TheUnited States of Greater Austria (German:Vereinigte Staaten von Groß-Österreich) was an unrealised proposal made in 1906 tofederalizeAustria-Hungary to help resolve widespread ethnic and nationalist tensions. It was conceived by a group of scholars surroundingArchduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, notably by the ethnicRomanian lawyer and politicianAurel Popovici.
The first program for the federalisation of the Habsburg Empire was developed by the Hungarian noblemanWesselényi Miklós. In his work titledSzózat a magyar és a szláv nemzetiség ügyében, published in Hungarian in 1843 and in German in 1844, he proposed not only social reforms but reforms of the state structure of the Empire and its nationality policy. He aimed to replace the centralized empire with a federation of five states: a German state, a state of Bohemia and Moravia, Galicia as a Polish state, the Italian part of Lombardy and Istria, and the state of historical Hungary.[1]
Another idea came from Hungarian revolutionaryLajos Kossuth: "True liberty is impossible without federalism".[2][3] Kossuth proposed to transform the Habsburg Empire into a "Danubian State", a federal republic with autonomous regions.[4][5]
TheAustro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 established the dual monarchy ofAustria-Hungary. The Compromise partially re-established[6] the sovereignty of theKingdom of Hungary, separate from and no longer subject to theAustrian Empire. However, the favouritism shown to the Magyars, the second largest ethnic group in the dual monarchy after the Germans, caused discontent on the part of other ethnic groups like theSlovaks andRomanians.[7]
In 1900 the greatest problem facing the dual monarchy ofAustria-Hungary was that it consisted of about a dozen distinctly different ethnic groups, of which only two, theGermans andHungarians (who together accounted for about 44% of the total population), wielded any power or control. The other ethnic groups, which were not involved in the state affairs, includedSlavic (Bosniaks,Croats,Czechs,Poles,Ruthenians,Serbs,Slovaks,Slovenes andUkrainians) andRomance peoples (Italians,Romanians). Among them, only Croats had limited autonomy in theKingdom of Croatia and Slavonia. In theKingdom of Hungary, several ethnic minorities faced increased pressures ofMagyarization.[8]
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Franz Ferdinand had planned to redraw the map of Austria-Hungary radically, creating a number of ethnically and linguistically dominated semi-autonomous "states" which would all be part of a larger federation renamed the United States of Greater Austria. Under this plan, language and cultural identification was encouraged, and the imbalance of power would be corrected. The idea would have encountered heavy opposition from Hungarian politicians, since a direct result of the reform would have been a significant territorial loss for Hungary.
However, the Archduke wasassassinated atSarajevo in 1914, triggering the outbreak of theFirst World War. After the war, Austria-Hungary wasdismantled and several newnation-states were created, and various Austro-Hungarian territories were ceded to neighbouring countries at theParis Peace Conference (seeTreaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye andTreaty of Trianon).
According to Popovici's plans, the following 15 territories were to become states of the federation after the reform. The majority ethnic group within each territory is also listed.
In addition, a number of mostly German-speaking enclaves in easternTransylvania, the Banat and other parts of Hungary, southern Slovenia, large cities (such asPrague,Budapest,Lviv, and others) and elsewhere were to have autonomy within the respective territory.
"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"
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