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Austro-Slavism orAustrian Slavism[a] was a political concept and program aimed to solve problems ofSlavic peoples in theAustrian Empire. It was most influential amongCzechliberals around the middle of the 19th century. First proposed byKarel Havlíček Borovský in 1846, as an opposition to the concept ofpan-Slavism, it was further developed into a complete political program by Czech politicianFrantišek Palacký.[1] Austroslavism also found some support in other Slavic nations in the Austrian Empire, especially thePoles,Slovenes,Croats andSlovaks.
Austro-Slavism envisioned peaceful cooperation between the smaller Slavic nations ofCentral Europe within theHabsburg monarchy not dominated byGerman-speaking elites. Palacký proposed a federation of eight national regions, with significant self-governance. After the suppression of the Czech revolution inPrague in June 1848, the program became irrelevant.[1] The Austrian Empire transformed intoAustria-Hungary (1867), honouringHungarian, but not Slavic demands as part of theAusgleich. This further weakened the position of Austro-Slavism, as did the dawn of the coercive policy ofMagyarization during the 1880s.
As a political concept, however, Austro-Slavism persisted until the fall of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1918.Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who washeir presumptive toEmperor Franz Joseph, was a true believer in Austro-Slavism, which he felt was a necessary and long overdue reform if the Empire was to survive.
The Archduke's reform plans, which were almost certainly sold to the Governments of Russia and Serbia by ColonelAlfred Redl, are believed[citation needed], accordingly, to have played a major role in causing seniorPan-Slavist officers within themilitary intelligence service of Serbia to covertly plan the Archduke's 1914 assassination inSarajevo. Long before his death, however, the Archduke had passed his sympathies for Austro-Slavism and plans to return the Empire toFederalism down to his nephew, who went on to become the last Habsburg monarch: EmperorCharles I of Austria.[citation needed]
The 1918 collapse of Austria-Hungary owed a great deal to Emperor Charles' failure to implement Austro-Slavist reforms due to both foreign and domestic politicians and to the ongoing chaos of theFirst World War. Meanwhile,Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who was later to become the first President ofCzechoslovakia, had successfully convincedU.S. PresidentWoodrow Wilson during theFirst World War that the Slavic peoples of Austria-Hungary were oppressed and needed to be liberated. This, in turn, led directly to President Wilson's rejection of the efforts of EmperorCharles I of Austria to return the Empire tofederalism (such as the abortiveUnited States of Greater Austria plan). President Wilson's refusal to accept an end to the war on any other terms led directly to the collapse of the Empire in 1918.[citation needed]
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