Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, supported a plan to establish 15 semi-autonomous states based on cultural and linguistic identities.
By 1906, the empire of the Habsburgs was nearly 400 years old. One of Europe’s oldest ruling families, the Habsburgs presided over an empire made up of 11 ethnic groups, many in a state of unrest bordering on rebellion. Arch-conservative Emperor Franz Josef had turned a blind eye to the signs of change, seeking to maintain the semi-feudal conditions under which his subjects had always lived.
Franz Josef’s heir, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was of a different mind. He was concerned for the future of the empire and open to ideas that might help preserve the ancient throne of his ancestors.
To Preserve the Austro-Hungarian Empire
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was an unwieldy ethnic hodge-podge. The German-speaking Austrians and the Hungarians, who together held power over the other groups, accounted for less than 45 percent of the empire’s entire population. Intermittent uprisings among the other ethnicities were on the rise and constituted a lethal threat to the nation’s future.
A group of scholars – advisers to the Archduke – drew up a plan based on an idea that had been gaining currency for many years, inspired in part by the radical thought that spread across Europe in the wake of the 1848 revolutions. In 1906, Romanian politician Aurel Popovici presented a formal blueprint for a confederation of 15 individual states under the leadership of Austria-Hungary, each state to have a say in government.
This “United States of Great Austria” had the backing of Franz Ferdinand in spite of anticipated opposition from the Hungarians, who stood to lose territory under the planned reforms. Popovici and his fellow advisers appear to have understood the primacy of language and culture in determining borders and apportioning legislative representation among the diverse populations of Europe:
“The great origin, language, customs and mentality diversity of different nationalities requires, for the whole Empire of the Habsburgs, a certain state form, which can guarantee that not a single nationality will be threatened, obstructed or offended in its national-political life, in its private development, in its national pride, in one word – in its way of feeling and living.” – Aurel Popovici
Stillborn Reform – Assassination of Franz Ferdinand Killed Plans for National Realignment
It’s tantalizing to consider what might have happened had Franz Ferdinand lived to see the empire evolve into the United States of Great Austria. Ethnic tensions may have already reached critical mass by 1906, meaning that such reform would’ve come too late anyway. And it’s probably naïve to think that it would’ve forestalled an armed conflict in Europe given the belligerence among the great powers and Imperial Germany’s headlong plunge into brinksmanship.
But there can be little doubt the Archduke was the one man in a position to guide the Austro-Hungarian state into a new age. And there’s at least some irony in that his assassination on June 28, 1914, came at the hands of a man acting in the interests of Serbian nationalism – the very force that spurred the move toward reform.