The
World War I combatant known as the Dual Monarchy of
Austria-Hungary, or Austro-Hungary, included the territories
of Austria, Hungary, Transylvania, Polish Galicia, Croatia,
Slavonia, Fiume, Bosnia, Herzogovina, Bohemia, Moravia,
Silesia, Bukowina and Dalmatia. The empire was ruled
by a monarch. The ruler of Austro-Hungary was both the
emperor of Austria and the King of Hungary. The monarch
was a member of the Hapsburg family and the empire was
the vestige of the once powerful Holy Roman Empire which
ruled much of Europe for hundreds of years. On June
28, 1914, the heir to the monarchy, the Archduke Francis
Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo by Serb anarchists.
Serbia, a nation of slavs, had long posed a threat to
the Empire due to its growing boundaries and the separatist
effect, real and imagined, of that growth and the advocation
of a Greater Serbia upon the many slavs within the boundaries
of the faltering Empire. On July 26, 1914 Austro-Hungary
issued an unrealistic ultimatum upon Serbia demanding
concessions which were not complied with. As a result
a declaration of war was made by the monarch of Austro-Hungary,
Francis Joseph I, upon Serbia. Czarist Russia, also
a nation of slavs and thus a traditional ally of Serbia,
honored a mutual defense treaty by declaring war upon
Austro-Hungary. In turn Germany on August 1 honoring
its treaty with Austro-Hungary, declared war upon Russia
and on August 3 on France, who had a defense treaty
with Russia. England, who had a treaty with Belgium
declared war on Germany on August 4 when Germany moved
through Belgium to flank France. The forces of France,
Russia and England became known as the Allies while
Germany and Austro-Hungary were known as the Central
Powers. Italy, Turkey Belgium and most other countries
of Europe soon joined the fray. Thus it was Austro-Hungary
which launched Europe into World War I.
In 1916, Charles I succeeded to the Austro-Hungarian
throne. He abdicated from it a short time later on November
11-13, 1918 when the Armistice took effect and the war
ended with the surrender of the Central powers to the
Allies. He died in 1922. On November 12, 1918 the Republic
of Austria was declared and in 1919 the Treaty of St.
Germain officially divided the Austro-Hungarian Empire
into separate states. Although in later years prior
to World War I, a pretender to the monarchy, the Archduke
Otto, sought from his exile in Brussells to restore
the Hapsburg dynasty, this never came to pass and Charles
I remained the last ruler of the Hapsburg line.
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