many of the Empire’s neighbors), the leadership of the military was now considered relatively good. In part, this was because of the necessary tolerance of different ethnic and religious groups within the army. Though far from what we today would consider tolerant (as previously mentioned, various groups, especially but by no means exclusively in the Hungarian regions, were regularly discriminated against), it is noteworthy that Austria-Hungary distinguished itself among the Great Powers of Europe in being a state where Jews were often permitted to serve both as soldiers and as officers. Indeed, an entire regiment of Hussars from Lvov in the Galician region was raised from amongst the Ashkenazi Jewish population there, and served with some distinction [7].


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Egyptian officials were happy to approve the permit request, especially after a small ‘donation’ was made

Though its focus was internal at the time, it should not be imagined that the Empire had retreated entirely from the world stage, however. The foreign policy of von Beust saw what can only be described as the stirrings of a longing for Austria to have a renewed place on the world stage. These “Dreams of Empire”, tied with the growing European interest in Egyptian history, led Austria-Hungary to lodge a request with the Egyptian government to allow some teams of archaeologists to conduct excavations in the nation. The request was granted, and though the permit was hardly as exclusive as many in the Ministerium des Äußern (that is, the Foreign Ministry) believed, and though the first ‘archaeologists’ were little more than inept looters, it was nonetheless the beginning of Austria’s reemergence as a true world power.


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Roughly, the series of events bringing about the North German Federation and their ramifications. Some mapmakers had yet to come to terms with the fact that Denmark’s name no longer stretched to Schleswig.

Meanwhile, Bismarck and others had succeeded in manufacturing a revolt in the Danish satellite state of Schleswig-Holstein, persuading Germans in favor of unification with Prussia to throw out the influence of the Danish king via a sudden coup. Before the Danes could react, Wilhelm I celebrated the annexation of the nation into Prussia, and almost as immediately most of the remaining German Confederation nations were reorganized into the unified and Prussian-dominated North German Federation. Had these events taken place a year or two later, one has to suspect that von Beust would have seized the opportunity to exact revenge upon Prussia, but at the time the military reorganization had not yet been completed, and Austria could again do little but protest.

Despite this, by 1865, little more than two years after the defeat, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had rebuilt its armed forces to a more than acceptable extent. Further development of military technology and improvement in troop quality was ongoing, yet despite the drastic alterations both internally and in the larger world the nation seemed to have recovered. Now came the next stage of recovery: internal development.



[1] Whew, the fact that there’s no Second Schleswig War in this timeline and that everything’s shifted up about four years makes for a lot of complexity to incorporate historical events and figures right now. Still, as in OTL, von Beust flees as Prussian troops advance through Saxony, even though Saxony stayed neutral in this war (they weren’t allied with Prussia in-game yet, for some reason). Thus, he still ends up in Vienna, and is temporarily appointed to the post of Foreign Minister to convince Napoleon III to negotiate peace. The appointment is made permanent shortly thereafter, and he then segues into his historical role.

[2] Deák in OTL turned down the post of Prime Minister, but here I figured it might be interesting for him to accept it. von Beust’s governmental positions are historical, albeit 4 years early.

[3] *rimshot* - Dr. Coppenger is not above incredibly lame jokes.

[4] This section is basically OTL, though again a little on the early side. Strossmayer, however, will return.

[5] As historical as it can be. Translating real-world military divisions into Vicky II is much easier said than done; though it‘s definitely not 100% accurate, for gameplay purposes I‘m saying one unit in Vicky is equal to a real-world regiment. Also, “Uhlans” are being represented by dragoons in-game.

[6] Not historical – the Emperor in OTL maintained essentially complete control over military matters (which ended up working really well…) ITTL the Central Staff is more independent, and though the Emperor still has a lot of control over it chances are it won’t stagnate as much.

[7] I was honestly surprised that this pop could support an entire unit. Though it still doesn’t top the time I raised a regiment of Romania troops as Britain...from the Xhosa province of South Africa.
 

Very much appreciated!

Also, a fast OOC question for everyone: I’ve seen AARs run with both a lot of small updates and fewer larger ones, so as a question going forward, which style would people prefer I stick to?
 
Given that you appear to be writing in a narrative style, I would say fewer, large updates would be better. Generally, smaller, frequent updates work better when you are doing a purely-gameplay style of AAR.
 
Given that you appear to be writing in a narrative style, I would say fewer, large updates would be better. Generally, smaller, frequent updates work better when you are doing a purely-gameplay style of AAR.

That's about what I figured, but I figured I'd ask anyway on account of I don't want the "large block updates" to be too large and block-like for people to get through.
 
Chapter 2: The Inward Development, 1865-1867



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The efficiency of the Imperial bureaucracy left something to be desired

In 1865, functional governmental institutions were lacking; the Austrian crownlands, with the exception of Salzburg (and, oddly, the Südtirol, mainly due to the cooperation of local Italians), had a notoriously inefficient and at times questionable government. Likewise, though the Compromise had resulted in the spontaneous creation of a Hungarian-run bureaucracy for the territories under their control, with the exception of the ‘core’ around Buda and Pest, most of the other lands of Saint Stephen had poor governance. However, there is a saying that a bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy, and though this is undoubtedly somewhat unnecessarily witty, it is also not inaccurate to describe the alteration of the internal character of Austria-Hungary in the mid- to late 1860s. For the military reforms were not enough; the Empire also had to improve itself in less martial ways.

The initial set of reforms were largely an effort to improve tax collection, but as minor as they were they would lead to the formation of a functional bureaucracy in other ways. Notably, the spread of organized governing bodies had the tangential effect of establishing the new Empire’s authority into some of the more far-flung regions of their territories (though areas like Galicia-Lodomeria remained notoriously difficult to control). Naturally, however, bloat occurred, with the result of an increasingly slow government. Still, for the time being, any improvement was welcome.


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Literacy is good

Concurrent to the expansion of the bureaucracy was an expansion in education initiatives, an area in which Josep Strossmayer again played an especially importance role (even if only indirectly). At large part by his influence, the ‘government’ (such as it was) of Croatia-Slavonia began to sponsor an increase in clergy throughout the region. This was ostensibly to help bring the Catholic faith and basic literacy to the region, but, not dissimilarly to some of the Sokol movements in the northern Slavic regions, was also an attempt to strengthen the Croatian nationalistic movement. Upon realizing precisely what was being done under this guise, both the Hungarian and Austrian parliaments began to send funds to similar endeavors, designed to instill loyalty to their respective governments. The result of this somewhat bizarre race to instill pride to one nation or another was an increase in literacy; whether or not a substantial increase or decrease in nationalism occurred is a matter of some debate.

This was all possible due to the growth of educational facilities. A tacit nod had been given to religious-based education for all, rather than merely those who could afford it, as early as 1864, but it wasn’t until a year later that government-sponsored public education emerged, initially in Austria and then quickly in Hungary. At the time, this was essentially the way for the respective governments to fund their own agendas into religious schools. Though lacking in many regions, and almost exclusively limited to male students, this school system (especially when associated with a simultaneous improvement in institutions of higher education) would become a central reason for the reemergence of Austria-Hungary.


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Compilation of the budgets for the year 1865

The respective 1865 budgets for the Austrian and Hungarian portions of the Empire demonstrate the facilitation of these changes. The debits side, compared to the 1864 budgets, shows a roughly 70% increase in administrative funding (mainly on the Austrian side) and an approximately 15% in funding towards clergy-based education. Military spending was maintained at about the same level. These new expenses were paid for mainly from the taxes levied on the lower classes, then primarily consisting of farmers but even then some factory workers. Much smaller amounts came from the relatively low taxes on the wealthy and the tiny (albeit growing) middle class, and little was gained from quite low tariff rates (so implemented to win the support of economic liberals). A final point of note is that, in 1865, the Empire had access to funds equivalent to a million pounds sterling and had paid off most of its war debt – these indicate the increasingly healthy state of the Austro-Hungarian economy [1].


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Composite image demonstrating the growth of industry and its effects

Unsurprisingly, the spread of industry prevalent elsewhere in this era also affected the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The western sections of the Empire (Austria proper and Bohemia) were essentially the nearest things the nation had to an industrial heartland in the mid-1860s, and indeed would remain so for the foreseeable future. However, given their new degree of autonomy, regions under the control of the Hungarian parliament began to develop their own fledgling industries, mainly around the Central Hungarian heartland but also elsewhere. Logically, in many regions, products from these factories became associated with nationalistic pride. Slovakian-made boots from the factories near Nitra are one of the more notable examples; workers at this factory actually formed an illegal (and quickly and violently broken up) trade union in the mid-1860s in an effort to promote their own brand of Slovak nationalism.

Both parliaments of the Empire also adopted programs providing industrial subsidies for the maintenance and expansion of factories; despite the natural objections of economic liberals, given the absence of a large capitalist base the government was a necessary player in industrialization. That is not to say that there were no capitalists in the Empire – indeed, several projects (including the origins of the large-scale glassworks at Pest) were privately funded – but most simply could not be at the time. This government role was especially crucial to the development of the Austro-Hungarian arms industry at the Österreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft, where the rapid modernization of the army (notably the increasing spread of breech-loading rifles) necessitated rapid domestic manufacturing of weapons.

Austria had a fairly functional rail network (though one that was still being strengthened, and was notably weaker than Prussia's), but the eastern sections of the Empire had little to no modern transportation available. To remedy this, the Hungarian parliament also began an effort to expand the rail network into their controlled regions, thus providing effective movement of both industrial products (and the requisite raw materials) and passengers. This was pushed forward largely as a way for Hungary to make itself more independent, though even those in favor of the continuation of the union with Austria could support the ability for one to travel into the far reaches of the Empire relatively quickly.

A final point of note regarding the stirrings of industrialization in the Empire were two further political reforms. Child labor had been increasingly viewed as immoral, with Britain and Prussia taking the lead in abolishing it. Though no complete ban on child labor was to be levied for quite some time, 1865 saw heavy restrictions placed on the trades children could work in – most factory duties remained quite acceptable, but some of the more dangerous jobs formerly worked by youth were shut down (at least nominally; enforcement was often lacking). Two years later saw the institution of certain pollution controls on these new factories, the stirrings of an environmental movement, though at the time mainly limited to making it illegal to sell industrial sludge as a foodstuff.


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Internal effects of industrialization

This internal modernization brought other changes as well. Of particular note was the increase in mining efficiency brought by the beginnings of steam-powered mining equipment, which permitted the development of more profitable shaft mining in certain regions of the Empire, especially the coal reserves of Bohemia (some of which were quickly mined out, moving workers elsewhere.) Improved mining also helped spawn the ‘Gold Rush’ to Karlovac in northern Croatia, where a minor deposit of semi-valuable minerals were quickly exploited and equally quickly gave way to an economy built largely around exploiting those looking to make a quick fortune by exploiting the previously-exploited minerals. The agrarian sector benefited as well; new phosphate-based fertilizers, combined with more effective strategies of crop rotation, led to increasing agricultural outputs throughout the Empire. The greatly improved crop outputs led some in the central region of Hungary to believe they could push production even higher, but Hungarian interior ministers quickly stopped such ideas, rather than risk overtaxing the soil and thus potentially collapsing a sector of the economy most still depended on.


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The basic plan for the fortification of the Empire’s borders.

Infrastructure of a different sort was also improved. With Italy and the North German Confederation both potentially hostile nations, and relations with Russia disconcertingly weak, the general view was that any hostilities Austria-Hungary was likely to enter into would be of a defensive nature. Thus, plans were laid to secure several main areas: the Istrian peninsula and the Südtirol, both to stall Italian attacks into those regions over their ostensible claims; the Galicia-Lodomerian frontier with Russia, and Bohemia-Moravia to counter German attacks. Naturally, in none of these areas would it be possible to form an impermeable border, but the focus on securing the major population centers of the regions (and elsewhere in the Empire) was completely achievable, albeit expensive and time-consuming. The expansion of port facilities at Trieste and Fiume, the main bases of the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine, was also undertaken, with the intention of eventually facilitating a modern navy. A secondary naval base was planned at Kotor, to help project power farther down the Adriatic.


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Some people just refuse to sit down and enjoy being part of an empire.

Such internal development was not, again, easy or painless. The Sokol movement, still seeking independence or at least autonomy for the northern Slavic states, continued its spread, gaining increasing traction in Polish regions (notably around Krakow). More violent civil unrest emerged as well. Unhappy about the treatment ethnic Romanians were receiving at the hands of the Hungarian parliament, a Romanian nationalist attempted to provoke a revolt by making an agitating speech in Deva. Such a plan on its own was undoubtedly doomed to failure, but as it later was revealed the nationalist planned to make himself a martyr for the Romanian independence movement against the ‘oppressive Hungarians’. To avoid this potentiality, the troops responsible for the man’s capture opted to maintain his imprisonment, rather than outrightly shoot him.

Further religious difficulties began to emerge in the late 1860s. The vast majority of Jews of the Empire, having been officially emancipated under the Compromise, had tended to focus on assimilation; this was particularly the case in the Hungarian section of the Empire where Jews largely accepted ongoing Magyarization programs. However, innate antisemitism led to a growing movement calling for the Jews to migrate en masse to a new homeland, either in the Levant or in South America. Amongst other supporters of the former option was one Judah Alkalai, a Serbian rabbi who had previously published several tracts suggesting that territory in Palestine be purchased from the Ottoman Turks and used to create a Jewish state. In 1865 and in cooperation with the North German Federation-based Association for the Colonization of Palestine (Kolonisations-Verein für Palästina), the aging Alkalai published a book in Vienna laying out his vision for the creation of a new state of Israel. Curiously, he used the name of the grandson of a close Austro-Hungarian friend of his, likely as an effort to increase the work’s appeal to the Empire's Jews [2]. Though written off by the Imperial government and most Jews alike, Der Judenstaat would prove a central work in the developing so-called ‘Zionist’ movement.

Despite these setbacks, the ongoing growth of pluralistic ideals led to the development of the beginnings of the idea of national fraternity; roughly, that for all groups in the Empire it was in their best interests to ‘pull together’ for the good of the Empire as a whole. This was a still a loosely-defined concept at the time, but would later affect the development of the Empire. It was also of note in the Tirol, where cooperative ideas (apparently seeping in from the Südtirol) led to the establishment of several groups seeking to remedy the ongoing poverty amongst the poorer classes in the region.


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Voting? What is ‘Voting’? That’s the breaded thing with the mayonnaise, right?

The most notable internal alteration was the limited extension of the franchise that occurred in late 1866, passed largely as an attempt to silence liberal agitators (notably those in Karlsbad and elsewhere in the German-speaking regions of Bohemia). Though it would mean that both the Austrian and Hungarian parliaments would be filled via election rather than appointment, voting rights were carefully heavily restricted to the landed gentry (though also increasingly capitalists), something that quickly met with disapproval from those advocating more liberal forms of government. Despite the fact that these calls for further reform were largely ignored, this event meant that the Austro-Hungarian Empire adopted a form of what was even then being termed Prussian Constitutionalism, though compared to most similar governments (even that of the North German Confederation) Austria-Hungary was extremely restrictive. The first election was set for the end of February, 1868, and political parties (essentially, existing ideological blocs reformed into vaguely formal organizations for the first time) began campaigning.

Thus, by the late 1860s, a mere half-decade after the loss in the Austro-Prussian War, the Empire had reachieved a degree of functionality, both militarily and in more domestic spheres. It now fell upon the Empire to determine its new place in the world.


[1] In OTL, it took quite some time for Austria-Hungary to repay the debt they’d racked up after the various conflicts of the 1850s and ’60s, but in the interests of the narrative I’m not roleplaying to that extent.

[2] Alkalai wrote Der Judenstaat in this reality because, based on when the event fired, Theodor Herzl would have done so when he was only 7 years old…as impressive an achievement as that would have been (the event clearly fired far too early), I’ll roll with it anyway; this may have some interesting narrative ramifications, not least of all because the “Kolonisations-Verein für Palästina” has had to hold together for longer than in real life.
 
I like how you combine related screens/popups. Keep up the good work!

Thanks! I was hoping those composite images weren't too confusing, as they seemed the best way to get all the information across without resorting to a lot of screenshots.
 
subbed!
 
About the school system: Compulsory six-year education for all children was already introduced by the Empress Maria Theresia in 1774, but I suppose you can retcon it as this policy being more effectively enforced now.