Austria-Hungary - Structure and Name

Structure and Name

The Habsburg monarch ruled as Emperor of Austria over the western and northern half of the country that was the Austrian Empire (Cisleithania or Lands represented in the Imperial Council) and as King of Hungary over the Kingdom of Hungary (Transleithania or Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen) which enjoyed a great deal of sovereignty with only a few joint affairs (principally foreign relations and defence). The division was so marked in fact that there was no common citizenship: a person was either an Austrian or a Hungarian citizen (as nobody was allowed to hold both citizenships at the same time). The difference in citizenship has also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports ever since their appearance, never a common one. Certain regions, such as Galicia (within Cisleithania) and Croatia (within Hungary) enjoyed special status with their own unique governmental structures (essentially a form of autonomy).

The two capitals of the Monarchy were Vienna for Austria and Buda for Hungary, the latter united with neighbouring Pest as Budapest from 1870. Vienna, however, would serve as the nation's primary capital. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire (621,538 square kilometres (239,977 sq mi) in 1905), and the third most populous (after Russia and the German Empire). The Cisleithan part contained about 57% of the combined realm's population and a larger share of its economic resources. Today, the territory it covered has a population of about 69 million.

As a multinational empire and great power in an era of national awakening, it found its political life dominated by disputes among the eleven principal national groups.

The Monarchy bore the name internationally of "Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie" (on decision by Franz Joseph I in 1868). Its full name, Die im Reichsrat vertretenen Königreiche und Länder und die Länder der Heiligen Ungarischen Stephanskrone, meant "The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen".