Frank Martin, age 10, of Youngstown, Ohio, for his question:
WHAT WAS THE AUSTRIA HUNGRY EMPIRE?
Today Austria is a small, prosperous country in central Europe and is famous for its beautiful mountain scenery. It is a politically neutral nation and it serves as an important channel for the exchange of ideas between Communist and non Communist countries. It is a federal republic. To Austria's east is Hungary, another small, prosperous country. Once the two nations were united.
The Austria Hungary Empire, also known as the Austro Hungarian Monarchy and the Dual Monarchy, was one of the most important countries in central Europe from 1867 until 1918.
The union of the two neighboring states brought together the Austrian Empire and the Hungarian Kingdom. It also included two provinces: Bosnia and Hecegovina, two areas which were placed under Austro Hungarian administration in 1878 and were annexed in 1908.
Austria Hungary covered about 260,000 square miles, or slightly less than the area of Texas. It had a large population with about 52 million persons living there.
Austria Hungary was a melting pot of many nationalities. There were about 23 million Slavs, 12 million Germans, 10 million Magyars, 3 million Romanians and many smaller groups. Each group, however, kept its own language and customs.
The combination of the two empires never produced a strong nation. The different nationalities were more interested in independence for themselves than in strengthening the monarchy. For more than 40 years there was widespread discontent.
In 1914, Serbian nationalists killed the crown prince of Austria Hungary, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and his wife. This assassination led to World War I.
During the war, Austria Hungary sent troops to Italy, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. But morale became low because of many defeats, and thousands of men deserted.
After the war, the territory of Austria Hungary was divided. The new states of Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia were formed entirely from Austria Hungary's territory.
Other land, following World War II, was taken from Austria Hungary and given to Italy, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia.
In 1938, Adolf Hitler and troops from Germany seized Austria and announced the union of the two countries. When the Allies finally defeated Germany in 1945, Austria for a time was divided into American, British, French and Russian zones of occupation. The occupation was ended in 1955 and in that year Austria joined the United States.
Hungarian Communists gained control of their country's government in the late 1940s.