This book charts the history of the last fifty years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1867 to 1918. it reveals that the Habsburg Monarchy, though not in a healthy state before 1914, was not in fact doomed to collapse. The author examines foreign and domestic policies and reveals the weaknesses inherent in the Empire.He also shows how the Austro-Hungarian Empire attempted to satisfy the claims of eleven distinct national groups.

The emergence of central Europe and the Balkans as a major area of interest and international concern in post-Cold War Europe have given the fall of the Habsburg Empire and the consequences of that fall considerable contemporary resonance. The Empire was an experiment in multi-national politics, and how different ethnic and religious groups live or do not live together is very much what this book is about. The eight essays in this volume seek to unravel the complexities of the final twenty years of Austria-Hungary and its eventual disintegration, tackling from different angles the political, social and international challenges to the Empire's existence. The book successfully fills a gap in the market between expensive textbooks and very specialist articles and monographs and as such will appeal both to students and to the general reader interested in the Habsburgs and the Great War. From reviews of the first edition: 'The essays provide new insights into the question of Habsburg endurance, while offering perceptive suggestions about its ultimate collapse . . . [The book] represents a valuable attempt to publish new research and new perspectives on familiar questions. Carefully edited and with an excellent set of maps and a solid bibliography, the book offers students and specialists alike fresh thoughts about the Habsburg Monarchy, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia.' - Samuel R. Williamson, The International History Review

An award-winning historian charts the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, describing the cumulative effects of repression, cynicism and corruption along with ill-fated alliances with Constantinople and conflicts with the Serbs ahead of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. 25,000 first printing.

The collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy at the end of World War I ushered in a period of radical change for East-Central European political structures and national identities. Yet this transformed landscape inevitably still bore the traces of its imperial past. Breaking with traditional histories that take 1918 as a strict line of demarcation, this collection focuses on the complexities that attended the transition from the Habsburg Empire to its successor states. In so doing, it produces new and more nuanced insights into the persistence and effectiveness of imperial institutions, as well as the sources of instability in the newly formed nation-states.