Summary
The Empire of Austria-Hungary, a dominion in which the
Magyars of Hungary received a modicum of autonomy under the rule
of one monarch who was simultaneously emperor of Austria and king
of Hungary, was a multinational empire that controlled the region
of Eastern Europe to the south of Russia's Polish lands. In 1860,
the Habsburg monarchs were forced to accept constitutional government
with a parliamentary system based on a very limited suffrage. As
a result, the bourgeoisie, who identified their interests with
those of the landed and inherited aristocracy, took control of Austrian politics
and society. As testament to their rights as inheritors of Austria's
great western and cultural tradition, the Germanic bourgeois leaders
in Vienna rebuilt the city as a virtual fortification of grand
structures. However, this control led to a popular backlash that
limited its longevity.
By 1900, liberal bourgeois politicians who favored free
trade and little government involvement in economic affairs were
being eliminated by mass politics movements from the right that
were based on charisma, fantasy, and mere appearances. These mass
parties were formed out of any number of views: anti- Germanic feelings (supported
by most ethnic minorities in the empire), anti- capitalist opinions
(supported by millions of farmers, peasants, and the very small
worker population), anti-Semitic perspectives (supported by everyone
from artisans to students to the agrarian poor to the militarists),
and nationalist hopes (supported by the lower-middle class). These
groups used demagoguery and scapegoating policies to rouse opposition
to Jews (who were associated with capitalists and Germanic peoples
for irrational reasons--and thus sweep themselves to political
victory throughout the empire.
Though manifested somewhat differently, the domestic events
in Britain, Germany, and France between 1871 and 1914 follow a similar
trend: these forty years before the outbreak of World War I mark
the emergence of the masses as a political force. In Britain and Germany,
we refer to the workers; in France, we refer to the agrarian poor
and non-Parisians; in Austria, we refer to everyone save the elite,
Germanic bourgeoisie. Each and every group became a powerful force
in politics and society during this time period.
So, what does this mean? The growth of popular power
in Europe at this time suggests that the forty years before World
War I can be seen as the beginning of "late modernity", setting
the stage for a twentieth century in which the western democracies
dedicated themselves to the expansion of democratic civil and individual rights.
The domination of traditional aristocratic elements in European
society came to its final end in this period of history and, by
virtue of that fact alone, the years after 1871 should be viewed
as a revolutionary time, even if it was a revolution without blood.
